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The last two options were the most frightening. Any species that could afford to expend that amount of resources on what amounted to a nonessential project would be able to destroy every human settlement with ease, Earth included. Perfection, then, was a warning to heed.
Sometimes the universe decided to rip apart your life and stomp on the pieces, and there wasn’t a damn thing you could do about it except say, “Now what?”
He didn’t dwell on the fact. The more he did, the more he knew he was likely to slip back into despair and apathy. For him, forgetfulness was a gift more valuable than any memory.
To have his path made clear for him is the aspiration of every human being in our beclouded and tempestuous existence. —JOSEPH CONRAD
The technical term for the polymer-coated nodules was DERPs, or dehydrated excretory recycling pellets. Or as everyone called them: shit balls.
“There’s a theory among neurobiologists and evolutionary researchers that the reason humans have a sense of beauty is because beauty is functional. At least, at some basic level.”
Talia wanted to get Chen inside as soon as possible. The chemist looked like he’d hit the wall … and the wall had hit back.
in the unlikely case they encountered intelligent life somewhere in the universe. Most of what he recalled from the course could be summed up by the phrase “Don’t make the situation worse.” And: “We don’t know.” Which wasn’t particularly helpful.
Alex thought he was beginning to understand why so many religions started in the desert. The emptiness of the land did something to a person’s brain, focused it on the strangeness of one’s inner life.
The melatonin hit like a meteorite. A felted blanket settled across his mind, muffling his thoughts and dulling his senses. He surrendered with willing helplessness. Fighting took too much energy, and he was just so damn tired of fighting. What was the point anymore?
None of the things he’d been so upset about mattered. Not in the grand scheme of things. Only he hadn’t understood that. The lesson was yet untaught and unlearned, and his two teachers—grief and regret—yet waited for him.
The expedition had given him a goal, and the goal had given him a reason to keep moving. He recognized that now. As long as he had a destination in mind, he could keep putting one foot in front of the other. It didn’t mean life would be easy or pleasant, but maybe it could be bearable. Maybe.
