Gs Quotes

Fireflies out on a warm summer's night, seeing the urgent, flashing, yellow-white phosphorescence below them, go crazy with desire; moths cast to the winds an enchantment potion that draws the opposite sex, wings beating hurriedly, from kilometers away; peacocks display a devastating corona of blue and green and the peahens are all aflutter; competing pollen grains extrude tiny tubes that race each other down the female flower's orifice to the waiting egg below; luminescent squid present rhapsodic light shows, altering the pattern, brightness and color radiated from their heads, tentacles, and eyeballs; a tapeworm diligently lays a hundred thousand fertilized eggs in a single day; a great whale rumbles through the ocean depths uttering plaintive cries that are understood hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, where another lonely behemoth is attentively listening; bacteria sidle up to one another and merge; cicadas chorus in a collective serenade of love; honeybee couples soar on matrimonial flights from which only one partner returns; male fish spray their spunk over a slimy clutch of eggs laid by God-knows-who; dogs, out cruising, sniff each other's nether parts, seeking erotic stimuli; flowers exude sultry perfumes and decorate their petals with garish ultraviolet advertisements for passing insects, birds, and bats; and men and women sing, dance, dress, adorn, paint, posture, self-mutilate, demand, coerce, dissemble, plead, succumb, and risk their lives. To say that love makes the world go around is to go too far. The Earth spins because it did so as it was formed and there has been nothing to stop it since. But the nearly maniacal devotion to sex and love by most of the plants, animals, and microbes with which we are familiar is a pervasive and striking aspect of life on Earth. It cries out for explanation. What is all this in aid of? What is the torrent of passion and obsession about? Why will organisms go without sleep, without food, gladly put themselves in mortal danger for sex? ... For more than half the history of life on Earth organisms seem to have done perfectly well without it. What good is sex?... Through 4 billion years of natural selection, instructions have been honed and fine-tuned...sequences of As, Cs, Gs, and Ts, manuals written out in the alphabet of life in competition with other similar manuals published by other firms. The organisms become the means through which the instructions flow and copy themselves, by which new instructions are tried out, on which selection operates. 'The hen,' said Samuel Butler, 'is the egg's way of making another egg.' It is on this level that we must understand what sex is for. ... The sockeye salmon exhaust themselves swimming up the mighty Columbia River to spawn, heroically hurdling cataracts, in a single-minded effort that works to propagate their DNA sequences into future generation. The moment their work is done, they fall to pieces. Scales flake off, fins drop, and soon--often within hours of spawning--they are dead and becoming distinctly aromatic. They've served their purpose. Nature is unsentimental. Death is built in.

We don’t get to choose what happens to us—but we always get to choose how we react to it.

If Grogssson's got the case, you might as well rifle the body, rob the place and draw a moustache on the corpse; he wouldn't mind.

Now y'all know it's to many of y'all. GS told me to bring up the baddest female in the house.

Writers make everybody nervous but we terrify Silly Service workers. Our apartments always look like a front for something, and no matter how carefully we tidy up for guests we always seem to miss the note card that says, "Margaret has to die soon." We own the kind of books that spies use to construct codes, like The Letters of Mme. de Sevigne, and we are the only people in the world who write oxymoron in the margin of the Bible. Manuscripts in the fridge in case of fire, Strunk's Elements in the bathroom, the Laramie City Directory explained away with "It might come in handy," all strike fear in the GS-7 heart. Nobody really wants to sleep with a writer, but Silly Service workers won't even talk to us.

Remember, you’ll be pulling some pretty heavy g’s. It’s okay to pass out. You’re in Martinez’s hands.” “Tell that asshole no barrel rolls.” “Copy that, MAV,” Lewis said.

The medievals often mixed up their Gs and Ws, which is why another word for guarantee is warranty.

