She glanced up at him, wondering if he was already bored. But he was focused on her intently. It was hard not to squirm under that gaze, and she was torn between running away and throwing herself into those strong arms.
Breathe. Find your center. Bring order to your thoughts.
“I hadn’t thought of it that way,” he said encouragingly. “Go on.”
“The town where my family lives on Terra-17 had something a little like that happen,” she explained. “We’re a farming town, and the intergalactic government came into our sector, wanting us to adopt modern farming methods. All they could talk about was efficiency, not needing pesticides, and the speed of the harvest with the new equipment. They were going to subsidize retrofitting every single farm.”
“It sounds amazing,” he said. “People didn’t want it?”
She shook her head.
“Why not?” he asked.
“I think it’s important to know that the government never sent anyone to talk to the farmers before they made their plans,” Yasmine said.
“Oh, we’ve put out half a dozen press releases in Pirn already,” Ruler Kreed said with a smile.
That was exactly what she was afraid of.
“I don’t mean announcements,” Yasmine said politely. “I mean actually listening and talking with us. If they had come to our town, I think they might have realized why the retrofits were a mistake.”
“A mistake?” Kreed echoed.
Something about the way he was focused on her was almost magical. She had never felt so listened to, in spite of the fact that they were still in disagreement.
“In our town, even the most prosperous farmers are poor,” she explained. “We might have plenty to eat and to trade, but we don’t have a lot of actual credits.”
He nodded.
“If the old equipment broke down, it was relatively easy to fix,” she went on. “There were a few handymen who could always figure out a way to make something last a little longer. They kept spare parts for anything that didn’t. And the equipment was made of simple metals, so if the handyman didn’t have a part, the metal man could make one. All of these people would barter their services. We had a whole support system in place.”
“Oh,” Kreed said, understanding dawning in his eyes.
“The new stuff is better,” she allowed. “They were right about that part. But it needs regular maintenance. The parts are lightweight and efficient, but that also means breakable and hard to replace. And every component seems to have a computer or a delicate sensor or two. Those things might operate fine on some planets, but Terra-17 has a wicked dry season, and the dust wreaked havoc with those fancy parts.”
“So the government should have also funded a maintenance and replacement program,” he said with a flash of excitement. “They should have thought about future costs, and about alternate tech for different climates.”
He began tapping out a few notes on his comms, as if he was planning to put her insights to work.
The power of that would have been dizzying if she felt that she had fully articulated her story.
“Those things would have helped a lot,” she agreed, biting her lip. “But it wasn’t the whole problem.”
“Oh,” he said, looking up and dropping his wrist back to the desk.
“We Terrans may not be wealthy or strong in comparison to other beings,” she said. “But we have our pride, and we take care of each other, or least most of us do.”
He nodded, and she hoped he was really listening.
“In my town, no one was going hungry,” she went on. “We worked very hard, and we didn’t have much, but we were proud of our way of life. Imagine someone coming in and saying your way isn’t good enough? And instead of asking how they could help, what if they just tried to upend things? A lot of people don’t want a handout. It feels like an insult. And they definitely don’t like being told what to do by someone who doesn’t understand them.”
“I have to go to Pirn,” Kreed breathed. “I need to talk to them.”
She nodded. He was getting it.
“If I listen to them, will they listen to me?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “Some probably won’t. But if you don’t get to know them and hear what they have to say, you’ll never actually make their lives better. And who knows what you might learn?”