Fargo 1996

This transmission begins with a male in a cold Earth region who is low on currency but high in bad ideas. He hires two strangers to kidnap his mate so that he can demand ransom from her wealthy ancestor. He intends to use the ransom to resolve his own debts. He does not tell the strangers the full plan. He does not tell anyone the full plan.

The strangers, selected for low cost rather than reliability, immediately make things worse. A routine stop by local law enforcement results in multiple deaths. From there, the plan continues to unravel through dishonesty, incompetence, and increasingly poor decision-making.

Meanwhile, a law enforcement official — visibly pregnant, calm, and methodical — begins investigating the deaths. Her tone is polite. Her results are exact. She navigates the unfolding chaos with quiet focus and mild confusion at how little sense any of it makes.

One of the hired strangers grows more violent. He solves problems by making new ones. Eventually, he places another human into a wood-chipping machine — a tool apparently not designed for that purpose.

By the end, the original male is caught attempting to crawl out of a motel window. The remaining stranger is captured in a snowbank. The law enforcement official returns home to her mate, who is focused on designing a bird stamp.

Conclusion: Humans will design elaborate crimes to avoid simple conversations. Their capacity for violence increases when plans fall apart, but their ability to adapt does not. Most of their disasters could be prevented with honesty and patience — two qualities rarely observed in combination.

If Nebulon ever tests psychological pressure points in Earth populations, cold regions with polite customs may offer optimal case studies. The quiet ones break surprisingly fast.