Quotes About Interaction

You know the problem with the Senate? It's like being nibbled to death by ducks. There's never a second during the whole darn day that somebody doesn't want to talk to you—and, most of the time, doesn't need to. People want to talk to you, so they can say, 'I was talking to Senator Grant yesterday,' and then they start lying.

with a smile. Bowden turned away from him and

He looked terrific. Not that any women would notice: they'd be too busy talking to each other on their fucking cell phones.

A cop and schoolteacher bar. The teachers drink like fish. The cops hit on the schoolteachers. One big happy family.

THEY SAT LOOKING at the pictures for a few seconds, then Sloan said

He called St. Vincent back and asked if he

Dannon had tried to catch her eye, but she'd resolutely moved on to the next Important Person.

phone, then picked it up and put it in

The purpose of depots like this one is to allow contact between alien species without direct contact. Early on, direct contacts were tried many times, by many different species, in many different ways. It almost always went badly. With few exceptions, alien species are too different from each other to allow constructive interaction. At best the efforts were extremely discomforting to one or both of the contactees. At worst, one or both found the other genuinely repugnant in some way.

On the way out, Lucas ran into Treena Ross in the hallway. She was wearing a lime-green dress and matching lime-green shoes with two-inch heels. She was carrying a dog the size of a walnut that seemed to have been bred to be frightened; it whimpered when it saw Lucas, and then Ross coming up behind.

After a fast lunch, Lucas, Letty, and Skye went over to Swede Hollow Park to look for other travelers. They found three, sitting together, passing a joint, and Skye told them about Henry—one of the three knew him—and asked about Pilate. None of them knew him, or had heard about him.

I have always found that there's an inverse relationship between the number of people in a room and the amount of useful work that can be done.

Hickory clicked something to Dickory in their native tongue; Dickory clicked back. Hickory responded, and Dickory replied, it seemed a bit forcefully. And then, God help me, Hickory actually sighed.

But I have always found that there's an inverse relationship between the number of people in a room and the amount of useful work that can be done.

I don't think I like you," she said. "This has been a recurring theme in my life

And when I say "exploded" I mean "interacted catastrophically with the topography of space/time in ways we're not entirely able to explain," but "explode" gets the gist of it, particularly with regard to what would happen to a human caught in it.

I'm saying you should come over." "Maybe I'm avoiding you." "You're doing a fucking poor job of it, then, standing in my office.

This is my first time working with a human," Werd said, to Wilson. "How's it going so far?" Wilson asked. "Not bad," Werd said. "You're kind of ugly, though." "I get that a lot," Wilson said. "I bet you do," Werd said. "I won't hold it against you." "Thanks," Wilson said. "But if you smell, I'm pushing you out an airlock," Werd said.

If there's one thing that distinguishes the human species, it is a pathological need to stay connected. The fact your people will interrupt sex to answer your communicators is a scandal across the entire Common Confederation.

I understand you knew Nadashe Nohamapetan personally." "I did," Kiva said. "What did you think of her?" "She's a raging jar of crotch sweat." "Seems accurate.

Until then, get the fuck out of my office." "I enjoy watching you work," Fundapellonan said, after Heuvel got the fuck out of Kiva's office.

There aren't a lot of humans who speak more than one dialect of Forshan. I know all four of the major ones.' 'Impressive,' Duvall Said. 'I'm good with my tongue,' Dahl said. 'Now who's being forward?' Duvall asked.

that was less about the fundamental nature of the visions than the fact Gianni kept interrupting Chen, and she was sick of it.

They both came away from the meeting feeling like they had manipulated the other precisely, which meant it was a good meeting.