1190: Time

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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Time
Wait for it.
Title text: Wait for it.

Explanation

Ambox notice.png This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect:
Please include the reason why this explanation is incomplete, like this: {{incomplete|reason}}

If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

The comic is an illustration of passing time. Each image is relatively meaningless to the viewer by itself; the only way to perceive time is to "wait for it" and see how things evolve. Thus, time is in the viewer's perception, not in each individual frame. It is not entirely clear if the "wait for it" title text references the viewer having to wait for the next frame of the comic, or whether it refers in some way to the content of the comic itself (e.g. the characters waiting for something).

Format

This comic is actually a series of images which play as a rough animation (the image on this page is an animated compilation of the images). The images are in the process of being revealed slowly over the course of time. As of June 17, 2013, the comic has been running for more than 2040 hours (over 85 days), and more than 2150 frames have been revealed.

For the first 120 hours, a new frame replaced the previous frame every 30 minutes, at :00 and :30 of each hour; the remaining frames have since been revealed every hour, on the hour. The updating is done server-side, with the server redirecting the image link (time.png) to a different image every hour. The source images have very long random-character names, making it virtually impossible to access future frames. There is no apparent way to view past frames on the official XKCD website, and only the current frame is posted there at any given time. Given the unique nature of this comic, several websites have been dedicated to tracking it, and its full run can be viewed at some of these sites (see below).

At 850 hours (36 days 10 hours) the first "scene" of the comic ended at frame 971 with a fade to white, ushering in a second scene from frame 972. Normalized pictures are also available below (Day 36, Monday, April 29, 2013, normalized).

Plot

Scene 1: Sand Castles and the Sea

Megan and Cueball are alone on a sandy beach near the sea. As the story unfolds, Megan and Cueball begin to build a sand castle on the beach. The two continue to expand the castle back from the beach as the scene zooms out. Briefly they have fun launching small objects at the castle with a trebuchet before continuing the build.

Both Cueball and Megan each leave the scene for extended periods at times but always return to continue building. They add what appears to be scaffolding and ladders to expand the castle skyward. All the while, Cueball and Megan wax philosophically about the nature of the sea, the feeding river, the rising tides, and what else lies in the world. In the end, the two decide to go off and explore the world as the sea begins to erode the castle and the scene fades to white.

One other character appears in the comic as of the end of Scene 1: A girl with a beret, similar to Beret Guy, briefly appears to view the castle, and then leaves. She returns in the last two frames before the fade to white completes, dragging something.

Scene 2 (in progress)

Cueball and Megan are walking with bags across a relatively level surface. The terrain looks like frame 1, albeit from a wider angle, showing they are walking along the coast. The scene shifts multiple times between views of them to the left of a river, and 90° rotated views of them walking overland, generally upstream. Sometimes these shifts in angle are marked by corresponding shifts between front and profile views of their bodies.

Megan indicates she has never been so far "this way". They reach a river they haven't seen before. Cueball slips in and loses his bottle. He contemplates swimming out to get it, but Megan says it is too dangerous. Later when Megan gets too close to the edge, Cueball senses danger and pulls her back.

After a small talk both agree to find a ford. After walking for a while, Megan realizes that the river was wider than they realized. The branch of the river they were walking along joins up with another branch and the opposite bank eventually comes into view.

They stop for a break and Cueball dozes off and mumbles in his sleep. They discuss this river and the difference between it and theirs. First mention of other people. They decide to continue upriver.

The terrain begins to slope noticeably uphill. They wonder if others have noticed the rise of the sea and mention that they live in tents. They walk deeper into the dunes, having fun by jumping and sliding. Megan falls after jumping too high.

A bird appears in the sky. They watch it until it's gone, then begin walking again. Some vegetation appears, grass and then small trees. They stop and nap beneath a larger tree, seeming to have never seen one before.

After a rest Cueball goes off to explore. He picks some berries and examines a campfire pit, then walks back to Megan and shares his findings. They wonder why the other people have left.

They stop at the river to drink, then climb a ridge, and are awestruck by two tall trees. As they walk through the trees, the first large tree has markings on the trunk and the fourth large tree has a strangely bent top, and they comment on these features before they continue on and past three more huge trees and a regular sized tree to enter what looks like a vineyard. They eat some grapes.

