"You claim responsibility for this?"

"My God has done it through me. And if you do not let my people go I fear there is worse to come. Please."

"I will never give in to your threats. Leave."

The guards lurking at the edges of the room step forward; the man, looking suddenly exhausted, turns to leave.

"May I ask who the people in question are?" Nelen asks.

"The Hebrews. . . . Who are you?"

"We're representatives from Vanda Nossëo. The Hebrews are not currently able to leave the area if they want to?"

"No. They're enslaved."

"This is no business of yours, travelers. All of you, leave."

They'll leave, but kind of slowly.

The unidentified man follows them, and identifies himself. "My name is Moses. Why have you come here?" He looks deeply unhappy, but not with them.

"We're -" begins Nelen.

"- hey, wait a sec, actually," mutters Natsuko, and her companions look over at her while she frowns at her computer. "- uh, candidate Earth thing, tell you in downtime unless we look likely to run into it -"

"- okay," says Nelen. "We're here to offer Vanda Nossëo's friendship to all the people of this world."

"You should leave Egypt. It's--like I said. It's going to get worse."

"The blood river isn't going to harm us," Nelen assures him. "Why is it going to get worse?"

"God wants the Hebrews to be free, Pharaoh refuses. I don't know what He'll try next, only that He won't give up until Pharaoh does."

"- are they for sale?" inquires Nelen. "The Hebrews? Vanda Nossëo has a protocol for mass purchase and manumission of slaves."

"If he doesn't turn it into a point of pride, perhaps. But there are thousands of us, and you are strangers--why would you do such a thing?"

"Vanda Nossëo is very wealthy, and wants everyone who desires freedom to have it," says Nelen. "My own people benefited from a similar intervention some years ago and now it's my job to go around extending it to others. Are the Hebrews the only slaves in Egypt?"

"Most of them, but not the only ones."

"Maybe it will be less a point of pride if we're paying for the others too?"

"I hope so. Once I would have said I knew him better than anyone. Now I'm not so sure."

"And God is turning the river to blood because of the Pharaoh not letting the slaves go?" asks Natsuko, still looking at her computer.

"Yes." Moses squints at the computer like he's trying to decide whether it's more likely to harm him if he knows what it is or if he doesn't.

"Does God have any other - ongoing quarrels?" Nelen asks.

"I don't think so?"

"And your role in this matter is -?"