Vorkalloner seemed suddenly less amusing. “Why are you all so anxious to put us in a bottle, anyway?” “Why, orders,” said Vorkalloner simply, like an… - Lois McMaster Bujold

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Vorkalloner seemed suddenly less amusing. “Why are you all so anxious to put us in a bottle, anyway?”
“Why, orders,” said Vorkalloner simply, like an ancient fundamentalist who answers every question with the tautology, “Because God made it that way.” Then a little agnostic doubt began to creep over his face. “Actually, I thought we might have been sent out here on guard duty as some kind of punishment,” he joked.
The remark caught Vorkosigan’s humor. “For your sins? Your cosmology is too egocentric, Aristede”