We'll get him," Alex said. "We'll always get him back. Sure we will. Until the time we don't," she said. "It's like this for everyone. There's always… - James S. A. Corey

From where he was, the fear had stopped being an emotion and turned into an environment.

People trust what they already know. Having a new high consul would be difficult under any circumstances, but it would be less difficult if there were a story with it. A succession. I want to train you to be that, if—God forbid—something happened to me.
But why should I be good at it just because you were?" Teresa said. "There's no reason to think that. That's dumb.
It is," her father said. "But it's a mistake people have made all through history.

We knew that, though.
We suspected it.
Do we know it now?
We suspect it harder," Elvi said. "We're scientists. We only know things until someone shows us we're wrong.