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S.O.N.A.I.S. Webcomic Story Arc Index
The SONAIS comic is divided into separate storylines, chapters, arcs, or whatever you prefer to call them. These can span between a few weeks and several months; longer ones are divided into chapters.
This is an index of where each storyline begins, so you can jump to the start or end of a particular story arc right away, or freshen up your memory of what has happened in the recent or distant past.
- 20231 The Beginning2 Deletium Redux
- 20243 Quality Assurance4 Security Shenanigans5 Faceworld6 Back to Normal7 Quantum Questions8 Captain Subtext9 Quantum Hints10 Lifted
- 202511 User Unfriendly12 The Future Is Now13 Good, Bad, Ugly14 Idiocraception
1. The Beginning
[1] 2023-10-17 to [9] 2023-11-14
Where it all begins. A team of 4 people starting an AI-focused service company called ‘SONAIS,’ moves into their sort-of freshly furnished office building. It soon becomes clear that a fifth colleague would be a welcome addition though…
2. Deletium Redux
[10] 2023-11-17 to [26] 2024-01-12
The previous occupants of the office building left behind various things, amongst which some small containers marked as ‘Deletium.’ What seems a bad joke at first, turns into a race against time when the content of one of the containers escapes. An unlikely ally helps avert disaster.
3. Quality Assurance
[27] 2024-01-16 to [42] 2024-03-08
After the Deletium adventure, things are back to business as usual—mostly. After some shenanigans from Adil, it becomes obvious that our startup company could use an extra colleague focused on Quality Assurance and processes. Another vacancy is posted, and the team ends up 6 strong. Like each of the other colleagues, the newcomer Zhang proves to have his own special quirks.
4. Security Shenanigans
[43] 2024-03-12 to [48] 2024-03-29
Sort of a short intermezzo loosely touching upon the topic of ‘security,’ both in I.T. and in general. Adil is not quite happy when being offered the most secure computer possible.
5. Faceworld
[50] 2024-04-02 to [86] 2024-08-06
A large corporation plans to spice up their ‘Faceworld’ theme park, situated in the middle of a desert, by throwing A.I. into the mix. What could possibly go wrong? The S.O.N.A.I.S. company is one of the contractors to help with implementation, but they are bound by a stringent need-to-know basis. When the first trials of the new system begin, something goes awry and all communications are interrupted. This leads to part of the S.O.N.A.I.S. team having to go on-site, where they will need to know more than they probably ever wanted…
Chapter 1: Prelude/Arrival:
The SONAIS company learns about their new assignment and starts working together with other contractors. When the theme park begins their first trials of the new system, communication is lost after receiving what appears to be a distress call. A mysterious clause in the contract sends Max, Zhang, and Heidi (sneaking along OIB-A271) on-site by means of a hovercraft ride through the desert.
Chapter 2: Something Wrong:
After arriving at Faceworld, our team heads on foot towards the control center, where a small crew is supposed to be running the trial. They discover autonomous robots roaming the park, armed with guns, shooting everything that looks like a human face. When trying to leave the park to seek help, they find their hovercraft pilot fallen victim to one of the robots, hence their only option is to reach the control center after all.
Chapter 3: Survival:
By covering their faces, the team avoids being targeted by the robots. When they reach the control center, they discover that the antenna array was covered by a billboard displaying faces, hence has been destroyed, explaining the loss of communications. The park crew lets them inside the control center, where they learn what happened, although the reason for why it happened remains unclear.
Chapter 4: Remedy:
The team starts to investigate the software and finds suspicious things, possibly hinting at foul play. After figuring out how to make the robots safe, they regain control by activating a back-up antenna, a task for OIB-A271. With the link restored, the robots can be reprogrammed and disabled. Our team criticises the crew's decision to cover up the death of the hovercraft pilot, but reluctantly agrees due to the park management's powerful allies. They do get a compensation in the form of some unusual hardware from a mysterious company called Quantuple.
Chapter 5: Conclusion:
One of the park crew members can pilot the hovercraft, offering a way for our team to return home. During their walk back to the station, they encounter another nasty surprise which again shows that components of park attractions seem to have been deliberately swapped. Back at the office, the team debriefs, trying to explain what happened despite the many unknowns. Despite their promise not to make the events known to the public, they do intend to figure out who could be behind it, and there are hints that the Quantuple company may be involved.
6. Back to Normal
[87] 2024-08-09 – [93] 2024-08-30
After the Faceworld adventure, the team waits for the promised quantum machines to arrive. In the meantime, things are back to normal at the S.O.N.A.I.S. office, at least within the limits of what could be considered normal in a company like this.
7. Quantum Questions
[94] 2024-09-03 – [100] 2024-09-24
The workstations that had been promised by the Faceworld crew finally arrive. Yet, besides one faint glimmer of hope, there is still no obvious hint about the identity of the suspicious Quantuple company that provisioned the machines, or what their motives were for sabotaging the park attractions.