The two travel on. Cueball encounters a snake while climbing a small cliff and falls back. They find another section of the cliff and continue. After that they did reach a tree with a nest on top, a young "baby-bird" is crying for its food. Megan and Cueball are watching the birds while the baby gets the food.

Viewing the comic's history

Faster, navigable versions of the comic are available at:

There is also a wiki dedicated to this particular comic and the related forum thread, at xkcd-time.wikia.com/. There is also a physics simulation of the trebuchet written in JavaScript/HTML5, available at thred.github.io/xkcd-time-catapult/. The code is hosted on GitHub, too. There is an Android app which notifies users when a new image is posted and lets them view the image from within the app, available on Google Play. The code for the app is hosted on GitHub and encourages contribution of new features or enhancements. An hourly updated graph of the rising water level is available at [1]

Linux users can do the following to create an automatically-updating window of the comic in their workspace: install feh then

feh -x -R 3600 -g 300x215  http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/time.png &

... then, can make this sticky; always-on-top; etc...

There is also a great map with some guesses on the locations Megan and Cueball did walk. This map is still getting updates while the comic still advance:

Additional composite scenes are located here: 1190: Time: Pictures. But be careful: Some pictures are very large.

Transcript

Scene 1

+00:00 [Megan and Cueball sitting on a sandy beach near a body of water.]
+01:00 [Megan looks back.]
+02:00 [Cueball looks back.]
+03:00 [Megan looks up.]
+04:00 [Megan reclines. Cueball looks at her.]
+06:00 [Cueball gets up and inspects the water.]
+07:30 [Cueball "puts a toe in the water".]
+09:00 [Cueball returns to sit next to the still reclining Megan.]
+09:30 [Megan sits up.]
+12:00 [Megan and Cueball start to build a sandcastle.]
+25:30
Cueball: Later
Megan: Bye
[Cueball leaves, Megan continues to build the sandcastle.]
+37:00 [Cueball returns and both continue to build.]
+43:30 [Megan leaves, Cueball continues to build.]
+51:00 [Cueball accidentally slips and destroys part of the castle.]
+61:30 [Cueball completes the sandcastle and leaves.]
+73:00 [Cartoon zooms out, showing more construction has been taking place off-screen to the left.]
+81:00 [Megan plants flags on original sandcastle.]
+83:00 [Megan sits down at the beach.]
+83:30 [Cueball finished sandcastle on the left and moves to Megan at the beach.]
+84:30
Megan: Wanna swim?
Cueball: Yeah.
[They both enter the water and exit the picture.]
+86:00 [Castle at far left begins to crumble.]
+87:00 [Megan back on the beach, Cueball off screen.]
Megan: Pffthh
Megan: *cough*
Cueball: You OK?
Megan: Just got some in my mouth.
+91:00 [Cueball takes down two flags and makes the two sandcastles into one large sandcastle.]
+106:30 [A rock, fired by Megan with a small trebuchet, smashes part of the castle Cueball just finished.]
+107:30 [Megan partially re-enters the scene from stage right.]
+108:00 [Megan has fully re-entered the scene, pulling the small trebuchet into the scene with her.]
+109:00 [Megan launches an object towards the sandcastle.]
+110:00 [The object launched by Megan hits the sandcastle, Cueball looks upset.]
+111:30 [Cueball joins Megan at the trebuchet and launches one himself. They alternate launching projectiles.]
+114:30 [Cueball launches an object straight up into the air.]
+115:30 [They run as the object falls back down. Cueball leaves a few frames later, Megan stays and works on building a large mound in the destroyed center of the castle.]
+186:00 [Cueball returns, Megan is working on top of a large mound she's built, as she turns around and stands up to see Cueball, she slips down the side of the mound. Cueball rushes in and helps her rebuild it and flatten out the top.]
+199:00 [Building the mound]
Megan: Any idea where the river is now?
Cueball: Still pretty far out. It's actually retreated a little this week.
+248:00 [Cueball begins constructing a miniature version of the sand structure]
+263:00 [Megan walks in and notices]
+280:00 [Megan re-enters with miniature trebuchet]
+281:00 [Megan shoots the miniature sand structure with the miniature trebuchet]
