First RP to be finished on Anonymatrix....hopefully....

First topic message reminder :

Ok, I said I was going to post this, and I will. I expect people to join, as many people expressed an interest.

Alright. I will keep this simple. It is the year 5052AD, and mankind has long since extended its reach to the stars and outside its solar system. It has encountered many new sentient races, some hostile, some friendly and some who are just trying to get by. The governments of mankind have banded together under one banner, the "true" UNEM; United Nations of Earth and Mankind. It sits on the grand galactic council alongside representatives from every other race in the galaxy, and ostensibly have Human-kinds best interests at heart. However, politics corrupt everything, and every member in the council has their own agenda, even within the parties. The miniature councils that run the solar systems are just as corrupt, allowing bandits and slavers to operate in many of the outlying systems where the UEP- the Universal Enforcers Patrol- have a very weak presence. Whether this is due to lethargy or corruption on the councillors part depends on the system. There are many different groups outside the councils, be they mercenary groups, terrorist groups, bandits or just wealthy, independent businessmen.

Of course, what do we care about this? You are all simple creatures- humans and aliens alike- who live a simple life, living in a colony on the planet Liberty, located in the Terminus System in the far reaches of the galaxy. News from the rest of the galaxy doesn't reach you, and your biggest worries include the occasional bandit raid or whether next years harvest goes rotten. Humans and aliens alike live together, side by side, reacting to each other based solely on personal virtues rather than racial stereotypes. You are all stuck here, after all, and you grew up here; most of your families have lived here since the colony was founded, or close to it. Liberty is an earth-like planet, albeit with different wildlife and a slightly higher climate, and completely isolated, more or less.
That is, until a ship from an unknown organisation- it could be military, it could be something else- drops out of hyperspace above the planet, and sends down six soldiers of mixed race in a dropship that lands just outside of the colony limits, near the outlying farms. They have heard rumours of a massive attack being planned by an unknown force, and they have been sent to find out why and to hopefully stop it. What in Gods name is about to happen to the peaceful planet of Liberty?

Ok, now most of you will be farmers or shopkeepers or working in personal security...generally an ordinary person leading an ordinary life. Myself and someone else will be playing the military personnel in charge of the other four who were sent down, and sorry guys, but that role has been reserved. This is simply to keep the story moving.
You can be human or alien, and I will not give you a list of aliens. It will be up to you to invent them yourselves...just PM me with your ideas and I will review them to see if they are viable to include. Alright?
If you wish to be one of the four soldiers, you may, but I do not want everyone choosing a soldier, and if you choose to be a "grunt" you will be wearing a red shirt. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RedShirt

We start just as the dropship is finding a place to land.


Roles:

Civilians:
-Danny, farmer, Crystalline
-Faith, Book Shop owner, Human

Soldiers:
-Murdoch, Scout Leader, Human
-Jordan [Eljordo], Human

Other:
-Brandon (Dragon...symbiote...thing...)

Milady? Huh, is he trying to piss me off, or is he actually attempting to kiss my ass? Either way, nothing has changed, including where we're standing. At this rate it’ll take forever to get there, and personally I’d like to move through the market to the Main before the busy hour picked up. To think, I was in such a pleasant mood this morning, now I’m just.. I want to say annoyed, but I don’t think that covers it fully.

“If you two are done talking about who you’re going to kill, I’d like to move one.” I said, making sure to emphasize the fact that perhaps he’s talking a bit out of line. Before I have to kill someone.. What makes him think we wouldn’t get to him first? Ah, because he’s some sort of soldier, and we’re ‘farming folk’. How immature, and rude, can this guy get?

Jordan looked over at her.

"To be fair, Murdoch was the one who was attacked, he was only defending himself,but I agree, we should move on"

