[Start]

(Sigh) Go on, ask it.

#Ask what? {AskWhat}

#What are Offworld doing here? {DoingHere}
#So I hear you guys don't like to kill. {Kill}
#Don't you guys torture people? {Torture}
#Are you smoking? {Smoking}
#Why'd you leave Offworld? {Leave}

[Leave]
Politics.

#I hear that. {Start}

#Can you elaborate? {Elaborate}

[Elaborate]
No.

#OK. {Start}
#Why? {WhyNo}

[WhyNo]
Politics.

#OK. {Start}

[DoingHere]
Security. We're trying to keep the peace.
=We've got no interest in the acid, but as the nearest planet this is legally our
space, and we won't stand for killing in our space.
# You still say 'we'. {We}
#(Something else) {Start}

[We]
They. Hm.
# Did they kick you out? {KickOut}
#(Something else) {Start}

[KickOut]
It was politics.
# Did you get FIRED? {Fired}
#(Something else) {Start}

[Fired]
I think you've had enough.
# I'm not drinking. {NotDrink}
#(Something else) {Start}

[NotDrink]
I meant talking.
#(Something else) {Start}

[AskWhat]
You don't have some dumb question about Offworld policies?

# Oh, good point, I do. {Start}

# Actually no, it was nothing like that. {Start}
[Kill]
Do you?
#It hasn't come up. {OKThen}
#I know it's not the right answer here but actually sometimes yes? {YesKill}
#No, I guess not. {OKThen}

[YesKill]
Then you're probably not going to get far trying to understand Offworld.

#But you NEVER kill? {NeverKill}

#(Something else) {Start}

[OKThen]
OK then.

#But you NEVER kill? {NeverKill}

#(Something else) {Start}

[NeverKill]
No.

#What if it's life or death? {LifeOrDeath}

#Why not? {WhyNotKill}

[WhyNotKill]
Life isn't yours to take. When you kill someone, you override every choice they
were ever going to make, all the good they could ever do. It's an irreversible loss
of unknowable magnitude.

#But it's OK to break their arms? {OKToBreak}

#What if it's life or death? {LifeOrDeath}
#(Something else) {Start}

[OKToBreak]
That's fine, yes.

#What if it's life or death? {LifeOrDeath}

#(Something else) {Start}

[LifeOrDeath]
It's always life or death.

# OK but what if it's you or them? {1}

#(Something else) {Start}

[1]
Concussive rounds.
# OK but what if you don't have any concussive rounds. {2}
# (Something else) {Start}
[2]
Shockhammer.
# OK but what if you don't have that. {3}
# (Something else) {Start}
[3]
Fists.
# OK but what if they're armoured? {4}
# (Something else) {Start}
[4]
What do I have?
# A lethal, armour piercing gun. {5}
# (Something else) {Start}
[5]
What do they have?
# A lethal, armour piercing gun. {6}
# (Something else) {Start}
[6]
Shoot them in the hand.
# You don't have line of sight to their hand. {7}
# (Something else) {Start}
[7]
Shoot the gun.
# You don't have line of sight to their gun. {8}
# (Something else) {Start}
[8]
Then they can't shoot me and I'm fine.
# Their gun can shoot round corners. {9}
# (Something else) {Start}
[9]
And mine can't?
# No. {10}
# (Something else) {Start}
[10]
Then I couldn't kill them anyway.
# OK your gun can fire round corners but it auto-targets their head. {11}
# (Something else) {Start}
[11]
Why would I have that?
# I don't know, but you do. {12}
# (Something else) {Start}
[12]
This is the worst game I've ever played.
# But what would you do? {13}
# (Something else) {Start}
[13]
Run.
# It's a dead end. {14}
# (Something else) {Start}
[14]
No, at them.
# They're going to shoot you. {15}
# (Something else) {Start}
[15]
So be it.
# So you'd sacrifice your life to avoid taking theirs. {16}
# (Something else) {Start}
[16]
Yes.
# OK! You couldn't have said that 15 questions ago? {17}
# (Something else) {Start}
[17]
But look how contrived that had to get.
=You offworlders are so obsessed with these kill-or-be-killed dilemmas, but they
just don't come up.
=We DO have concussive rounds. They stop you just as fast as bullets.
=The choice that comes up is what you take to a fight, and you people keep choosing
to kill.
# So you NEVER kill? {NeverAgain}
# (Something else) {Start}

[NeverAgain]
Honestly, I'm starting to consider it.
# (Something else) {Start}

[Smoking]
So you're a detective.
# How does that fit with preserving life at all costs? {SmokeFit}

