Chapter 20 : Mars Bazaar

Location : East Eagle University, Eagle City, Meridiani Planum, Mars
Era by Mars Calendar : Sol Solis 15th Kanya MY183
Era by Earth Calendar : Thursday 16th March 2299CE

<Move! Get out of the landing zone, > sent Lucia. Mark hurried toward Lucia. <The Manties are definitely not happy to see us, > she observed.

<How can you tell?> asked Mark. The Manties' faces looked expressionless to him. He looked around at the brightly colored market. Each stall was marked off by brightly colored fabrics with outlandish patterns. The Manties were brightly patterned as well, though most of the designs seemed to incorporate some kind of simple geometric shape.

<Practice. They are still human, you know. There is definitely something going on. Since we entered the node network I have not been able to contact the city. So far I have tried 19 different nodes and since we are no longer in Yellow Square territory, there is more than just that franchise involved, > sent Lucia.

She made a beeline for a stall selling fabric, buying a shoulder bag and some gossamer nano-fabric? In the next stall she brought various silver cylinders that his Tarka said contained O2, nutrients and water. <I left a series of nodes along our back trail. I am sending asynchronous messages though them to some of my first-wave contacts. Hopefully someone will tell me what is going on, > sent Lucia.

<Whats with all the purchases?> asked Mark.

<I am going to try to Macgyver something together to fix our communication problem.>

<How do you know about Macgyver?>

<I grew up with you showing me weird ancient screeners. I remember this one anime, you introduced me to, from 2056 called Rock Girls, about a musical group that traveled around the galaxy solving problems, using an antique musical style, that was heavy on percussion with a prominent backbeat. I loved that show.> sent Lucia.

They wondered through the bazaar. Various stalls held sculptures, tools, boxes, harnesses, even a foldable lightweight Mars-mobile. Some of the stalls were airy things of nano-fabric, others were carved into the sponge.

<Why didn't you tell me about this before?>

<Because I was afraid that it would change things between us.> Lucia bought a cylindrical container from a stall filled with plastic shelves full of knickknacks.

<You should have trusted me.> sent Mark.

<I do as far as it goes. Have you seen any Areos like us?>

<No.>

<Nether have I. When I was there three months ago there was at least a dozen or so, still fairly rare, but now its XMEET style bodies only. Let's find a game of chance, > suggested Lucia as she picked out a laser cutter from a stall table and paid the owner for it, then she picked up a nano-sewing kit and bought that.

<Why?>

<Because I need to wait for a little while, until I get replies back from my queries, and I don't want the Manties asking themselves why are we loitering, > replied Lucia.

Lucia led them to rectangular opening. A big red Manty with a green eight pointed star on his shoulder barred their way. <We don't want no stinking Earthers here, > sent the Manty.

Name: Roland 'Lanny' Janko Mendelsohn
Career: Business Owner
Age: 38 (71 EY)
Gender: Male
Sexually: Hetrosexual
Marital Status: Married
Spouse: Benedikta Mendelsohn

<'All are to be treated equally without fear or favour.' That's from the University's charter. Do I have to report you to the University's board?> asked Lucia.

<The board are all Martian's true, they don't want no stinking Earthers either.>

<All this fuss about what decade you arrived on Mars. Aren't we all the same after you strip away the bio-mech?>

<I was born on Mars.>

<So was Kiro there. In fact Kiro is third generation mars-born. On the other hand your Jeddak is Earth-born. Wolfgang O'Boyle is still Jeddak of the Green Octogram franchise isn't he? He migrated to Mars in MY101. What makes a Mars-born man an Earther and an Earth-born man a Martian? It doesn't make much sense to me.> asked Lucia.

<You Earthers left us to die. We made Mars ours though our blood, sweat and tears, then you try and steal it from us.>

<I'm just a ground thumper. Unless I am mistaken neither of us has a voice in our respective Jeddak's councils, so perhaps we can avoid discussion of politics. I have here something that is as Martian as anything else and is welcome anywhere.> Lucia held out the kind of chip she tended to use for untraceable cryptocurrency.