Murdoch has to smile a little at the girls obvious annoyance. Although annoying- what does he have to do to get on her good side? From what he's seen, it'll be pretty much impossible- it is a little funny how contrary some people can be; she obviously gets annoyed with his informality, but also with his over-formality. He supposes there are people like that, though; they just want an excuse to be grumpy. Oh well; they're probably all suspicious of outsiders, and pretty much ignorant of how it works out there, compared to him and his crew. A patronising thought, true, but a valid one; it all boils down to the fact that these folk have likely never left the planet- not for any length of time or to anywhere of note, anyway- and that he, his crew and especially his commanding officer have been all over the galaxy. Maybe that thought comes across in his attitude, and that's what's annoying her; that he thinks he knows more than her. Well, he does, and she will have to get over it. Whilst he has no doubt that they know more of their community than he does, and they know the local area and the crop lives and functions, how to run businesses in a small community and all the rest to a greater degree than he does, he knows far more about other stuff; for instance, what to do if a teammate gets hit by pulse rifle fire, or which alien mushrooms are dangerous, what to do in a warzone, which equipment to wear. He knows about eight alien dialects, knows the customs of a further 200, knows biological makeup of many common races, knows how to fly several hundred types of ship...he even know how to run a business on a world as cutthroat as Pylia, the capital of the Central Dominances...seriously, those vultures would swoop at the slightest opening. Racial and diplomatic alliances mean nothing; they will screw you over for a minor profit.

So yes, although she knows more about the immediate area, he knows far more about the universe as a whole. If they leave this planet- which, if his intelligence us correct, may be one of the options- they would be desperately ignorant. So maybe he is being arrogant...or maybe he's just being realistic. Well. Pessimistic. He's always preferred being pessimistic; if you know what the worst that could happen is, you can A) take steps to prepare for it, and B) only be pleasantly surprised.

He nods towards Jordan, seemingly ignorant of the girls displeasure. "I agree," he says, "We've spent far too much time...dallying." He offers the girl a big smile from within his helmet, and inclines his head for her to lead on. "After you, Ma'am." He keeps all sarcasm out of his voice, making it sound perfectly pleasant and respectful. If he can't win her over with courtesy, he'll annoy her with it. What is she going to say? 'I attacked him because he was too polite'?

OOC- I AM SO SORRY FOR THE WAIT.

Defending himself? Knock him out, and keep walking, or keep talking and ignoring him will make him leave. It's Brandon.. He's not trying to kill you, he's just being cocky. If they looked in his eyes and saw 'killer', perhaps they're not as bright as they seem to be. BUT, instead of getting into that.. Let's just leave. I feel like I'm equally delaying us now by not forcing them to move.

"Uh hu.." I muttered, mostly responding to the 'Ma'am', but also to the fact I'd rather mumble than start another conversation and stall us. So, he intends to be polite from now on.. What a joke. And he knows that, which is why he's probably saying it. I doubt highly either one of them cares about my opinions involving them, so the kissing my ass theory is dead. Whatever, I just want them to leave so I can get looking. "Tell me where you need to go now, so I can think of directions on our way to the Main. You'll get there a hell of a lot faster if I don't have to do it than." I asked, more like demanded, while turning and waiting for a response before I went back down to the markets.

Jordan really knew he shouldn't call her out on being demanding, but he honestly couldn't resist.

"First off your tone isn't going to make us leave any faster. We need to go to wherever sells ship parts, but if helping us out Is too much of a thorn in your side we can go our own way... Ma'am" he knew throwing in Ma'am sarcastically was a little overboard, but he was tired of her constant negativity against him and Murdoch.

Murdoch shakes his head a little at Jordans outburst. He was never the patient type, and he never has suffered what he perceives as bad manners for long. It is getting wearing, true- she acts as if Murdoch reacted in the wrong way to being attacked...but, again, that could just be a reason for her to be grumpy and suspicious- but not to the point that they should dignify or gratify her bad attitude with a response. The most infuriating thing they can do whilst maintaining plausible deniability is be polite and accommodating, and completely ignore her attempts to bait them. But there is something else as well...an urgency to get rid of them? Perhaps she has other business, or maybe...she wants to check out their crash site. That would explain her hostility- she doesn't believe that they've crashed- and her eagerness to get rid of them. She wants to go nose around. A theory, yes, but a good one? Maybe he should let the rest of the crew know that they may be getting a visitor soon.

He puts a hand on Jordans shoulder. "Peace, Jordan," he says calmly, "There is no call for aggression." He turns to the girl. "Ma'am, I apologise for my companions tone, but he spoke truly. We do require parts to aid in our ship repair, and then we shall be about our mission." True, every word. He never said they would leave, just that they would continue their mission...which is to investigate the colony and attempt to head off the bandit attack that is predicted; several colonies have been hit in the past month, all in a straight line, all pointing to this colony. If the pattern holds up, their lives could become a whole lot more interesting very soon.

I made it to my house and began to go ahead and start various chores tho keep my place tidy. Afterward, I went to my bed and decided to take a nap.

