Worldwired Quotes

“It's a measuring look, as if she's trying to figure out which sand castle is likely to crumble first, so she can shove some more mud up against it.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“I'm not sure what we have here is a hive mind, so much as a Gaia-type intelligence. The whole ecosystem, including the ship, seems to function as one beastie; not a threaded intelligence, like Dick, and not separated intelligences, like humans, and not a single big unified brain split into however many bodies it happens to need at a given moment, as I suspect the birdcages are, but something more like the internal structure of the human mind, where various sections handle various functions autonomously, irrespective of whether the consciousness knows what's going on at all. So you're suggesting this thing's reptile brain is—Actually housed in a reptile. More or less. Yeah.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“Fairy tales don't teach children that monsters exist. Children already know that monsters exist. Fairy tales teach children that monsters can be killed. —G. K. Chesterton”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“The moment is stillness, utter and heartless, and that stillness continus when I step into the water again and wade back to shore, sodden trouser cuffs, clinging to my ankles.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“She catches my gaze when I would have turned away.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“Much as I’d like to feed her her own superior smile sometimes, I still want the woman to like me. And I want her to like herself enough to keep doing what we need her for. Because, God knows, I haven’t got it in me to try.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“The bruises under her eyes are dark enough for Min-xue to dip his brush in and write poetry.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“The coffee’s good, dark, redolent. The surface is clotted with broken rainbows. I raise it to my mouth, pause breathing in the steam. Just the smell of it is energy.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“The gleam in her eyes tells it all.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“Breath held, I will her to speak without making me ask for it, but Riel plays this game better than I do.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“I’m not usually stunned speechless. Call it a character flaw.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“You’re on a ride-along in a jumbo flying squid. Dosideieus gigas. I thought it would be nicer than waking up in a hospital bed, given how much time you’ve spent in those.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“It was perfectly silent, and perfectly safe, and perfectly warm. And perfectly alone.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“She shoved the thought of Genie’s giant bright lost eyes into the same box where she kept the memories of Leah, Carver, her mother and father, and Papa Georges.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“He coded like some people danced, glitter-eyed concentration and confident grace and never a hesitation.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“I try not to glow too much at the praise of Gabe. I’m somewhat attached to him.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“I catch something from him, a flicker of Chinese, a rhythm like poetry. It calms him, whatever it is.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“Once again, you rule our destiny.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“He’s a fragile, girlish sort of a boy with eyes like watchful black jewels.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“I’ve got to give Wainwright credit. She doesn’t say I told you so. She doesn’t even think it real loud, although the vertical line over her shapely little nose advertises restrained wrath. The funny thing is, I don’t think she’s angry with me.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“You know, the more upset you are, the more sarcastic you get.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“Goddamn it, I am sick of watching people I like get killed. I like get killed. I am even sicker of getting people I like killed. It’s not an acquired taste, let me tell you, every drink is bitter as the last. And they never get easier to swallow.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“One crisis at a time.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“Riel softened her voice, created a framework that brought Frye in and pushed Hardy out, even as he came forward as if to shoulder between the two women. The stare that locked them was too much for him to break, however, and he fell back.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“It was too early for Scotch, unfortunately, because the dusty crystal decanter on the sideboard had never looked so good. Resolutely, Riel turned her back on it.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“He chuckled, his eyes twinkling like agates, the first flash of a real personality she’d seen.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“His pilots. And no, frankly, just his pathway to other worlds, but personal friends, all three of them.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“He turned his head to press his face to the cold glass of the portal, a gesture Richard saw a lot among his pilots. His pilots. With their hair-trigger reflexes and enhanced senses that made the simplest navigation through daily life an act of courage and endurance. His pilots. Richard’s pilots. Richard’s ticket to the stars.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“Patty’s mouth twisted; her expression said creepy kid, but Genie was too lonely to get up and leave, even if she knew Patty didn’t want her there.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired

“She was ten months ahead of the curriculum and still bored.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Worldwired