"Okay, fair! Maybe this won't turn into an unmitigated disaster after all, she says like that hasn't been the prelude to dozens of other disasters before."

"At least this one can't get anyone of value killed."

"Are you deliberately trying to annoy me, or does it just come naturally? Just five seconds ago you were saying this was actually important, and you would know, you're Aitim Neli. Honestly I've been tempted to try the same solution your genius father did, but I never was consistent enough with the hair dye. Plus I don't bet I could stick with any given colour for long enough. It was your father who went green, right? I might have the relation wrong, remembering misc facts isn't my forte."

"Let's say I am curious about what annoys you and about how you handle it. My father in fact hated being blue so much he decided to see what happened if he opted out, but he's managed not to break any laws subsequently which is rather the key to pulling that kind of thing off."

"One crime at a time, yeah. You don't need to worry about anger management issues, really: what happens to me is that I get some idea that sounds great and I run with it without ever really considering wether it's a good plan in practice. This time round it was 'You know, I have no clue how reds actually live, I bet they do things interestingly differently' and I had this bottle of spare hair dye kicking around from a theme party at one of those horror events, kind of in bad taste but not illegal or anything...  annnnd then I realize that I was not so clever at dodging my escort as I had appeared, panic happens and I run for it sloppily, everything goes tits-up."

"Do you follow foreign affairs? Olvala's getting rid of their reds. Teaching purples to do the work."

"... interesting choice of words, there. Are you proposing a plan of some form, because I'd appreciate one. My plans are crap."

"I don't see Anitam copying them, honestly. Our purples aren't chomping at the bit to do disgusting jobs for red wages and we're a big country, it'd be logistically complicated. But once some places have killed off and replaced their reds, then the roboticists can go work there in peace. And once there are robots ready for order, yep, we'll surround the districts and light them afire and bring in the robots, no question. Five years out, maybe ten, but in our lifetimes certainly."

"... Listen, I'm bad at math and I like chaos and fire more than the next girl, but even I'm going 'what the hell' at that. Reds are people. Disgusting people, sure, so am I. Killing them all because their ancestors got the shit end of the stick? That's..." 

She shakes her head. 

"Uh huh. So let's maybe think of something else. I have people in Orvara documenting their procedures, trying to make the case it's not good enough. But it can get better. That just buys time, it doesn't change the - slope things are rolling down, and it doesn't change what's at the bottom of the hill."

"If you're asking me to get creative at it, I can definitely do that."

"I do think it requires creativity. It also requires credibility, though, so I think you should keep as low a profile as you possible can. And follow the pollution laws like millions of lives depend on it."

"Low profile is going to be hard, but I can follow decontamination procedures just fine when my head's screwed on right. Have you actually talked to my professional head-screwer-oner?"

"Atha? I haven't."

"You should. You really, really should. She is the least boring person I've ever met to date. Might or might not beat you out, I don't know you well enough yet."

"Perhaps I have all the excitement I could desire in life."

"In my admittedly uninformed opinion, she's much more your type. Sometimes I wonder if she'dve been better off as a blue."

"Most people would be better off blue, even ones not at all suited to it."

"She's been my nursemaid for years now. Give me a little credit towards a complete understanding of her personality."

"Oh, I'm not challenging you, just the framework. Why'd you sneak away from her?"

"... I have honestly no idea. I mean, I can lay out the sequence of steps that got me from there to here, but logic's got nothing to do with it."

Sigh. "Okay. I'll go talk with her."

She nods and smiles. "Good plan. And good luck with the reds project, Aitim."

"Likewise." He goes to find Atha.

Atha is waiting in the waiting room, hardly budged from where he last saw her. 

She closes her magazine and looks at him expectantly.