"Yes, and apparently it's a nice one." Remian said, a bit proudly.

"How does it help?" Tim asked, curiously.

"Other than helping me lose weight due to involuntary waist exercise, I'm actually not sure." Remian confessed. "I think it has something to do with balance when running on all fours, though."

"Why don't you try it? Run around on all fours." Tim suggested.

"I actually think it's a good idea." Remian said. "I need time to get accustomed to my Silhouettes and running around with the wolfcats was something I've always wanted to do. It's just that I better set things in order here before I go."

"That sounds like a long trip." Tim mused dubiously. "Anyway. What needs doing?"

"I want to invite the top technology experts in the world to a free conference six months from now." Remian said. "All expenses paid, transportation provided. We'll fetch them with airs.h.i.+ps from anywhere around the world, and provide armed escorts throughout the entire journey."

"That sounds very troublesome on our part." Tim grimaced.

"Oh, it gets worse. This conference lasts one week, after which, they are invited to stay on at Craggy Falls at no extra cost… indefinitely. I plan to host them in the hotel being built right across from the hydroelectric dam."

Tim stared. "That sounds like less of a conference and more of a recruitment drive."

"It gets worse. I also want to invite the top airs.h.i.+p manufacturing experts to a similar conference nine months from now, except this conference should take place here, in Fal'Herim. I want it in the underground industrial center, after we've completely set up cl.u.s.ter economics around electric-propulsion airs.h.i.+ps." Remian said. "I want them to see the entire supply chain from raw materials and metals to the completed a.s.sembled parts at Mindy's s.h.i.+pyards all happening in one city."

"You want to show them the Cyclone 1 electric propeller system too?" Tim hesitated.

"The completed product and its performance, yes." Remian said. "Be sure to invite all the skilled professionals you want, whether craftsmen or administrators."

"Why wait? Why not invite them and have them start work now, or next week? Why nine months from now?" Tim asked.

"Because the chaos around the world is only just starting out. Right now, if they come here for a conference, it'll be just that; a conference, and there's a fifty-fifty chance they'll want to go home and back to their struggling jobs. Half a year from now, those jobs might no longer exist. Nine months from now, their whole countries might not exist." Remian figured. "At that point, inviting them to a peaceful land with plenty of potential in their line of work would be a G.o.dsend."

"We could just tell them that and invite their entire families over right now, housing provided." Tim pointed out. "Remian, you don't know what it's like out there. People are already fleeing into the desert city with little more than their Deutero bank savings and the clothes on their back. Law and order in half the midlands is already on the verge of collapse. Never mind nine months from now, I'm not sure those countries would last past tomorrow!"

"That bad?" Remian was shocked.

"Trust me. I've got lynxmice in every country in this world, and word gets to me within days of something big happening. The midlands have it bad but the worst areas are actually the dry regions around here. In Paleres, Otta, Ira and Kuasa Besar, farms are failing, markets are emptying out, and stores have been looted at night. Otta's military has forcefully seized all food and are rationing it out amongst the populace. Ira's royalty has all but enacted nationwide slavery of their own people, commandeering the lives and possessions of all their citizens as their own. Kuasa Besar has been divided up among nine warring factions who can't seem to agree on anything. And Paleres keeps trying to raid us all for whatever scant resources they can get their hands on." Tim thought for a bit. "I honestly believe that if we invited the craftsmen and airs.h.i.+p builders of those countries over, they would leap on board dragging their families along at first opportunity, regardless of whatever conditions or cost I might impose on them. We can't do it openly, because their local authorities would try to kill us, but we could probably smuggle them out with the help of only a few small bribes."

Remian considered. "I wanted to wait until we were ready, but this sounds more like a rescue operation than an enticement scheme. Do it. Use whatever means necessary. Send in the army if we need to get them out by force."

"That actually could be arranged. They just have to be at whatever border town the Fal'Herim army decides to raid next." Tim said thoughtfully. "We could even bring their luggage back with us. I have to warn you though, that if word gets out among our own people of these rescue operations, we might very quickly be overwhelmed."

"What? Why?" Remian blinked.

"We happen to have a few thousand evacuees from Ecclesia, remember? I'm sure they all have friends back at the world's previous magic capital who know a thing or two about airs.h.i.+p construction and magitech and what we might need to adapt magic devices to use electricity."

Remian paused. "That actually sounds like an excellent idea."

Tim scratched his head. "I kinda thought that was the plan all along."

Remian had a moment to feel embarra.s.sed. In the middle of all the worry and flurry, he'd actually failed to think of something Tim found obvious. Blame on thinking too far ahead, but Remian had spent more time pondering how to develop electromagnetic technology in one or three towns than he had on developing a nationwide electric-based industry.

