Green Stripe Badge Ceremony

The Green-Stripe ceremony is the goal of most new Spaceport Crew Members, although they rarely understand the purpose or the intent of this mysterious stripe until after the ceremony.

New employees quickly notice that employees with a green-stripe on their badge will often stop in the middle of a conversation and check the color of all badges in the group. If a red-striped badge is found, the conversation will end.

This behaviour leads to red-stripe employees becoming eager to learn the secret of the green-stripe.

History

The Spaceport badge system was designed as a matter of necessity. Given a world where anyone who said they had met an alien was considered borderline insane, it became critical for the Crew of the Spaceport to instantly recognize whether a fellow crewmember knew that aliens were real or not.

Once aliens started joining the crew, it became even more necessary.

Initially, there was no ceremony, but as the interactions with aliens became more commonplace, a ritual evolved to mark the transition from clueless to in-the-know by more than just replacing the person's badge.

As more people went through the emotional and psychological transformation, the crew found ways to make the transition easier, and even pleasant.

Execution

The first stage in the ritual is the unplanned discovery of an alien. Whenever possible, these events are scripted, but all too often they happen by accident.

As soon as possible, the enlightened crew member is secluded off-stage, taken up to the offices where they are issued their new badge, have time to ask questions, rail at the sky, or deal with whatever emotional breakdown they feel is necessary.

The next stage is a trip to Blue's Bar, occasionally with a side-trip to medical if additional pharmaceutical assistance is required.

In Blue's, Cookie evaluates their potential for allergic reactions and then provides them with a customized meal featuring alien cuisine to celebrate their new discoveries. Whenever possible, he also tends to add herbs and substances to help the stressed crewmember recover from the shock.

After the meal, the individual is taken on a tour of the green-stripe only areas of the 'port, often including a trip to the Orbital Space Station on a bubble ship.