My tone? My tone can rise and change to whatever it feels like. They want directions; I’m going to need know what it is they want. I apologise for not sugar coating my request for that, but I don’t see acting kindly to people I dislike very rewarding. What would I gain by suddenly snapping into the helpful little villager? They’d be, or at least pretend to be, nicer? I’ve already got one of them faking that right now. This one? That thinks he can find where he needs to go faster than by my directions.. Him being nice to me would be embarrassing. I’ll help, just so they’ll leave, and that’s my only reason.

They probably still wonder why I dislike them so greatly to be this rude.. Which tells me most civilizations they’ve been to, assuming they have, have all acted in the most common way to hide the one thing they ALL, and I share; fear. I don’t think I’m above them for one moment deep down.. I act it because being hostile and conceited is how I cover the fact I’m terrified. Nearly everyone will just be gentle, welcoming and help these stranded people in any way possible.. But for the same reason. They want them, and whatever potential trouble they’ve brought with them to leave. That’s what people are afraid of. But, who wants to show their fear? No one. Soldiers showing up on the doorsteps of a quiet, boring colony where nothing happens.. How would you react?

So, I would ignore his comment, and the apology given to me by the other one. Stop arguing, snapping, and putting effort into my obvious annoyance towards them. I’ll just be averagely annoyed. “When we get to the Main, I’ll point you in a direction. Walk it straight, past the stalls you will pass and any other obstacles. The road will end at the end of the markets, and you’ll come to a stoned path, which you’ll follow until a branch going left appears. From there, Danny should be able to get you to the areas we hold all our mechanically parts. They don’t serve much use here, so they were moved farther out in order to create more room here. If the vegetation hasn’t grown out again, you should be able to see where you’re going after a couple steps of turning left onto that branch.” I began walking back down to the level of the market, knowing they’d be close behind. With any luck, it’d be pure silence until we got to the Main. However.. My luck never did like to show up when I needed it most.

Murdoch nods a little, gesturing for her to lead the way. He doesn't know the terrain, and it's far better to have a guide who would rather be rid of them soon; that way, they'll take the shortest route to get rid of them. He doesn't have anything to say, besides "Thanks," and the slight inclination of his head. He looks at Jordan, and gestures for him to go first.

Their voices grew quiet. They were gone. It was safe to come from the brush. They were headed into the market. I hummed lightly as I stumbled out of the brush, almost falling and hitting the dirt path below. I shook my head, getting my balance and looking around.

Their accusations had to have been right. They had crashed, and they were simply looking for parts. That meant they wouldn’t be looking around for her shop, which was in a completely different area as the mechanical district. I was located in the New District. I shook my head, closing my eyes a moment and rubbing them.

I was curious, and that might just kill this little kitty. I snorted, what was I talking about? I was being a fool. I took in a deep breath, shaking my head as I turned to walk down the same path they had walked away on. I could give the information to the news editor, and guess who would be getting more money for the shop then? This Human, right here! I smirked, shaking my head as I watched the sky a moment.

They were headed to the mechanical district; there was a shortcut through produce that would get me there before they got through the crowds. I hummed lightly, I wondered if the girl knew of such a cut. If she was really so annoyed with them, you would think she’d want to get them off her back as soon as possible. Of course, some people in the colony weren’t as smart as you wanted them to be.

ooc: I'm gonna wait for Jordan and Kristie, see if they return soon

In the meantime, I have started a new ranting blog! yay me ^_^ Please check it out! if you have anything at all to say, even if it's calling me a moron, post it up

I know I'm posting this in a couple of places, but I am desperate for this one not to die.

Ooc: let this RP die?!? The plot hasn't even picked up! Blasphemy I say!


Bic: Jordan found something curious. During his lovely conversation with the pissy girl he picked up trace movements on his motion tracker coming from a nearby bush. A colonist? If it was why was it in the bush? No, it was probably a small mammal, if they even have those on this planet. Jordan stopped walking and gazed at the sky, he just had a terrible feeling this day was about to get a whole lot worse. He could tell by the amount of chop in the sky, it could still be from their own crash, but either way they should get their mission done, and fast.

"Murdoch, call me paranoid, but I really think we should get this done fast, no more delays" he spoke in little over a whisper, so that only Murdoch could hear.

