"If we're heading to war anyway, better it be over something less stupid than 'your brand of nationalism is expressed differently than mine'," Jim says with something of a sigh. He's not quite a pacifist - he should be, maybe, but he's seen too much to not know conflict is inevitable, sometimes.

"I understand the desire to keep natives from total panic and chaos, but there's a wide gap between pulling the curtains up for everything and letting us have a more sensible cover story. They've got all kinds of power but are using it on the weirdest details."