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I don’t explain to them that after years of trailing around after you, my definition of an emergency is seriously divergent from theirs.”
What is it about you people who run sexually segregated fleets that makes you all disembark insane?
“There is a deal of sanity to be saved in letting the past go, and moving on.”
But if all the decent folks quit and only the idiots are left to run the show, it won’t be good for the future of Barrayar.
I always thought my parents could fix anything. Now it’s my turn. Dear God, how did this happen?
“If you make it plain you like people, it’s hard for them to resist liking you back.
“Maybe the secret of happiness is to live for today, to never look ahead.
Excellence, this kind of excellence, could never have any sane economic justification. It had to be done for the honor of one’s country, or one’s people, or the glory of God. For the joy of being human.
You would not be loving her properly if you did not also love her improvident, lavish, spendthrift excellence.
“We asked the fellow, but we didn’t get an answer. If you all don’t have better luck with him, we have a few more ideas we can try.” His scowl suggested that these might run to the illicit utilization of airlocks, or perhaps innovative applications of freight-handling equipment definitely not covered in the manufacturer’s warranties. “I bet we could make him stop screaming and start talking before his air ran out.”
“If you die on me out here, I will not be grieved, I will be pissed. This is all very fine, love, but may I point out that you don’t have time to indulge in angst right now. You’re the man who used to rescue hostages for a living. You are not allowed to not get out of this one. So stop worrying about me and start paying attention to what you are doing. Are you listening to me, Miles Vorkosigan? Don’t you dare die! I won’t have it!”
“I wouldn’t dare die. There’s this fierce Vor lady who threatened she’d kill me if I did.”
He had been the end point of human evolution. At this moment he abruptly felt more like a missing link. I thought I knew everything. Surely I knew nothing. How had his own life become such a surprise to him, so utterly rearranged? His brain had whirled with a thousand plans for these tiny lives, visions of the future both hopeful and dire, funny and fearful. For a moment, it seemed to come to a full stop. I have no idea who these two people are going to be.
