Be grateful. I’ve taught you a valuable lesson. Most people never do learn exactly how much they will do to stay alive. - Michael Swanwick

It was the kind of discovery that shatters old universes and opens up new ones in their place.

I’ll have to throw it at him, Rebel thought. Swing it up, catch him under the jaw, break a few teeth. Then grab the knife and hold him for the security people. That was a good plan. It ranked right up there with suddenly learning how to teleport.

“Machines!” Wyeth snorted. “Machines are the easiest things in the universe to outwit because they’re predictable—that’s their function, to be predictable, to do exactly what they’re designed for, time after time.