I let out another groan. “What if I lost her for good this time?” Garrett and Tucker instantly shake their heads. “You didn’t,” Garrett assures me. “How can you be so sure of that?” “Because she told you she loves you.” “You stupid jackass,” Tucker adds with a grin. I love you, you stupid jackass. Not the words a man wants to hear. The first three, sure. The last three? Pass. “How do I fix this?” I ask, sighing. “Quick. Write her another poem,” Garrett suggests. I scowl at him. “No, I think G’s onto something,” Tuck says. “I think the only way to save this is to bust out another grand gesture. What else was on her list?” “Nothing,” I moan. “I did everything on the list.” Tucker shrugs. “Then come up with something else.” A grand gesture? I’m a guy, damn it. I need direction. “Is Wellsy coming back here?” I ask Garrett. He smirks at my pleading tone. “Even if she is, I’m not letting you pick her brain. You’re gonna have to fix this one all on your own.” There’s a pause, and then… “You stupid jackass,” my friends say in unison.

Satisfied customer is the best source of advertisement

It’s a lot of real G’s doing time/ Cause a groupie bit the truth and told a lie.” —TUPAC

Gregors’, ‘Greggs’ or ‘The Maccy-Gs’ are all rabbit slang for law enforcement agents, named after Mr McGregor, the villain in the Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit books. In the dubbed-into-Rabbity version of Star Wars, Darth Vader is literally translated as ‘Mr McGregor’.

You’re covered in blood again.” “I really am.” “Why are you always covered in blood when I wake up after being unconscious?” “Usually for the same reason you were unconscious, I think.

Noah gave an exaggerated eye roll. “Just out of curiosity, is this the stupidest thing you’ve ever done?” “It wouldn’t be fair to rank them.” Caleb gunned the engine.

Less than 3 percent of positions in the federal government at and above GS-16 rank are held by women.8

She burst into her hotel room pulling her blouse over her head with one hand while she yanked her shoes off with the other. No way was she going to face an alien invasion in heels and silk.

The Peregrine Falcon is the fastest animal in the world, capable of speeds of at least 242 miles per hour and potentially more than 300 miles per hour, and is able to make turns that generate 27 Gs (one G is the force of gravity, and humans lose consciousness at 9 Gs).

The brain represented the most complex organism ever to exist, and impossible to tame. Morality could not be spawned by tweaking a few genes or shutting off a few neurons. Not yet. So though humanity conquered the very stars, it remained unable to conquer the darkness within.

It all begins with your great-grandfather, Sir Hugo Baskerville, who was a right bastard, and no denying.

One of the peculiarities of London’s police force is that they are all recruited from areas of Britain where folk use no h’s at all, or far too many. I

So this is what you two do when you’re up here,” Dean drawls. “All that deep, intensive tutoring.” He air-quotes the last word, chuckling in delight. “Actually, Garrett’s just helping me brush up on my make-out skills,” I tell Dean in the most casual voice I can muster. Dean snickers. “’That so?” “Okay…” Dean’s eyes gleam. “Then I’m calling your bluff, baby doll. Show me your moves.” I blink in surprise. “What?” “If a doctor told you you’ve got ten days to live, you’d go for a second opinion, wouldn’t you? Well, if you’re worried about being a crappy kisser, you can’t just take G’s word for it. You need a second opinion.” His brows lift in challenge. “Let me see what you’ve got.” “Stop being a jackass,” Garrett mutters. “No, he has a point,” I answer awkwardly, and my brain screams, What? He has a point? Apparently Garrett’s body-melting kisses have turned me into a crazy person.

Alexis, please mind your mouth. Cursing in Russian is still cursing.

That excuse only works until you discover the person is merely an individual like any other.

Anything plus management amounts to success

To have self confidence is great, but to maintain self confidence is even greater

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.

How many G’s can your body tolerate without permanent damage?” In Joe’s experience, nothing good ever came from responding to this type of question.

The smell nearly distracted me from my task, but no-I remained steadfast. Stiff upper lip, Watson! Action! Answers! THEN bacon.

