Endymion (Hyperion Cantos, #3)

by Dan Simmons

I was not surprised to wake up alive. I suppose one is surprised only when one awakens dead.

‘So you’ve stayed here from your own free will,’ I perseverated. A. Bettik nodded and smiled briefly. ‘Yes, for as much as any of us have a free will, sir.’

a change of clothes and underwear, socks, a flashlight laser, two water bottles, a knife – I had specified the type – in a belt scabbard, a heavy canvas jacket with thermal lining, an ultralight blanket to use as a bedroll, an inertial guidance compass, an old sweater, night-vision glasses, and a pair of leather gloves. ‘What else would you need to explore the universe?’ I muttered.

So many important things pass quickly without being understood at the time. So many powerful moments are buried beneath the absurd.

Information is always to be treasured, Raul. It is behind only love and honesty in a person’s attempt to understand the universe.

The universe is indifferent to our fates. This was the crushing burden that the character took with him as he struggled through the surf toward survival or extinction. The universe just does not give a shit.

Life is brutal that way . . . the loss of irrecoverable moments amid trivia and distraction.