Common Good

For all of the horrible events since my team and I left home, we still manage to find small pieces of surprising goodness here and there.

Greenville doesn't really need to trade with anyone. They're in a resource heavy area, with a social structure designed to make the best and most efficient use of those resources. Don't get me wrong, there are things they can use--raw and worked metal goods, pieces of technology, weaponry they don't have to make themselves, medical supplies--but none of it vital. All things they can live without.

Still, Jane and the committee that runs Greenville are happy to trade. They know that helping to build a strong network of survivors will be key to keeping humanity going. Jane and her people see the long term. That sounds pretty cold and calculating, pragmatic to the nth degree, and it is.

But that's not the only reason. I've talked to her quite a bit, as have the members of my team. Jane is remarkably compassionate for someone who has a job as hard as hers. When I ran New Haven, it had about a quarter the people that Greenville does, and that was a nightmare of biblical proportions. She offered fair trades, if ones that leaned more toward benefiting her people, without us having to pull the sympathy card for all the hungry people out there in need.

Things here are pretty standard for the trip. I'm glad Courtney and Steve laid so much groundwork last year. It has made things a lot easier for us. Most places we've traveled to have been pretty receptive.

Tomorrow, we head out for parts unknown. People we've been in contact with but never met. Roads we've never gone down.

Motherfucker. Why do I say things about how well it's going? There's some kind of alarm going. Damn it.