Murdoch rolls his eyes a little at Jordan's urgency; of course they need to get this done quickly, and of course he doesn't want any more delays. What does Jordan think? That he wants to stay here for a long time? He's doing his best to get moving, but he can't control what happens with the colonists, and it's the colonists slowing them down.
"Jordan," he says beneath his breath, "What do you think I'm trying to do? I can't very well control the entire colony, now can I? I'm going as fast as circumstances are allowing. Now cool your jets and please try and be a little friendlier. Your hostility towards the colonists will make them far less inclined to help us...clear?" Whilst said amicably enough, there is a certain amount of steel in his voice. He really needs Jordan to calm down, and do it soon.

"I understand sir, but it's not the colonists that concern me. I can't really explain, I just have a very strong feeling that we need to pick up the pase, nothing to get alarmed about, I just feel..." Jordan stopped mid sentence, what was he supposed to tell him? That he had a general bad feeling about this mission? No.

"understood sir" Jordan began to walk at a slightly faster pase, but nothing that would raise and attention.

Jordan had good intentions, if it came down to it Jordan would fight to the death rather than have a colonist killed, there was just something about this mission, his instincts told him it was going downhill fast.

I could hear chop bits of the men bickering behind me. Through the noise of everyone else around us, it was difficult to hear exactly what they were arguing about. I kept wondering if it was anything I should have heard.. Something important. However, if it was, or they thought it was, they can argue just the same in a whisper. Something I wouldn’t be able to hear at all in this; the markets. We’d finally moved on past the bottom of a hill, and into the crowds of our people. The majority ignored us as we went by; there’s too much for everyone to do, working or buying, for them to have time to pay close attention to whoever was walking past them. At first, I imagined the crowds would cause a problem with too many eyes glaring at the men, but it turned out to be a good thing after all. The odd glance from someone wasn’t a bother.

“You!” A womanly voice barked from my right, followed by a strong grip on my arm that pulled me off to the side. “Your Father’s looking for you, and he’s livid! Been shouting all day. Bothering customers it is!” Ah, Ellie. She’s an elder human who runs a clothing shop with her husband, and on occasions will open up a booth within the market areas when she needs a money boost. She has that ‘sweet old lady’ appearance to her, dressing in bright warming colours and usually smiling.. But she’s far from it. Nice, yes, but talk back enough and she’ll cut your tongue off.

Her attitude wasn’t something I needed right now. Yes, tell me my father is looking, but pulling me off to the side like I’m a child is unnecessary and embarrassing. It’s also put a stop in our walk, even if for a couple seconds, it’s still irritating.
“I’ll deal with it when I get back, thank you.” I pulled away lightly from her grip, making sure not to snap at the woman and rip it away. It would piss her off, and make it even more difficult to get away from her. I cut back into the moving crowd between stalls, in front of Danny and the men. “Quickly.” I snapped, but in a low toned voice, as if I was asking them to do it. Only a bit more until the Main..

Murdoch nods curtly, not answering verbally, as he follows Jordans quicker pace. Ok, he may have a point, but he knows why they're here; Jordan knows that there are bandits in the area, and that is all the threat there is. They're a threat, but nothing that should have him so antsy. He won't call Jordan paranoid, because on more than one occasion he has turned out to be correct and has actually saved their lives by being suspicious, but he will call him overly zealous in his suspicions sometimes. He's pessimistic, that's what he is.

He stops as the girl leading them is pulled to the side, into the crowd of people, and then reappears a moment later. He looks into the crowd where she appeared from and, before moving off again, sees the face of a particularly peeved-looking woman. Domestic troubles? Possibly...maybe the girl has been skivving something, or has failed to perform a task in time or something like that. No matter; it's none of their business, and they need to get to the scrap heap ASAP. He ignores the snap, and shoots Jordan a look that says "Leave it," before following the girl through the crowds and away from the older woman.

*cough*

Ooc: hears crickets in the distance...... Lol jk

Bic: Jordan sees the glare Murdoch shot at him, and as much as he doesn't want to, he stands down. Jordan has had enough of this girls attitude, he just hopes that her type is a small, small minority of the people on this planet. He would like nothing more than to just ditch her and find the shop on his own, but he knows that would just waste valuable time. As much as he hates her, the bottom line is that the mission comes first. He already snapped at her once, and letting personal feelings interfere again would definatley have consequences. For now he would just need to put up with her until they reach the shop.