Mark must have been getting better at reading Manty body language because he could tell the red Manty did a double take.

<Being a surveyor must pay more than I thought, > remarked the red Manty.

<Not as such, but if you discover a few ore bodies, the bonuses and royalties can add up. I am looking for a high stakes Slash game.>

<If you cause any trouble I will throw you out of there so fast that your head will still be spinning Sol Saturni. I will take that to cashier and get you your chips. Mike escort these 'people' to the top Level Slash table.>

A green Manty with an orange triangle symbol on his chest appeared and led them into the deeper recesses of the cave. They entered a chamber with five Manties seated at a table playing cards with chips. A yellow Manty with a chartreuse octagon fetched two chairs and placed them at the table while a pale pink Manty with a rose kite symbol set down a tray of chips in front of the empty chairs.

<Are the Earthers invading our slash tables now? Do we have to put up with this?> One of seated Manties (a Green Manty with a yellowish orange axe symbol on her chest) objected as Lucia sat down.

Name: Ornella 'Nell' Amalia Waterman
Career: Jeddara (Queen / CEO / Leader) of the Amber Tomahawk franchise
Age: 89 (167 EY)
Gender: Female
Sexually: Hetrosexual
Marital Status: Married
Spouse: Yianni Waterman

<They certainly seem to have the table minimum and then some, > broadcast a white Manty with an orange triangle on his cheek.

Name: Antonijo 'Tony' Davey Barends
Career: Jeddak (King / CEO / Leader) of the Orange Triangle franchise
Age: 91 (171 EY)
Gender: Male
Sexually: Hetrosexual
Marital Status: Widower

<I am tired of you always taking their side. You are far too friendly with that Kunasada calot, > broadcasted a black Manty with a greenish brown half circle with two bites out of it decorating his shoulder.

Name: Gabriel 'Gabe' Jérôme Robertson
Career: Jeddak of the Citron Arbelos franchise
Age: 90 (171 EY)
Gender: Male
Sexually: Bisexual
Marital Status: Married
Spouse: Florina Robertson

<I was only stating facts. I am on the side of Mars and we all agreed to Kunasada's deal.> broadcasted Antonijo.

<And look where that has gotten us. We were far too trusting, > broadcasted a red Manty with a black pentagon on her forehead.

Name: Becka Paula Giroux
Career: Jeddara of the Black Pentagon franchise
Age: 88 (166 EY)
Gender: Female
Sexually: Homosexual
Marital Status: Married
Spouse: Phyllida Giroux

<So which of you is playing, or are you both playing?> asked a yellow Manty with a blue green crescent moon symbol high on her chest.

Name: Mina Anastasia Hertz
Career: Jeddara of the Teal Lune franchise
Age: 91 (171 EY)
Gender: Female
Sexually: Hetrosexual
Marital Status: Married
Spouse: Britton Hertz

<I am, and since the traditional colours are all taken, I will take blue, > broadcasted Lucia as she changed her skin colour to blue.

<You will have wait for the next hand, > broadcast Becka.

<Of course, > broadcast Lucia.

Lucia touched Mark's arm. <Slash is a little like poker, > she sent to Mark. Lucia sent him the rules. <If you want to talk to me, touch me. Communication is restricted here.>

<This is nothing like poker. It is more like Rummy. Don't these rules strike you as overly complicated?> asked Mark.

<It's like poker in that while the naive might think it is about probability it is really about reading your opponent, bluffing and deception, and good Tarka will help with the complicated details. Change your colour to blue.>

Mark changed his skin color to match Lucia's while he examined the rules. There were five suits each with 10 pips and 5 face cards. There were three Traveller cards that seem to be both of no suit and all of them. There were 78 cards in total. All the pips seemed to have animal nicknames.

<I am getting a strong Barsoom flavor around here, > sent Mark. The names of the face cards, Jeddak, Jeddara, etc were from Burroughs's Mars books as were the nicknames for the pips. Mark noticed that the players also styled themselves Jeddak and Jeddara, even though those titles were for Kings and Queens of great nation states and these 'Jeddak' and 'Jeddara' only controlled territory that covered two or three suburbs.

