Use of Weapons (Culture, #3)

by Iain M. Banks

The figure slipped from behind a radar housing and crossed the keep’s roof, beneath the wind-moaning aerials.

Like slow waters from a broken dam, nebulous rollers of cloud swung down the canyon; they foundered persistently among the juts and cracks of the architecture, and seeped away like tired thoughts.

luck this good never lasts long; it’ll average out.’

‘They want other people to be like them, Cheradenine. They don’t terraform, so they don’t want others to either. There are arguments for it as well, you know; increasing species diversity often seems more important to people than preserving a wilderness, even without the provision of extra living space. The Culture believes profoundly in machine sentience, so it thinks everybody ought to, but I think it also believes every civilisation should be run by its machines. Fewer people want that.

“‘they should want what we want.” The battle cry of the 21st century.