Can't understand SR IV story line

[Adhesine mass]

Im in the mission "the girl who hates 50's". I have many questions (still haven't rescued kinzie)

1. If earth is blown, where do the peds come from?
2. Why does zinyak want keith to kill me withiut killing me himself?
3. Where were the crew (Shaundi, ben, matt etc..) when earth was vlown up.

 

[Nordlys]

1 - they're character from virtual reality, so they don't really exist
2 - Wonder. Is a typical plot hole to add conflict I think
3 - They were trapped into pods in the Zin spaceship (In fact later you save them)