Home > Work > Ancestral Night (White Space #1)
101 " Government is either imposed with force, or it derives from the will of the governed. But it’s a social contract, right? It exists simply because people say it does. It’s not a thing you can touch. "
― Elizabeth Bear , Ancestral Night (White Space #1)
102 " I’m flattered to find out I’m a topic of conversation anywhere. I’m a tugboat engineer. "
103 " The thing about Ativahikas is not that they’re giant, or sapient, or weirdly gorgeous, though they are all of these things. When they haven’t been horribly butchered, they look a bit like a Ferian leafy sea-dragon or those motile sea-trees from Desireninex. They’re seaweedy and ragged and layered in fringe like the dress of a medieval queen and their algae turns them into a shifting, iridescent play of brilliant teal, and jade and emerald greens. And the reason people kill them is not for any intrinsic quality of their own-it’s for those algae. Or the metabolic byproducts there of. "
104 " Downthehatch wasn’t a big station-thirty thousand people at most-but that was enough to get lost in. "
105 " It wasn’t healthy to live in the past or worse, to let the past live in your head forever. I’d save that kind of wallowing for special occasions. "
106 " Authority derives from the consent of the governed, is what I’m saying,” Singer continued, as if we hadn’t been derailed by the threat of people with guns and a grudge. “And that consent is derived from consensus. Which is never universal. "
107 " I’m allergic to perfect consensus. It has to be enforced somehow and once you sign the clade contract, they just tune your neurology until you agree. Boom, no conflict. "
108 " One of the problems with AIs grown from personality seeds is that sometimes they’re just as reactive and weird as any human. "
109 " We can’t help putting down roots. The best we can do is lie to ourselves about it. "
110 " He hadn’t always been a tugboat, I gathered. He had a bantering manner, which was just code, but when it came right down to it I was just code too, running on some kludged together hardware. "
111 " I liked who I was now. It wasn’t entirely comfortable-I knew there were places wher I chafed and rubbed and prickled, against my shipmates and against myself-but overall, I liked who I’d been with Singer and Connla. "
112 " I didn’t want to reinvent myself again. Even if hanging on to myself hurt. "
113 " She stroked her chin with a thumb and a forefinger. No wonder people were staring; the effect was distracting. "
114 " Was this what having an identity felt like? Was this being someone? Feeling like there was a core of who you were beyond which you could not be altered? "
115 " My name is Zanya Farweather, and I’m a representative of the Autonomous Collective Republic of Freeports.”“You’re a pirate.”“If you’re a fascist, sure. "
116 " God, she sounded like my first girlfriend. Only girlfriend, if I’m going to be honest. "
117 " The Freeporters were violently oppressed to social controls of all sorts. Even-especially?-healthy ones. "
118 " Giving Sexy Pirate Farweather the advantage of elevation was a risk I didn’t want to take. "
119 " I hope nothing killed it.” Anything that could take on an Ativahika— well, Singer was an unarmed tug, and fuel-efficient, but not what you would call a fast or maneuverable flyer. He was good at going in straight lines really cheaply while hauling enormous masses at a safe but respectable clip, though—which was why his white coils were so much bigger than he was. None better, if that was what you needed, and usually in our case it was "
120 " The parasite, through whatever alien means, was training my brain to accept its input as sensory data and perceive it as this matrix I was examining now. "