A scene from the video game Mass Effect. In a bustling, neon-lit alien marketplace tucked within a hollowed-out asteroid, three men are gathered around a holographic trade table. The central figure, a grizzled smuggler with a patch over his left eye and a weathered leather jacket, slams a fist on the table, holographic blue schematics of a stolen starship flickering above it. To his left, a sleek alien merchant with iridescent green skin and tendrils framing its face leans back, clicking its mandibles in amusement, claws tapping a small case of glowing energy crystals. On the right, a young human tech specialist in a faded orange jumpsuit leans in, pointing at a flaw in the schematics, his glasses reflecting the neon lights. Behind them, crowds of various alien species bustle—some with multiple eyes, others with exoskeletons—haggling over weapons and artifacts. The market walls are lined with rusted metal stalls, strings of bioluminescent lanterns casting green and pink glows, and a distant airlock hissing as a cargo ship docks. The air smells of ozone and exotic spices, buzzing with the chaotic energy of a black-market deal on the verge of turning sour.
