To the extent that caution trades off against things like rescuing kidnapped children it is not my highest priority but I would prefer to make my presence net positive for everyone.

Lots of people will suffer if Biyan loses all their sanitation workers.

I understand that. But I am not willing to set the precedent that kidnapping children is a functional way to get things you want.

Do you have stealth options? Such that it wouldn't be immediately obvious they'd been stolen?

Iiiiiii have stealth options but what they do is make people unable to perceive a thing, not make them perceive a thing that isn't there. If they're keeping them in a room and checking up on them every five hours I can keep them from finding out for five hours max.

I'm more concerned with - if Biyan lost the kids, Biyan lost the kids, that's their fault, they look stupid, maybe the other reds rescued them. Then you could take them somewhere still stealthily and we could come up with a plan for not causing an international uproar.

Without knowing what Biyan's doing to them or how or where they're keeping them I can't commit to pulling that off but it's definitely something I can try.

Thank you. If you do have to declare yourselves do try to clarify that you aren't going to be attacking anyone else. 

No one else unless they kidnap children, anyway, but yes. "Alien does not get castes, how would you feel if someone was kidnapping clean children?"

If you show capacity to do whatever you want, people will assume that they die if they annoy you, and that - well, it does sort of get you cooperation but at a very high price. Better to avoid the impression entirely if you can, and if you can't to keep in mind that that's the lens through which everything you say will be parsed.

I don't want to do that but I also don't want to give the impression people can get away with doing arbitrary terrible things to reds.

I understand. That's why it'd be best to leave it unclear what even happened in Biyan.

Yeah. That is Plan A.

Good luck.

Thanks.

And to Telkam: Okay, do you think we should go to Biyan first to check on the kids, then to Olvala once we have the information, or just go to Olvala first and do all the Biyan stuff in one trip?

I think once we see the kids we're gonna end up grabbing them.

Okay, probably. Olvala first, then.

Yep. 

They fly to Olvala. It takes a while, even at their speed.

Ruby changes her hair color to red on the way there.

He does not comment. He directs them to the place where he got Ladah.

They search the area for remaining reds.

No.

Any other ideas for where there might be survivors?

Not really.

Fuck. Okay, I guess we go to Biyan alone.