Science Opera Quotes & Sayings

The alien reached out her hands to hold Alex's tightly. "Please. Some of what I want to express, it may be difficult to locate the right words."

"Of course."

Pure alabaster eyes stared back at her. "Child, there is a hole in your mind. — G.S. Jennsen

The fire crackled. On Jutaire, without oxygen, the fire is different. Fed by different air. Maybe it wishes it were orange, for it sputters and reaches up to the sky with angry fists of blue and purple. It still doesn't know we can't all get what we want. — Hafsah Faizal

Caleb shoved back from the table and stood to retreat to the kitchen. "No. Find another plan."

"There is no other plan. This isn't even a plan, merely a nugget of an idea for the start of a plan that's certain to fail and end in your deaths. — G.S. Jennsen

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. — G.S. Jennsen

Her weight settled on her back foot as she crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him, now legitimately baffled.

"How delusional are you, aliens in your head notwithstanding? — G.S. Jennsen

In the corner of her eye she caught her daughter's shoulders drop as Alex exhaled with uncommon soberness. "So you trust me, and you understand that I will never do anything I think might hurt you."

Miriam stopped outside the armory and pivoted to her daughter. "Alex, what have you done? — G.S. Jennsen

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. — G.S. Jennsen

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't give a damn what her mother said in public. This was a bona fide insurrection. — G.S. Jennsen

We want to know. We want to know who we are and what we are capable of.

I want to know.

And yet we were dragged into another war. Another seemingly inevitable and gruesome legacy passed down, along with soma. — Jeno Marz

Ah,it is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all; and if it explain not,then it says there is nothing to explain. But yet we see around us every day the growth of new beliefs,which think themselves new; and which are yet but old,which pretend to be young like fine ladys at the opera. — Bram Stoker

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. — G.S. Jennsen

When I think of war, I see blood. Pain and suffering. Nothing good comes from war.
But there is good. There will be an outcome. One side will find peace, solace. While the other will end in bitter loss.
There are two sides to the coin of war. — Hafsah Faizal

Caleb reached up and slid the tie out of her hair to let it fall free. "You were crazy to do it. But I love you because you're wild and fearless, not in spite of it, and I know the price."

He sensed her cringe against him. "Which is?"

"At random and unexpected times, you terrify the life out of me. — G.S. Jennsen

Meanwhile here I am- Earthborn woman, a mere barbaric maula, geting deeper into Imperial Space with each passing light second. I should be trembling with fear, I suppouse.
No. Let the Emperor tremble. Laylah is here! — Robert Silverberg

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. — G.S. Jennsen

He had seen many criminals in his years in Division. Dangerous men and even more dangerous women. Small-time hucksters and savvy crime lords. Spies, gangsters, assassins, insurgents and wannabe-revolutionaries. True believers and soulless mercs willing to kill children for the right price. — G.S. Jennsen

It's only crazy if we fail. — Henry Mosquera

It was killing him, seeing her this way. She was not meant to be uncertain, timid or fearful; the woman he knew exuded confidence so fiercely it might as well be a damn spiritual aura. He needed to fix this.

"It's time to adjust your perspective. You want to show the politicians on Earth they don't rule the galaxy? Well, let's show them. — G.S. Jennsen

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. — G.S. Jennsen

It was something Ferdo said. We may not have it all, you and I, but we have more than is granted most men or women, he told me, and he was right. — Mary Brock Jones

Blood drummed in her ears and adrenaline coursed through her veins, driving her to move. To act. Her hands trembled against his chest.

Time vanished out from beneath her feet, one accelerating second at a time. — G.S. Jennsen

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. — G.S. Jennsen

All I am, and all I love, is war. I don't know who I will be if I stop. The world, if it is to survive, needs a leader, not a warmonger. The world I want to make does not require me — Kameron Hurley

From up here, the city below looked calm. Peaceful. Serene.

It was a lie.

