Revelation Space (Revelation Space, #1)

by Alastair Reynolds

It was as if the tunnel system was the work of a demented maggot which preferred the part of the apple immediately under the skin.

Sylveste nodded, then regretted the movement.

‘I’ve felt worse.’ Then she wondered why she had said it, because she could not think of an occasion when she had felt this bad, ever.

It looked like a biology lesson for gods, or a snapshot of the kind of pornography which might be enjoyed by sentient planets.

I’m very, very scared. Probably more scared than a piece of software has any right to feel. Isn’t that profound, Dan?’