“A drone can bomb a hundred thousand seeds into the earth in an hour. We’re talking about billions of new trees in a year. And the spraying can help not only with the planting but fertilization and herbicides to keep them healthy.”

She nodded slowly. “Not just a weapon to spy or destroy. I can see how it would interest you.”

“It’s a chance to save a little of the planet we seem determined to destroy. Karim’s letter intrigued me. I flew to Noura to take a look for myself. I met him and spent a month with his family while I arranged for the shipment of the drones.” He threw another rock. “It was a good month. They were good people. I told Karim that after he got the reforestation started and his village was back on its feet, I wanted him to come and let me work out a position for him on my staff.”

“Did he agree?”

“No. I didn’t think he would. I saw what he had in that village that he wouldn’t have with me no matter how much I paid him. So I left Noura, but I tried to keep in touch in case something went wrong. I wasn’t really worried, because Karim was smart and had let me know when he was in trouble before. I moved on to working on a new idea in the commercial space program that I was finding a challenge.” He paused. “But I should have kept in touch. Karim was excited and full of triumph as he saw the reforestation taking place in Noura’s forests. He saw what a boon it was to his people and wanted to help other countries that had been gutted. But he didn’t want to involve me. He wanted to do it on his own.” He cleared his throat. “I think he wanted me to be proud of him.”

“You were proud of him,” she said gently. “And everyone wants to be independent.” She paused. “What happened?”