+287:00
Megan: I don't understand what the sea is doing.
+293:00
Cueball: I don't think we can build it much taller than this. It's been fun, though!
+296:00 [Cueball leaves. Megan turns and examines the structure]
+300:00 [Megan brings in a rod, and puts it down]
+329:00 [Megan begin construction using the various supplies she has delivered]
+342:00 [Cueball returns and begins to help with the construction]
+362:00 [Megan leaves]
+365:00 [Cueball "sip"s the water]
+366:00 [Cueball spits]
Cueball: Pfffth
+367:00
Cueball: Pthuh!
Cueball: Yuck.
+369:00
Cueball: I've had worse.
+377:00 [Megan returns and starts making a levee]
+410:00 [Cueball and Megan have stranded themselves on top of their new construction by building over their ladder.]
Cueball: Guess one of us should climb down.
Megan: Yeah.
+416:00
Megan: The sea is rising.
+417:00
Cueball: Yeah.
+421:00 [Megan shimmies down a support column to re-position the ladder]
+426:00 [Water level reaches lowest point of castle. Megan's levee restrains it from here on out.]
+441:00
Cueball: Sea level rises and falls, right? It's changed before.
Megan: Not this fast.
+442:00
Cueball: The river hasn't even reached the sea yet.
Megan: The river is small
The sea is big.
+443:00
Cueball: How big?
Megan: I don't know.
+516:00
Megan: Does it rain on the sea?
Cueball: I don't know.
+517:00
Cueball: If it does, it seems like a waste.
+519:00
Cueball: It rains in the hills where the river comes from, right?
Megan: Sure.
+520:00
Cueball: Are there other rivers?
+521:00
Megan: I don't know.
+538:00
Cueball: There must be other rivers.
Otherwise the sea would dry up.
+539:00
Megan: Maybe it's coming out of the ground.
Cueball: Does that happen?
Megan: I don't know.
+540:00
Megan: I don't know how the sea works.
Cueball: I don't know how anything works.
+541:00 [The levee finally starts to give way.]
+543:00 [Megan and Cueball get down and look at the water, where the levee is now submerged.]
+547:00 [Megan begins transferring sand to Cueball via a pulley and bucket system.]
+552:00 [Megan attempts to hoist herself up using said pulley and bucket system.]
+554:00 [Megan loses her balance and falls off.]
+555:00 [Megan lands heavily on sandcastle. She holds her head in pain. Cueball looks on in horror.]
+557:00 [Cueball goes to check if Megan is okay. Megan gets up.]
+559:00 [Megan starts rebuilding the part of the sandcastle she damaged when she fell. Cueball returns to building. The water level has reached the tower on the right and begins to erode it.]
+565:00 [Megan finishes repairing the damage and heads up the ladder to help Cueball build his sandcastle on top of the platform.]
+604:00 [Cueball exits.]
+671:00 [Megan, having finished work on the platform-castle, takes a nap on the platform.]
+678:00 [A girl in a beret enters the frame, looks at the sandcastle and leaves.]
+697:00 [Megan begins turning lowest castle into a new, higher levee.]
+707:00 [Megan brings Cueball back.]
+711:00
Megan: I don't think it's going to stop.
+712:00
Cueball: The sea can't just make more of itself forever.
Megan: It can do whatever it wants. It's the sea.
+713:00
Cueball: There must be a reason. There's a reason for everything.
Megan: Yeah.
+714:00
Megan: But it's not always a good reason.
+717:00
Cueball: There must be other rivers. Maybe something is wrong with them.
+734:00
Megan: I like our castle.
+735:00
Cueball: I think it's going to go away.
+736:00
Megan: Yeah.
+738:00
Megan: Do you think there are other rivers?
Cueball: Something is adding water to the sea.
+739:00
Megan: Does it have to be water? Maybe something is adding more land somewhere. And it's making the sea overflow.
+740:00
Cueball: Or maybe it's just raining somewhere. We have no idea what's out there.
+741:00
Megan: Yeah.
+743:00
Megan: Want to find out?
Cueball: Yes.
+744:00
Megan: I'll get some bags.
+760:00
Megan: bye.
+761:00 [Megan exits.]
+775:00 [The entire scene begins a slow fade to white. The 'tide' continues to rise and the castle on the right continues to be subsumed.]
+830:00 [Beret Girl drops in for one frame. The fade and tide continue.]
+847:00 [Beret Girl drops in again, dragging something. The fade and tide continue.] (In fact, this detail was not visible without an aid to undo the fade.)
+850:00 [The entire scene is white.]