I hope I can be the Autumn leaf, who looked at the sky and lived. And when it was time to leave, gracefully it knew that life was a gift.

The fear he’d dared not voice until now—when it was all but too late—because when stacked alongside the survival of humanity his fears mustn’t matter. “Will you be the same person when you wake up?

She climbed into the shuttle and got in his personal space. “Who are you working for?” The 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. “WHO are you working for?

As long as it’s BYOB, I’m cool,” Tuck answers. “And if Danny is coming then you better lock up the liquor cabinet.” “We can move the hooch to G’s room,” Logan says with a snort. “God knows he won’t drink a drop of it.” Tuck glances over at me with a grin. “Poor baby. When are you gonna learn to handle your liquor like a man?” “Hey, I handle the drinking part just fine. It’s the morning after that does me in.” I smirk at my teammates. “Besides, I’m your captain. Somebody has to stay sober to keep your crazy asses in line.” “Thanks, Mom.” Logan pauses, then shakes his head. “Actually, no, you’re the mom,” he tells Tucker, grinning at Tuck’s apron before turning back at me. “Guess that makes you the dad. You two are positively domestic.” We both flip him the finger. “Aw, are Mommy and Daddy mad at me?” He gives a mock gasp. “Are you guys gonna get a divorce?” “Fuck off,” Tuck says, but he’s laughing. The microwave beeps, and Tucker pulls out the defrosted chicken, then proceeds to cook our dinner while I do my homework at the counter. And damned if the whole thing isn’t domestic as hell.

One of the major destruction of man is distraction

There are two kinds of light – the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures.”   — James Thurber

What emerged from the portal was not the feared armada. Instead, it was a single ship. A familiar ship. I felt a quickening in my atoms. Clever, dangerous girl. I have been expecting you.

And who is this new face?” “Tell him nothing, Watson!” Warlock urged, struggling to reclaim his balance. “And for God’s sake, John, don’t let him learn your name!” Moran smiled. I sighed and shook my head. Then, since it seemed I had nothing to lose by it, I extended my hand and said, “Dr. John Watson, at your service.

She returned his salute with a sly smile—a rare enough event that he eyed her suspiciously. “Admiral Solovy, are you wearing a shit-eating grin because we won here today, or is there something else I should know?” “There’s something else you should know.

I wouldn't be your best and most marvelous friend in the galaxy if I didn’t point out there might be a few negative consequences from all…” she gazed upward and twirled her hand in the air “…this.

A pulse. Beat-beating against her palm. Alive. Beat by beat the bottomless whirlwind of perceptions and data and images and sensations careening through her mind—so many how can this tiny skull hold them all—began to abate in time to the rhythm of not her pulse, but his.

Individuals reacted in any number of ways to extreme stress and, relatedly, to impending death. A non-negligible percentage of people reacted in a manner which could be summed up by, ‘Screw it, I’m going out in style!

I frankly expected a far more negative reaction from you on discovering…” she glanced around the lab “…the situation. Why are you helping?” “I’m not helping—I’m merely not hindering in as strenuous a fashion as I am able.

I’m nervous about Beau Maxwell’s reaction to me and Dean showing up together, but it turns out to be unnecessary. Beau doesn’t even blink when Dean introduces me as “G’s GF’s BFF”. Maybe all the letters Dean threw out confused him? Either way, he just seems thrilled that we came out to the club at all.

She pointed to the wreckage of one of the frigates in the distance. Half the ship had landed atop one of the towers on the edge of the city, the other half on the flatland beyond. “You didn’t…do that, did you?” He shrugged with proper dramatic flair. “I did say I came to rescue you. They were in my way.

Deep in the recesses of her mind, she knew they were probably watching. They watched everything, after all. Let them watch. Let them see what it meant to be human. To live. Let them see what it meant to love, and be loved in return.

