It's sad to see Daniel losing his enthusiasm and his optimism, but I'm glad he has people worth holding onto--if only he could have held on to one of them for longer. It really does seem like almost every victory they had eventually was later lost or canceled out.

I have to think Daniel keeps some hope, even now, and that his teammates do, too.

Interesting world--what was the shack made of, if the acid rain was good for the living trees but ate through the wood there? Was it wood from another world, or just that once the wood was dead, it couldn't last?