“We came out here with an operational plan,” she said. “If we start rewriting it every time we find an adjustment we’d like to make, we might as well… - James S. A. Corey

I hate that it breaks down that way. Your side and mine. One of my teachers back in school always used to say that contagion was the one absolute proof of community. People could pretend there weren’t drug users and prostitutes and unvaccinated children all they wanted, but when the plague came through, all that mattered was who was actually breathing your air.

Hey," Holden said. "Do you know what Planck's constant is?
Six point six two six plus change times ten to the negative thirty-fourth meters squared kilos per second?
Sure, why not," Holden said, raising one finger. "But do you know why it's that and not six point seven whatever the rest of it was?
Naomi shook her head.
Neither does anyone else. They still call it science. Most of what we know isn't why things are what they are. We just figure out enough about how they work that we can predict the next thing that's going to happen. That's what you've got. Enough to predict. And if you think you're right, then I do too. So let's do this.

Annie," Tilly said. "If I wanted to suck vile fluids out of a flaccid and indifferent tube, I'd have stayed on Earth with my husband.