Veriden cut an annoyed glance at Riordan but said nothing; he suspected that even she saw the irony in starting an argument over whether she was argu… - Charles E. Gannon

So—I'm a major. New pay grade." She laughed. "My salary has just jumped from nothing to next-to-nothing. What will I spend it all on?

Virodok!" exclaimed Sukhinin, who sounded short of breath. "Do you monsters hold nothing dear beyond yourselves?"
"No, we do not, and that is the source of our power: to reject the delusion that any human, anywhere, at any time, actually does anything or feels anything that they believe is not, at some level, in their own interest.

They are not speculating upon the mysteries behind us, only upon the possibilities before us.