Shore Leave!

[meat_mooks]

||Attention, Attention. All personnel please report to the Observation Deck. Attention, Attention. All personnel please report to the Observation Deck. Attention, Attention, all personnel

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[expendable_mind]

"Never go to a merchant planet unprepared." Was all the tall man in the combat suit said, his visor up as he let out a long cloud of smoke.

"Good, about damn time I was running out of smokes." - he said with a wide grin.

"Hope this place ain' as bad as the merchant planets back near the core planets or this might get ugly..."

[zouichi]

"Lucky for you," Zouichi said, coming up behind Splicer. Still smoking like a chimney, eh? "I'm surprised you haven't run out of those already."

[expendable_mind]

"Believe me.... It's taken a great deal of willpower not to. Been rationing them as best I could... Fairly sure I'd go insane without them." Not that he already wasn't mind you.

[zouichi]

Zouichi raised an eyebrow. Actually, that was more willpower than he'd given Splicer credit for. "Then I suppose it's a good thing we stopped here before you had to find out where the limits of the Sensoriums might be."

After all, illusionary cigarettes probably wouldn't have quite the same effect as real ones.

"Planning on acquiring anything else?"

[expendable_mind]

"Could use some new games on my lappy. Done the ones I got over and over, and considering we're in... wherever the hell we are, I can't access any of my mmo's... So I'm way overdue some new titles."

He paused to think, "I could stock up on some real food. Non-perishables and such. Don't think I'll last on that stuff long. I'm glad we get to spend as we please this shore leave."

[zouichi]

Zouichi blinked. "You didn't strike me as one for video games."

Maybe secretly setting fire to things just to watch them burn. But not video games.

"I've been told that the food aboard the ship leaves something to be desired. One can only hope that there'll be greater variety on the planet." He paused. "There may be information to be had, as well -- corroborating evidence of the Ohm's advances on other worlds, perhaps."

[expendable_mind]

He can do that too!

"Yeah well, can't be all work all the time. Don't think I'd cope well with that." He chuckled a bit with a shrug.

"Or we get assaulted while on the planet. Either way it's bound to be an enlightening experience I am sure."

[zouichi]

"Assaulted on the planet? You'd think a merchant planet would have considerable defenses against their customers being attacked -- bad for business if everyone who wants to buy your wares is too afraid to show up."

He actually didn't think he'd ever seen Splicer working. Unless smoking profusely and watching people was work.

[expendable_mind]

"That's the thing about conflict and such. Authority gets melee weapons, the opposition gets guns, authority gets bigger guns, opposition gets armor, authority gets tanks, opposition gets nukes. There'll never be a perfectly safe area as long as someone wants what they have, it's a constant war of 'one-upping'." His tone was a bit more serious, as if he had experience in the subject, unpleasant as that may be.

[zouichi]

"Hmm. But no one wins if a place of commerce is destroyed. After all, everyone needs a place to buy those weapons. Attacking the sellers would eliminate your supply."

He frowned a little, looking at Splicer a little more carefully. "So you've experienced arms races for yourself? I can't say I'm surprised, since they're rather common, even in the history of my Earth."

[expendable_mind]

"Some people aren't right in da head you know? They don' tend to think things through." He'd know that all too well.

"Yeah, it's a sad side effect of progress."