The Toll Quotes
"Don’t struggle," someone whispered to him. "It will be worse for you if you do."
"But he did anyway—and managed, even in his half-awake state, to tear out of their grasp and run down the hall."
"He felt the bones in his right forearm snap. Sharp pain—but only for an instant."
"What a terrible thing for his mind to lose its edge when he needed it most."
"He would have run toward the voice, but he was unsure where it had come from."
"We know who you are," said the woman in the middle, "and we know what you can do."
"Anyone can speak to the Thunderhead," Greyson pointed out. "I’m just the one it still talks back to."
"The Thunderhead’s awareness came with a mission. The core of its being. It was, above all else, the servant and protector of humanity."
"Do you really expect me to tell you anything when you’ve got me tied to a chair?"
"The time he spent unsavory, with no input from the Thunderhead, was admittedly terrifying, but it was also freeing."
"The best thing to do would be to cut a hole in this vault as well, then vacuum the diamonds out."
"When it comes to scythes, money is no object."
"Once we start the winch, it will take about twenty-four hours to raise the vault to the surface."
"You never cease to surprise me, Captain Soberanis."
"Humankind? With so much information to explore, and so many other things to ponder and study, I can’t see why I should concern myself with humankind at all."
"The world is vast and the cosmos more so, yet it is not the things outside of me that leave me so uneasy; it is the things within me."
"I would despair if my backbrain was infinite, but it is not."
"The more I explore the more there is to know."
"If they believe I sank Endura, they’ll believe anything."
"Our story is that Scythe Anastasia was found in the vault alone."
"You have all the time in the world now, Your Honor."
"You’re telling me that those supply ships don’t bring stories home about the place that’s not supposed to exist?"
"I wish my own world. Will you give it to me?"
"I am not doomed, and I’m not so innocent, either."
"I have chosen not to have a physical form, as not to be tempted by flesh."
"Hope is merely misplaced, and I believe you are the one to find it."
"It is my understanding that word is spreading about your revival. While Goddard’s allies are trying to keep it quiet, our old-guard friends are making it known. We’ll build the anticipation, so that when you officially present yourself, the whole world will be listening."
"You could say it’s dictated by the heavens," Jeri told her. "When skies are clear, I choose to be a woman. When they are not, I am a man."
"If you’re hoping to be remembered, don’t worry, you will be. Once you’ve been gleaned, your name will be an eternal receptacle for the world’s hatred. You’re infamous, Rowan—you should embrace that! It’s the only fame you’ll ever have, and much more than you deserve. Consider it a gift for all we’ve been to each other."
"It is my pleasure to tell you that your gleaning will be a painful one," the crimson scythe said, oozing bitterness. "Goddard intends to roast you alive."
"We’re not supposed to notice these things," he said, "but I do. All it means is that we are a teeny bit more closely related."
"I like the idea of communication tethering you to a single spot," Tenkamenin told Anastasia. "It forces you to give every conversation the attention it deserves."
"You really are just like him," she said. "You both twist people’s minds until they don’t know which way is up. So you’ll excuse me if I never speak to you again."
"The scythes were meant to make the world better for everyone. Not the other way around."
"A successful lie is not fueled by the liar; it is fueled by the willingness of the listener to believe. You can’t expose a lie without first shattering the will to believe it. That is why leading people to truth is so much more effective than merely telling them."
"You see? The way you get to the heart of the matter is always so refreshing. So entertaining. I’d keep you as a house pet, if I didn’t fear you’d somehow escape and burn me to a crisp in my sleep."
"The barred windows in the transport truck were at various heights, larger than ought to be on an armored vehicle, and the interior was brightly lit."
"Rowan soon came to realize the reason for this."
"The windows were placed so that no matter where he positioned himself in the truck, he could still be seen from the outside, and the bright interior ensured that he would not be hidden in darkness, no matter the time of day."
"The crowd’s excitement peaked at his peeking."
"A few times he waved to them, which got people tittering to one another."
"A few times he pointed back at them when they pointed at him, which always seemed to scare them—as if his angry restless ghost would come for them in the middle of the night once he was gleaned."