[SmokeFit]
Fine?
# Don't those things kill you? {SmokeKill}

[SmokeKill]
No. I don't know what they smoke where you're from, but it's probably not this.
# What's this? {WhatSmoke}
# Why not? {WhyNotSmoke}
# (Something else) {Start}

[WhatSmoke]
It's a stimulant.
# So it's not to relax? {SmokeRelax}
# (Something else) {Start}

[SmokeRelax]
It's to relax less.
# You're in a bar and you want to relax less? {RelaxLess}
# (Something else) {Start}

[RelaxLess]
I'm chief of security, I always want to relax less.
# You're kind of hardcore, aren't you? {Hardcore}
# I thought you were a bartender. {Bartender}
# (Something else) {Start}

[Bartender]
That's a useful misconception.
# (Something else) {Start}

[Hardcore]
We don't have that word.
# That's an incredibly hardcore answer. {HardcoreAnswer}

[HardcoreAnswer]
I wouldn't know.
# (Something else) {Start}

[WhyNotSmoke]
I doubt you can afford it.
# (Something else) {Start}

[Torture]
No.
# I heard you guys torture people. {a}

[a]
You're going to find people use that word for whatever they don't condone, but what
we all condone is very different.
# And you condone inflicting pain to get information? {b}

[b]
Life-saving information? Yes. Most cultures do, just to different extents.
# Is this gonna be flimsy relativism all the way down or do you actually want to
get into this? {c}

[c]
With you?
# Yes. {d}
# Nevermind. {Start}

[d]
What was the other option?
# Come on. {TortureHub}
# Nevermind. {Start}

[TortureHub]
Yes: we will inflict pain to save a life. Every time. Any amount.

# Then how are you better than your enemies? {Enemies}

# Torture doesn't work. {DoesntWork}
# Torture would be wrong even if it did work. {AlwaysWrong}
# What if you have the wrong person? {WrongPerson}
# (Something else entirely) {Start}

[Enemies]
We're doing it... I mean I just said this, but we're doing it to save a life.
= We're NOT killing, and ARE saving lives, they ARE killing, and NOT saving lives,
AND inflicting pain.
= Is this still a baffling muddle of shades of grey to you?

# Actually yes. {YesGrey}

# I just think when you're the good guys, there's a line you don't cross. {Cross}
# (Something else) {TortureHub}

[YesGrey]
Then I can't help you.
# (Something else) {TortureHub}

[Cross]
We agree. Ours is killing.
# (Something else) {TortureHub}

[DoesntWork]
You're right, it's not reliable. No interrogation is.
=You don't use it when you're asking which wire to cut. You use it when you're
asking where the bomb is.
# (Something else) {TortureHub}

[AlwaysWrong]
Because pain is worse than death?

# Yes. {CultureDifference}
# No. {PainNotWorse}
# It can be. {ItCanBe}
# Because it can be abused. {Abused}
[PainNotWorse]
OK then.
# (Something else) {TortureHub}

[Abused]
All power can be abused. If we give it up for that, we get ruled by abusers.
=We've seen it happen on our world, again and again.
# Sure, but some powers are more serious than others. {MoreSerious}
# (Something else) {TortureHub}

[MoreSerious]
Is inflicting pain more serious than killing?
# Yes. {CultureDifference}
# No. {PainNotWorse}
# It can be. {ItCanBe}

[ItCanBe]
I don't agree.
# (Something else) {TortureHub}

[CultureDifference]
Then we have the kind of cultural difference a conversation is never going to
bridge.
=I sound like a monster to you, you sound like a monster to me.
# You don't sound like a monster to me. {NoMonster}
# (Something else) {TortureHub}

[NoMonster]
Oh. Awkward.
# (Something else) {TortureHub}

[WrongPerson]
That's what we keep asking cultures who kill. All force is wrong when you're wrong.
Ours doesn't leave anyone dead.
# But that makes you quicker to use it. {Quicker}
# (Something else) {TortureHub}

[Quicker]
You know what?
=There's a politic answer to this my CO would give to outsiders, about how
seriously we take it, but no. It does. We are. I am.
=I will beat twenty people unconscious if it stops one death.
=I will break all of your fingers if I think one of them's going to pull a trigger.
=I'll do worse, for less.
=Pain ends. Death doesn't. That's the end of it for me, for us. I'm not here to
make my culture palatable to you, so if you don't like it finish your drink and
leave me the hell alone.

# OK. (Leave) {End}

# That's not my drink. {Drink}
# (Something else) {TortureHub}

[Drink]
Oh. I thought that was your drink.
# It's not. {NoDrink}
# (Something else) {TortureHub}

[NoDrink]
Oh.
# (Something else) {TortureHub}