"Here's the thing," I begin, stepping forward and leveling Jo with a careful look, "I don't care about what is or isn't tainted. I care about making sure that we all survive."

The whole situation has everyone's hackles raised, and I can't help but wonder whether that was intentional. Even operating under what I feel is pretty ironclad logic, I can still feel the irritation like a bit of grit in the heel of my shoe. I'm trying to ignore it, but it's making me a little sharper than good-buddy Mark that all these people here know.

"We are, quite literally, on the brink of starvation on a daily basis. We can barely feed ourselves as it is, and more and more people are climbing out of that fountain. Most of the people here are on a steep learning curve when it comes to fending for themselves. We're pushing a damn boulder up a hill here. And does it suck that our asshole overlords waited this long to give us a break? Yeah. But you know what? I can't afford to be emotionally tied up in all that. I'm trying to make sure people are fed."