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Literature: Retrieval Artist A Science Fiction series by
Kristine Kathryn Rusch that can be somewhat neatly summed up by
the description "Detective Drama IN SPACE!".  In The Future,
humankind has settled the solar system and the stars, met other
alien species and formed the Earth Sphere Alliance with many of
them. As part of the treaties that the alliance is based on,
humans living on alien worlds (and aliens on human worlds) are
subject to alien law, with sentinces handed down by the
Multicultural Tribunal. The problems arise when alien law
doesn't line up with human ideas of justice, forcing humans to
suffer punishments for what wouldn't otherwise be considred
crimes: a human could unknowingly earn themselves the death
penalty (or worse) for picking a pretty alien flower, for
example. This disparity has created an underground industry: the
Disappearance service. For a price, they will help those wanted
for alien crimes become Unpersons, giving t