You saw right! Alpha! Not even beta! xD
So I've decided to break tradition and open a scene to the audience prior to sending it through my lengthy editing and peer review process. The reason? It is one of the most heavily discussed objective topics in Daybreak. I mean, agreeing on subjective topics like gender issues is overrated; no one will know the correct answer until we truly break open the human skull* and understand exactly what each and every neural pathway does. But on objective topics? It's important that we at least attempt to stay on the same page.
(*Proverbially! no Japanese or Nazi human experimentation! I'm annoyed every time "SCIENCE!" is given as the reason for anything; not funny at all when you've studied history. In fact one of the first things engineering school had forced me to read and discuss was whether Technological Determinism was good or even right. Oppenheimer did quote right after inventing the atomic bomb: "Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.")
The topic? Gunpowder, and the development of guns in a high magic setting.