Overheard Starbuck

"She was lucky they found her when they did. Her mother had succumbed to depression but they showed her how pleasing their men could silence the voices in her head for days at a time. Doctors and psychologists came away satisfied and assured. She was a success. It's true they had to destroy her first husband and his parents but they were inferior people of eastern European stock. Compared to her unflagging dedication to the organization and years of unquestioning service they're of little consequence."
---"You're not making her conversion, her turning out, her therapy--what was done to her anyway?--sound all that beneficial for everybody concerned."
"Her second husband thrives; she gave him three children. You'ld have to ask her or her first husband about it. She of course, as a side-effect of the process, is not that reliable a witness. And if her first husband's still alive, he'ld be under surveillance and you really don't want to put yourself anywhere near that sort of scrutiny."
---"Jesus."
"They've gotten more compassionate. Because of their school outreach-programs fewer marriages need to be destroyed. Almost everyone now understands as soon as they or their partners are recruited, 'rushed' some call it, there's nowhere to run; there's no appeal. Most teenage girls can't wait to join. Most teenage boys are members before they know it. So less drugging is required and hardly anyone is killed or tortured anymore. ... They rule. They keep the home in Homeland Security."