[By now he's heard about the deaths and the monsters, so he can take a guess about why Murphy can't come. He's not completely sure what's happening, but weird monsters and a dead kid are the worst he's seen thrown at the ship so far.]
Sorry if you're involved up in all that crap that just happened.
[Ouch. How do you respond to that? His first impulse would be to ask for elaboration, but fortunately the difficulty of texting allows him to have something of a filter.]
Then I'm really sorry. Kids shouldn't be in places like this.
[Not that certain places back home are much safer, it just seems that if a kid is to get snatched up by a spaceship it should take them somewhere that's actually nice.]
[Chicago's considered lawless even by the standards of New York's various crime families, so Firo can assume basically what Murphy means.]
I think usually I'd say those guys out in Chicago are a little too brutal, but for things like this it's just right. People have gotten killed for less.
Too bad it doesn't seem like whatever bastard's responsible for all this'll own up soon.
[Not having someone he can confront for this--the murder, the ship, everything--is an unusual frustration for Firo.]
It was a mess. People who didn't fit into their little hivemind were being arrested and then brainwashed or something. It's like you lost all sense of who you were and just literally became part of their system.
Anyone would be better off dead than to stay there.
Glad you at least got out okay. I feel bad for whoever's still stuck there. Even if they don't know what's being done to them is sick, it's still awful.
There was a guy back home who tried to run people's minds and whenever they started thinking for themselves he'd just kill them.
[Ennis had the choice to rebel and die or stay under his control. Maybe she was more fortunate than those people.]
Doubt there was much that could be done for any of those people. Whatever happened to them, it's been going on for some time. Doesn't make it any easier though.
Christ. The fact that there are more people out there who'd go and do the same thing like that is messed up.
Yeah, I used to think he was a pretty damn special brand of evil, but I guess not. Seems like as long as people can screw with someone else's head, they will.
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