These bits, from the texev, are, quite simply, incorrect. ToF tells us that the McBryde genome had been "deep inside the onion" for at least 5 generations. As for what Jack's parents knew: "Jack's blue eyes warmed as he looked across the table at her. Christina McBryde was a sculptress and a painter, one whose light sculptures, in particular, commanded high prices not just here on Mesa, but in the Solarian League's art markets, as well. She'd never really wanted him to go into law enforcement, far less into Alignment Security. That was a job she knew someone had to do, but she'd been afraid of what a career in AS might cost her older son's soul along the way. She hadn't stood in his way, especially when all of the LRPB's aptitude tests confirmed how good he'd be at it, but she'd never liked it.
"His father had been more supportive, although he'd had more than a few reservations of his own. He himself was a senior administrator in the Department of Education, and he'd never made any secret of the fact that he'd been both relieved and happy when his and Christine's oldest child, JoAnne, had decided to go into childhood education. Their second daughter—and their youngest child—Arianne had turned out (not surprisingly) to share Zachariah's scientific bent. She was a chemist, and despite her relative youth (she was only forty-nine T-years old) she'd recently become a scientific advisor to the CEO of the Mesa System government. The McBryde family could take solid, quiet pride in its contributions to the Alignment and to its homeworld (which weren't always the same things), yet there was no denying that both of Jack's parents worried about him."
These are people who can confirm the existence and provide a good deal of information about policies and procedures of the Alignment. In fact, they're almost certainly deep enough in to have a good idea that there's deeper than they are, probably were sure that their sons were significantly deeper - and certainly _don't_ know what's lurking in those depths. Probably because they tested out as less that certain to embrace the immediate goals and methods of the core, however much they might support the ultimate objective. They're disposable because at this point their only real contribution to the Plan would be keeping Zack happy, and the route chosen for the execution of Houdini dictated that the happiness of evacuees was no longer a consideration. They are slated for disposal because their connections to the core are strong enough that they pose a risk of providing useful information.
And who knows? If Houdini hadn't been short-circuited from the short-circuit version, the Gauls could well have gotten around to tidying them up and records 'corrected' to show that they _were_ caught by that bomb. As it is, I have to wonder just how recently their medical packages were updated.
Somtaaw wrote:
The McBrydes that were still on planet weren't involved in the actual Alignment though, only the twins were. And they actually don't know their surviving son wasn't at whatever event he was supposed to have been at. All participants in the Houdini portion that involed Zack McBryde, had Gauls with them, and had gone into a form of solitary confinement in the last week or two prior to their actual departure. That solitary also consisted of "absolutely, ZERO contact with families" and prior to that order to cease communication, all Houdini participants were instructed to inform their families they were going on business trips and would be out of touch for a while.
< snip >
The nuke that may have had at least some targetting plans to include the McBryde family was irrelevant. When you're using nukes with intended kills in the multiple thousands, a dozen here and a dozen there that were meant to be targets and weren't don't matter. If the McBrydes were truly intended to be killed, a few Gauls would have arrived at the house, shot them, and planted an explosive in the house itself.
Ultimately, anyone still left on Mesa, had zero connection to the Alignment, and don't even know it existed. We saw that in the one family dinner between the McBrydes (prior to Jack trying to get out), the two brothers kept a lot of secrets from their family and just plain didn't speak of it. Their families knew they were involved in something for the betterment of Mankind, but not specifically what, nor did they press too hard. Jack's mother questioned why he was feeling down, and he very carefully picked his way through an explanation that ultimately said very little; and only Zack knew he was talking of Simoes. The mother simply nodded, and said something like "well if anyone can help this person, you can". I don't have my copy of ToF to double check the scene.
