Even knowing where you were heading, it still was a punch to the gut--especially Mary Beth's story. Thinking about that, and what happens to the families that are left behind is almost physically painful.

Also, I totally wasn't expecting the end. That was a great touch.

When Francis says "the country is much whiter" I was partly thinking of debt peonage, but I also was making a joke on the USNA in the original Keptverse being inhabited entirely by actors from prime time TV series and films. Yeah, it would be whiter than the real world America, wouldn't it?

Heh. That, and the fact that telesilla and I have made a point of not casting any actors of color as slaves. But I liked seeing that acknowledged here.