Austin McConnell glanced around nervously as he was driven in the back of a long, white hoverlimousine to the ceremony. The burly-looking individuals sent to ensure his safe arrival did not appear quite as nervous. The ceremony was to take place at the house of a prominent LPI official, after all, with his full knowledge.
Upon his entry into the front door of said police official, McConnell noted with a smirk that the mansion was decorated largely with the items that he himself had brought to Manhattan. The butler guided them out the back door, where a sizeable contingent of police officers and criminals stood around a stage sipping white wine, served by tuxedo-wearing individuals with shackles on their feet and "LPI Prisoner" emblazoned on their backs.
On the stage, a young man in a denim jeans and a synth leather jacket and real leather boots beckoned him to climb the steps and join him.
When McConnell had ascended to the stage, the young man read the following from a letter in his hand aloud to the crowd:
Through the powers vested in me by the Almighty Credit, I hereby bestow Austin McConnel, independent cultural item trader, with the Historian Award, for his work regarding the study and proliferation of knowledge of alien cultures.
The audience clapped politely. Austin prepared to step down from the stage, but was stopped as the young man continued reading from the letter.
Not only did he earn the Historian Medal, but he is also hereby bestowed with the Adam Smith Award, for his transportation of valuable cargo across the senseless Rheinland-Liberty embargo line.
Congratulations, sir.
The young man beamed and pinned the ribbons on Austin's shirt.
Now tell me, to which bank account shall the financial grant of four million credits be sent?