He checked her over while mentally checking himself. “Environment suits sealed up. Breather masks in hand. Daemons. Blades. Transmitters. Healthy respect for the adversary—you’ve got that, right?” One corner of her mouth curled up. “Absolutely.

You ask me to make peace with the monsters who did this?” She didn’t even look around at ‘this.’ “Yes. The alternative is extinction. There’s no coming back from that—no new weapon to fire when no one is left and you’ve no universe left to fire it in.

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.

Yes, she loved her ship more than she had loved him. But what she loved even more was what it gave her: freedom, and the key to the marvels of space. It gave her the stars, and she doubted she could ever love anything or anyone more than she loved the stars.

She thought he might have said her name, but it was background radiation accompanying the hum in her ears and the symphony in her head— —a song of quantum mechanics and trajectory calculations and astroscience physics and where to go, where to go, where to…

Fifty yards ahead of us, a doe had come out of the woods. She stepped delicately over one rusty GS&WM track and onto the railbed, where the weeds and goldenrod were so high they brushed against her sides. She paused there, looking at us calmly, ears cocked forward. What I remember about that moment was the silence. No bird sang, no plane went droning overhead. If my mother had been with us, she'd have had her camera and would have been taking pictures like mad. Thinking of that made me miss her in a way I hadn't in years.

God, she was beautiful. Hair a tangled mess, clothes torn, lips pale and swollen, skin streaked in dirt. And she was so damn beautiful and flawed and perfect.

Her pulse raced, pounding in her ears above the howling wind. A wave of dizziness crashed over her with the rapid flood of adrenaline. She gasped in a breath. “Don’t let go.

You’re insane.” “It’ll work.” “Which does not alter the fact that you are insane.

Good luck with the aliens, and if we survive this feel free to look me up on your next vacation.” “Good luck with the aliens? You are such a prick.

If humanity is annihilated because we were too busy squabbling with one another to manage a proper stand, we probably deserve the annihilation.

Constant endeavour plus management amounts to success

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

Caleb!” The sharp, forceful tone demanded he halt. He found he had complied, but did not turn around. His voice sounded low and hoarse, likely because he couldn’t breathe. “Alex, I can’t.

Narrow, angular features, pouty lips and hatred-filled pale, washed-out blue irises glared back at him. Caleb flashed the young man a malevolent smirk and readied his blade. “Jude Winslow, I presume.

The Anadens have a somewhat different perspective on death.” “On account of not having to deal with it, sure. Personally, I think their little immortality contrivance has destroyed the value of life for them.” “It brought you back.” “Thus I reserve the right to be hypocritical on this particular topic.

Hannah, cuando una persona desaparece de tu vida, a veces los recuerdos también se van y es muy difícil que vuelvan. Es difícil recordar a una persona que ya no sabes qué está haciendo ahora mismo o qué pasó con ella. Simplemente, cuando te abandonan, tú también los dejas ir. Y los recuerdos buenos y malos se van.

Time slowed as metal shards enveloped her like shattered glass. None pierced her of course, but it seemed as though she might be able to reach out and pluck one from the sky. She settled for stretching out an imagined hand, palm upturned, and letting a shard fall through it untouched like the ghost she had become.

As the sky began to darken she sank down in the chair. She had just watched over a thousand Alliance soldiers die in the space of less than a minute. Yet the encounter would be considered a victory, for the enemy was vanquished. But at such a cost. She considered what Alex had asked of her…and began to understand.

2 SECONDS He was on her in an instant to brace her against the wall. She kicked and clawed at her unseen attacker, skin and irises ablaze in caustic gold. She fired anew, and the point-blank shot broke through his defenses, grazing his hip. He ignored the harsh sting to bring his Daemon up between them. 1 SECOND

She didn’t want to be the savior of humanity. She never had. She didn’t want to be the vanguard—of destruction or salvation. What she had really wanted was to be a girl whose father lived to show her the stars. Instead she had been left to wander them alone. Until she discovered someone who saw the stars as she did.

