90 Quotes by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Captain Kirk would have thought of something by now, I’m sure, but I have no red-shirted confederates to feed to it.

He tested his fragile composure and found that it would take his weight.

It was not such a long way to the weightlessness of the needle’s hollow interior. She had her choice then: either towards the engine core, where Sering had no doubt taken steps to ensure that he would not be disturbed; or away. Away, in a very final sense.

There had been those back on Earth who claimed the universe cared, and that the survival of humanity was important, destined, meant. They had mostly stayed behind, holding to their corroding faith that some great power would weigh in on their behalf if only things became so very bad. Perhaps it had: those on the ark ship could never know for sure. Holsten had his own beliefs, though, and they did not encompass salvation by any means other than the hand of mankind itself.

Because in five years, or ten, we’ll look back on all those creatures we killed, and we’ll know that we did a terrible thing just because the weathervane of popular opinion was spinning at the time.

I am changing hands so often, they should put customs duty on me.

An inclination to play God was part and parcel of wanting to go out and terraform other worlds, but good practice was to at least play nicely with the rest of the pantheon.

Sometimes all it takes, to crack a problem, is a new perspective.

I don’t understand them. They don’t understand me. At the same time, we both understand each other.