"Here." I said bluntly, and loud to get it over everyone else. The Main was a lot easier to get to when you're in a rush. It normal takes me close to five minutes to get here on a good day. It taken up a minute.. Maybe two, but I doubt it. The rush of getting rid of them, and getting clear of the markets before either of my parents spotted me gave me a bit of a boost. At some point, I should have turned around to see if the men could keep up.. Oh well, they're behind me right now, so I guess they did.

"I said I would point you in a direction? Well, this is it." I pointed South-West, which was laid out by one of the many paths that channelled the markets. "Follow it, and then follow what I told you earlier. You'll be there in.. Close to 10 minutes, if you don't get lost. It's pretty basic though, shouldn't be too hard." The craving to make a smug comment touched my breath.. But I swallowed it. Figured now that they have the directions they want, they can snap back. It isn't as much fun when you don't hold anything over them. Meh, let them be on their way. Sooner they start walking, the sooner I can take off and poke around. Good thing I'm not a cat..

"WELL, I'd like to say this was fun, but I think there's been enough lies passed around the group today." I looked to the both of them, my head slightly titled to the right with a soft smirk on my face. They already knew I didn't trust them.. But it's always fun to remind them. I stood to the side, and held out my arm in the direction they would be going in, the smirk edging just a bit bigger.

Murdoch follows the girl finger, beginning to walk in the direction she's pointing. He's seen her smug smile, but she really has nothing to be smug about. She showed them the way; that is all. Yes, it gave her a certain amount of leverage over them, but to be honest...his initial impression of her isn't positive. She's a vain, selfish, vindictive little girl who enjoys power, probably because she never gets any herself, so every little morsel of control she can snatch is like a feast for her, and she dines on it. She assumes she is better than everyone else, purely because she is her. She always feels the need to snap and make snide comments, but from what he's seen, only when they have something to lose by retaliating. She's nothing but a spoiled little girl whose opinion of herself far exceeds her actual worth. So that little smug smile she's giving them? Completely pointless. She's worthless. Now, he isn't saying that he's the best, but on conduct alone, he has the moral highground; he hasn't actually lied at all during his time here. He's been straight-up honest about the fact that they can't share details, and he's been nothing but polite. He has no doubt that out there, in the universe, she would be lost and without allies due to her attitude and her arrogance. In fact, given her current attitude, if she went to one of the slightly rougher parts of the planets- in the slums, for instance- she would probably be beaten up if not killed for her mouth. That fact isn't a pleasant one, but it's a fact.

So instead of making a comment, like any other person might feel the need to do in this situation, he simply walks past her, ignoring the provocative comment completely. But...he can't leave her like that, can he? No, it would be downright rude to leave her without advice, wouldn't it? It would be downright criminal to not at least try to point her in the right direction, as payment for her doing the same, wouldn't it? He knows this is just twisted reasoning to say something back, but hey...he's put up with a lot, and if he says this, then Jordan won't take offence and say something worse.
Turning around as he walks, he calls out, "Oh, and Ma'am," to get her attention. When she looks at him, he smiles politely and says, "Just remember...Prejudices are what fools use for reason," before turning and disappearing into the crowd, gesturing for Jordan to follow him.

But she will probably be heading off to investigate the crash site now...and that, he cannot allow. He doesn't want that girl anywhere near the ship, or Tarya. Not because she'd damage it or offend Tarya, but because Tarya would wipe that smug smile off of that face mercilessly, and not even that girl deserves a laying into that horrific.
He opens a comms channel to the ship, and after a couple of moments, Tarya answers. "Yes sir?"
"Can't The Dwarves answer for once?" He says lightly,
"No, they can't reach. Besides, I have them outside doing external repairs and rewiring. Might go faster if we get some parts."
"Working on it. Listen, you may have company soon. A local who has proven to be...problematic in her attitude. Keep her away from the interior of the ship, and if you can, get the cloak up and running."
"That may be difficult, sir...activating the cloak will set back repairs quite a bit,"
"If you can do it safely, activate the cloak. That's an order."
"Yes sir,"
He nods, even though she can't see it, and switches off the commlink. He looks at Jordan. "We should be at the scrapyard in a few minutes. Well done for not shooting her, by the way," he says wryly.

Jordan chuckles

"Shoot her? It took every ounce of strength in me not to blow her up let alone shoot her" Jordan said jokingly.

"Now we can make progress" Jordan said. He knew she did help them out, but her attitude made him want to cut off her head. Either way he was glad to be rid of her.

