In Clavain’s experience, it was the less comforting possibility that generally turned out to be the case. It was the way the universe worked. - Alastair Reynolds

There was something about the cocksure confidence of that statement that gave Auger goose pimples. It was like an invitation to fate.

I was born in a house with a million rooms, built on a small, airless world on the edge of an empire of light and commerce that the adults called the Golden Hour, for a reason I did not yet grasp.

Ideology is all there is." "Really? I would have thought there were many other human qualities worth considering. Fairness. Generosity. A sense of humour. A willingness to see the best in people, even those we do not automatically agree with.