Technical people don’t make good slaves. Without their wholehearted cooperation, things fall apart. - Vernor Vinge

Even as my conscious mind concluded that we were under fire, I threw myself on the ground and flatten into the lowest profile possible. You’ve heard the bromide about combat making life more real. I don’t know about that, but it’s certainly true that when you are flat against the ground with your face in the dirt, the whole universe looks different.

Didn’t Underhill understand? All decent societies agreed on basic issues, things that meant the healthy survival of their people. Things might be changing, but it was self-serving nonsense to throw the rules overboard.

Sometimes the biggest disasters aren’t noticed at all—no one’s around to write horror stories.