Date Night on Union Station (EarthCent Ambassador #1)

by E.M. Foner

Ugh, why wouldn’t her mind stop wandering? Maybe she’d ruined her brain by spending too much time reading.

human knowledge was limited more by laziness than by storage capacity.

more trustworthy species managed to avoid banks completely through a combination of barter and promissory notes.

The dress wasn’t really meant for lying down, she reflected. The fashion designers expected you to take it off at that point of the evening.

Kelly thought she could hear Libby chuckling. That’s right, they don’t have any, she remembered. “Don’t worry, Kelly. We suspected there was a bride-stealing gang working the station. We just needed them to violate our regulations. I’ve already arranged for apprehension and retrieval, so help is on the way.” “You used me as date bait?” Kelly

“I’ve never had a robot come to junk itself before.” “How very droll,” the robot responded

Its various articulated limbs undulated wildly about, like a blind octopus groping for the wheel on a submarine hatch.

“Strange how nobody from your world ever reads the end user license agreements,”

Frisbee clamped in Beowulf’s mouth, and also at the Jack Russell terrier hanging onto the rim of the Frisbee by its teeth and growling as best it could under the circumstances. The terrier’s legs were churning away in a frantic dog paddle, as if trying to convince the world that it was suspended in the air through its own efforts.

was in the old surface navy when the Stryx came. Do you remember ships that sailed on water? Now that was a real challenge, navigating the dividing line between the sky and the sea.

flyboys and the submariners have it easy since they’re either up or down, but sailors, we were right on the margin.”

picturing the Makers as super-smart dinosaurs

two creds for a bouquet, but we’ll let you have them both for four since you’re our best customer,”

Doh.

“And if you have a baby boy you don’t want to keep, we’ll buy him from you. We’ve been saving up forever.”

“That will be thirty creds with the marriage certificate, twenty creds if you want to skip it and take your chances that she’ll remember when she’s sober.”