He had written the man off completely, and now here came common sense and a talent for improvisation. Maybe you didn’t have to be an idiot just becau… - Charles Sheffield

Nothing was more fascinating than information. It was infinite in quantity, or effectively so, limited only by the total entropy of the universe; it was vastly diverse and various; it was eternal; It was available for collection, anywhere and anytime. And, perhaps best of all, E. C. Tally thought with the largest amount of self-satisfaction that his circuits permitted, you never knew when it might come in useful.

They saw every event through the distorting lens of their own paranoia.

It doesn't make sense," he said huskily. "Nothing ever does before you understand it, and then it seems obvious.