<Edgar Rice Burroughs had a certain nerd cachet when Mars Colony was being founded, > sent Lucia.

<Aren't you at a disadvantage being a non-suit color, you won't get any bonuses for playing your suit.>

<I'll get traveller bonuses, besides I don't want to spoil one of the other players by splitting their bonuses, > sent Lucia.

As well as the main pot there seemed hundreds of different side bets you could make and each bet seemed to have a colored box on the table. Each time a player made a play they laid the cards face down with chips on top. If the other players wanted to call their bluff they had to match the chips in order to see whether they were lying.

Mina won the current hand and a new hand was dealt this time including Lucia. The player's skin color flickered as they jostled for a color that gave an advantage to their hand. Chips were tossed into boxes as they made bets, trying to muscle their way into their preferred color. The players settled on their colors and some of the chips were collected while others remained on the table. Mark noted that Lucia was still blue.

Lucia started asking about the current ranking for a game called Ricochet which she seemed to know a great deal about. Nell and Gabe both seemed to be passionate about Ricochet and both seemed to thaw towards Lucia. Lucia was aggressive with her side bets placing twice as many as the others. Gabriel ended up winning the hand but, Lucia seemed to be ahead because of her side bets.

A new hand was dealt and the players again jostled for their preferred color. Lucia again ended up blue.

Lucia commented sadly about increased violence in today's Ricochet games. This led to an argument between Nell and Gabe about the way one of Nell's favorite Ricochet players was injured during a foul in a game against Gabe's team. Apparently many of the player's limbs had to be reprinted, which was expensive and the player was still complaining that his game was being thrown off by the new limbs. The argument became heated and they got into a bidding war that hurt them both. Tony suggested avoiding any more talk about Ricochet.

<Why did you make that large feather bet? I don't see how you can feather in the next few turns?> asked Mark.

<I can't, but Becka will think I am going to use my Traveller bonus, to play a Traveller's twist, which will lead her to discard one of her thoats. I will be able to use my thoats to do a hook which will earn me points, and free up my hand. Also it will lead Gabe to feather too soon, which will mean he will gain less points, and his hand will be probably become too tight for him to strategise effectively, > sent Lucia.

It pretty much played out as Lucia predicted. Lucia lost the bet, but she recouped her loses and more when she won the hand.

<How did you know what they had in their hands? Are you cheating?> asked Mark.

<Cheating would be an interesting challenge. The security in this place is good. However I don't need too, their tells give away their opinion of their cards and their pickups and their discards give away their strategy. It doesn't hurt that I have played Slash with them many times before.>

<So this wasn't chance. You knew that they would be here?>

<There are about 12 or 13 regulars who play in this room, all of whom are leaders or influencers of Manty society. I figured that if we were very lucky we might catch 3 or 4 of them. We were very lucky to catch Tony here, > replied Lucia.

<Is he a friend?>

<Friend, ally, lover, yes. I think he may have guessed who I am. He was one of the people I sent those asyncs to. So he probably guesses that I am near, and it is a short leap from that to match up a good Slash player he has never heard of to me, > sent Lucia.

A new hand was dealt and Lucia again chose blue. Lucia started talking about birth taxes and the high price of O2 which lead to a general complaint fest about prices.

Tony won the hand and a new hand was dealt. Lucia was down a little.

Lucia then started complaining about the reduction of bonuses for mineral finds which led to complaints about Areos Government policies. Mina complained about late payments and delayed shipments. Nell complained about O2 and water shortages. Gabe complained about how the temporary emergency measures keep getting extended.

Lucia made a strange bet called a three meld bounty and both Becka and Mina bid to collect. Mina won the bid and played three melds for the bounty and tried to go out. Becka called her on her melds and one of the melds was a bluff. Becka lost far more money than she won, on her calls. Mina lost the bounty, her bid and her chance to go out.

Lucia won the hand raking in a large pot and a new hand was dealt. It felt as if most of the players had now accepted Lucia. Most of the tension now seemed to be between Nell and Gabe, and between Becka and Mina.

There was a violet flash. <What was that?> broadcast Becka.