Three men sat around a table. All were muscled and similarly greasy and easily identifiable as scum. As he breached the entrance all three were moving, drawing their own guns in surprise. Only one got off a shot.

Solum invoked a sensation akin to lingering déjà vu in the wake of a dream. It was not Earth. Its city-planet architectural stylings hid the outline of continents that might have otherwise been recognizable and altered the vibrant blue-and-green color palette enough to erase any familiarity in its silhouette. Yet if you tilted your head just so and let your gaze unfocus a little, you could almost see Earth. Its echo, its memory.

His punch knocked her back a meter into the wall. His fist had moved of his own volition, carrying a rage and frustration all its own. To his dismay, she didn’t fall. People so small as her always fell. No tears pooled in her eyes; instead they flared golden amber as she rubbed her jaw and pushed off the wall to stand rigid straight. A peculiar smile danced across her lips as blood trickled from the corner of her mouth and down her chin.

Alex thrust her hand and half her arm into the labyrinth of light. Her stare blanked, and in the halo of the matrix her eyes and glyphs blazed so radiantly she looked as if she were being consumed by a primordial fire. “She just stuck her hand into Machim Command’s central server matrix!” Caleb smiled, watching on in blatant awe. “She does that.

If her daughter’s ship had been disintegrated in space there would never be evidence of it, never an answer to what had happened to her. If she stopped to ponder the implications she might break. And Admiral Miriam Solovy did not break.

He simply preferred the sensation of soil beneath his feet and wind in his hair, of fresh, non-recycled air which carried on it the scent and taste of life. He preferred what was solid and real, where if you could see it you could touch it, feel its texture between the tips of your fingers. As far as he knew, no one had ever touched a star. Not even her.

The Artificial’s speech pattern was an idiosyncratic mix of awkward and colloquial. It was unexpectedly endearing. “I just have good instincts. Mostly I love being in space.” But you are not ‘in’ space. You are in your starship and your starship is in space. It is not so different than being on a planet. “Oh, Valkyrie, you have no idea.” Tell me then.

They flew high above savanna grassland. The sky was the deep cornflower blue of a sunny late afternoon on Earth…exactly the color of a sunny late afternoon on Earth. Only there was no sun. Whatever was lighting this planet, it wasn’t a star.

I’M IN G’S ROOM watching the late news. The BBC reporting from Germany. The Berlin Wall is down and the gates are open. Cars are honking, friends and families are reunited and champagne is drunk. Chloe comes in and brings me a tea. She puts her arm around me and says, nodding to the TV, No one thought this was possible ten years ago. And now look. Life changes in ways we can never imagine. Walls come down and people are free. You wait, she says. I know what she’s trying to say: Hope.

She settled back in the chair and draped one leg casually over the other, her hands coming to rest together on her knee. “Arrest me. Torture me. Parade me about in the public square. You will have your prize catch. And you will lose everything.

Her perception was propelled backward, as if it were being pulled into a vortex. She slammed into her body, and her eyes flew open with a gasp. “Alex?” She sat straight up in the chair and grabbed Caleb by the shoulders. “We have to save them.

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.” Miriam’s jaw tightened. “I 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.

Semantics, Admiral. I’d appreciate an honest answer.” “I’d appreciate a multitude of honest answers, but I rarely expect to receive them.” Miriam sighed; the verbal tete-a-tete was growing tiresome. Time to bring an end to it with, ironically, honesty.

Benarlah kalau Ka'bah juga disebut rumah Allah. Walaupun sedang banyak tamu, akan selalu ada pintu untuk saya, dan pasti untuk Anda. Selalu ada pintu yang terbuka, tidak peduli berapa pintu yang sudah diketuk. Selalu ada takaran-takaran yang terbaik untuk kita.

In that slowly descending darkness as the moon ascended and a gentle breeze blew, I found myself enveloped in that stillness and a strange sort of bliss. I let lay the existential dilemmas somewhere within me for the moment and allowed myself to be immersed in that beyond.

