Looks like this will be a weekly thing

[forcegalactic]

[This whole week has been awful. This whole experience has been awful. Mordecai wants to go straight to his room and deal with his frustrations, but that's not what a mayor does. A mayor takes charge, a mayor fixes what's wrong, a mayor makes things better. Even if he can't do everything on his own, he's has to do something.

Two hours after the end of the trial, the living will find another note slipped underneath their doors.]

There's cookies in the kitchen. The dining room is ready for anyone who needs a quiet place to talk it out. I'll be in the bar if you need a drink, alcoholic or something more appropriate for the underage crowd.

-Mordecai Benmont Jiminy

[There's a pile of warm chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen. Two more candles are lit at the memorial - one for the victim, one for the culprit - and Mordecai has left a pile of blankets from the storage room on one of the dining room tables.]

Comments

[forcegalactic]

Naw, but he's enough of a busybody to get all antsy about this. Heck, his parents are in the military; they'd do somethin'!

[ninehundredlives]

[Susan shakes her head.]

Your police are very different from ours.

[forcegalactic]

How do you mean?

[ninehundredlives]

I called them once, after some psychopaths kidnapped me and locked me in their basement? They called me a loony. Wouldn't send any help at all.

[wow why is susan such a bitter person obviously there's no reasons]

[forcegalactic]

[dude that kind of thing happens all the time in space]

...You got some pretty terrible lawman in your town.

[ninehundredlives]

...yes. We have.

[forcegalactic]

And you're from Earth, right? I thought they'd do a better job at keepin' the peace than on Mars, but seems like our Marshal's a special exception when it comes to lookin' after the people.

[He's just one man, and he always has the safety of the town on his mind. What kind of place lets lazy people into the police?]

You from a small town on Earth?

[ninehundredlives]

...I'm from London.

[Maybe he doesn't know what that is?] There's probably something like eight million people there.

[forcegalactic]

Yeah, London's still the capital of England in 3012. [And 3015, if that's the year is actually is from.] Never been there myself, but I've seen videos.

I'd think that a large city woulda had more cops on duty, make it easier to catch criminals.

[ninehundredlives]

I'm sure there were plenty on duty. That doesn't make them competent.

[forcegalactic]

...Don't they got standards?

[ninehundredlives]

Apparently not. The man was an idiot - I spent damn near twenty minutes trying to convince him to send someone! Those people could have come and found me at any time? It's not as if they were just letting me make phone calls whenever I pleased!

[forcegalactic]

I cannot believe that. How could a group devoted to preventin' trouble let it happen like that? London's got one heckuva problem with it's government if it can't keep its law force in line!

...Well, now I'm even more fired up to get back to mayorin' work when I come home.

[ninehundredlives]

It sounds like you don't have quite as much work to do in that department, at least. I'm not even sure there needs to be a Marshal if you're just flying around using the Force on things.

[forcegalactic]

Force Galactic.

[Gotta keep things straight.]

And I don't recall ever flyin'. Besides, my wife don't allow me to use it in town. Apparently. Don't know why. [There's too much empty space between Evil Jim killing everyone and him being mayor to understand what the hell is going on.]

Also, I can't be in more than one place at a time. As a barkeep and mayor, and have plenty of problems to deal with myself. The Marshal knows a lot more about arrestin' folks than I do, so I leave that part to him and whoever wants to help. He's got a Martian and a vigilante on his side; and now town's got a sheriff. We should be fine.

[ninehundredlives]

It sounds too useful to worry about where you use it.

[But you know what, she doesn't want to get invested in any of that.] What do Martians look like?

[forcegalactic]

Well, if my wife tells me not to do somethin', it might be due to my usin' it would lead her to worry, which I do not want. Plus, I respect her wishes, as any decent husband such as myself should.

[But marriage advice can some later.]

The ones I know? Blue, but the Martians that invaded Earth a thousand years ago were grey. Never seen any of those kinds around. They kinda look like two-legged bugs with huge antennae. They apparently don't have emotions, accordin' to what I'm told, but I reckon it's more that they like stickin' to logic and feelin's are too messy for 'em.

What else? Right, Croach has a lotta senses that are stronger than hours. Can practically detect anythin', hear just about anythin' that's goin' on. And like I mentioned, they got nano in their bodies that let 'em regenerate when they get hurt.

[ninehundredlives]

[That marriage would probably go for a lot on the Internet]

They sound strong. Nice of them to let you live on their planet. [HA HA HA she knows that's not how these things generally work]

[forcegalactic]

Well, uh.

[Yeah...doesn't happen like that.]

They haven't bothered us too much in recent years, no, so long as we don't bother them, but there have been some fights when I was a kid. They, uh, live in their own tribes while we got our town, so...ain't anythin' bad so long as we stay away from each other.

[...There may have been a bit of a war going on before humans could settle on Mars, but let's not get into that.]

[ninehundredlives]

[It's not as if Susan's people weren't the kings of shitty colonialism]

That could be worse, I guess. What did you all want to go to Mars for anyway?

[forcegalactic]

[It's not like Britain would do a better job than America if they went to Mars.]

Personally? It's 'cause my family wanted to find someplace better to live. I been to Earth a few times in my life, but Mars is more of my home.

It's like askin' why anyone moves somewhere new. Maybe there ain't any affordable housin'. There's more job opportunities there. We need to grow more food. It's better for Mars-Earth relationships if we live close to each other.

We also have the Moon, so why not somewhere farther? Plenty of aliens live off their home planet, and we humans have to do the same.

[ninehundredlives]

[Probably worse, somehow]

That's not really what I meant. It's not exactly the most hospitable environment? I can see the Moon, at least it's close enough that someone might get up and help you if whatever you live in malfunctioned.

[forcegalactic]

Well, about the Moon...it ain't the best place no more. The folks up there wanted to be independent from Earth about seventy years ago, and the Earth government made 'em pay for that by forcin' several youth from each district to participate in the Deathletics each year. Only one kid survives.

Last time I recall, the sport was Punishment Soccer. They broadcast the whole thing across the galaxy for some reason, and I ain't seen any successful overthrow of it, Earth or Moon.

[And the majority of other species do not give a damn about human politics. They must be laughing at the whole ordeal.]

...When I think about it, livin' in our own, self-governing' place on Mars is a safe bet.

[ninehundredlives]

...that's terrible!

[YOU CAN'T JUST SAY THINGS LIKE THAT]

[forcegalactic]

But what can you do against the whole government of Earth?! Even if we did manage to make an army, we'd have to make sure Earth won't do the same thing again, then institute a new government on the Moon, and not risk havin' your kids thrown into those games - which I don't have, but there are plenty of kids on Mars.

...I wish we could all do somethin'. Those kids deserved better.