Tanner, are you insane?" "Very probably several kinds of insane," I said. "But I'm afraid it doesn't change anything. I'm perfectly happy with my cur… - Alastair Reynolds

It was a fault of the human condition—or perhaps a blessing—that there was no situation which did not eventually become the normal state of affairs.

All her concerns, all her fears, began to feel trifling. It was just a trick of perspective, really, seeing things as they truly were.

I know what you're feeling," Meroka said. "You're thinking, this was my little adventure, it was all revolving around me. And now it's not. You're just a detail, swept up in the stuff she's making happen. Welcome to the way most of us spend our lives feeling, Cutter. We're just turds swirling our way down the pipe.