A while ago, I said that I didn't want to waste people's time with sub-standard work. I don't think that it's sub-standard. That's why I am hitting post on Chapter 11.
However, I felt the content probably needed a blog post because, well, up to now, Free Trader Mary's Dream has been.. for lack of a better word, a bit more light and fluffy, tone wise. Not that horrible things are not discussed, but in the end, there is always a way for heroes to win through.
That is DEFINITELY not the theme of Chapter 11. It is dark, dissonant, and almost nihilist in a way. It features a character resourceful enough in his way to have been a hero under other circumstances. He was trapped by a choice he made without knowing the true cost of what he had done, and the spiral that followed.
It came down to doing the things he needed to stay alive and useful to a Universe. And then what happens when one cannot live with what they have done to take that Universe and change it utterly.
This is NOT going to be how the rest of the series operates. Trust me on that. What it is, is a reminder that no system is perfect. There are people out there who will exploit your Cause to further their unrelated cause. or even use your cause to promote their inherently inimical cause at the expense of yours
There's a saying widely attributed to Edmund Burke: "The only thing necessary for the Triumph of Evil is that good men do nothing".
In short, I wanted this chapter to say that "yes, there are people that are disadvantaged by the system. That yearn to change the system. They may fall to evil, because in their case, good men did nothing." Tomas falls into that category.
No system is perfect.
But that doesn't mean we shouldn't keep striving for it.
edit: A TL'DR summary: This chapter is very dark, true. But that is to highlight the light in the other chapters.