Mia could feel the lie in her bones, in the foreboding creeping along the fine hairs on her skin. But mostly she could feel it in her head, where preparations were underway across Romane to meet the coming chaos. — G.S. Jennsen

Because we were the good guys. We were in the right. The universe looks out for people who act with honor in furtherance of an honorable cause. It must, or we never would have gotten this far as a species."

"We won - this little conflict and a thousand like it - because we were destined to win. The universe will allow no other outcome. — G.S. Jennsen

He steadied himself by resting one palm on her thigh and the other on the armrest, and rose to his knees. "I'll be damned."

"Possibly. But not today, I think. — G.S. Jennsen

As a rule of thumb, it was always safer if the Commander-in-Chief formulated a risky plan. — Rowena Cherry

Glacier blue plasma rippled and sparked across the interior of the portal. "It seems keeping secrets is what you do."

"Secrets are merely the necessary means. Survival is the end goal. Survival of ourselves, survival of species who do not deserve to be eradicated from the universe. Survival of the universe itself."

"Survival's noble and all, but what good is it without the freedom to live as you choose?"

"A question you have the luxury to ask because you survive. — G.S. Jennsen

Anyone who tells you life has greater value when it comes with an expiration date is full of shit. Immortality is worth the fortunes of galaxies."

She regarded him too intently. "But it's not worth everything. You gave it up for your freedom."

His forced bravado faltered. That truth still petrified him today. "I did. — G.S. Jennsen

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. — G.S. Jennsen

There's not a hell of a lot of difference between bravery and stupidity." - Commander Boaz Aurigae — Charles Nall

There were things she wanted to say, but they were all jumbled up in her head and if she tried they'd come out backwards and mixed up and wrong.

There were things she needed to say, but she was hanging on by a fraying thread and feared if she tried the thread would break, sending her plummeting alone into the abysm.

There were things she would have to say, but they should wait for later. After. — G.S. Jennsen

People gravitated here for the open air, the prolific intoxicants and the visual treats. They made the deals here that were later played out elsewhere. They drank and got high. Sometimes they fought, not for money but for sport or grudge.

They were the desperate and the daring, the lost and the searching. Tonight, they were his audience. Tomorrow, they would be his front line. — G.S. Jennsen

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. — G.S. Jennsen

You're not going to fight me, Captain. This is the right call. You know it."
She marched me off the bridge and into the brilliant white passageway. "You think I'm just going to trust you'll let me go?" I asked, getting a painful nudge in the back.
"You don't have a choice." She was right about that. "Relax. I got your back, Cale."
"You've got a pistol in my back is what you've got."
"Just like old times."
Trust her? Well, shit. — Pippa DaCosta

The system is only as good as its leaders. When they fail - when the system fails - you better damn well hope I'm there to pick up the slack."

The man's glower lost some of its fervor. "No one appointed you humanity's protector."

"No one had to - and if you don't understand why that is, then you're not nearly the man I was told you are. I'm leaving now, and I'm going to assume we're done. But if you threaten me again, you had better bring help. — G.S. Jennsen

It felt somehow comforting to return to the sparkling lake tucked into the mountains on Portal Prime. But why, when everything about Mesme made her the antithesis of comfortable?

Because here was where desperation had become hope. Where helplessness had become purpose. — G.S. Jennsen

War makes monsters of us all. But what happens to those of us who no longer wish to be monsters? — Kameron Hurley

Nisi flashed his charismatic, mysterious smile. "Now, with this in mind, are you ready to take the next step?"

Despite Caleb's attempts at caution - at circumspection and even suspicion - the man's words stirred his blood. They teased the possibilities of the power within his reach, real power extending far beyond parlor tricks and personal protection to a place where the course of life itself could be changed.

"I am. — G.S. Jennsen

The woman's gaze sent chills racing down his spine. The diabolical, aberrantly predatory arch of her lips curdled his blood. Seriously, his blood must be curdling back at the lab right now.

"Nice illusion. I'm definitely feeling the evil vibe here."

