In that sense, building a revolution was like building an arch; until both columns were there, and the keystone in place, practically any disruption could bring the whole thing crashing down.
Revolution is an art that I pursue rather than a goal I expect to achieve. Nor is this a source of dismay; a lost cause can be as spiritually satisfying as a victory.
The fight was over. It had ended so quickly that the fact hadn’t really sunk in yet.
“Snake! Snake! Snake! Snake! Snake! Snake!”
At first he thought she hated all living beings equally. Lately he had come to believe he held a special place in her heart, just below rattlesnakes, pederasts, and spirochetes.
Seen this closely the beast was a nightmare hound. The hairless defensive plates, tiny red-rimmed eyes, and countless, saliva-dripping teeth did little to inspire confidence.
Something’s wrong with Cujo, mom!
She wants to look like two different dogs when she’s coming and going. She thinks it will make it easier for her to steal food… That’s one complicated dog, Dave.
You see, what we’re talkin’ about here is an organism that imitates other life-forms, and it imitates 'em perfectly. When this thing attacked our dogs it tried to digest them… absorb them, and in the process shape its own cells to imitate them. This for instance. That’s not dog. It’s imitation. We got to it before it had time to finish.
Finish what?
Finish imitating these dogs.
We don’t know what sort of a counterfeit job this creature might do. We don’t know how thorough it would be, we can only guess how it would get its information.
These breathing devices Hikita-san has cooked up will enable you to see these beings as they really are, as I’ve been seeing them since yesterday. As Lectroids. And to our eyes, they’re not very pretty. Nothing personal, John Parker.
You see, I take these glasses off, she looks like a regular person, doesn’t she? Put 'em back on…
formaldehyde-face!
A replicate citizen was not azi. There were considerable legal differences between young Justin, say, and elegant, red-haired Grant, at the second rank of tables, so, so close in all respects…born in the same lab, an insignificant day apart.
My mother was a test tube , my father was a knife.
I was conceived in the Riviera. Not the French Riviera. … The Detroit variety.
They used to say that a child conceived in love, has a greater chance of happiness. They don’t say that any more.
I know I give you the business sometimes, but if I’m hard on you it’s only because I want you to grow up strong and resilient. Someday, you may face adversities so preposterous, I can’t even conceive of them. But I know you’ll pull through and make me proud.
She smiled at the vision, then glanced at him more seriously. “When my father was home on leave one time from the Betan Astronomical Survey, we made model gliders together. Two things were required to get them to fly. First we had to give them a running start. Then we had to let them go.” She sighed. “Learning just when to let go was the hardest part.”
Aral gripped her hand as they turned to go up the hill. “I believe he’ll soar high, dear Captain.”
She should have realized. Boosterspice will not restore fertility; Peace had “never met” her father because she never had one. She’d been gestated as a supply of spare parts. Her thyroid had been kept low to make her easy to catch. And what a funny pun her name was!
Jan had been sentenced to twelve years, and had been due out . . . about now, in fact. Peace was nearing the end of her fertility; Jan would have had to hurry to get her brain put into the spare in time to bear a replacement. The spare brain would be thrown away, of course, and Jan Corben would be reported as suffering a sad accident.
Trust you? Londo, my brain will be five days dead before I ever trust a Centauri. The first time we met you people, the first time we met any other civilization, you told us you practically ran the entire galaxy.
“Your entire life to date has been centered on betrayal, on one level or another. Since you’ve had zero experience with unbroken trust, naturally you cannot judge with confidence. Suppose you tell me what guarantee you would believe?”