Somehow he felt more resigned than surprised. Things had been going far too well for far too long. Just when you thought you had the universe by the … - Charles Sheffield

Not it. He. Bey was sure he would have determined that for himself after a few more seconds. There were a hundred clues as to the innate sex of a form, and most of them had nothing to do with appearance or dress.

The Asteroid Belt contains everything from substantial bodies like Ceres, seven hundred and fifty kilometers across, all the way down to house-sized boulders, pebbles, and grains of sand. One good rule of thumb is that for every object of a given size, there will be ten times as many one-third that size.

We're just too nosy, Commander," he went on. "Most humans have their patience level set a little too low, and their curiosity a bit too high.