"There is a light Precursor ship in this system and a dark one plausibly on the way."

"Then you must let the government of Haven City know that I seek not only a temporary truce but an alliance of mutual aid and protection."

"Uh, sure, can do. Is this going to postpone your colonization plans?"

"It might be unwise to be settling in on new soil when the dark makers arrive, but then, it may be more unwise to anger Ashelin as they approach. And we can pilot a space force just as well whatever planet it must refuel on, if we have the ships. Speak to her of this as well, if you would."

"Can do. Anything else?"

"Will you trust us enough to offer us better food?"

"You probably could've talked me into that the other day, honestly, just don't poison the wildlife with it and we're good, whaddaya want?"

He names a couple of animals whose flesh is tasty.

Vacuum sealed packages of couple-of-animals meat. "I could make you a meat vat," he says.

"I would appreciate it very much but is it portable?"

"There are actually household models! They're like this big and fairly heavy, I could push one around on a smooth floor but not lift it, but you're pretty big. A household model won't do more than like yea much per hour and you have to refill it with some stuff - the stuff is shelf-stable though - I could make you a big one that is not as portable and can outfit your ships with those when it's time for that."

"A portable one for now, and more when we leave, then. Thank you."

Cam makes a household meat vat and a supply of refills. He puts samples in of the animals they like to eat for it to start growing cuts of - they will be fairly undifferentiated cubes of tissue, since all the presets are for things like chickens and lambs, but should taste fine - and translates the labels on the buttons for them out of Korean.

"This will be a great boon to our people. Ah, now that I think of it, I do have one other question." Not that he needs to be told, at this point, but it'll be useful to know how Cam reacts. "Were anything to happen to you, is there a way I might bring you or another of your kind here again?"

"I don't know if it'll work for you - it probably will but I can't perform summonings, wrong species, so it could be that you are also a wrong species - but sure, here's a circle for me, you fill it in there." He hands over an unbound circle for himself.

"Thank you. That is all for now, I think."

"Mm-hm, later!"

Okay, what's the rest of his pending mail.

Veger wants to invite him over for tea and conversation. Sig wants help finding someone. One of the metal heads is interested in having a human pen pal. Jak has more details about slavery in Haven. Krew wants Cam to swing by the Hip Hog at some point so they can talk about his goals. Erol wants to set up a meeting at some point, preferably one of this handful of times all of which are several days out at the earliest.

Far too many people here have names, it's inconsiderate. Slavery first, seems most pressing.

Krew tells me lurkers are mostly used in farms and factories in the yellow and red zones, about a third of them by private citizens and the rest by the city. Not all of them are as smart as us but some are.

There are people trying to rescue lurkers. I've accepted a job helping them. You won't get in my way, right?

Torn says Ashelin's letting most of the humans go. I don't trust that but I'm giving her some time to surprise me. If she has plans for the lurkers I haven't heard about them.

If you want to have a chat with their owners, try looking up Krimzon Animal Control or the Ministry of Extreme Labor. They should have public contact info.

Cam will look up these institutions.

Krimzon Animal Control has a number for the public to call. The ministry doesn't publish one, but with demonic digging he might find one anyway. They both also technically have headquarters in the city, although the animal control is just using one room in the fortress.

...Cam doesn't have a phone, so he just flies to Extreme Labor in person.

Their public-facing headquarters, located in the green zone, is bland and businesslike, with a small decorative waterfall in the lobby. A slightly startled receptionist would like to know if he has an appointment.

"I do not. Is that typical? People make appointments with you?"