She had missed him for a while, missed his warm smile and tender yet expert touch. But she had also welcomed the absence of the invisible leash which had tugged her back to Earth more often than she liked, which had whispered of duties to another and required explanations and justifications for every excursion. And eventually even the good memories had faded into the background, replaced by the thrill of new endeavors.

You look like you’ve been on a month-long bender. Have you?” “No, Ken, I have not. I’ve just had a long week.” Walked the streets of a city bathed in blood and stood amid a hundred thousand corpses. Negotiated a three-way peace treaty among opposing factions of a warring alien species who’d previously held me captive. Bullied the Metigen leadership into doing my bidding. Found out we’re not the real humans, and the real humans are currently enslaving the real universe. Oh, and I think I’m addicted to my ship. How was your week? “Nothing a shower and some food won’t fix.

He was terrified he was making the wrong choice. He relied on his instincts in his work but now he didn’t dare trust them. The wound of betrayal still burned raw in his chest and another cut might be the killing blow. But it was the end of the world and there may be no more second chances.

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.

Above the curving arc of the planet, a mammoth explosion plumed crimson and charcoal then erupted in a starburst of crystaline white which for a microsecond shone brighter than a sun. For the briefest moment he allowed himself to entertain the notion that they might win this battle. Then the real battle began.

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. “Are you all right?” Mia gave her a wan, distant smile. “It’s okay. I’ve done it before.

Crushed sandstone sifted through Caleb’s 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.

Why? Why did you kill them?” He laughed, recognizing it bore a frightening coldness. “Because you walked through the wrong door, and they paid you to do it. You will be a testament to the terror that arrives the moment you or anyone else crosses the invisible line you didn’t know existed until tonight. Spread the word.

He made sure his tone remained casual. He was trying to keep his son unaware of the encroaching alien invasion for as long as he could, be it another day or another hour. Once innocence was lost it was never regained. So he took his son fishing and strolled along the river and pretended as though the galaxy wasn’t on fire.

In the space of a breath he had crossed the distance separating them and spun her around into a vise grip from behind. Somehow, the gun was out of her hand and in his. He locked her arms between them and raised the gun to her temple. His voice resonated low and dangerous at her ear. “Just so we’re very clear. If I want to kill you, I can kill you.

So that’s why I say ‘never have anything you can’t walk away from.’ Especially a woman. For them, because this is a dangerous life we lead and you never know if or when it will blow back on those close to you." "And for you, because trust me when I tell you there exists no greater perdition than the guilt of causing the death of someone you love.

No, we absolutely should do it. If we can capture such a motherlode, it could make a pivotal difference in the coming war. We need it. AEGIS needs it, my mother needs it. This is why we’re here. “I’m merely pausing at the precipice of the cliff, peeking down into the chasm and asking, ‘Are we sure?’ So…” Alex eyed him wearing an uneasy grimace “…are we sure?

He wasn’t going to be able to deactivate the field, which meant there was only one choice. He’d realized early on that his arcane, profoundly alien passenger came with a cost, possibly one too high to pay and get out the other side free and clear. He’d pay it nonetheless and without complaint if the diati would only come through for him now. Caleb closed his eyes.

No matter what comes, we will persevere. It’s not over until we win.” Oh, how she wanted to believe him. How she wanted to believe that her father not only had all the answers, but the power to make everything okay. Once upon a time she had believed it; then he hadn’t come home. “Why are you so sure?” “Because I didn’t cross universes to return to life, simply to die again.

We—humanity—didn’t come this far by being afraid. Explorers and visionaries have willingly headed off to certain death for thousands of years and by doing so brought us to where we are today. No one has ever told us ‘no’ and succeeded in making it stick for long. We accede to these aliens’ demands and we’ll wither away. It may take centuries or even millennia, but we’ll be so busy cowering in fear we’ll forget to move forward. I say we fight.

