Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -… [718]

“And there would be all those guards,” I said. “I’ve noticed that people who have a little bit of power tend to use it. All those guards KSF is bringing in—they won’t be allowed to bother the rich people, at least at first. But new, bare-bones, work-for-room-and-board employees… I’ll bet they’ll be fair game.” — , Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -…, 718

Note

Lauren’s answer to Marcus routes an abstraction about safety through the concrete image of guards, then predicts violence by class gradation — who is protected, who is “fair game” — with the same hedging “at least at first” her father used. The ellipsis before the punch line is a small piece of timing: the thought arrives and lands.