The Last Dance Quotes

“But orbital mechanics waits for no man,”
― Martin L. Shoemaker, The Last Dance

“The first thing you should know about the second Bradbury expedition is I lived to tell you about it. That should be obvious since I’m telling you about it, right? But I had a drinking buddy back at the Old Town Tavern in Tycho Under, and practically every one of his stories ended with, “And then I died in the mess.”
― Martin L. Shoemaker, The Last Dance

“Taking off from Mars is a lot easier than landing. To take off, you just have to miss the ground, and then keep missing. But to land, you have to miss it, but just barely; and then barely miss it again and again until you can hit it on your terms, not Mars’s.”
― Martin L. Shoemaker, The Last Dance

“The safest place to be in this solar system is under the command of Nick Aames--but just outside of shouting distance."
"And inside shouting distance?"
"Third safest. Second safest if you can get him shouting at somebody else.”
― Martin L. Shoemaker, The Last Dance

“...Right now I don't give a damn about who's to blame for getting us in this mess, I only care about who's going to get us out. Are you on the solution team?"
More firm this time. "Sir, yes, sir!"
"Good. Because if you're not on that team then do us all a favor: step out on the surface, and leave your air bottles behind for someone who'll actually do their damn job...”
― Martin L. Shoemaker, The Last Dance

“Our agents reported that the journos weren’t persuading anyone new; they were just keeping the Initiative’s supporters from wavering in their calls for our heads.”
― Martin L. Shoemaker, The Last Dance

“Q: I’m in the fact business, Chief. I avoid the news and opinion channels.”
― Martin L. Shoemaker, The Last Dance

“clear as starlight”
― Martin L. Shoemaker, The Last Dance

“That assignment should’ve been impossible, but they pulled it off. And that was our reward? To have them spit on our effort, tell us we were incompetent, and transfer us all out like a bunch of failures? No, thank you!”
― Martin L. Shoemaker, The Last Dance

“Aldrin”
― Martin L. Shoemaker, The Last Dance

“I don’t need you to retell the entire history of the Aldrin. Thank you, Inspector. The roots of the incident in question can be found in the Aldrin’s”
― Martin L. Shoemaker, The Last Dance

“Lung replacement was a common emergency surgery these days,”
― Martin L. Shoemaker, The Last Dance

“A reader is nice, and it’s portable. It’s a marvelous invention. Buying books for the paper is like buying beer for the bottles. It’s what’s inside that gets you drunk!”
― Martin L. Shoemaker, The Last Dance

“This is a political witch hunt, driven by people whom Captain Aames rubbed the wrong way.”
― Martin L. Shoemaker, The Last Dance