She's still in Milliways, writing prepared statements and explanations and lists of cheap-ish but useful presents for the many different groups they'll be talking to soon. Turning the factory shanty-town into a sort of processing area is on the docket too.

He shows up back at Milliways with some mages in tow and a bunch of paperwork to try to finish whenever there's downtime.

"Hey! I couldn't find as many force mages as I was hoping but I've got some."

"Welcome back. We can work with that - I've brought in a few people from New Dover to delegate to. The general idea is that each force mage has two liaisons, and will drop one off, then go drop the other off, then retrieve the first one and anyone who wants to return with them, then repeat. Efficient use of force mage time. I'd rather be able to stay in contact with all the liaisons, report everything back and organize it with a central staff, sort of. It's much easier to adapt that way. But if knowledge magic relays are expensive that might be a bit prohibitive."

Oh look the sneaky vampire is here. "I'll donate a bounce sat and let you borrow a few hundred satellite phones for some collateral equal to the cost of manufacture, for this."

Katherine fails to not startle. "-Thank you. Can those stay in contact through the entire world?"

"Maybe a third of the total land area, with only one sat. So maybe you need two, that's not too pricey, and works much better." He shrugs. "You'll also want gear to organize and tabulate the phone data. I'll set it up for you but I'll have to charge at least nominally for that."

"We can probably afford a nominal charge. Mind if I talk about the details with you in a bit?"

"Sure. I'll be back when you're free."

"And you've already rounded up all the translators we'll need? Where are we going to put them while we're vetting them for immigration, the backyard?"

"Most in the backyard, some in rented rooms upstairs."

"Have you already gotten those places prepared for people? The backyard might need beds, if this is going to take long enough. And leaving a bunch of copies of the laws around for them to read while they wait wouldn't hurt."

"I was planning to ask Bar for copies of the laws when it's time. And I was also planning to set up staging areas in the factory, and on my front lawn. If we can keep everyone in constant contact, we can prioritize the sick and homeless and only bring people through as fast as we can handle them. You may want to screen many people at once for their likeliness to comply with the law, if you're going to gatekeep. I intend to pre-screen people as much as possible to reduce the part that depends on you alone, but it's still going to take a while."

"Yeah, it'd be convenient if I could talk with people on the flight here - actually it'd be convenient to let them read our laws on the way here, maybe we could send the force mages out with copies. How are you planning on pre-screening?"

"Law tests, interviews, including interviewing people who know the people. If we're uncertain, perhaps a brief consultation with a knowledge mage to see if they have a bad history. I think we can discourage those who don't have much chance of actually complying with the law from wanting to go to Har."

"That... sounds like it should work. I hope it does. Are we going to do something about the people right by the door first?"

"I am going to recruit them to help, or process them into Milliways and Har as a test of the process we have literally just invented, or get them out of the way via bribes, whichever ends up being easiest."

"Sounds good to me. Do we need to do anything else before we start on that?"

"I want to have Nick's equipment here, and go over the plans and procedures with all my helpers, make sure they understand it all, see if they have any input."

"Sounds like a plan to me. I'll go get laws and things from Bar, then."

And they organize things. Katherine is a little bit in over her head. She doesn't let it show. She organizes and tabulates and has meetings and makes plans and writes tests and all manner of other things. It's three weeks, subjective, less for most others, before she's confident enough to kick this whole thing off.

He spends the time talking with Bar about the right format to hand out copies of laws and Hari lessons in, looking over maps to see where they can put this many people in the long term, talking to other bar patrons who might be able to take people in, and getting a list of things Bar can do for frostbite and lost limbs in order of price for frozen death world inhabitants.

"Let me know when you think it'd be helpful for me to talk to anyone."

(People from New Dover have started building a tent city just south of the existing town, and would like to plan the expansion with him.)

"Probably in an hour or two. Would you like to come along and observe as we set up?"

"Sure."

And Katherine and her small legion of helpers go through, carrying some useful presents for the locals. She goes straight for the Mayor again and steamrolls him entirely in the following conversation. He quickly agrees to let everyone here learn about Milliways and Har and serve as a test bed for their process.

Nick and his force mages start on assembling the satellites, carted through Milliways in door-sized pieces.

As long as the other force mages are here and being paid for their time and not yet retrieving survivors from all over the world, they can help build temporary housing and a few can go on an expedition to Harrods with Nathaniel and a few other trustworthy people while Katherine tries to keep everything organized and moving forward.

Liane ignores all the hubbub and soberly packs her things, what few things she has, and then walks towards the mayor's office-turned-command-center. Valanda is there, and Lady Katherine, and a few of the others she met before.

"Hey, guys." ...She's got an extra metal limb, now, her right leg, and seems a lot more subdued and pale than before.