 At the age of eleven, Martin recognizes
No one, least of all Martin, could dispute that a man's life should be guarded by his kin—but by those who hadn't been born yet? Nobody in the neighborhood was surprised when Martin's mother disappeared and Ninian came to take care of him. When Martin was sixteen, Raymond took him aside for the talk Ninian had promised five years before. "I'm trying to talk to you as if you were an adult," Raymond said, "but if you will persist in these childish interruptions—" "I'm sorry," Martin said. Induced , Martin knew, could have meant anything from blackmail to the use of the iron maiden.
 the descendants are immature and ill-equipped to deal in matters of practicality and common sense.
 Conrad is the enemy, and the only way to keep the future generation safe is to fight him to the death if it comes to it.  the descendants are on to something with the way they live in the future.  the descendants are really the instrument of Conrad, and they are there to do his bidding.  the descendants are immature and ill-equipped to deal in matters of practicality and common sense.