If he had a nice clear private communication channel with Liane he'd ask if she thinks that these people would still want to move given that they'll eventually notice God not talking to them anymore. Since they're obstinately wrong and making important decisions based on their obstinate wrongness.

Liane brings them both up front and whispers, "You can't argue with the most faithful, and they've had a really really hard time of it. Belief in God is what kept them sane probably. They need space and time somewhere, uh, healthy, and I bet they'll relax some."

He doesn't really understand all those words but he gets the gist. Largely from context and her tone.

"I'll not argue with the most faithful," he promises.

...Hug.

"You helped seven dozen people today. And I will go help more."

Hug! "Right!"

When they get back to the empty factory, it's been more or less cleaned out by the large group staging in Milliways. The malnourished doctors and babies are hurried inside and welcomed by those already present.

Liane shuts the door again.

"...I think that's probably enough of you flying around out there. Nobody else is near enough to be worth the trouble, I think. I need to go sleep, and you need to see how many of these people are going to become colonists for you."

"Thanks for everything, Liane! Okay, does anybody need anything immediately, are the babies all going to live long enough for you to find out about Har and decide what to do?"

The babies are a lot more likely to be okay, now that they have enough milk. They have their basics covered - food, warmth. People have been getting rooms from Bar and going to sleep and leaving room numbers on a list so everyone can be fetched when the organizing and tallying and decompressing is done and important decisions have to be made.

He could also use some rest but on the other hand Milliways.

He sits and waits in the bar.

The smaller group of refugees who stayed downstairs have questions of various kinds for him about Har, Har's government, Ira Sani's government, how much this or that costs there, and so on. They've begun to purchase things from Bar and stockpile them in the backyard - only things that can fit through the door, though.

He has answers. Not always answers that reflect a really strong understanding of what they think is the most important information but definitely answers.

Moving into an authoritarian world continues to be an unappealing prospect compared to hoping for one like their own. The ones who feel this most strongly have already declared the intent to stay in Milliways instead of subjecting themselves to a crushing lack of liberty and freedom. But surely any world has its problems, and few would be so willing to grant them sums of land... And the worst offender, the imperial government, is distant and relatively non-interfering.

It sounds like they'll all be at a permanent disadvantage, having no magic. It's probably impossible to guess whether their kids will have any magic, isn't it?

How much extra land can they bargain for? They can pay for some. They want decent farmland, pasture land, and coastal land.

"Figure out if any of your technology can do something our magic can't, if you arrange something like convenient many-to-one long-distance communications I'll sextuple the land I'm giving you.You should definitely watch what happens with kids you have after you move. If kids born there have magic you really will need to use command magic on them."

The most relevant thing they have, technology wise, is the analytical calculators and automata, which can do some repetitive or boring types of work. Radios might be able to do that but they're not really equipped to figure that out while also trying to establish themselves.

"You might want to talk with Nikolas the vampire, see if you can collude on prices and work together instead of stepping on each other's toes."

Vampire???

He's not serious is he, they could never do business with those who work with the Devil.

"Sorry, who's the Devil?"

The one who betrayed God and does evil and rules over Hell and tempts people to sin. Dark evil creatures like vampires and trolls are surely the Devil's doing.

"If you can't do business with evil people you'll have a lot of trouble in the Hari Empire."

Well, there's a difference between faithless and sinful, and The Devil's Work. Vampires are going to be a 'no'.

"I don't understand the distinction. Do you think the Devil is Nik's parent or something?"

Yes.

Sort of, in a magical way.

No, not literally.

No, but vampires are still evil.

"We are not here to talk theology, people! We are here to talk settling. Refuse to do anything with the vampire if you wish to, tell your priest of it, but this conversation is not productive."

He's tempted to tell them all they're a really poor cultural fit and give them a few dozen rings each to keep them fed while they wait for someone else to take them.

"You have a priest with you? It might be a good idea for me to talk to your priest before you move."

There is one priest, a man named Nathaniel from the basement-folk group. He's probably in the backyard?

"I shouldn't be too long, come find me in a few minutes, if I'm gone long it's just as likely to be time falling out of sync as us having a long conversation."

To the yard.