I throw up my hands in exasperation, glaring at Michael. “We’re talking about an entire world of suffering!”

I brace myself for indifference or more excuses, but instead he says, “You’re right. I wish it could be different.” He turns away, slamming his hands onto his desk. “You think it doesn’t pain me, too? My grandmother only escaped genocide because it was a time that the Makers deemed it acceptable to interfere. But these days we’re not doing enough. I worry about it constantly.” He pushes off from the desk, drags both hands through his hair, and starts to pace.

Kaylie seems taken aback by his outburst, and Michael tries to explain to her. “You don’t understand; you haven’t seen it. Their world… There are so many things we could make better—” He gives up and turns to me with a hopeless look. “But you don’t understand either. You think if we just ship off boxes of medicine, everything would be solved? The Sophists have debated this for years. I’ve petitioned the Council myself. But the risks aren’t worth the little we can do.”

Kaylie adds, “Our advancements involve extremely sensitive knowledge that is bound to be misused. Every innovation that lands in provincial hands is eventually used for violence and war. They can’t be trusted—”

I know that Kaylie has grown up brainwashed by these ideas, but it’s still hard for me to keep the outrage out of my voice as I say, “You don’t know them. How do you know you’re more trustworthy than them?”

“It doesn’t matter, Ada,” Michael says, resigned. “Their world has plenty of solutions already, and it’s not enough to truly fix things.”

It’s my world, not their world. I want to shout it, remind him that this is personal for me. But I hold it in. I just joined a guild, made an unspoken commitment that I’m on my way to accepting this society as my own. I can’t let anyone, even Michael, doubt my allegiance. I need my cover to remain flawless because, ultimately, if I can’t convince the Makers to share their knowledge willingly, I’ll have to steal it. And I’ll need to be trusted to pull that off.

Michael continues. “Anytime we’ve tried, they find ways to hoard the knowledge, create scarcity, drive up prices, and make a profit.”

“As opposed to hoarding it for one tiny, insular society?” I challenge.