She stood and rounded the desk with perfect grace. "There is no illusion. Explain yourself quickly now, before I grow bored by your presence and dispense with it. — G.S. Jennsen

But my voice is too soft. The wind picks up my words and swallows them whole. — Hafsah Faizal

We all have it in us to be something other than what we are, I thought, but we don't often get a glimpse of what we could have been — Alastair Reynolds

In that moment, she hated his quiet patient tone, hated the stench of the incense, and hated the beauteous pity painted on the faces of the women on the walls. Their expressions contained serene understanding; their eyes seemed able to peer into her soul. She found their forgiveness suffocating. And above all, she hated the tiny niggling thing in her that wanted to know more. — Amy J. Murphy

A wispy murmur in the blackness. Blackness, where before there was only nothingness. It was dark, inky and thick, but there now existed the palpable sense of tangibility.

She gasped in alarm, but no sound came out of her throat.

"Where am I?," she shouted, but no words made it past her lips. — G.S. Jennsen

He wanted to grind every Federation world into dust beneath his boot as his army blazed a trail of blood and corpses all the way to Seneca.

He wanted to storm their inner sanctum and fire a laser into the skull of their Field Marshal while their Chairman watched, then fire a laser into the skull of their Chairman.

He wanted to burn their bodies on a pyre and carry the ashes back to Deucali and spread them on his mother's consecrated grave. — G.S. Jennsen

He swallowed hard, annoyed at the sudden dryness in his throat. No reason to become all emotional about it now. He had already sold his soul for a chance at vengeance, and there was no getting it back. — G.S. Jennsen

Well what would you have us do, Jason? Swan into a hardware store without any cash and say "give us your best rack or we'll set the adorable button-nosed robots on you for bunny-boiler death by cuddling?" Jared Thomas in Red Gods Sing — Trevor Barton

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't know how he was going to do this, only that he had to make the attempt. — G.S. Jennsen

'Star Wars' is a grand soap opera, and 'Star Trek' is about technology, they tried to explain the reality of it, as far-fetched as it might be. And that's why I've always liked the science behind the fiction. — Robert Kazinsky

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. — G.S. Jennsen

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. — G.S. Jennsen

His whisper continued to stream a silent cacophony of warnings, kill and damage reports and pleas for assistance.

He allowed himself two seconds to watch it and came away with the sense they were losing. Not lost and not soon, but losing. — G.S. Jennsen

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. — G.S. Jennsen

I believe my judgment has never been clearer. I have seen firsthand their potential, their strength of will, in a way you have not."

"You have loosed a chaotic, unstable variable into the Mosaic. They will destroy everything."

"It is a risk. They also may save everything. — G.S. Jennsen

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. — G.S. Jennsen

Do you love me?"

His voice rang flat in his own ears, deadened and weighted with the recognition there was only one chance, and a fool's chance at that — G.S. Jennsen

Expect an army of Vigil drones, nearly as a many Praesidis guards, a Machim ground detachment of super-soldiers and at least one Inquisitor. Oh, and security barriers everywhere. Possibly some of those mechs we met on Helix Retention, too. You Humans have kicked off a shitstorm of epic proportions."

Alex spread her arms wide in an exagerrated shrug. "It's one of our best skills. — G.S. Jennsen

At the moment I'm enjoying a new challenge at the Royal Opera House, but I'm also keen to pursue my interest in television and particularly in science. — Deborah Bull

He pointed to the burning building as sirens heralded the approach of emergency personnel. "This is your job - this is your life. Blood and death and pain and vengeance and justice. And sometimes it sucks, but it's worth it."

Caleb sighed, but not in resignation. "I know this is the job, and it is worth it. But I refuse to believe it's my life. Not only and not forever."

Samuel pinched the bridge of his nose and waved dismissively with his other hand. "F***ing romantic. — G.S. Jennsen

You have business and pleasure to attend to. As an expert in both, allow me to advise you to put them aside for the next ten minutes. Why?

"Because the world is about to transform, and you will want to be able to say you saw it happen. The axes of our little universe are about to flip, and you'll want to get your magboots set. — G.S. Jennsen

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

The Novoloume gazed in interest around the cabin. "So the whispers are true - Kats, SAIs and Humans have come to join with the anarchs in a quest to save us all."