Scene 2 - Part 1

+851:00 [New scene: ground.]
+852:00 [Megan and Cueball walking with bags.]
+858:00 [Cueball pauses and Megan looks back at him.]
+864:00 [Still walking.]
Cueball: Have you ever been this far?
Megan: Not this way.
+867:00 [Megan and Cueball stop and have a drink from flasks in their bags.]
+870:00 [Megan continues walking.]
+871:00 [Cueball continues walking.]
+875:00 [They stop, sit and eat. The perspective changes showing they're in a landscape similar to time +0:00.]
+879:00 (frame 1000) [Megan reclines.]
+880:00 [They prepare to continue.]
+881:00 [They continue walking. The perspective returns to "parallel to the beach".]
+883:00 [Still walking.]
Megan: Maybe the sea doesn't end.
+884:00
Cueball: We haven't walked very far.
+885:00
Megan: Yeah.
Megan: But that's what the first part of not ending looks like.
+897:00 [Still walking.]
Megan: If we don't find something today, we'll have to start using the steam bottle.
Cueball: Ugh!
+902:00 [They stop, having come to another body of water.]
+903:00
Megan: Yes.
Cueball: Yes what?
+904:00 [The scene zooms out briefly, showing the opposite shore.]
Megan: There are other rivers.
+908:00 [Cueball, having sat on the bank to drink, falls into the river when the bank beneath him crumbles. Megan manages to grab him and pull him back to dry land, but he loses his water bottle in the process.]
+914:00 [Megan pulls out a lasso. Cueball and her both use it to try and grab the bottle. They fail.]
+920:00
Cueball: The river isn't moving that fast. Maybe I could-
Megan: Too dangerous.
Cueball: Yeah.
+921:00
Megan: It's ok. It was an accident.
+923:00 [The bottle slips below the surface.]
Megan: You're right, though.
Cueball: About what?
+924:00
Megan: The river's not moving very fast.
+928:00
Megan: It can't be flowing much faster than we walk.
Megan: Even if it's as deep as it is wide, I don't think it's enough water.
+929:00
Cueball: Yeah
+931:00
Cueball: And this river doesn't look broken.
Megan: Yeah.
+932:00
Cueball: It's pretty neat, though.
Megan: Yeah.
+935:00 [Cueball grabs Megan's hand and gently pulls her back from the edge.]
+937:00
Cueball: Sorry.
Megan: No, right. Forgot.
+941:00 [Megan exits. Cueball begins digging into the ground.]
+943:00 [Cueball fills in the hole he created.]
+945:00 [Megan is back after checking the sea level.]
Megan: It's still rising.
+946:00
Cueball: It's strange - Rivers flow to meet the sea - Maybe the sea couldn't wait.
+948:00
Megan: Walk upriver to find a ford, or turn back?
+950:00
Cueball: We can't go back. We don't understand everything yet.
+951:00
Megan: "Everything" is a little ambitious. We barely understand anything.
Cueball: Yeah.
+952:00
Cueball: But that's what the first part of understanding everything looks like.
+972:00
Cueball: If nothing else, I'm glad we found this river. It's not much farther from home than ours at its driest.
+975:00
Megan: Oh. This river is even bigger than it looked.
+976:00 [The scene zooms out to show the opposite bank again. It continues to zoom out slowly, revealing that the "opposite bank" is actually just an island in the much, much larger river. Cueball and Megan continue to walk away from the viewer.]
+990:00 [Megan and Cueball finally pass the end of the island. The scene zooms out even farther once more to show the far bank.]
+1001:00 [The scene returns to original zoom, with Megan and Cueball looking out over the river.]
+1002:00
Megan: Maybe it is big enough to fill the sea.
+1003:00 [The two rest for a while. Cueball fills a bottle with river water. They both drink. Cueball lays down and naps.]
+1009:00
Cueball (talking in his sleep): Our rope isn't strong enough.
+1010:00
Megan: What?
Cueball (talking in his sleep): Hold this or you'll fall.
+1012:00 [Megan pokes Cueball with a stick. He wakes up, groggily.]
+1021:00
Cueball: When our river gets too big, it fills with stuff. Wood and leaves and things from the people in the hills.
+1022:00
Cueball: This river doesn't look like that.
+1023:00
Megan: Maybe it only flows through empty places.
+1025:00
Megan: If this river isn't what's making the sea rise, we need to get past it. Either way, we continue upriver.
+1038:00
Megan: I wonder how high the water is now.
+1039:00
Cueball: I wonder if other people have noticed. It's been days.
Megan: Not a lot of us by the shore this time of year. A few kids, maybe.
+1040:00
Megan: It'd have to rise a lot higher before any tents got wet.
+1057:00
Cueball: This river flows from bigger hills than ours.
+1058:00
Megan: If we don't reach a crossing soon, we'll be in them. (the bigger hills)
+1060:00 [Megan and Cueball stand on the edge of a cliff and look down.]
+1063:00
Megan: I wonder if it's possible to swim in.
+1091:00
Megan: You OK?
+1092:00
Cueball: Just thinking.
+1097:00
Megan: Should we follow the river through there?
Cueball: Hmm.
+1098:00
Cueball: Let's see if we can go over those and rejoin it further up.
+1112:00
Megan: It must get windier up here.
+1129:00 [Megan takes a jump off the top of a hill while Cueball watches.]

