“We’ve never lied to you,” McKinley said. “No,” Bella said, “but you’ve done a damned good job of not… — Alastair Reynolds

The existence theorem says that it is always much easier to find a solution when you can be confident that one exists.

I wish there was something we could do. But organised structure is the most precious thing in the universe. When it is lost, it is truly lost.

“Is he going to be okay?” Svetlana asked.

“He was dead, Svieta,” Axford said patiently. “Anything else has to count as an improvement.”