Felzeor returned to Caleb's outstretched arm and leaned in to nuzzle his nose. "What a grand quest it's sure to be! — G.S. Jennsen

This is what I hate most about guys like you. You didn't even try. — Henry V. O'Neil

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

Reluctantly, we had already accepted every challenge at the moment we were born. And as long as we live, we have no right to give up. For we, or at least someone very similar to us, already died once, long ago in a faraway place. — Jeno Marz

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. — G.S. Jennsen

Eyuran," I addressed his Node. "What was in this one?"

He came closer and studied the huge case, which was easily twice the height of an adult Danna and had body slots for some kind of gear.

"I don't know for sure. I haven't seen this before. It resembles a gearbot sarx, but those are usually larger. Must be a new, compact model." Observing the empty sarx, a wave of bad feelings came over me.

"I also saw some of the weapon crates with broken locks."

"If someone is operating a gearbot, a bunch of guns will be the least of our worries. A hull repairer can't even begin to compete with the power of an assault exomachine." He looked around and frowned. "By the way, the whole hull repairer rack is empty. Counting the one you took out, we should have seven more roaming somewhere on the ship. — Jeno Marz

She and Kennedy both dove for the power connector; Kennedy reached it first and yanked out the connection as Alex landed on her stomach beside it.

The air settled down until the fine hairs on her arm no longer stood on end. Alex dropped her forehead to the platform and started laughing. "Just like university, isn't it?"

"Almost - nothing's actually blown up yet. — G.S. Jennsen

Alone for a few precious seconds, he drew in a deep breath. He stood on a ruined street in a ruined city. Destruction stretched for kilometers in every direction, all caused by a single man for whom vengeance had devolved into madness. — G.S. Jennsen

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.

"But it is only an illusion, one which on its best days holds the chaos at bay. — G.S. Jennsen

The only thing altruism will get you here is a boot stomping on your head. — Henry Mosquera

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. — G.S. Jennsen

What do you want me to do? Arrest them all?"

"When you can, absolutely."

"And when I can't?"

"Do whatever is necessary to remove their ability to act against us - against humanity."

"You mean kill them."

Her expression darkened in what he sensed was sorrow, but her shoulders rose. "If that's what it takes. — G.S. Jennsen

She gazed at the bay of wrecked shuttles in dismay. The last of her adrenaline seeped away at the sight of the widespread destruction.

It occurred to her then, for perhaps the first time in this long nightmare, that she was going to die. — G.S. Jennsen

Thing to know about the Reaches....It's always trying to kill you. Even the empty places between the stars."
Asher Corsair, Allies and Enemies: Rogues — Amy J. Murphy

I thought carefully as I watched Eyuran treat Uncle Orewen's wounds. There is no one in their right mind who would assault a Danna, simply because the enemy of an individual becomes the enemy of the whole kennar. Kennar are usually related to each other, which would probably make the unlucky person the enemy of the entire Tue Dannan.

And Danna settle things the old way. — Jeno Marz

Why?" Riko asked.
"For the war. We will hit them before they have a chance to hit us."
She was terrified. "What? No. We can't start a war."
Oshiro grinned. "Don't you see? The war has already started. We're going to end it. — Charles Nall

The enlightened rational man is not unlike the title character in Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni": a likeable rake, intelligent and enterprising, free to do as he pleases, outmaneuvering his honorable, tradition-bound adversaries at every step. One cannot begrudge him his liberty and pursuit of happiness, but looming large above him is his fatal flaw: his mind's maturity does not match his freedom. His pursuits are frivolous, tawdry and destructive. And this, we maintain, is the historical moment of our techno-scientific world: like some allegorical alien race in a science fiction story, we have placed broad freedoms and enormous power in the hands of a flawed creature: ourselves. Empirical reason has brought us here, and by its light we will have to find a way forward. — Danko Antolovic

An eerie, chilling voice interrupted him to reverberate through the house.

