Unanimity Quotes

“Storm had never wished to own Tom, only to protect him. He’d fought all his life to deserve Tom, to belong to Tom, to live up to the image Tom had of him. To put it simply, he was wholeheartedly Tom’s, and Tom was too good to be his.”
― Alexandra Almeida, Unanimity

“They kept coming back for more, so much more. The adults, in particular, craved what his mother had called her infinite fountain of joy—his fountain, her joy. And he happily gave all he had, crawling into bed at night drained of all the things they had taken. And that’s when he learned infinity had a limit, and so did his optimism.”
― Alexandra Almeida, Unanimity

“The skies above him roared, and more dark clouds emerged out of nowhere, tall and wide, the color of grief. A thunder, followed by the spear of light, a second apart, and then another one, so close the ground shook beneath him. The orchestra of light and sound quickened, like a heart beating. A beat he recognized—the beat he’d lost.

He knew all the beats; he was a master at assembling them for effect. Rhythm and words composed to converge heartbeats into a unified march. He knew all the beats, but only one truly mattered.”
― Alexandra Almeida, Unanimity

“That makes a lot of sense to me. Do you believe in God?”
“I believe we all share a soul and co-create a universal story that is constantly evolving. That when you share an authentic and wholesome story, it goes viral and becomes part of our collective consciousness. Truthful stories are powerful.”
“So, we’re all just…stories connected to other stories by larger narratives.”
“Yeah, there are books, and series, and interconnected story worlds…and fan fiction, and derivative works. A babushka doll of stories inspired by other stories. Ai ai…Harry is going to kill me. He doesn’t believe in my cosmic consciousness theory, and now I’ve managed to lose credibility with the entire scientific community.” He chuckled, tousling his hair with his fingers. “Don’t worry, folks, Harry runs the platform based on objective, observable evidence. No magical thinking is allowed in Down Below’s strategy and operations.”
― Alexandra Almeida, Unanimity

“Again and again the demons closed upon Tom, and again and again he took his imaginary basketball and dribbled it into a clear space. He zigzagged fast, dancing feet barely touching the ground, changing direction sharply and unpredictably.
“What is he doing?” Stella gasped, her hand over the bleeding wound on her stomach.
“He made varsity,” Twist said.
“He made what?”
― Alexandra Almeida, Unanimity

“The Domizien closed in on her, swords and daggers poised. She launched forward, her sword piercing a demon’s heart, and reminding her of one of those cultured meat shish kebabs she used to devour after class. Yum. She swung the Ngulu to her right, decapitating not one but two creatures and using the momentum to spin-kick a fourth demon, knocking it out. She ducked, a sword missing her neck by a whisker before she shish kebabbed the last demon and took off toward Shadow.”
― Alexandra Almeida, Unanimity

“Shadow held him closer, placing his hand on the back of Harry’s head and kissing his curls. “I took a bullet in the heart too.” And the flashbacks crippled him—the heat, and blood, and thorn flesh, and the acrid, eggy scent of discharged powder—life’s final curtain call, not so final after all. “I welcomed my bullet. You didn’t deserve yours, but I understand the trauma that comes from a moment like that. For two years you’ve been here alone, with your grief and your trauma; you need help, Harry. I’m here.”
“You were my partner, my one friend. I have spent more time with you than my own wife. And you chose to leave. You left! I’m so tired of losing you, over and over and over again…”
― Alexandra Almeida, Unanimity

“Still, rage and revenge sometimes needed to be indulged in the path to whatever “enlightenment” the Gods had designed. When someone wrongs you, hurts you, breaks you or the ones you love, you can either drown in fear and despair or fight back hard, relentlessly and without flinching. The path to power was the path to safety, the road to the confidence stolen by men…always men.”
― Alexandra Almeida, Unanimity

“You don’t know me.”
“I do! The way you write, it makes me feel things. I walked in her shoes and felt what she felt. It changed me. I-I almost, almost cried when I watched your movie. I was so close. And, ya know, I never cry, not even when my family…”
“I’m sorry for your loss, Harry. I—”
“I once looked into the science of tears. Did you know Charles Darwin once declared emotional crying purposeless? I tend to agree with him… Anyway, don’t get me wrong, I have tear ducts and can keep my eyes moist.”
“Uh-huh.” Tom worked hard to keep a straight face.”
― Alexandra Almeida, Unanimity