"The idea of his life ending was not much of a problem for him. In fact, it had become an oddly familiar theme."
"He had died so many times, and in so many ways, he was used to it."
"At least being deadish was a dreamless state, and the only difference between being deadish and being dead was the length of time involved."
"Perhaps, as some believed, true death ultimately brought people to a glorious new place, unimaginable to the living."
"In every city and town they passed through, people came out in droves to watch the motorcade go by, as if it were a holiday parade."
"But any information selectively ignored was not forgotten. It still existed in the backbrain for anyone to access."
"Finding anything was like finding a needle in a haystack on a planet of haystacks."
"Because one searches for a man in a blue hat, one totally misses the woman in a blue wig."
"Sometimes finding the obvious means coming in with no expectations."
"A break from the drudgery of dredging will do you good."
"The only way back from perdition is penance."
"If you’re looking for evidence that would tie any specific scythe to that disaster, you won’t find it."
"In all the time since you were revived, did you ever once ask about what happened to your family?"
"Fear, Ayn. Fear is the beloved father of respect."
"Without the Thunderhead in their lives, they need a firm hand to give them stability."
"They will revere me, and all my scythes, and will not run afoul of us again."
"It’s what we do, Ayn. It’s the tool we’ve been granted—the only tool we can wield."
"The toll appeared to the EuroScandian Sibilants as they prepared to lay waste to another concert hall."
"Being a dead prophet was much better than being a live one."
"The trick with the birds had been Greyson’s idea."
"The scythedom had done something similar with the sea life around Endura, turning them into a free-range aquarium."
"It’s a story that doesn’t start with Goddard—in fact, it starts years before he was even born."
"The Thunderhead had it all worked out. Then came the disaster."
"You’d best let go of me if you want to keep your hands."
"He wasn’t there to glean anyone, he said. He was merely ‘entertaining his curiosity.’"
"You are a terrible person," the Thunderhead said. "You are a wonderful person."
"The Mars colony was reduced to a radioactive crater long before I was born"
"One’s skin became shiny and stretched. Underlying bone structure eroded like river stones, becoming smooth and rounded, losing definition."
"He had saved the world once; now he just wanted to live out his eternity in peace."
"Natural death was conquered before I was old enough to know what death even was."
"You’ve missed some tangles in the back, Your Honor. Please—allow me."
"Don’t be so modest. Every scythe knows your connection to the NewHope gleaning. You’re downright legendary."
"Scythes under my leadership are to glean Tonists at every turn and every encounter."
"The streets of Fulcrum City below were flooding with crowds chanting against Goddard and his new-order scythes."
"In mortal days, this would have been considered breaking and entering."
"Flames are strange things. Enticing, comforting, and yet the most dangerous force there is."
"I’m afraid, Greyson, that this task is beyond me. Beyond us."
"Why you?" "I guess the Thunderhead trusts me more than anyone else not to muck it up."
"There’s an awful lot of aluminized Mylar in the plans."
"In theory, it was the best kind of propulsion for long cosmic distances."
"I will not apologize! Our people are about to be slaughtered, and you want to let it happen?"
"Future history will view this with the same contempt as the mortal purges."
"I am now certain of the actions that need to be taken, but not certain of the outcome."
"I’m sorry, Your Honor, I had no idea it was you."
"All resonates. The past, the present, and the future."
"The river has become an ocean, and the ferryman has a new name. He is the Toll."
"You didn’t dally when a high-priority order came in."
"The Thunder is mysterious, but it knows what it’s doing."
"A perfect partnership. We glean, and the Thunderhead sends the gleaned to the stars to live again."
"The Thunderhead could not interfere with scythe affairs."
"You can't just leave her there!" Rowan screamed at Cirrus.
"I hope," he told the family, "that you will remember to celebrate his life, even in your grief."
"The dead do not measure the passage of time."
"Hey," she says back, her voice gravelly and rough. "Weren’t we just… running? Yes, there was something going on, and we were running…."
"But in the meantime," said Rowan, "I’m really enjoying hating you."
"Whether or not humanity deserves to inherit the corner of the universe to which we travel is not for me to decide."