see what’s out there. To fly into the deep depths and carve my name on an empty planet. To know. To understand. The same reason I came to Adra. Why else?”

which was that “. . . the meaning of life, Kira, is moving things from point a to point b. That’s it. That’s all we really do.” “But what about when we talk?” she had said, not entirely understanding. “That’s just moving an idea from in here,” and he tapped her on the forehead, “out into the real world.”

“Don’t you see, Prisoner?” said Jorrus. “We are the mind of the universe itself. We and the Jellies and all self-aware beings. We are the universe watching itself, watching and learning.” “And someday,” said Veera, “we, and by extension the universe, will learn to expand beyond this realm and save ourselves from otherwise inevitable extinction.”

preternaturally

There were, she thought, many different types of nightmares in the galaxy. Some small, some large, but the worst of all were the ones you lived with.

One could argue that all that really matters is that we learn to deal with where we are at any given moment, not where we were.”

Then he clamped his mouth shut and glared at her with fear disguised as anger. His eyes were green, and he looked about as young as Trig, although that meant nothing on its own.

vindicated

faint as faded regret.