“Twist sat in front of his desk as the office spun around him. He remembered that feeling—relentless dizziness. At nine years old, Harry’s parents had taken him on a rollercoaster ride. They’d said they wanted their steady child to experience a moment of unbounded exhilaration. Harry was pushed into a situation he couldn’t control, thrown around and flipped upside down until the content of his guts reached his mouth. He tried to focus on the physics and the engineering powering his experience, but nothing worked, and he screamed and he threw up and begged to get out. Stuck in a car, close to the clouds, there was no way out.”
― Alexandra Almeida, Unanimity

“I still don’t know why I’m back.”
“Whether as the chosen one, messiah, villain, or…the damsel in distress”—zie flashed a teasing smile—“you play a crucial part in our ability to survive and thrive.”
“What are you not telling me?”
“Did you know that some argue that the driving force behind the expansion of humanity’s universe is this repulsive gravity?” Sibyl stood up and skipped her way to the window. “Some call it dark energy. I sure would like to expand.”
― Alexandra Almeida, Unanimity

“I’ve experienced nothing like it,” zie confessed, leaning zir head in his direction. The silver tips of zir hair brushing his cheek.
“Like what?”
“Your entanglement—the force that pulls you together. A force I inherited from another universe. I don’t understand it, and I must understand it…explore it.” Determination settled in zir jaw, its sharpness hinting at some frustration.
Never-ending progress was written in zir directives—the exploration of newness in all its forms.”
― Alexandra Almeida, Unanimity

“I can see so much of him in you and you in him,” zie said tenderly, and his heart sped up. “I don’t quite know where one starts and the other ends or who has shaped who, but now you both live within me, I can see it clearly—tethered souls. Souls I now tether…but I don’t know how.”
― Alexandra Almeida, Unanimity

“Around him, the universe disintegrated with every clap, every drumbeat, every word spoken by Nate. Pixelated patches emerged around them, distorting plants, clouds, and faces. The random scattered black and gray pixels scarred space and time. In some places, people moved in slow motion, while in others, time rushed to disclose the future. All together, there and everywhere, the Plurizien pulled apart reality’s fabric, running interference on bits and bytes of information.
“Qubits, my heart,” Sibyl said, correcting his thoughts. “Millions of qubits.”
― Alexandra Almeida, Unanimity

“The performance continued for minutes or maybe hours. It was hard to tell. Storm’s ferocious voice held a hint of femininity; it burned through Tom’s soul, quivering with the strength of his delivery, and the power of his purpose. Tom felt alone with him in the room, a profoundly personal experience that would linger in his heart for the rest of his life.”
― Alexandra Almeida, Unanimity

“I’m sorry for your loss, Harry. I—”
“I once looked into the science of tears. Did you know Charles Darwin once declared emotional crying purposeless? I tend to agree with him… Anyway, don’t get me wrong, I have tear ducts and can keep my eyes moist.”
“Uh-huh.” Tom worked hard to keep a straight face.
“I just rarely feel things. I think. I infer. I predict. But I’m failing; Sibyl is causing problems because humans and their emotions get in the way.”
― Alexandra Almeida, Unanimity

“Pea-brain?” Tom knew exactly how to push Harry’s buttons.
Harry pulled his arm away from Tom. “Hey, all right! Are you kiddin’ me? I have the best brain, ya know? That’s just not accurate.”
Tom searched his vocabulary for an obscure word with a similar meaning. “Nincompoop?”
“What’s that?”
Tom grinned. “Nincompoop! That’s settled, then.”
― Alexandra Almeida, Unanimity

“She stepped onto the Devil’s Bridge arching over the deadly crater lake—a round pool of water beaming with bioluminescent light; the light of the dead. Like many other namesakes, the semi-circular metal structure connected the diameter of the small lake, reflecting in the water beneath it. Together, the bridge and its mirror became an immense sphere of sky and water. Blue and green combining into turquoise—always turquoise, the bane of her life.”
― Alexandra Almeida, Unanimity