Any Earth Alliance military personnel who, whether through affirmative acts or by inaction, assist these seditionists are guilty of treason and will be held accountable. To all present military personnel: you have five minutes to respond accordingly.” She chuckled. “Bet more than one scuffle just broke out on board those ships.” “Any second thoughts?” Her head shook tersely. “We’re all traitors now.” “It’s not traitorous to want to be free.

How fun it would be to bounce on the back of Lidewij Vliegenthart’s bike down the brick streets, her curly red hair blowing into my face, the smell of the canals and cigarette smoke, all the people sitting outside the cafés drinking beer, saying their r’s and g’s in a way I’d never learn. I missed the future. Obviously I knew even before his recurrence that I’d never grow old with Augustus Waters. But thinking about Lidewij and her boyfriend, I felt robbed. I would probably never again see the ocean from thirty thousand feet above, so far up that you can’t make out the waves or any boats, so that the ocean is a great and endless monolith. I could imagine it. I could remember it. But I couldn’t see it again, and it occurred to me that the voracious ambition of humans is never sated by dreams coming true, because there is always the thought that everything might be done better and again.

I’ll 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. “Are you willing to risk the lives of thousands under your command to find out? Are you willing to risk your own life?” The silence hung across space like a shroud. “This is not over, Admiral Solovy.” “That is the first true thing you’ve said today.

... The unlimited spaciousness of the horizon affected me as deeply. Once again, as in childhood, I beheld the soft blue of immeasurable distances beckoning to me like an open gate. And the feeling swept over me that I was not born for a normal life at home among my people or in cities and houses, but my fate was to wander through foreign regions and make odysseys on the sea. Darkly, the old melancholy longing rose up in me to throw myself on G**'s mercy and merge my own pitifully insignificant life with the infinite and timeless...

About five miles back I had a brush with the CHP. Not stopped or pulled over: nothing routine. I always drive properly. A bit fast, perhaps, but always with consummate skill and a natural feel for the road that even cops recognize. No cop was ever born who isn't a sucker for a finely-executed hi-speed Controlled Drift all the way around one of those cloverleaf freeway interchanges. Few people understand the psychology of dealing with a highway traffic cop. Your normal speeder will panic and immediately pull over to the side when he sees the big red light behind him ... and then he will start apologizing, begging for mercy. This is wrong. It arouses contempt in the cop-heart. The thing to do – when you're running along about 100 or so and you suddenly find a red-flashing CHP-tracker on your tail – what you want to do then is accelerate. Never pull over with the first siren-howl. Mash it down and make the bastard chase you at speeds up to 120 all the way to the next exit. He will follow. But he won't know what to make of your blinker-signal that says you're about to turn right. This is to let him know you're looking for a proper place to pull off and talk ... keep signaling and hope for an off-ramp, one of those uphill side-loops with a sign saying "Max Speed 25" ... and the trick, at this point, is to suddenly leave the freeway and take him into the chute at no less than 100 miles an hour. He will lock his brakes about the same time you lock yours, but it will take him a moment to realize that he's about to make a 180-degree turn at this speed ... but you will be ready for it, braced for the Gs and the fast heel-toe work, and with any luck at all you will have come to a complete stop off the road at the top of the turn and be standing beside your automobile by the time he catches up. He will not be reasonable at first ... but no matter. Let him calm down. He will want the first word. Let him have it. His brain will be in a turmoil: he may begin jabbering, or even pull his gun. Let him unwind; keep smiling. The idea is to show him that you were always in total control of yourself and your vehicle – while he lost control of everything.

