Back off, man. I’m a scientist.
I work for Dr. Zeus Incorporated, a secret cabal of scientists and business men based in the twenty-third century. They invented time travel, you see, and one of the first results was the realization that literal tons of money could be had be looting the past for the best goodies.
“C’mon c’mon, grab what you need. We’re running out of time.”
“Cannot run out of time. There is infinite time. You are finite. Zathras is finite. [picking up tool] THIS is wrong tool.”
“When exactly were you planning on telling me about this plunder of yours, Sergeant?”
"It was a toss-up between ‘never’ and ‘before it’s too late.’ "
That phrase tells me something is wrong, but I’ll be dogged, flogged, and tied like a hog if I have the faintest idea what.
Your proposal is acceptable.
“Please tell him to reconsider,” Mom went on, pulling me back into the present. “I know Todd’s at an age where you don’t have a lot of control, but tell him not to do it. His life is too precious to waste.”
You never wasted things. You used them. If necessary, you drove yourself to the edge of breakdown to use them; you made every breath a burden and every hour a torment to use them, until through diligent consuming and/or occupational merit, you were promoted to the next higher class, and were allowed to consume less frantically. But you didn’t wantonly destroy or throw out. You consumed
She was weak and wasted, running on adrenaline and desperation alone, and it didn’t matter. She snatched him up as if he were a child and flung him over her shoulders even as she turned back towards the lift.
She is trying, badly — granted, but in her own way, she really is — she’s really trying.
In a very small voice she said, “I can’t afford the fuel. I can’t afford the overhaul. I can’t even afford this trip, really, except that it’s all done with borrowed money.”
“You’ve got to be crazy–I mean, Hayes Mining has got to be crazy. You can’t fly without a main engine. That’s single-point failure mode.”
Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.
If the oxygenator breaks down, I’ll suffocate. If the water reclaimer breaks down, I’ll die of thirst. If the Hab beaches, I’ll just kind of implode. If none of those things happen. I’ll eventually run out of food and starve to death. So yeah. I’m fucked.
I wonder how the Cubs are doing.
Rest assured, Commander, we will be victorious. Whatever the cost.
Nor was I only laser gun around; two of Finn’s men swarmed up on balcony of Bon Marché and, crouching there, picked off snipers at top of ramp. Nobody told them to, nobody led them, nobody gave orders; Finn never had chance to control his half-trained disorderly militia. Fight started, they fought.
Nobody told them. Our feeble organization broke down under surprise. But we Loonies fought berserk and invaders died.The humans, I think, knew they were doomed. But where another race would surrender to despair, the humans fought back with even greater strength. They made the Minbari fight for every inch of space. In my life, I have never seen anything like it. They would weep, they would pray, they would say goodbye to their loved ones and then throw themselves without fear or hesitation at the very face of death itself. Never surrendering. No one who saw them fighting against the inevitable could help but be moved to tears by their courage…their stubborn nobility. When they ran out of ships, they used guns. When they ran out of guns, they used knives and sticks and bare hands. They were magnificent. I only hope, that when it is my time, I may die with half as much dignity as I saw in their eyes at the end. They did this for two years. They never ran out of courage. But in the end…they ran out of time.
“I will certainly not allow you to burn the town down.”
The man showed prehistoric teeth. “How you goin’ to stop me doing that?”
“I don’t know, but I’ll do my best to try.”
“‘In a few weeks,’ he said, ‘I am going to take the biggest step of all.’
“‘And what is that?’ I asked.
“‘Cannot you guess? I am going to give them fire.’
You’re getting warmer.