Musings [Escher]

[Thexare]

"He- they did what? Four hundred of them?!"

"I'm sorry, I think I heard you wrong, because it almost sounded like you object to rescuing slaves."

"Four hundred people, Kelly. That's a sixth of the population of New Vancouver. The majority of them provide nothing beyond physical labor, which we don't need much of yet."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this."

"We have to account for our resources, Kelly. Can we provide training and shelter for that many people, with no notice?" Escher paused, but Kelly knew he was going to continue. "When you get a large number of refugees with insufficient training, shelter, and employment into one area, what comes next? Crime and discontent."

"Then if it's that much of a problem, you can march out there, pack them into Ken's freighter, and take them somewhere else. But you won't. I know you won't. You might be that heartless, but somehow Kane's dream is important enough to you that you won't risk it on the PR shitstorm that'd come up if you did."

Only silence and staring followed. As usual, Kelly made a solid argument.

"Well?"

"I'll... see if there's some construction or factory work or something..."