Scene 2 - Part 2

+1140:00
Cueball: OOF.
Megan: These are bigger than they looked.
+1144:00 [Megan tries another jump, but lands hard, in a heap.]
+1155:00 [A bird appears in the sky, flying towards them. Megan and Cueball stop and watch it for the next few frames before it disappears behind them.]
+1193:00 [Grass appears.]
+1198:00 [The first small tree appears.]
+1216:00 [They come to a bigger tree, taller than them.]
+1218:00
Megan: Neat.
+1220:00 [Megan yawns audibly.]
+1221:00 [Cueball sits beneath the tree.]
+1222:00
Megan: The river isn't much farther...
+1223:00 [Cueball leans against the tree. Megan gives in and joins him, laying with her head on her pack. Cueball switches to laying on his pack, as well.]
+1257:00
Cueball: Berries?
Megan: Ooh, Thanks!
+1259:00
Cueball: There are people here. Or were.
Cueball: I found some sort of campsite.
+1260:00
Megan: Recent?
Cueball: Looked like it'd been empty for a while.
+1262:00
Megan: I'm thirsty. Let's get to the river.
Cueball: Yeah.
+1265:00
Megan: They leave anything good behind?
Cueball: Just some wood. Not enough to build a raft.
+1286:00 [Again at the river]
Cueball: This place is beautiful.
Megan: Yeah.
+1287:00
Megan: I am surprised we haven't been seen by any people yet.
+1288:00
Megan: If it's this empty, we should live here.
+1291:00
Cueball: Did you notice the sea tasting better?
Megan: ...No?
+1292:00
Megan: I don't know. I try not to taste seawater. Why?
+1293:00
Cueball: I was thinking. If a river is putting too much water in the sea, the sea should get fresher.
+1294:00
Cueball: I tasted the water back before we left.
Megan: Ugh. And?
Cueball: I thought it was a little fresher, but maybe it was just me.
+1295:00
Megan: Probably. I mean, how high was the sea then? The extra water couldn't have been more than a tiny part of it.
+1296:00
Cueball: Yeah.
+1298:00
Cueball: Well, we may as well continue. Either we'll figure out the sea, or we'll keep finding beautiful places.
+1299:00
Megan: That sounds fun.
+1313:00 [Megan is falling]
+1315:00
Cueball: Are you OK?
+1316:00
Megan: I found a-
+1317:00
Frog: RIBBIT
+1355:00
Megan: Is this like the one you found?
Cueball: Yeah.
+1381:00 [After reaching the top of a hill]
Megan: WOW.
+1382:00 [Two big trees appear behind that hill, more than ten times larger than the trees before. They walk down to the first one. Megan touches it.]
+1392:00
Cueball: There are markings on the trunk.
Megan: Oh. Yeah.
+1393:00
Megan: I wonder what they mean.
+1402:00 [They arrive at a tree with a strangely bent top.]
+1404:00
Megan: I wonder if it's supposed to be like that.
+1405:00
Cueball: It's a pretty big tree. It probably knows what it's doing.
+1436:00 [Megan and Cueball have come to a vineyard. Cueball holds up some grapes.]
Cueball: Do you think it's ok to take some?
+1437:00
Megan: Yeah. It doesn't look like anyone's been here for a while.
+1438:00 [They eat.]
+1458:00 [They come to and walk past a table or bench.]
+1463:00 [They come to a wooden structure that might be the remains of a tipi.]
+1468:00
Cueball: This looks like the stuff that floats down our river.
+1469:00
Cueball: I wonder if these people are related to the people in the hills.
Megan: Maybe.
+1471:00
Megan: But the markings on that tree didn't look familiar.
Cueball: Yeah.
+1473:00
Megan: We could cross the river now. We've found more than enough wood for a raft.
+1474:00
Cueball: Yeah.
+1477:00
Cueball: We're almost in the mountains.
+1479:00
Cueball: We walked along the sea for days and we didn't learn anything. Up here we're learning lots.
+1480:00
Megan: We haven't learned why the sea rose.
Cueball: Maybe we were never going to.
+1481:00
Cueball: There's food and water here. I don't want to go all the way back down, walk along the sea for a few more days, then have to turn around.
+1482:00
Cueball: Maybe the sea is too big for us to understand. We can't answer every question.
+1483:00
Megan: No, but I think we can answer any question.
+1484:00
Megan: Still, I agree. No need to turn around yet.
Cueball: Yeah.
+1485:00
Megan: And those mountains do look neat.
Cueball: Yeah!
+1487:00
Megan: Before we go, we should stock up.
Cueball: I'll get more water.
+1496:00 [Megan sees a squirrel below a tree.]
Megan: Hi!
+1498:00 [Megan walks towards the squirrel. It climbs up the tree.]
+1499:00 [Megan stops.]
+1500:00 [The squirrel comes back down.]
+1501:00
Megan: It's ok! I won't eat you.
+1502:00 [Megan goes down and presents some food.]
+1503:00 [Megan drops down some food to the ground and the squirrel seems to be still curious.]
+1504:00
Megan: Want some food?
+1508:00 [The squirrel grabs the food and pulls it away from Megan. She gives up trying to pet it.]
+1512:00 [Megan continues on to the vineyard. The squirrel climbs up again onto the tree, then comes back down as she leaves.]
+1523:00 [Megan, picking grapes, exits left. The squirrel seems to be creeping in the grass behind her, very hard to see. As Megan returns, it leaves ahead of her and seems to go up the tree.]

