[Then better narrow it down to be sure.]

[Well, he's the only Geoffrey in this room. Will that do?]

[Hello, Jane. Miss Nylund has briefed me on the events of last Thursday. I am assured by our precognitive talents that the Neuroi will no longer be destroying anything, but could you possibly give me more details? The interim government is, understandably, extremely concerned about them.]

[The Neuroi were intimidated-slash-diplomacized into withdrawing. They were, in an alien way, trying to be helpful to humans as a species, and are willing to apologize, in the form of helpful Neuroi drones dispatched to do your work and in the form of teaching you stuff about the universe. They're hanging back until we give them the go-ahead that this won't freak anybody out.]

[Frankly, I doubt I could convince anyone to trust them. They have been depicted as the very embodiment of evil from early childhood to over half of everyone alive today.]

[Well, you can send them to mine things in uninhabited areas and send only a handful of particularly even-keeled people to fetch the products from drop sites, if you like.]

[That could work, yes. It would probably help if they learned English and talked to us. On another note, the I would like to know what kind of standards the interim government should meet before you're willing to consider mass distribution of immortality or resurrections. The UDF may be disbanding soon, a lot of administration is still up in the air, so we're keeping the idea that such things are possible quiet for now. But we want to implement them sooner rather than later if at all possible.]

[Immortality is a lower bar than resurrections. All you have to do is also let us distribute the brainphone with it, so nobody gets into a situation where they're repeatedly torching and can't call for help, and have some reason to believe that people won't riot in the streets about it. Resurrections you need all that and to be able to support the projected population of resurrectees without abusing their ability to live by suicide alone, but we can take care of that part to a sort of one-size-fits-all standard with an empty spot and permission to put magic stuff on it. Another planet, if necessary, with portals thereto.]

[I am not literally in charge of the entire United Force, but I imagine permission to put things on another planet won't be a problem. Thanks for the information. Can I get back to you in an hour or two?]

[Sure.]

A couple of hours later, [Jane, distribution of the brainphone along with torching won't be a problem. There's currently some bickering about who gets torching first and the only thing that's been agreed so far is that sick, elderly, and especially elderly Witches have priority. Some are arguing for Witches to have priority as well. How should we arrange people-to-be-made-torchable once they've come to a decision?]

[If you can just march them by one or more cameras - let me know how many you want - I'll take care of it.]

[Yeah, that's the sort of things Bells might eventually get annoyed about and take out of your hands if you don't reform it. Do you want me to put the cameras in a pile somewhere or what?]

[I don't think anyone wants Caelid the Red free to torture people again. At least not without a geas or similar. If you make one camera in front of me now, I can show you a space that will fit a thousand. Will they be particularly delicate, need any kind of maintenance?]

[No and not anytime soon.] An example appears. It looks like a faceted blue jewel.

[Enchanting hurts, and losing control of an enchantment is dangerous. You can offload it onto somebody else if they agree; doing it if they don't is harmful. Do you have a plan for that?]

[One: I'm rather used to pain. Comes from fighting a war for two and a half years. Two: Lytee and I have agreed to take turns bearing the weight of heavier enchantments until and unless we find someone who likes pain.]

[Okay. Next time a Bell swings by she'll give you both the ability to enchant and the bare-bones skill to operate it. It will not be stuck onto your torching; if you torch, it's gone unless you convince one to give it back.]

[Are there books around somewhere that will help our understanding of the theory? You wished for languages, I imagine enchanting skill is similar, but I don't want to make a foolish or hasty mistake.]

[Rose has an enchanting library, but it hasn't been abridged for low-security-clearance consumption, and you each get a pentagon of basic enchanting which will probably take you farther than any ten books anyway, enchanters tend not to write for beginners.]

[I can see and hear through them, and I can brainphone anybody who has more questions, and my attention is more divisible than these cameras could possibly overtax. Does Lytee want to be actively toured or just dropped in strange worlds?]