Scardown Quotes

“Still perfect sixteen, and she glares when Ellie and I burst out laughing.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“The irony makes me laugh myself sick: think for a moment of ripping myself free, taking Elspeth and Gabe and running for the hells-and find out my gorgeous justification is already part of the prime minister’s audacious plan for world cooperation-By the time I’m done, wiping tears onto the back of my left hand, everybody else by the windows is staring at me. I shake my head helplessly and grab Ellie’s hand.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“Sly and sickways. I have to swallow my grief and my hope before it all spills down my face again: somehow she’s not broken yet.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“Elspeth chuckles, that half-swallowed ironic laugh I’ve got so fond of, and lowers her voice.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“Oh, Ellie. You are still so slick. Patty lost as much as the rest of us. More. Here we are, and love each other, and links forged in shared fire. And Patty’s got herself and the voices in her head.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“You know what you’ve lost, sometimes, and there’s no point in talking about it. You turn around and look at the ruins, and then you either sink down by the roadside and cry or you pick up your pack and lump on.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“His eyes meet hers, and she gives him a sad little smile, half a curve of the lips that falls away softly.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“I wonder how many species break their planets getting off them.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“Patty watches silently, pale eyes alert as they shift form Elspeth’s face to mine and back again.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“Boris, baby. How many lives are you on now?”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“Long tradition of ship’s cats in the navy.”

“This is the air force, Captain.”

“I won’t tell him if you won’t.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“I wait at the airlock, Gabe on my left side, Patty on my right. Captain Wainwright is three steps in front of us, Richard hovering like an anxious blind date in my head.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“He blinked, voice grinding if the words were buried somewhere very deep and he had to go after them.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“My moment of infamy was a long time ago.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“A clean jumpsuit is like a personal favor from God.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“I’ll say this Wainwright. When she chooses a side, she doesn’t screw around.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“I’m an M.D. A shitty one, but sometimes shitty is better than nothing. I’ll do what I have to do.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“Riel considered Elspeth, and was considered in turn.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“Wainwright looks like she knows what she’s doing is wrong, and it’ll never be right inside her head again.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“Patty’s mouth comes open and her lips shape names as if it would hurt her to say it out loud.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“You blank your mind and let the words come out, crisp and even. You don’t think about what they mean, and you sure as hell don’t about what you’re saying.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“As if I took my little girl in my arms and held her tight and she’s not a little girl anymore, and I still can’t save her, can I? Because you can’t. I can’t save her from my mistakes. Any more than I could save Nell. But at least I can hold Leah’s hand.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“How did I ever live before I had an AI in my brain?”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“A warrior kind of finality fills me with an emotion I almost don’t recognize.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“There’s an eagle feather in my pocket and resolution like a fist clenching my chest and on some deep level I’m dead happy I don’t know what comes next.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“I think the flutter of color in my head is Alan’s equivalent of a sigh.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“I press my steel hand to my cheek, taking comfort in the coolness of metal.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“At least he’s laughing. It sounds as if he might strangle on it, but he’s laughing. So help me God.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“His breath hurt her lungs, in and out, in and out, as if he breathed the smoke and ash he saw.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown

“She laughed inside, and even let the laughter touch her lips.”
― Elizabeth Bear, Scardown