"Maybe? But I don't see why a selfish version of myself would spend money on any sort of charity. They obviously care about something other than themselves. Why they care about those specific things is what's... Opaque."

"Ways of showing off their generosity, feeling special, feeling important-"

"This is such a weird way to send those signals, though. Like, they could probably do it more effectively by- no, apparently people around here don't care about being effective with their money. Argh, what a country. I should start making business plans. How are things transported around here? Carriage? Ship? Train? I haven't seen automobiles in the streets we've gone down so far, but maybe they're elsewhere?"

"I've never heard the word, but that doesn't mean much. What's the thing you're imagining?"

"Like a carriage, but moving under its own power, burning fuel to propel itself. Do you have vehicles that move along long metal tracks?"

"Nope and no. Huh. What kind of fuel?"

"For self-movers, oil or a derivative thereof. For rail-carriages, coal is most common. Do you have... Lightning that moves along strings and can be used as fuel?"

"...no. How long has your world had these things?"

"Rail-carriages for about two hundred years. Fire-powered self-movers existed for about two centuries but weren't much use until a hundred years ago. We've had lightning that travels through wires for a bit over a century. We've also had flying vehicles for a century. Of these, the rail carriages are the only one I remember much about the construction of. It was hugely important to the course of history."

"I can imagine, yeah. I don't want us to have all those things. We might just use them for oppression."

"...Or to become rich and industrialised enough that slavery becomes so inefficient even these... these... rent-seekers," she curses, "stop using them. Technological progress brings opportunities for making the world a better or worse place. The nitrogen-making process allowed for enormous wars on my world, but also allowed us to grow the crops that feed the animals that sustain billions. Not every change is an improvement, but every improvement is a change."

She pauses reflectively. "Actually, the arc of technological progress is probably going to lead to vehicles like these being built eventually. But if I build them, I can make sure that their initial implementation is doing a lot of good. Even if someone finds a way to be evil with them, the first mover advantage would mean I'd probably have enough influence to limit them. Exactly how opposed are you to rail roads?"

"I don't have time to oppose everything that will obviously benefit the rich most. And you can do as you see fit, I like you and some of it might work. I do think it'll obviously benefit the rich."

"Well, yes, it will benefit the rich - and the poor and the middle class. Would you believe that these technologies are so abundant and cheap in my world that to travel hundreds of miles on a rail-carriage is a sign of poverty? Because, if you had any money, you'd make that journey through the sky. Technologies are used more by rich people when they're new and expensive and hard to make, and then they become more and more common, until pretty much everyone has access to it. I strongly believe that starting a rail company would lead to large benefits to the poor in the long term - the fact that it'll also make the rich happy isn't really a mark against it. In an innovative economy, the rich get richer and the poor get richer."

"And the people who aren't considered people don't, because they don't have the right to own property."

"...And the society stops having such a class of people, because that's what happens to rich societies. Or maybe that's a side effect of the guns, or the population density, or the spread of democratic ideas. Those kind of happened all at once on my world, but here is an excellent opportunity for a randomised controlled - no, no randomised controlled trials of moral progress. I'll just try to hit your society with all those things at once and hope that which ever one put the boot to slavery back home does the job here too. Doesn't matter which one, as long as it gets done."

"No, you're right, it really doesn't. What do you need to make this happen?"

"Not sure. There are probably multiple possible avenues. At the moment, money does not seem to be the primary limitation. Instead, I should really look into social capital. You know people, right? Preferably engineers and administrators. Also, I'll need to confirm that transportation is an advantageous area to invest in. I'll need information about what goods travel where on this island, and at what cost. I'll also need information on customs and inspections. Oh, and patent laws. Do you even have patents? Would this stuff be documented at the library? Do you have a friend who knows this stuff - I assume your people have specialists, even if you don't have special interests."

"I know people. Not really engineers or administrators, they tend to be more keep-your-heads-down types. We definitely have specialists, and the library would be a pretty good resource. I can ask people for friends of friends and so forth."

"How positively would you be received if you said that an unaging foreigner with the patronage of an Elrosian wanted to work with them? Put it that way and anyone who dislikes you should love me."

"I think that's basically it. Between the two of us we have the political landscape smothered."

"Excellent. Though we'll also need to find someone to do politicking in the colonies. Presumably someone as outrageous as you, if we want them to get crazy."

When Númenor sends its people, they're not sending their best...

"I definitely know the people for that."

"I thought you might. In that case, in the morning, you should probably drop me off at the library with a briefing on how to find things there and then go find some people - including the outrageous ones. I'll be busy figuring out what the most feasible business strategy is. Meet you back here at sundown tomorrow?"

"Deal." She's beaming.

Carmen goes and finds a bed. It's been a long day.