Gregory Feeley

Gregory Patrick Feeley (born March 3, 1955) is an American teacher, critic, essayist and author of speculative fiction.

Nominated for the 1991 Philip K. Dick Award

All page numbers from the mass market first edition published by Ace Books ISBN 0-441-64571-2

• Data security was a proprietary concern, the obsession of those who saw knowledge as commodity, or who had something to hide.
  • Chapter 2 (p. 50)

• You may regard this as an outrage of the spirit, but it is that or die, and I decline to offer you the choice.
  • Chapter 5 (p. 116)

• Yasuhiro had studied and thought long about combat, which he knew always deteriorated into chaos whatever the battle plan.
  • Chapter 6 (p. 139)

• The universe comprised strife between forces, and there was no use seeking a benign still center to mirror the unfolding peace of a mother’s love.
  • Chapter 6 (p. 139)

• “You are enjoying the present disruptions a good deal less than I. That is because I recently restructured my cerebral architecture—that skill is my raison d’être, I should explain—and have adopted an egocentric consciousness, which certainly changes one’s view of the world!” The creature laughed, a shocking sound. “I’m presently as selfish as any human; probably worse, since I am not used to this heady wine. As any infant.”
  • Chapter 8 (pp. 193-194)

• You older types are mired in the minds you grew up with, a real handicap in a rapidly changing universe. The future is a game for the young and the hungry—I’m five months old myself, and on the cutting edge.
  • Chapter 8 (p. 195)

• “Altruism can be surprisingly gratifying,” it remarked. “No wonder humans dabble with it.”
  • Chapter 8 (p. 196)

• “People were killed,” Galvanix said wonderingly.
  “That doesn’t bother anyone,” said Rajee bluntly. “Among twelve billion, international relations are too important to be threatened by skirmishes.”
  • Chapter 10 (p. 228)

• But such indifference to doctrine accompanies a lassitude toward all progress. The commonfolk still tolerate appalling injustices, because to them social evils are merely steps on the pathway to moksha. How can you help people who think the wretchedness of their poor is divinely appointed?
  • Chapter 10 (p. 242)