We did it the way we did it because according to the records, that’s the way we did it. The rules against paradox bind us as tightly as they do you. - Michael Swanwick

Everyone dies—the rearrangement of when is a matter of only statistical interest.

I trust I have not grown so gullible as to consult a doctor," the bureaucrat said with dignity. "If I want medical attention, I hall employ the qualified machinery or, in extremis, a human with proper biomedical augmentation. But I will not swill down fermented swamp guzzle at the behest of some quasi-literate, uneducated charlatan.

It really is a pity. Esme was so full of curiosity and enthusiasm when she was a child. She’d make a great biologist. But it was her misfortune to be born wealthy. She had dreams. But her parents had too much money to allow that.