The final chapter is set to post tomorrow.
I think most of your questions (even some I danced around) will be answered. If not, let me know. Though, some like planet-wide cleanup and power outages are too big for the scope of this story.
Thanks for the questions and suggestions. I've enjoyed them.
For those of you who download the entire story for off-line reading - corrections for all known errors and typos have been submitted. When chapter 10 posts, you should be able to download a clean version.