Starfish

It’s really kind of… well, beautiful, in a way. Even the monsters, once you get to know ‘em. We’re all beautiful.

curing’ victims of multiple-personality disorder is actually tantamount to serial murder. The issue has remained controversial in the wake of recent findings that the human brain can potentially contain up to one hundred forty fully-sentient personalities without significant sensory/motor impairment. The tribunal will also consider whether encouraging a multiple personality to reintegrate voluntarily—again, a traditionally therapeutic act—should be redefined as assisted suicide. Cross-linked to next item under cognition and legal.

She can still feel the memory of what it was to be fully human, and mistake that ghost for honest sensation.

God is a sadist on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, and His name is Physics.

Life evolves. Parasites evolve. Sex evolves to counter the parasites. Shuffles the genes so the parasites have to shoot for a moving target. Everything else—species diversity, density-dependence, everything—it all follows from those three laws. You get a self-replicating string past a certain threshold, it’s like a nuclear reaction.

Maybe my etiquette is out of date-" Acton says. His voice is suddenly quiet. Nobody else seems to notice. "But I've always thought it was --rude-- to walk away when someone's talking to you." There was no obvious threat in the words. Acton's tone seems pleasant enough. It doesn't matter. In an instant Clarke sees all the signs again: the reasoned words, the deadened voice, the sudden slight tension of a body rising to critical mass. Something familiar is growing behind Acton's eyecaps. "Brander," she says quietly, "why don't you hang around and hear the man out?" Behind her, the sounds of motion stop. Before her, Acton relaxes ever so slightly. Within her, something deeper than the rift stirs in its sleep. "They're a snap to install," Acton says. "It takes about 5 minutes. GA says deadman switches are standard issue from now on" I know you, she thinks. I don't remember but I'm sure I've seen you somewhere before... A tiny knot forms in her stomach. Acton smiles at her, as though sending some secret greeting.

And she almost laughs as she realizes, three thousand meters from the nearest sunlight, that it’s only dark when the lights are on.

The abyss is a desert; no one can afford the luxury of waiting for better odds.

Come on, you guys.” Caraco leans back against the drying rack. “Can’t you settle this some other way? Maybe you could just whip out a ruler and compare your dicks or something.

There’s a careful grace about him, there always has been. He moves as though always afraid of damaging something.

Count on Management to jam a bunch of sexual dysfunctionals together and then make sure the gender ratio is balanced. Nice of them to try and see that nobody gets left out.

Don’t lecture me in my own field! We’ve got language and speech centers hardwired into our brains. That gives us a common starting point. Gels don’t have anything like that. Speech might just be one giant conditioned reflex to them.

If you did things because you were evil, you were in real trouble. If you did the same things because you were sick, though, the doctors would sometimes cover for you. Fischer had learned to be sick.

Miałam 11 lat. Poprzyklejałam sobie na ciele plastry, straciłam przytomność, obudziłam się w publicznym szpitalu." "O, cholera! To tylko szczebelek wyżej od szukania pomocy w internecie." "W sumie tak. Ale nie wszyscy możemy być bogaci. Poza tym nie było tam wcale tak źle. Mieli terapeutów na etatach. Z jednym nawet rozmawiałam." "Naprawdę?" głos mężczyzny znów zaczyna drżeć. "Co ci powiedział?" "Że na świecie jest pełno ludzi, którzy potrzebują jego pomocy bardziej niż ja i że kiedy następnym razem będę chciała zwrócić na siebie uwagę, powinnam to zrobić w sposób, który nie będzie kosztował podatników." "O kurde, co za du... dupek." Joelem znów rzucają dreszcze. "Nie do końca. Miał rację. Nigdy już tego nie spróbowałam, więc jego porady okazały się skuteczne.

My friend. And by the time she gets over that jarring idea, she’s alone again.

The GA’s new recruits have to be the slowest learners since the eradication of Down’s syndrome.