Please Do Not Taunt the Octopus (Newsflesh Trilogy, #3.4)

by Mira Grant

A person who wears a lab coat is a person who knows what’s up: a person who can change the world, for either good or ill, through the studied application of science.

Together, we filled all the available space, forming an impassable wall of scientist and dog. I liked it that way. It was good to remind people that when something needed to move, it wasn’t going to be me.

I wasn’t here to foster a loving workplace environment or encourage my people to be the best that they could be. I was here to save the world, and to hopefully do it with a minimum of casualties. That meant, among other things, that I needed people to remember the chain of command, and to not think that they were somehow above it because they had feelings, needs, and opinions of their own.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown. If you ask me—and why wouldn’t you ask me? I’m a genius—heavier yet are the shoulders that wear the lab coat. Everyone in this facility depended on me to keep them alive.

The first rule we were taught in medical school was ‘Do no harm.’” That wasn’t quite true. The first rule we were taught in medical school was “A cadaver is not a toy.”

There are people who will tell you that the ends justify the means, right up until they’re talking about their own ends. Then, suddenly, morals and ethics matter. Funny thing, that. —Dr. Shannon Abbey

“I am a raven who used to be a writing desk, and there aren’t going to be any more cookies ever again, because Kitty did a bad thing, and when kitty cats do bad things, they have to go down the well.”

“There are three constants in this world, Jill,” I said. “One, you don’t know everything. Two, what you don’t know can absolutely hurt you. And three, someone’s getting fucked. The only question is, who’s wearing the strap-on?

Sometimes I think the worst part of being in charge is all the questions. They never end, and somehow, I’m always expected to be the one who has all the answers.

Routine was important when dealing with people who had every reason to be suspicious of you: It both made you predictable, which could be comforting, and it lulled them into a false sense of security. It was amazing how many people took “doesn’t deviate” to mean “can’t deviate.” If I could build that assumption in her mind, however subtly, I would put myself in a much better position.

Love is a spider, and spiders weave webs.

Weapons of mass destruction are not, in and of themselves, evil. The evil comes from what you use them to accomplish—and how much collateral damage they do. —Dr. Shannon Abbey

Slow pupils don’t make it to the head of the class, but they do get gold stars for participation.”

We can raise the dead. We can cure cancer. We can make the world better in every possible way, save one: No matter how hard we try, we just can’t cure stupid. —Dr. Shannon Abbey

I’m a scientist. I fix the toys that other people throw away.”