Also, what about computing? The best this world had in way of calculators was the slide ruler! Looking at the sheer immensity of the task ahead of him, Remian wanted to quail. Asking one man to do the job of raising the technological levels of an entire world, or even a nation, was really asking too much. Tim had it right. Pulling in the technological experts of the world should have been the plan from the start.

"Can you handle all that?" Remian asked Tim, hopefully.

"Nope!" Tim rejected immediately. "I can get them out, and I can get them here, but for the conference, the housing, the hospitality, the hiring and all that show-and-tell, you're going to have to find somebody else. Ask George or something."

"George." Remian rubbed his forehead. "I guess it's about time to tell him he's going in the wrong direction. He's not going to like it. He's been wanting to industrialize KarGoth since the beginning."

"Better tell him now, before Shadowflash bites someone." Tim advised. "Or maybe get Mindy to do it."

"Mindy?" Remian blinked. "Why Mindy?"

"Because he'll listen to her." Tim hinted.

***

"You want me to tell George what?!" Mindy spluttered. Then she closed her eyes, sank back in her seat and groaned. "All I wanted to do tomorrow was fly around on a prototype corvette engine with Chirpy."

Remian nodded empathically. "And all I wanted to do today was run around with the wolfcats, but these things are time-sensitive. The sooner they get done, the better off we all are."

Mindy threw up her hands. "Aren't you going to go hunt that Steiner-whatever guy and put him through the wringer for kidnapping you and all? The lynxmice tell us he's hiding out at an old temple in the slums."

"No, I really can't be bothered with that right now."

"But he's going to come back for the oil. You know he's not going to give up so easily." Mindy stressed. "He has no respect for us, no recognition of our authority over Wildlands."

"That's because we don't really have any. The real authority over the far south is the Flame Emperor, and right now she's in no shape to stop a Libertarian expedition." Remian pointed out.

"That's why we need to stop him here, preferably outside the Wildlands." Mindy agreed. "I'm only the Flame Emperor's Comrade, but I feel I should speak for her when I say they can't be allowed in her territory, and I should also speak for her in asking for your help."

"Me? What can I do?!"

"Hunt him down and kill him for kidnapping you. Or imprison him, if you prefer. Just stop him." Mindy said, coldly.

Remian stared. "Did you just ask me to kill somebody?"

"Yes, I did." Mindy's tone was cruel. She gave Remian a level look. "I'm not that sweet little girl who kept running to you for snacks any more, Remian. I am a veteran of war, and a champion of too many dire battles to count. I've seen more people die than I have eaten meals, and killed more Spectres and Wilds than I ever want to think about."

"But not people. Killing people is different." Remian pointed out.

"Is it?" Mindy's eyes narrowed. She glanced at Chirpy on her shoulder. "Is it so much worse if a human dies than if a bird dies? Is it any less an issue to kill a Wild than it is to kill a man?"

"That depends." Remian drew a deep breath.

"On what? How smart they are?" Mindy scoffed to herself.

"On our relations.h.i.+p with them." Remian pointed out.

Mindy frowned.

Remian elaborated. "For example. Some Wilds would kill us. They are dangerous, threats to our lives and safety, they would cause us direct harm. They are our enemies. Killing them would be self-defense, a necessity, and a praiseworthy, even heroic deed."

"Like the Beast Waves early on." Mindy understood.

Remian continued. "Other Wilds would cause us indirect harm, ruin our crops, destroy our homes and endanger our resources. Those are pests. Killing them would be protection of property, a service and a safeguard to us and ours, and a good work."

Mindy nodded. "Like locusts eating our fields, or termites in our houses, or houseflies in our food, or mosquitoes trying to suck our blood."

Remian didn't stop. "Then there are those Wilds who don't bother us one way or the other. If you're hunting them for food or hides, killing them would be an acquisition of resource. Otherwise, killing them would be a senseless waste."

Mindy frowned, but didn't say anything.

Remian kept going. "There are also Wilds who are beneficial to us. They help us do things, like plow fields or dig tunnels, or make honey. To kill them would be loss, a regretful and sorrowful issue that would be avoided unless necessary."

Mindy thought for a bit. "I guess you're talking about the farm Wilds."

At last, Remian took a deep breath. "And then there are Wilds who are our friends, and our family. Killing them would be an outright betrayal. Killing them would be murder."

Toward that, Mindy glanced at Chirpy.

Chirpy glanced back. Neither of them said anything.

But then, Mindy turned back to Remian. "So, if this same measure is applied to people, where does Steiner fit in? An enemy? Or a pest?"

"The scale is different for humans, because I'm human too." Remian grimaced. "But if I had to peg him in one of those five categories, I'd say he was a pest."

"So are you going to kill him?" Mindy pressed.

"Probably not." Remian sighed. "But I'd certainly like to smack him."