"I guess you can't fuck up first contact to get me out of Gilead." Her tone of voice implies that this is a very big concession.

"I can attempt to sound out the Commander and other Gileadite officials on the matter in general terms."

"Thank you," she says sincerely.

"You're welcome. Is there anything else I should know?"

"I can't think of anything off the top of my head?"

"Is there a way for you to contact me from your world if you think of something?"

"Gilead controls the door and it's my only way to talk to you. --I guess they want to keep you happy and they don't know what I'm saying to you, so I could just request to talk to you and they'll probably let me through?"

"Should I inquire if I don't hear from you for some amount of Gilead-side time?"

"If it's been a month you should probably ask? I keep my nose pretty clean, though, I don't think the Eyes have a file on me."

"All right. Thank you again."

Andrea goes back home, checks the cost of her vacation fee, and daydreams about Cascadia. 

Avalor and the ambassadors from Tapa and Cene and various green scholars and a yellow journalist meet with the Gileadites. Avalor asks about the current state of their immigration and emigration policy.

"Of course, we accept in anyone who wants to immigrate. It's humanitarian! We don't want to trap people in countries that don't know God."

Avalor nods. "And emigration? And pass-through, since the door is in Gilead but some Amentans might want to settle other parts of Earth if they'd be welcome."

"We can arrange a different system for Amentans, but we do not generally allow emigration unless there is a pressing national security reason."

"Will this persist given the availability of Amentan settlers to address labor shortages and such?"

"It might tempt us to loosen up but... the statistics on illegal emigration are not encouraging? People emigrate because they want to go against God's will. The Gileadite government will have a hard time selling our people on any plan the primary virtue of which is that it allows people to sin more easily."

"None of them move around for - business reasons? Weather?"

"Gilead is very large and contains many different kinds of weather and many business opportunities! A small fraction move for economic reasons, yes. But the number is dwarved by the number of homosexuals, women who don't want to be Handmaids, women who don't wish to have children, atheists, and members of heretical religions."

"I heard someone mention you were likely interested in sending missionaries to Amenta, is that correct?"

"We very much are! We want to share the good news with Amentans."

"I don't object in principle, but I think you won't have much uptake, and I want to warn you about that before you decide how many resources to devote to the project."

"Well, it all depends on what God wills, of course. But we're optimistic! Amentans have never heard of God, so they haven't been taught lies about Him."

"It's possible I'm incorrect. Now, missionaries are not, I assume, permanent residents, but they will still take up space in lodging and use public transit even if they must subsist entirely on imported food, so we'll want to move some Amentans onto Earth to compensate for them even leaving aside the prospect of a colony for raising human girls without bitoxiphosphene exposure."

"Absolutely! We welcome as many Amentan immigrants as want to come here. --If the number of Amentans that want to come here is a million per year I will have to talk to Homeland Security."