8. Captain Subtext
[101] 2024-09-27 – [115] 2024-11-15
Heidi combines her inventor skills with the new hardware from the Quantuple workstations. Inspired by an old TV show, she ends up with a “Truth Helmet,” a kind of augmented reality device that reveals what people truly mean while they are speaking. Although groundbreaking at first sight, the device quickly proves to be problematic…
9. Quantum Hints
[116] 2024-11-19 – [123] 2024-12-13
With some outside help, the team starts to home in on the Quantuple company that might be behind the acts of sabotage they experienced at the Faceworld theme park.
10. Lifted
[124] 2024-12-17 – [143] 2025-02-21
The team travels to the suspected location of the Quantuple company to confront those responsible for the chaos at Faceworld. However, before they can reach the company's offices, they have to get past an unexpected obstacle, an elevator that seems intent on killing its occupants. After barely escaping this threat, they finally reach the office, encountering a strange guy with some even stranger plans…
11. User Unfriendly
[144] 2025-02-25 – [157] 2025-04-11
After the Quantuple adventure, the team hopes for things to again settle down to a normal level. A common thread in this story arc are situations that have something to do with user interfaces or other things related to user (un)friendliness. Adil again has some ‘brilliant’ ideas to enhance the company website, and others also have ideas that may not be as bright as they initially seem. Next to this, Alana finally finds out the truth behind OIB-A271.
12. The Future Is Now
[158] 2025-04-15 – [172] 2025-06-03
Heidi discovers more groundbreaking technology when analyzing the machines obtained from the Quantuple company. It turns out to be possible to project images and experiences into someone's mind, and a demo is set up where Adil has an all too realistic Quake game experience. Meanwhile, Max does another ill-fated attempt at getting closer to Heidi, and some internal tensions within the company become apparent.
13. Good, Bad, Ugly
[173] 2025-06-06 – [182] 2025-07-08
A loose collection of topics vaguely related to the concepts of good and bad; and Adil believes cafestol is the ultimate ingredient that makes coffee great.
14. Idiocraception
[183] 2025-07-11 – ongoing
When Heidi combines her inventor skills with everything she found out about the machines obtained from Quantuple, she ends up with a machine that acts as a hybrid between a time machine and VR system, allowing its users to experience an accurate prediction of a certain albeit unspecified moment in the future. Of course the entire team is eager to try it. What could possibly go wrong?
Chapter 1: Prelude/Time Warp:
Heidi has managed to build a kind of virtual time machine using the Quantuple hardware, allowing multiple persons to experience a certain fixed point in time in the future, using the same kind of dream-like state which let Adil previously experience an ultra-realistic game of Quake. Due to the limitations of the technology, the entire team wants to have a go before the system may break down.
Chapter 2: Future Shock:
The team makes the jump into the virtual future, by means of a simulation that relies on quantum technology to offer an accurate prediction. The future proves to be very weird. All major brand names are expletives or random strings. The most trendy activity is to induce vomiting, and people do other dumb and disgusting things.
Chapter 3: One-Way Ticket:
Seeing how terrible and disappointing the future is, the team decides to end the simulation and return to the present, but communication with OIB-A271 is lost, and they appear to be stuck. Their plan is to kill their virtual avatars, knowing from Adil's previous Quake test that this should cause them to wake up in the real world.
Chapter 4: No Groundhog Day:
The plan to escape the simulation by means of virtually dying, fails. Any attempt results in them “respawning” every time, but the timeline is not being reset. Their only option is to learn more about the awful future and try to find another way to wake up from the simulation. Someone called Alfred, who appears less dumb than the rest, is willing to guide them around.
Chapter 5: History on the Skew:
In a history museum, the team hopes to find out why the future is so dumb. However, besides experiencing more absurd aspects of the future society, they only learn about the so-called “Event,” something vague that went severely wrong not too long after their present time, and which has sent humanity into a dark age of unknown length before it somewhat recovered.
Chapter 6: The Future Will Be Televised:
Alfred may be able to offer more information than the museum, and has invited the team at his home. The reason why he is smarter than his contemporaries is revealed, and he explains the trend of strange brand names. An attempt to learn something worthwhile from watching the future's TV, proves rather futile.
Chapter 7: Was It the Same Duck:
Heidi makes a breakthrough thanks to an unexpected discovery, giving them a means to do more in the virtual world even though they still have no means to exit. However, somehow the police has been instructed to arrest the whole SONAIS team. Max manages to lure the cops away from the others by stealing one of their ridiculous vehicles.
Chapter 8: Naught But Cowbell:
Having escaped the incompetent police, the team goes shopping using their nearly unlimited budget, aiming to find a way to escape the simulation.
Extras
Extra strips outside the regular arcs.
- [49] 2024-04-01 – April fools: the characters fear they might be A.I.-generated.
- [154] 2025-04-01 – April fools: I asked ChatGPT to write a joke for the comic, this is the result.