More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Acting all sanctimonious while spouting bad info was a terrible way to win a debate, but a great way to piss people off.
“You’re a physics virgin!
“So we travel to one end — whoosh — and all the people seeing us fly by are like, oh my stars, look at that totally amazing ship, what genius tech patched together such a thing, and I’m like, oh, that’s me, Kizzy Shao, you can all name your babies after me
Ashby turned his head. “You know ginger’s an accent, right? Like a spice?” “What? No. Really?” “Did you try to eat it whole?” “Oh, dear. Yes.” Dr. Chef rumbled a laugh. “I thought it was some sort of spicy potato.”
(00:52): i’ll need to discuss it with the crew before i decide anything Sissix (00:53): so let’s discuss it with them Ashby (00:53): no sis wait Throughout the ship, the voxes snapped to life. “EVERYBODY, WAKE UP! BIG NEWS! CREW MEETING! REC ROOM IN FIVE!” Ashby (00:54): i’m going to space you, sissix Sissix (00:55): you love me
The galaxy is a place of laws. Gravity follows laws. The lifecycles of stars and planetary systems follow laws. Subatomic particles follow laws. We know the exact conditions that will cause the formation of a red dwarf, or a comet, or a black hole. Why, then, can we not acknowledge that the universe follows similarly rigid laws of biology? We have only ever discovered life on similarly-sized terrestrial moons and planets, orbiting within a narrow margin around hospitable stars. If we all evolved on such kindred worlds, why is it such a surprise that our evolutionary paths have so much in
...more
We are experts of the physical galaxy. We live on terraformed worlds and in massive orbital habitats. We tunnel through the sublayer to hop between stellar systems. We escape planetary gravity with the ease of walking out the front door. But when it comes to evolution, we are hatchlings, fumbling with toys. I believe this is why many of my peers still cling to theories of genetic material scattered by asteroids and supernovae. In many ways, the idea of a shared stock of genes drifting through the galaxy is far easier to accept than the daunting notion that none of us may ever have the
...more
“No, I won’t,” Sissix said. She was acting childish, but she didn’t care. Her face was about to fall off. She had a right to be petulant.
The idea that a loss of potential was somehow worse than a loss of achievement and knowledge was something she had never been able to wrap her brain around.
“Ninety percent of all problems are caused by people being assholes.” “What causes the other ten percent?” asked Kizzy. “Natural disasters,” said Nib.
“You’re Rosemary Harper. You chose that name because the old one didn’t fit anymore.
Such a quintessentially Human thing, to express sorrow through apology.
I was born into that war. And when I was ready, I took my place in it as a doctor.
The memories reached out to Dr. Chef, trying to pull him away from his safe observation point. They tugged, begging for him to give in. But he would not. He was not a prisoner of those memories. He was their warden.
There is peace out here in the open. I have friends and a garden in the stars and a kitchen full of tasty things. I heal people now. I cannot pretend that the war never happened, but I stopped fighting it long ago. I did not start that war. It should never have been mine to fight.”
“We cannot blame ourselves for the wars our parents start. Sometimes the very best thing we can do is walk away.”
The truth is, Rosemary, that you are capable of anything. Good or bad. You always have been, and you always will be. Given the right push, you, too, could do horrible things. That darkness exists within all of us.
“You’re trying to be someone good.”
“Speaking of Aeluons,” Sissix said. “I am dying to know where our captain is.” She turned toward the vox. "Hey, Lovey.” “Nope,” Lovey said. Sissix and Rosemary exchanged amused looks. “Nope?” Sissix said. “You heard me. No way.” “Please? You don’t have to say what they’re doing, just tell me where—” “Oh, no! I seem to have a … circuit … problem. I can’t talk to you any more.” The vox switched off.
I’ll never forget what he said to me. He said, ‘This means we matter. We’re worth something.’ And I said, ‘Of course you’re worth something. Everyone is worth something.’ And he said, ‘But now I know the galaxy thinks so, too.’”
Without the haze of city lights, shimmering colors shone down unhindered — the glow of neighboring moons, the murky purple gauze of the galactic cloud, and all in between, nothing but stars, stars, stars. She lived up there, in that vast expanse of color. Every day, she saw planets and comets and stellar nurseries right up close, plain as weather. Yet, there was something about being planetside that made it feel different. Perhaps stars were supposed to be viewed from the ground.
Perhaps the ache of homesickness was a fair price to pay for having so many good people in her life.
The people we remember are the ones who decided how our maps should be drawn. Nobody remembers who built the roads.”
The date on that directory. That’s the day I installed you. Yes. Why? Because I’ve loved you since then.
She felt her breath, her blood, the ties binding it all together. Every piece, down to the last atom, had been made out here, flung through the open in a moment of violence, until they had swirled round and round, churning and coalescing, becoming heavy, weighing each other down. But not anymore. The pieces were floating free now. They had returned home. She was exactly where she was supposed to be.
