The Swarm: A Novel

by Frank Schätzing

‘Hey, we’ll get there in the end,’ growled Frost. ‘God doesn’t play dice.’ ‘That’s what Einstein said,’ objected Johanson. ‘And he was wrong.’ ‘I’m telling you, God does not play dice!’

Out here it doesn’t matter when you arrive. Don’t you remember? Your life doesn’t stop unfolding because you take a longer route. No time is wasted.’

‘You know,’ his uncle added, with a smile, ‘maybe the biggest problem we’ve had to face in the last hundred years was the qallunaat bringing us time. They believe that time spent waiting is time wasted - wasted lifetime.

Have you ever seen an Indian chief’s feather headdress?’ ‘Only in Westerns.’ ‘Well, the headdress signifies that the chief’s spirit is inscribing stories in his head. That’s what the feathers are for. In other words, his head is full of good ideas, and that’s why he’s chief.’ ‘His mind soars.’

‘Hishuk ish ts’awalk - everything is one.’

But consider the development of consciousness within the context of nature as a whole. Can you really see any overall progress or general trend? Eighty per cent of all multicellular organisms have been far more successful in evolutionary terms than mankind, without ever being part of this supposed trend towards neural complexity. The fact that we’re endowed with intelligence and consciousness is only evidence of progress from our particular viewpoint. We’re just some bizarre evolutionary sideshow that’s arisen against all the odds. There’s only one thing that the human species has contributed to the ecosystem of this planet, and that’s a whole lot of trouble.’

The most successful mammals are bats, rats and antelopes.

Culture is nothing but a set of successful patterns of behaviour grounded in our struggle to survive.’