Scene 2 - Part 3

+1548:00
Cueball: I wonder where the people who take care of these plants are.
+1565:00 [They continue walking. Cueball raises his arms strangely.]
+1566:00
Megan: What are you doing?
+1567:00
Cueball: Making shapes with my shadow!
+1568:00
Megan: When I stare down at mine for long enough while I walk, it starts to look really weird.
Cueball: Yeah.
+1571:00
Megan: Still, it's better than when we were following the sea, -
Megan: - walking straight into the sun all morning.
Cueball: Yeah.
+1585:00 [Megan and Cueball reach a small ridge that Megan climbs first.]
+1592:00
Cueball: It's prettier right by the river, but it's easier to walk up here.
Megan: Yeah.
+1593:00
Megan: Well, it all gets greener further up.
+1608:00 [Megan and Cueball do reach an other riff they have to climb on.]
+1613:00 [Cueball climbs first.]
+1618:00
Cueball: Snake!
+1618:00 [Cueball falls down.]
+1621:00
Megan: Are you ok?
+1622:00
Cueball: I think so -
+1623:00
Megan: Did it bite you?
Cueball: No.
+1624:00
Megan: Could you see what kind it was?
+1625:00
Cueball: Brownish and shiny. Kind of blotchy.
+1626:00
Megan: Did it have little spikes over it's eyes?
Cueball: No, not one of those.
+1627:00
Cueball: It was weird. Stubby at both ends. Like it forgot to have a head and tail.
+1628:00
Megan: Hmm...
+1629:00
Megan: No idea. But let's go around. And watch your feet.
Cueball: Ok.
+1632:00 [They search for another location to climb the cliff.]
+1637:00 [This time Megan climbs first.]
Megan: No snakes.
+1642:00 [They continue uphill. Megan starts looking back.]
+1674:00
Megan: I think I can almost see the sea from here.
+1676:00
Cueball: I don't know. - It's hard to tell what's land and what's sky.
Megan: Yeah.
+1680:00 [They walk uphill again.]
+1700:00
Megan: It's cooler up here.
+1705:00
Cueball: Are you hearing quiet chirps?
+1707:00
Megan: No.
Cueball: I don't hear it now either.
+1709:00
Megan: I heard chirps from the night sky once.
+1710:00
Megan: I was looking at the stars one night and I heard peeping. - It was very quiet. - just a single chirp now and then.
Cueball: Did you see anything?
+1711:00
Megan: I thought a few stars flicker. - Nothing else.
Cueball: Hmm.
+1716:00 [A sound in front of them: (Chirp)]
+1717:00 [Again: (Chirp)]
+1718:00
Cueball: It's coming from up ahead.
+1719:00 [Again: (Chirp)]
+1723:00 [Megan and Cueball reach some trees]
Bird in nest: Chirp
+1724:00
Bird in nest: Chirp
+1726:00
Bird in nest: Chirp
+1727:00
Megan: Chirp
Bird in nest: Chirp
+1728:00
Bird in nest: Chirp
+1729:00
Megan: Chirp
+1731:00
Megan: Why is it doing that?
Bird in nest: Chirp
Cueball: I don't know.
+1732:00
Bird in nest: Chirp
+1733:00
Megan: I guess it's angry that we're here.
+1734:00
Bird in nest: Chirp
+1736:00 [A larger bird is flying towards the nest.]
Bird in nest: Chirp
+1738:00 [Still flying towards the nest.]
Bird in nest: Chirp
+1738:00 [The larger bird approaches the nest.]
Bird in nest: Chirp
+1741:00
Megan: What's it doing?
Cueball: I think it gave it something.
+1742:00
Megan: Oh! Food!
Megan: I bet the loud one is a baby.
The larger bird: Chirp
+1743:00
Both birds: Chirp
+1744:00 [Cueball is shouting.]
Cueball: Now they're both loud.
+1745:00 [The sound of the birds gets louder.]
+1746:00
Megan: It's ok. - We are not going to eat your baby.
Cueball: I don't think it believes you.
+1747:00
Megan: That's ok. It's just protecting it's baby.

