Things are beginning to get epic here on Professor Saltine's Astrodynamic Dirigible.

Unless we have completely failed as writers, you may have noticed that there are essentially two megastorylines going on: The 1905 narration sequence (of which Oxford originally narrated, followed by Saline after his return) and the 1890 sequence (the construction of the dirigible and the early journeys). They will, eventually, merge; once they do so we will enter Phase Two of the webcomic. But that is months away. Until that happens, we will continue to switch back and forth. 

In Friday's comic, we introduced the Aliens, and we introduced you to the fact that this is not just a steampunkery joinery amidst the local planets, but that our intrepid team of turn-of-the-century adventurers will find themselves thrust into a wider galactic society. 

Allow me to introduce you to the two aliens that joined Professor Saltine on his return trip. The green guy (name pending) is a Treodian. Trepodians are a race of laid-back plant-like beings. Consider this guy a vegetative New Age Han Solo. The familiar pop-culture "Grey" alien is a Reticulan (name also withheld for now). You might notice that he has a particular interest in identifying weaknesses in the human species. Pay no mind to this, unless you are interested in the aforementioned epic plot lines.

Speaking of epic plot lines, our crew will soon sail to Mars. Unlike their sojourns to the Moon and Venus, this will not be a short investigation designed to shatter pre-space age notions of what might be found there. Rather, they will "face" certain facts about both Terrain and Marian civilizations that will lead to another epic plot line. "On" this discovery, you can be prepared to expect some top-notch character development. And particular modern theories about life on "Mars" will be incorporated into this storyline.

And that's only the beginning!