space-exploration

It was a subversive notion, the idea that she was free. Free to choose where to go and what to do with her time.

Don__ talk. Don__ sputter out a solitary protest or it will be your last. Take me to them.___ho the f**k are you?__e palmed the man__ forehead and slammed his skull against the wall. __ said don__ talk, and you want to do as I say. I__ the one thing monsters like you and your kind fear. I__ what haunts your nightmares and hunts you in the darkness.

I believe my judgment has never been clearer. I have seen firsthand their potential, their strength of will, in a way you have not.___ou have loosed a chaotic, unstable variable into the Mosaic. They will destroy everything.___t is a risk. They also may save everything.

Evening had turned the sky a deep persimmon. The remaining sunlight enriched the colors of the ubiquitous flowers and foliage to even greater vibrancy, as if the saturation filter had been notched up several levels.Caleb noted all this in passing as he strode deliberately forward. He didn__ know how he was going to do this, only that he had to make the attempt.

Alex screamed and lashed out at the points of light from within, desperate for something tangible to rage against. Caleb wrapped his arms around her from behind and coaxed her out while glaring at the Metigen in loathing.Then he lessened his hold on her to a single hand. Together they turned their backs on the alien and began walking away.

Laches faded away, leaving Miriam standing facing Hyperion, the Metigen who had orchestrated the slaughter of over fifty million people a short year ago.There were limits to even deals with the devil, lines which should never be crossed_but she was beginning to wonder when she might find one.

I__l ask you to look at the ships arrayed against you and consider what weaponry they might possess. Weaponry strong enough to crack your hulls? I know what weaponry you bring to bear, and I assure you it will not crack ours. __re you willing to risk the lives of thousands under your command to find out? Are you willing to risk your own life?__he silence hung across space like a shroud.__his is not over, Admiral Solovy.___hat is the first true thing you__e said today.

We__l go along with it for now. Valkyrie, keep close watch and be ready to swoop to the rescue.___opefully swooping will not be required, nor rescue. But I am ready to do both.__e squeezed her hand. __lex?_____ ready, too.

You ask me to make peace with the monsters who did this?__he didn__ even look around at __his._ __es. The alternative is extinction. There__ no coming back from that__o new weapon to fire when no one is left and you__e no universe left to fire it in.

Crushed sandstone sifted through Caleb__ fingers, insubstantial as dust. A breeze caught the debris mid-fall and spirited it away before it could join the ashes blanketing the ground. He stopped in the middle of what had once been a street, his arms pulled in at his sides, his fists balled in barely restrained fury.

She climbed into the shuttle and got in his personal space. __ho are you working for?__he man spat in her face.She rolled her eyes and wiped the spittle off her cheek. Then she punched him square across the jaw before grabbing him by the throat. __HO are you working for?

People feared what they did not understand, and they without a doubt did not understand her. Those who believed they did least of all. She was something new.

Chaos that closely resembled panic awaited. Shuttles raced to the presumed safety of the planet below while fighters crisscrossed the perimeter of the station. Platoon-sized formations of frigates and several cruisers formed up and accelerated away. To where the approaching attackers were located?She didn__ give a damn what her mother said in public. This was a bona fide insurrection.

Caleb reached up and slid the tie out of her hair to let it fall free. __ou were crazy to do it. But I love you because you__e wild and fearless, not in spite of it, and I know the price.__e sensed her cringe against him. __hich is?___t random and unexpected times, you terrify the life out of me.

The universe is not ordered, and it will not become so simply because one wishes it. The universe is chaos made manifest. The military does a fine job of creating an illusion of structure, of dependable rules to provide an answer for every situation. __ut it is only an illusion, one which on its best days holds the chaos at bay.

The alien reached out her hands to hold Alex__ tightly. __lease. Some of what I want to express, it may be difficult to locate the right words.___f course.__ure alabaster eyes stared back at her. __hild, there is a hole in your mind.

Children are turning themselves into monsters and, quite frankly, it is your fault. You initiated the creation of this technology, then you allowed it to slip through your fingers.__iriam__ jaw tightened. __ disagree, but now is the least optimal time imaginable for assigning blame. People are dying, and I will not stand around debating semantics with you while they are.

Mia stood between the bed and the broken window, holding an active plasma blade at waist-height in front of her. A thick coat of blood stained the plasma nearly from hilt to tip, hissing as it dribbled from blade to floor.__re you all right?__ia gave her a wan, distant smile. __t__ okay. I__e done it before.