"Damn. I didn't know it was that bad where you're from. I'm sorry." Jacob says it simple and direct. He means it, but even as he speaks he knows words are insufficient here. It's hard for him to imagine a life so utterly without hope, except maybe in the darkest parts of the lawless Terminus Systems.

"They sound like nothing but a cult." His voice fills with contempt, suspicion, hostility. The kind of exploitation Isaac describes strikes a deep and tender chord with Jacob. "The authorities, they just let this happen? Haven't declared them illegal or anything?"