"Have you thought about how you'll do it? How you'll find people, who'll get it first, that kind of thing?"

"I'm sure the head doctor has. I work on the clinical side of things. Preparing samples, collating data. Not so much planning. And I spend a lot of my time teaching the apprentices, too."

"Of course. You can let the head doctor know I've traveled and I have experience running a business that serves people in far-flung areas, if he'd like someone to consult about it."

"If we can achieve imperial sponsorship, we can run a system of clinics similar to the current imperial death mages, is the idea, I believe. Though, again, I'm not privy to all the details. I will write him a note on this."

"Imperial." The railroad engineer looks suddenly glum. "Thought we'd moved beyond that."

"Moved beyond having an empire? What does that mean?"

"Our king and Parliament can't just do whatever they want, and the age of colonies were comin' to an end. America went its own way long ago. Loosening our hold on India, Canada, Australia."

Katherine rephrases this, "...We did not have a unified world. There were something on the order of a dozen dozen countries, before the end. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland conquered or settled many other areas. Other empires also conquered states. Such conquered states are referred to as colonies. They generally want independence from the parent empire, and are sometimes willing to go to war for it."

"Oh. I can see why they would but that sounds... bloody. Well, I guess it sucks to lose your independence. At least compared to the people from the mainland there are enough of you to be important in Ira Sani politics, if that helps."

"Having a political voice is always good, yes. And yes, our world was not always a peaceful one. Yours does at least have that going for it - though it must be said, we mostly consider slavery to be innately violent. I, at least, would rather live in a nation that might see a war than one where every person is born a slave."

"...You're not going to start a civil war over it, are you?"

"That doesn't sound like a very safe, or likely to succeed, way to end slavery. No, war is almost certainly out. I'm hoping to push for laws that encourage people to free capable slaves and treat their slaves better."

"Oh, so that's why Valanda likes you," says Nimo.

"I wouldn't have brought them if they were going to start a war," says Valanda. "Give me a little credit, will you?"

"More than a little, I think. We could have stayed in Milliways, searched for somewhere else. We thought Har was the safe bet."

"Free land didna hurt," the engineer comments sarcastically.

"I'd pay quite a few rings if someone would come get me next time there's a Milliways door."

"The impression I get is that Milliways would approve of you, so I'll keep it in mind. Though I've never gotten one myself - it's always been Nikolas Roth, or Valanda, here, who does."

"I could use the rings too. - So, back on the topic of technology and government, I still don't know as much as I'd like about how you handled criminals in your world."

"None of us are experts on that, I believe?"

Nathaniel says, "I spoke to prisoners and wardens sometimes, as their pastor. Last rites, as well. What questions do you have?"

"I was wondering what you did about recidivism."

"For a lot of second and third offences on moderate crimes like theft, the punishment was transportation to the Colonies. Not our problem anymore, was the idea. I was never a fan of that. A term of hard labor or imprisonment was also common. Five years working in a mine may sound similar to slavery, but men punished that way have yet the promise of freedom, and endure, and come out of it having learned a harsh lesson. For a long time, the punishments were so severe that some bailiffs would have sympathy for perpetrators of minor crimes, and record the criminal as executed, but actually send them to the Colonies, or to a convent, or just let them go after giving them some lashes. I'm glad to say there were reforms about thirty years ago, with much less severe punishments, and it seems that the rate of crimes had actually gone down."

"How do you think the reforms lowered the crime rate?"

"It's really quite hard to tell. I would be guessing, but I would guess that it made the law more understandable, and put people in desperate straits less often. If you're going to be executed, some would think, why not do whatever you want while you yet live? But if you're going to be put to hard labor, you don't want to commit another crime and get transportation or execution. It also might well be economic factors - by 1860, there were dozens of new factories, fewer people out of work and desperate."

"...Oh, that's what your home government got out of having your church around, isn't it? That you make people less desperate."

"...I suppose we do, at that. But many members of government were themselves pious, and believed in the message. It is all we can do to show mercy and compassion to all people."

"Wait, what message? Why are you showing mercy to all people?"

Katherine and the other two New Dovites shift slightly, annoyed.

Nathaniel has practiced this spiel a lot! If everyone is nice to each other, it's like the laws making everyone safe but better, see, and it has to start somewhere and he really really believes in this concept! Also there's this stuff about God and Jesus but that can wait until after he has said the parts that have tended to appeal to Har natives the most.

"Uh-huh. I'm sure not going to get in the way of you being nice to me. And where you're from the government paid you to do their public works for them because you really like being nice? I guess that's as good a way to pick someone for that job as any. Are you planning on running for any similar offices here?"