Scene 2 - Part 4

+1749:00 [Megan continues walking.]
Megan: Hey- I think I see water up ahead.
+1753:00
Cueball: Don't worry! - You're doing a good job.
+1755:00 [Cueball follows Megan.]
+1764:00 [Cueball is below a tree and Megan jumps down.]
Megan: Hi!
+1765:00 [Megan falls on Cuball.]
+1767:00
Megan: I found a tiny river.
+1769:00
Megan: You ok?
Cueball: Yup!
+1786:00 [Megan and Cueball sleep.]
+1796:00 [Megan gets bit by a fly and wakes up.]
Megan: Facebug!
+1797:00 [Cueball is still sleeping.]
Cueball: Mrrr gblghx
+1805:00 [Megan wakes up Cueball.]
Megan: Hey!
+1806:00
Megan: Come see what I found!
+1807:00
Megan: This river is flowing toward the big one, so I followed it to see if they connected.
+1811:00 [They follow the small river.]
Cueball: WOW.
+1812:00 [Megan and Cueball are standing on top of a large cliff.]
+1817:00 [Back at the small river.]
Cueball: I guess the land goes up, but the river stays at the same level.
+1818:00
Megan: The river has been going up, too. But not as fast as the land.
+1820:00
Megan: Can water really wear away rock like this?
+1821:00
Cueball: I guess it can.
+1823:00
Megan: I can't imagine how long it must have taken.
+1824:00
Cueball: Yeah...
+1829:00
Cueball: A lot of these rocks are pretty crumbly.
+1830:00
Cueball: Even down there, between all the big rocks, the cliff walls look sandy. Water eats away sand pretty fast.
+1832:00
Megan: Yeah.
+1836:00
Megan: I wonder how deep it gets.
+1837:00
Cueball: Maybe it goes right through the mountain, and it's as deep as the mountain is tall.
+1838:00
Megan: It could be even deeper. We don't know how far down the water goes.
+1839:00
Cueball: Hmm.
+1840:00
Cueball: I guess it can't be much deeper than the surface of the sea. If it were, it wouldn't flow fast and cut into the ground.
Megan: Oh. Yeah.
+1841:00
Megan: But then, a river couldn't cut all the way through a mountain, either. Because how would it get started?
+1843:00
Megan: I wonder what the top of a mountain is like?
+1845:00
Cueball: Let's find out.
+1850:00 [Megan and Cueball walk back, grab their knapsacks and continue their explorations.]
+1902:00 [They reach a rock which is hard to climb.]
Cueball: It seems we've reached our journey's end.
+1903:00
Megan: Want to find an easier spot?
Cueball: No, I can do it. Let me help you up first.
+1912:00 [Megan and Cueball reach the top of the boulder while an unknown animal is watching them.]
+1913:00 [Cueball points on that animal.]
Cueball: Oh!
+1916:00 [The animal reveals as hedgehog after it did cover its full body.]
+1924:00 [Cueball touches the hedgehog.]
Megan: Careful!
Cueball: It's OK.
+1927:00 [Cueball picks up the hedgehog.]
Megan: Does it hurt?
Cueball: It's a little prickly.
+1928:00
Megan: Careful, it might bite.
Cueball: Have you seen one before?
Megan: Never this close.
+1929:00
Megan: It's really neat.
Cueball: Yeah.
+1930:00
Cueball: Ok, we'll stop bothering you.
+1931:00 [Cueball puts the hedgehog back to the ground and both continue their journey.]
+1976:00
Cueball: You OK?