Anita Rožkalne: Vai, jūsuprāt, latviešu valoda ir bagāta valoda, vai ar to var izteikt visu, kas jums jāizsaka? Dace Meiere: Var. Protams, ka var, bet reizēm gadās ierobežojumi. Trakums ir tas, ka mēs latviešu valodā, sevišķi pēdējās desmitgadēs, nemitīgi nodarbojamies ar ārprātīgu paškastrēšanos vai kā to varētu nosaukt, ka mēs nemitīgi sev aizliedzam lietot tādus vai citus vārdus, kādas zudīgas politiskas vai vēl kādas gaumes dēļ, ka liela daļa leksikas tās izcelsmes dēļ tiek pasludināta par nelietojamu. Ir interesanti to vērot arī saskarsmē ar redaktoriem un korektoriem. Es jau tulkoju laikam gadus septiņpadsmit, un gaume mainās. Ir lietas, ko visas korektores mēģina labot, un tad pēc pieciem gadiem kaut kas mainās, un viņas labo atkal kaut ko citu, un tad vēl. Tad nāk nākamā direktīva no augšas, un viņas atkal skauž nākamos vārdus ārā. Tas ir tik jocīgi. Ja autors lieto sešus sinonīmus, tad kāpēc latviski es drīkstu lietot tikai divus, jo kādam liekas, ka tas ir dialektisms, un tas varbūt pēc izcelsmes ir nepareizs. Sevišķi, piemēram, cīņa ar ģermānismiem. Tas reizēm ir tik komiski. Piedodiet, manas "bikses" ir ģermānisms. Es saku: "jā", un to reāli plaši sāka lietot latviešu valodā tikai XIX gs. vidū. Stenders rakstīja, ka mamzeles, kuras grib iztaisīties par tādām kā no Rīgas, tās saka: "jā, jā". Pirms tam latviešu valodā tāda vārda nebija, tas ieviesās tikai caur reliģiskajiem tekstiem. Es saku: "un, un, un". Tas ir ļoti jauns ģermānisms. Valodas ainā tas taču ir tik jauns! Es saku "nieres" vai es saku "īkstis"?! Nē! Ja mēs tā ņemam, tad lielākā daļa – kas nav ģermānisms, tas mums ir kalks. Kāpēc dažiem kalkiem tiek ļauts dzīvot, bet citiem ne?! Mēs nemitīgi sev uzliekam kaut kādas robežas, turklāt tās ir kādas īslaicīgas gaumes diktētas. Un vēl: ja aizguvums ir grieķiskas vai latīniskas cilmes, tas, protams, ir svešvārds. Ja tas nāk no kādām mūsdienu valodām, kas tas mums ir?! Tas ir, fui, barbarisms, vai ne?! Nedod Dievs to lietot. Regulāri ir grāmatas, kuras latviski nevar un nedrīkst tulkot tikai tāpēc, ka latviski mēs to nevaram uzrakstīt, jo mēs nedrīkstam rakstīt tā, kā mēs runājam. Es ļoti ceru, ka beidzot nāks kāda jaunā paaudze, kas rakstīs latviski, tajā īstajā latviešu valodā, kurā cilvēki runā, nevis tādā ideālajā, izdomātajā valodas mūmijā, kura guļ stikla zārciņā ļoti skaisti ar krauklīšiem apkārt. Es pati jau arī... pati sev esmu kā tāds krauklītis, jo tas iekšējais cenzors šo gadu laikā arī ir izstrādājies un reizēm neļauj rakstīt tā, kā varbūt vajadzētu – daudz brīvāk. Nemitīgi sev tiek uzlikti kādi ierobežojumi. Mēs latviski cenšamies rakstīt tā, kā būtu jāraksta. Nemitīgi grāmatu valodai tiek uzspiestas kaut kādas didaktiskās funkcijas – mācīt, kā būtu pareizi. To līdzsvaru atrast ir ļoti grūti. Kāpēc lielākā daļa latviski tulkoto krimiķu nav lasāma, piedodiet! – jo lielākā daļa varoņu runā kā latviešu valodas skolotājas pirmspensijas vecumā. To nevar lasīt! Tas falšums tik ļoti sit cauri katram teikumam.