Those Beyond the Wall (The Space Between Worlds #2)

by Micaiah Johnson

Science fiction is an expression born from dissatisfaction with where the world is versus where the world could be. The same is true for protest.

When they didn’t deliver the killer up for charges they weren’t saying, He didn’t do it. They were saying, He was allowed to.

That’s the lesson: As long as someone is stretching to reach you, you’d better bend to reach them.

Where did she learn to eat shit like such a pro? She hasn’t been through training, but at some point she must have been so afraid of consequences that she learned not to punch someone who spat at her.

Cara looks at him like he’s just asked her to fuck a cactus.

This is what every feel-good story about these fucks misses. Yeah, there are nice people in enforcement, but it’s not about numbers, it’s about policy and policy always sides with the assholes.

Kind officers are just the exceptions that ensure the rule goes on.

I wonder if she knows how special she is. How many people would use no one else is doing it as an excuse not to act, rather than as motivation.

Enforcement in the city isn’t keeping anything alive, isn’t vital to anything. They just protect rich people from minor inconveniences.

The oldest way to beat the dark: Shine the light of truth upon it.

“You are trespassing,” he says. We are not. This is public land. But I’m sure he knows that and is just choosing to ignore it because he doesn’t serve any law beyond following orders.