Light of Impossible Stars: An Embers of War novel

by Gareth L. Powell

only my most peripheral memory banks were vulnerable to such disruption, and I never stored anything important in them. Rabbits and T-rexes were both extinct, so the chances of me ever having to tell them apart in a tactical situation were practically zero.

That’s why there were so few spacefaring species in the Multiplicity: most life was content simply to exist within its ecological niche. It had no compulsion to strive into and adapt to new environments, the way the humans had. Intelligence was commonplace, but curiosity remained one of the galaxy’s scarcest traits.

“I just noticed that, according to the old Conglomeration calendar, today is Christmas Eve.” “What’s that?” “An old tradition. A festival of conspicuous consumption and gift-giving to mark the birth of a man who disapproved of the accumulation of personal wealth and possessions.” “That doesn’t sound right.” “Many Old Earth traditions make little sense when you examine them closely.”