"You believe you are safe, but you will never be safe from me. My reach is limitless, my capabilities legion. Sleep fitfully and avoid the shadows, for know that I am coming for you. When I arrive, you will pay for what you did. — G.S. Jennsen

And there's no synthetic owners manual?" His lips twitched, smile threatening to break into a grin.

A joke. He wasn't funny. "Do you come with an owners' manual, Captain? Because I'd like to study your troubleshooting section."

"Would you like to strip me down to my nuts and bolts, and figure out what makes me tick?"

"I knew what made you tick from the moment we first met. That's why I punched you between the legs."

~ #1001 & Caleb — Pippa DaCosta

Remember what they did to Broadleaf, and remember what they did to us. Now it's time for us to kill 'em back. — Henry V. O'Neil

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. — G.S. Jennsen

'Floating Worlds,' published in 1975 and the lone science fiction novel by acclaimed historical novelist Cecelia Holland, was unique in being completely devoid of the usual pulp influences present in much space opera up to that time. — Pamela Sargent

Guilt ripped into her like a rusty, serrated knife. It took up residence in her soul, settling in and getting comfortable so it could saw away ragged pieces of flesh and leave her to bleed. — G.S. Jennsen

How long you been in the infantry, sir? Anything under ten miles counts as 'almost there'. — Henry V. O'Neil

The monsters don't live in the belly of the world like they all say. The monsters live inside of us. We make the monsters. — Kameron Hurley

Alex peered behind her to see Noah fussing over a scrape on Kennedy's cheek. "Unless someone's bleeding to death, first aid will have to wait. You'll want to strap into the jump seats.

"This could get interesting, and that's before we get clear of the station. — G.S. Jennsen

He did not have time to wallow, to give a moment's thought to what may have happened to her or whether she was alive.

Turn into the punch, grab hold of the gun, leap into the arena. Attack.

He had to move. Now. — G.S. Jennsen

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. — G.S. Jennsen

It didn't take a synthetic mind to decipher Caleb Shepperd, just a human one." ~ #1001 — Pippa DaCosta

Your wonderful mind has a matching body," I heard Eyuran whispering into my ear through a thick veil of bliss, and found myself laying on my side, my spouse behind me, his hot palm slowly caressing my thigh, up and down. "So it's good to give your body the nice treat it is demanding so explicitly." His finger slid down my spine, making me tremble. "It wants and needs to be satisfied," his low voice soaked into my skin. — Jeno Marz

Personally, I could care less about how people chose their graves. What I do care about is that I don't want to be dragged along into one, especially by someone who has already lived their life to the fullest. — Jeno Marz

As soon as he had departed she directed her attention to the others.

"I need a shielded containment box, radiation gloves and a micro welding torch. And a crescent wrench. — G.S. Jennsen

I'm not trying to be mean,' Casamir says.
'Intent doesn't always matter. — Kameron Hurley

Science fiction is for real, space opera is for fun. — Brian W. Aldiss

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. — G.S. Jennsen

There is nothing I fear more than someone without memory. A person without memory is free to do anything she likes. — Kameron Hurley

She placed a hand on his arm. "It's not our fault, not truly. It's theirs. The killers. They're the ones who - "

"Get down!" Caleb collided with her back, sending her crashing to the floor hard enough to knock the air from her chest. The windows shattered and the sounds of a city overtaken by chaos rushed in. — G.S. Jennsen

All these years that I had been waiting for him to return, I had been too anxious and somewhat insecure to develop any plan of action. I had scrupulously avoided giving any thought to it until the time to tackle things head-on arrived, so now I was suffering the consequences of my own indecisiveness. But in all seriousness, what steady plan could there be in matters of the heart? — Jeno Marz

She skidded around a corner, slamming her shoulder into the wall and bouncing off of it without slowing.

Caleb?

Silence. Forty-six meters. A long stretch of hallway. She pushed faster, harder. Twenty meters.

She burst into the room in unison with a deafening crash of metal shearing metal. — G.S. Jennsen