"I'm not sure we think of it as-- creating a shared culture, even though obviously it does. We think about... people being allowed to tell their stories and say the things they want to say."

"...allowed to tell their stories about shooting at hostile wildlife on unsettled planets?"

"Sure, if they want to. Or falling in love, or wandering through the woods, or beating up CGI monsters, or escaping Gilead--"

Kyeo nods along. "We don't have the ones specifically about Gilead, of course."

Lev says, very casually, "and sometimes stories about people going the other way too."

"Oh, I've seen one of those, smugglers kidnapped an Ibyabekan farmer and were performing experiments on him."

"Nah. Ours was about girl who converted to be a Gileadite and wanted to immigrate so she could live out her faith around people who agreed with her. It won a bunch of awards."

"Is that common?"

"Defectors, or movies about defectors?"

"Real ones."

"Sometimes. Some people convert, some people want kids and can't afford them."

"Do you allow missionaries here?"

"Yes. Everyone is allowed to advocate for their point of view."

"...even though this means sometimes people decide they believe in imaginary things and want to move to a different country."

"Well, I mean, I think I'm right, and they think they're right, so that doesn't settle anything about what's imaginary. But people are more likely to be convinced by true things than false things, so if we argue about it, then we're more likely to both have true beliefs. --Gilead doesn't let people argue against their religion which in my opinion is evidence it isn't true, if it was true they wouldn't be so threatened by disagreement."

Kyeo blinks politely, not sure where to begin to address this perspective.

"No one forbids you to say that the sky is green or the earth is flat because those things are actually false and we think that we can persuade you out of them."

"Well, those you can... see."

"You can't see the earth being round. --I guess maybe you can see the earth being round, because it's the future? Here we have to prove it through logical argument."

"I had not previously visited Earth in person but I have seen Ibyabek from space and it is round."

"Right, see, that would help, we have to prove it with lunar eclipses and ships sailing off to the horizon."

"You have very famous eclipses."

"Oh! Yeah. We should show you one."

"I'd like that. Is there one soon?"

"You're in luck, there's one in Cascadia in six weeks."