"Rommie, you can't submit this!" Dylan exclaimed, waving the flexi.

"Why not? Every child should know about the Little Train That Could, and Perimeter-12," Rommie replied, crossing her arms.

"Andromeda, Arcturian carrion slugs pale in comparison to the effects of High Guard antipersonnel canister. It doesn't just killit literally shreds everything in a 50-yard radius. Temujin, out of Hera by Alexander, saw its effects first hand and were he alive today he would still have nightmares. Now you wish to expose a seven year old child to this?"

"It is a vital part of the history of the Systems Commonwealth! And besides, her year has 528 24-hour periods, so she's actually more than ten already. Dylan snuck into The Cheerleader Butchershop VII when he were nine. So there," Rommie snapped crossly.

"The Cheerleader Butchershop VII? The only thing that gave my Uncle more nightmares than the Magog?" Harper started to whistle admiringly.

"Harper, shut up," said Rommie.

"Rommie, you submit that story and we'll never get a single Nietzschean to join the Commonwealth," the captain said flatly. "We're not fighting the Nietzscheans any more."

"They respect the Little Train," Rommie snapped.

"She is correct. The soldiers of FMP-3G5-194-P12 were greatly admired even by the Nietzscheans. I believe Kura'kakak proposed extracting semen and ova from the bodies of the humans and using them to impregnate Nietzschean volunteers. It was felt that such worthy genetic material would otherwise be wasted."

Everybody stared at him. Finally, Dylan asked, "They didn't, did they? Because I knew some of the men that died at Perimeter-12."

"No, they did not."

"Okay. You, you, and especially you, shut up. Let's sit down and discuss this like adults, okay?" Beka shook her head. "Look. The Commonwealth has been dead for 300 years. You're all arguing over people who have been dead for centuries."

"It hasn't been 300 for me," Dylan replied softly, "and if we succeed, it won't be 300 for anybody ever again."

"Okay, okay, fine. But until you do, less reminiscing with nostalgia, more tucking into bed, okay? Especially you, Dylan."

"Me? What did I do?" Dylan asked.

"You turned Sleeping Beauty into...urrgghh! Do I really act that masculine?"