+1977:00
Megan: Yup!
+1979:00
Cueball: Maybe it's time to turn around.
+1980:00
Cueball: The world is too big. It can go on longer than we can.
+1981:00
Megan: I'm still going.
+1982:00
Cueball: But one day we won't be. And we're a long way from home.
+1984:00
Cueball: Earlier, I thought you wanted to turn around and go back to the sea.
+1985:00
Megan: I don't want to go back to it. I want to understand it.
+1987:00
Cueball: By climbing? The sea is down, not up.
+1993:00
Megan: These bugs have such beautiful wings.
+1994:00
Megan: You could spend a thousand lifetimes staring at water and sand, thinking as hard as you could, and you'd never guess the world had things like this in it.
+1997:00
Megan: I wanna see the top.
+1998:00
Cueball: What do think we'll find?
Megan: More world. Maybe different.
+2045:00 [While both still climbing up they reach a plateau with a small tree.]
Megan: Weird.
+2050:00 [Megan did climb on that tree and tasting a fruit.]
Megan: PFFFTHH.
+2061:00 [Megan points on a small tree, similar to a Christmas tree.]
Megan: Oh!
+2081:00 [They encounter an old and broken wooden barrack.]
Megan: Hello?
+2084:00 [Megan is inside of that barrack.]
Cueball: See anything?
+2084:00
Megan: Just some old furniture. Shelves a broken bowl.
+2094:00 [Megan standing on a portal behind the barrack.]
Megan: Oh, hey-
+2095:00
Megan: There's a stream back here.
+2096:00
Megan: And it almost looks like there's something on top of the mountain.
+2097:00
Cueball: Hmm... - Could be.
+2100:00
Cueball: I think whoever lived here liked building castles, too.
+2103:00
Cueball: Here.
+2104:00
Megan: Oh! - You brought a flag?
Cueball: Yeah, I -

Scene 2 - Part 5

+2105:00
Cueball: - LOOK OUT!

Frame by Frame Breakdown

Below is the list of all the frames of the comic, in the order that they were revealed. The given times denote the time since the comic was initially released on midnight, March 25, 2013, Eastern Daylight Saving Time (UTC - 0400).

March 2013

April 2013

Day 36, Monday, April 29, 2013, normalized

The following images show the faded images from day 36 with the fade removed.

May 2013

June 2013

Day 69, Saturday, June 1, 2013

Day 70, Sunday, June 2, 2013

Day 71, Monday, June 3, 2013

Day 72, Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Day 73, Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Day 74, Thursday, June 6, 2013

Day 75, Friday, June 7, 2013

Day 76, Saturday, June 8, 2013

Day 77, Sunday, June 9, 2013

Day 78, Monday, June 10, 2013

Day 79, Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Day 80, Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Day 81, Thursday, June 13, 2013

Day 82, Friday, June 14, 2013

Day 83, Saturday, June 15, 2013

Day 84, Sunday, June 16, 2013

Day 85, Monday, June 17, 2013

Day 86, Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Day 87, Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Day 88, Thursday, June 20, 2013

Day 89, Friday, June 21, 2013

Day 90, Saturday, June 22, 2013

Day 91, Sunday, June 23, 2013