[voice]

[matchmyreach]

[No intro today, no small talk. Garrus sounds much more worn than usual, maybe a little frustrated - he sighs, low and long, and then addresses the comm.I'm...curious. About what the people of the City think about the legal system we have in place here. I came from a time where it was perfectly legal and totally acceptable to lock away criminals in

Comments

[spiritgun_punk]

I dunno. Back home, I wasn't chasing down demons just to stick 'em in prison, you know? They got sent back to the Demon World.

I guess here we just gotta track them down all over again.

[matchmyreach]

It'd be easier if we could operate on the same principles. Just repeatedly hunting them down, seeing them get loose, hunting them down again -- it's a waste of resources, money, and human lives.

There's a sane and permanent alternative out there, somewhere. We just have to find it.

[spiritgun_punk]

We gotta figure out a way to hold them, I guess. Or a way to make them harmless.

I'd say a way to send them back to wherever the hell they came from, but if we figured that out, you know, we could all just go home.

[matchmyreach]

Then we wouldn't give a damn about this place anyway, would we? Maybe it'd be better without us. Leave the citizens alone, no clown-themed psychopaths or eccentric transvestite chainsaw killers terrorizing them. This city is bizarre sometimes. If I'd remember this when I get back, not even Shepard would believe me.

permavoice

[justahiccup]

Space? You mean like in the stars? Seriously?

We don't really have a "legal system" or anything like that where I'm from. If you're bad, you get punished, and that's how it works. That's what you're talking about, right?

permavideo

[matchmyreach]

I come from a couple centuries ahead of current time - humanity is in space by then. Though my race had been exploring space longer.

[A switch to video, just to show his point - he gives a small and friendly, if not a little awkward wave. Lolalien.]

Yes. That's...refreshingly simple. No politics getting in the way of things?

[Voice]

[soultospare]

...but they'd need to leave the space station to do the labor, right?

Couldn't they just escape then? Doesn't seem like it'd be that hard. Unless they had a parole officer following them around or an exploding collar on their neck or something.

[Voice]

[matchmyreach]

They were sold off - if you bought a Purgatory prisoner, they would be delivered to you. And you could do whatever you wanted with them, depending on whether or not you were within space guarded under slavery laws.

They could. They weren't Purgatory's problem anymore. Depends on whether the owner put any physical or mental restraints into effect, or at least kept an eye on their purchase. Some people paid thousands just to torture these criminals to death for what they'd done to loved ones.

Another reason why ending up on the Purgatory wasn't the best thing to have happen to you.

[Voice]

[soultospare]

Oh god...

You don't think that's actually better than what we have now, do you?

[Voice]

[matchmyreach]

I never said I wanted to put that into action here. The last thing I want to do is recreate something as sleazy and under the table as how anything in the Terminus system operated. We need a system that's...newer, better. Not Purgatory.

[onlyoneflaw]

What if they were innocent of the crimes they were being accused of?

[matchmyreach]

Modern-day citizens or Purgatory prisoners?

[onlyoneflaw]

Purgatory prisoners. It seems like such a final thing to do to someone.

[matchmyreach]

Well...they were legally guilty, unwanted by their home planets, and set to be sold as slaves to people who either wanted free slave labor or wanted a scape goat to torture to death for some percieved wrong or for the hell of it.

[Either a grim smile or just a grimace.]

What do you think happened to the innocent? They were worth just as much as if they had been guilty. Money doesn't discriminate, and neither did the Warden.

[Voice]

[newbvampire]

That's awful. How could they do that?

I know the system here isn't perfect. There are a lot of people who are too dangerous to keep locked up, but we don't have a choice. If we didn't lock them up they'd just come back.

[Voice]

[matchmyreach]

It's...in the Terminus system. The sector's lawless, full of mercenaries and out of Alliance control. People do whatever they have enough money to fund there, however many palms they can grease to get what they want. And nobody's petitioning to have mass murderers given equal rights anyway - that sort of thing just doesn't happen. Maybe in this era, but not mine.

Locking them up is a given. But maybe we should do something to either hamper their ability to escape or possibly keep them somewhere where it would be extremely difficult for them to get loose.

[Whether or not Garrus just suggested crippling imPort felons and keeping them locked away in remote dungeons is up for speculation.]

[Voice]

[newbvampire]

If it's that bad why hasn't anything been done about it?

Even if we chained them to the wall they have friends that would still bust them out. What we really need to do is find some way of keeping the teleporters out of the prison.

[Voice]

[matchmyreach]

Politicians - they're only interested in what they see, what bothers them. If it can't start a war and it doesn't make anyone important too uncomfortable, they don't give a damn about it.

[An uncomfortable pause. He's toying with his omni-tool, looking for anything that might work.]

...Give me some time. I think I just might have something for that.