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[gene]

The range of expressions on that couch are amazing. "Formally nude"?  Shades of Deja Thoris!
They just lost my respect though, refering to a woman as an accessory.
Earth's castes, Lunar corruption, and now this. Seamus' plan better work or it's back to the caves at best.

[Andreas]

What? Because they refer to them as accessories, or because they view them as accessories?
Because in this day and age women are definitely viewed as accessories by many, and in many contexts - but nobody bothers to be honest about it (except Sam).
Formally nude reminds me of the Japanese "eat your food off the backside of a naked woman" thing.

Stuff that exists now will likely be even more weird in a post-scarcity or nearly so scenario, and the Chinese aren't so big on individual freedom, let alone equality of the genders now, either.

But how did Seamus happen to hone in on Veronica by chance? That's a bit hard to believe, unless:
1) No chance is involved, Seamus knows, or...
2) Old man Po was a macchiavellian schemer of epic skill, able to predict the maneuverings of both friend and foe alike... predicting that his nephews would wipe and sell Veronica is not perhaps so difficult (waste not, want not - though not in the original meaning), nor to predict to whom they would sell her. Predicting that his nephews would contact Seamus (probably to secure their piece of the pie or threaten funds withdrawal or whatever other low tricks they can dream up) is also not difficult. But to predict that Seamus would pick Veronica as his accessory might be a stretch... unless Po knows something we don't about the tastes of Seamus as compared to the tastes of the Martian elite.
Or it could be a combination: Maybe Seamus knew Veronica, and Po gambled that he would notice her in the rental catalog.

Now, can the wipe be undone, or did Po perform some kind of memory magic?

[macsnafu]

The range of expressions on that couch are amazing. "Formally nude"?  Shades of Deja Thoris!
They just lost my respect though, refering to a woman as an accessory.
Earth's castes, Lunar corruption, and now this. Seamus' plan better work or it's back to the caves at best.

Easy chance for misunderstandings, here.  Seamus obviously is only doing this to further his business, and isn't terribly interested in treating androids and women as 'accessories'.  But the girls certainly need to understand this, as well, and know what to expect at the party.

[RobbinR]

I will be very surprised if Seamus is not aware that this is Po's Veronica,
and has thoughts of restoring her memory.

Hmm, does anyone remember where the rules of manumission were posted?

/

[Sieggy]

I think Seamus is also going to mess with their heads using Veronica . . .  Something that's niggled at the back of my head is the possibility that Seamus has a copy of one of Veronica's recent backups that Po sent him 'just in case'. Though if that were the case, I would think that Seamus would buy Veronica outright rather than just renting her. It's also possible that there was a firewalled partition that was protected from a wipe, and the new owner just did a basic reset and didn't worry about it. But whatever way, I think she's had enough foreshadowing as a character to make a reappearance as a character, not a prop.

[Andreas]

If that is the case, I think Seamus would rather give the rental company a nice burn by obtaining proof that Veronica was never theirs to own to begin with. Thus saving his own hard-pressed budget and harming unscrupulous dealers in the process.
Seamus may also be even more pressed economically than we can imagine...

[RobbinR]

"If that is the case, I think Seamus would rather give the rental company a nice burn
by obtaining proof that Veronica was never theirs to own to begin with.
Thus saving his own hard-pressed budget and harming unscrupulous dealers in the process."

Yup, I had similar thoughts.
If Veronica's legal status is that she had received her manumission at the proper time,
she is a already a free entity, and Seamus chose the most economical course.

However, we have no revealed reason to suspect the dealer of unscrupulous behavior.
Therefore, Seamus would seem to have no intention to deliberately burn the dealer,
but rather, just to free Veronica at the most economical option.

/

[gene]

Seamus is already messing with peoples heads. I think Nichole's about ready to blow a safety valve.

Oh good grief. I just now noticed Veronica is on the masthead.

[qvic]

For me Ventura will always be a reference to the Pontiac Ventura (1960-1978). So it's like he went and rented a used car. She probably has a lot of surprises under the hood.

[Wyvern]

Oh good grief. I just now noticed Veronica is on the masthead.

Speaking of which, I have a question for Scott: Does Veronica have actual (presumably synthetic) hair, or just a sort of hair-shaped molded plastic helmet fused to her head?  It's hard to tell from the picture.

Wyvern

[Helian]

Speaking of which, I have a question for Scott: Does Veronica have actual (presumably synthetic) hair, or just a sort of hair-shaped molded plastic helmet fused to her head?  It's hard to tell from the picture.

Wyvern

I always figured it's a holo-projection, like the clothes.  Much easier to maintain and change to the clients desires that way.

[gene]

Bless you Buford! (if you'll excuse an old expression from an old guy). First panel, I thought she was still upset. Is she allergic to decadence? There seems to be a lot of it going around, around there.

[Sio]

Is the salesperson wearing Saturn Girl's uniform?

She needs to be a better mind-reader. She's asking too many questions if she's wearing that uniform. (grin)

[RobbinR]

Not being familiar with her, I did a Google Image search on...

Saturn Girl

...and except for the Saturn image on her chest,
none of the search results look similar to the sales girl,
who would also appear to be a designer.

/

[Scott]

Actually the designer isn't a woman, he's an effeminate male.