Editing 2579: Tractor Beam

{{comic
| number    = 2579
| date      = February 9, 2022
| title     = Tractor Beam
| image     = tractor_beam.png
| titletext = Did you base the saucer shape on pop culture depictions of aliens, or was that stuff based on your ships? Does the rotational symmetry help with ... hey, where are you going?
}}

==Explanation==
Cueball is being pulled into a spaceship by a beam of light, called a {{w|tractor beam}} in the title. This is a {{tvtropes|AlienAbduction|common trope}} in science fiction, and usually pretty scary for the person involved. However, while Cueball is being pulled up, he asks a series of questions about the beam, about the force on the ship, and about the ship itself. The punch line is the caption - the aliens, frustrated by Cueball's continual questioning, release him and move on, to presumably find a different human to abduct and study. Many people have reported {{w|Alien abduction|being abducted by aliens}} in real life, though none of these have been confirmed{{Citation needed}}. This comic is similar to the {{w|O. Henry}} story {{w|The Ransom of Red Chief}}, in which a boy is kidnapped for ransom but ends up being so annoying to his captors that they opt to return him for free.

The first three questions deal with the properties of the beam – how it can be controlled to pull only him (and his clothes), not anything else. He also wonders whether the beam would still continue to lift his shoes if he took them off midway. Perhaps his apparel is only rising with him because it normally stays attached to him, perhaps it is similarly levitated with equal force or impulse. Theoretically, it could only lift his clothing, with enough force to hoist him along with it, though if this was done with insufficient finesse, it could cause damage to the clothing or the person. (One might be tempted to call this a {{tvtropes|NegativeSpaceWedgie|Space Wedgie}}.) It is highly unlikely that this type of tractor beam could be used on Cueball without him realizing it, which would likely lead to him asking how the tractor beam lifted the clothes and not him.

Next, Cueball asks if his weight is pulling the ship downward. This would be the case, for example, if he were hoisted upwards by a rope instead of the beam, as equal but opposite forces act against each other, but not if the beam alters the nature of his surroundings such as with {{w|The First Men in the Moon|Cavorite}} or another means of {{w|gravitational shielding}} or alteration.

Then he asks what will happen if a bat flies through the beam. Things that could happen include the beam breaking (and him falling downward) due to the projected effect being interrupted, the bat being pulled up ahead of him as it enters the effective volume of the levitating beam or else nothing at all as it is outside the actual volumetric segment of the beam that is more than ambient light-effects. It may presumably have a relationship with the same focal effect as that which avoids the ground upon which he previously stood being drawn upwards.

As the ship leaves, Cueball continues asking questions, as shown in the title text. Those questions address the shape of the ship. He asks whether the aliens based the saucer shape on depictions of extraterrestrials in earth popular culture, or if classic flying saucers were inspired by them. His next question was cut off, but what we hear is, "Does the rotational symmetry help with".

Whether Cueball actually arrived onboard the ship is uncertain. If he started badgering the aliens with questions during the lift and then (as stated) was immediately set down again then he did not. Either way, they got fed up and decided to return him to the ground instead of sharing their knowledge, or just because they preferred someone less talkative. They may prefer or expect more scared, overawed, or surprised abductees but, by whatever alien criteria they judge their catches, it seems he isn't what they want.

This was the third comic in less than three weeks featuring aliens using this type of flying saucer type spaceship. The other two comics were in a row just 6 and 7 comics before this one, [[2572: Alien Observers]] and [[2573: Alien Mission]].

==Transcript==
:[A flying saucer type spacecraft hangs in the air above a flat area with scattered rocks and two hills in the background. A beam of 'light' emerges, a conical region textured with wavy lines radiating along its length, from a small square opening beneath the bottom of the craft going down to the ground a bit right of the saucer where its conceivably circular cross-section is rendered elliptic by both its angle of projection and our own viewing perspective. Cueball hangs suspended within the middle of the beam, above the ground but still some way from the saucer. His arms are held out to either side and his legs are bent up behind him. He is looking up at the saucer while talking.]
:Cueball: Does this beam only lift me? How do you avoid pulling up dirt and leaves and stuff? If I kick off my shoes, will they fall?
:Cueball: Is my weight pulling your ship downward? What will happen if a bat flies through the beam?
:Cueball: Hey, why does your ship have those blinky lights? Are they...

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Moments later, the aliens set me back down and left.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Aliens]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]