There are a lot of really dumb people out there. Might even be someone who believes the snowman is a euphemism for something else.





I thought about it in terms of...what would a planet much younger than Earth be like? And that's what came to mind. A hostile planet with only a small portion of it inhabitable, a very limited breadth of plant and animal life. And that's how one nearly homogenous people that advanced very quickly is possible.

At one point the reader gets to "explore" it because the crew of this ship has to fly over the northern pole to evade detection by those invaders who live near the desert.


As for the new Part 3 stuff:

Looks like Chiaki will feel honor-bound to kill whoever it was that caused Akiko's death. Fortunately she's not one to do that rashly - she's extremely patient. But she would likely begin making plans. Also, she doesn't believe honor-bound means she has to do it one-on-one. She'll bring an army if it suits her.

By the way, though she's never used it here yet, Lara's alias back home was "Lightning Girl". She's not sure she wants to use it, because she chose it when she was 16, and didn't want to be called "That Electric Chick" by the other super team members.