Murdoch grimaces a little; that kind of language is probably not best used in a crowded area, whether they're armed or not. "Maybe best to save that kind of joke until we're in private, Jordan," he says seriously, "we don't want any of the locals getting the wrong idea, now do we?" He weaves around a few people who seem to have been attempting trans-dimensional phazing....simply put, they attempted to walk through him. Apparently strange garb and a gun only gets you a curious look in the market district; it's so packed that even Jordan and Murdoch have to struggle through. Even were there people trying to clear paths for them, there'd be nowhere to go to clear the space.
"We need to grab whatever scrap we can use, and then get back to the ship. I have a feeling that the girl is going to be visiting it some time soon; from what I can tell, she just can't stand someone else knowing something that she doesn't," Murdoch pauses for a moment, "That's a point, actually...do you think they take Credits here, or do they have their own currency?" Most planets do deal in Credits nowadays to make universal trade easier, but rely on their own currency. It was concluded a long time ago that whilst one universal currency did make sense in theory, there were too many problems; massive inflation if something became harder to get, easier counterfeiting- with only one currency system to fool and a universe of people trying, someone was going to get it eventually- and a planetary economy that could easily be destroyed if a few planets hit hard economic times. What with politicians still being as corrupt as ever, and with governments and political unions really looking out for themselves, the aid given to failing economies would be minimal, but some economies have failed over the years that no amount of help would save. Take Omicron III: In a matter of years, the entire economy collapsed and had it been linked to the rest of the universe strongly, countless worlds could have followed. So what was decided was that they would deal in credits as a universal trade currency, but keep in place a currency unique to each star system. Inter-trade would be with that currency, which could be converted to any other currency for trips to other systems, or credits for easier use over a wider area or business transactions, which could then be re-converted. So if an economy collapsed, although other planets would feel it, they weren't as closely linked and could use their own currency directly converted to another currency. Credits just makes business transactions simpler.
"I'm sure it will be fine, but if they don't take credits, then we may be in trouble..." The outer systems, however, rarely have one currency, due to their lack of central government, the planets generally ruling themselves.


ooc:

Eljordo, why aren't you responding to my messages?

Jordan followed Murdoch along the path to the shop. My god it was crowded. Jordan took heed to what Murdoch said, it was true. If they dont take credits, they're in trouble.

"well let's hope they take credits, we don't exactly have a goat to barter off" Jordan said

The backwards path had become more crowded since the last time I had come through. I was a young girl back then though, so it wasn’t hard to say that with time came what I had as obstacles. Apparently shopkeepers had used the back alley more as a break place than anything else. Electronic pipe smoke filled the air, and carrier boxes littered the ground. In one place, it was so hard to maneuver that the boxes seemed to make more of a wall. I had snagged my cloak on a bit of broken wood, and now a small hole had appeared to have gotten bigger from an earlier occurrence.

It had taken me only a few minutes longer than usual to make it down the market place alleyway system, and toward the scrap yard. I assumed by their conversation earlier that’s what they were headed to. If they weren’t, I had been taking myself in the wrong direction this whole time.

I took a deep breath as I walked out into the street once again. It was filled with races from corner to corner it seemed. I scanned the crowed as I walked toward my destination. The minor setback in the back alleys would make both our transits on about the same schedule. I saw what I thought was their pair ahead. Most would be cutting off soon. A lot didn’t care about the scrap yard. Only the few homeless or scavengers came out here. Most of them were picked up by colony security before anything could be taken without payment.

Just as planned, the crowd started to thin out a bit. Not much, just enough where you to be able to notice if you had been paying attention to the people around you. Most of these people didn’t though, and it was no big deal if they didn’t. It wasn’t like you might get pick pocketed. No, that wasn’t very common, but it still happened. Mostly kids though, and they were bad at it. Besides if they could lift anything off you it was your colony card, and you had to have a key code to be able to use it anyway.

The pair that seemed to stick out to me kept in their path. I nodded to myself, hurrying along through the many others around me. Being smaller had always been an advantage in the colony, especially in rising population.

Murdoch tuts theatrically at that. "I'm not sure whether to laugh at the joke or scold you for the racism!" He says sarcastically, weaving past another colonist who appeared to be trying to walk through him, "I'm sure we could make some kind of bargain if that's the case. Diplomacy is always worth a try, even if it doesn't work!"