The Rule Of Thoughts Quotes
"Slowly, Michael crept closer, thankful for the wet leaves padding his steps."
"He wanted to scream in frustration, but he pressed it down."
"I miss this place," Sarah said when they started.
"Running in the program’s background, the two of them jumped from location to location within Lifeblood."
"Michael looked up at her. 'Then let’s get Bryson.'"
"Bryson’s in it whether he wants to be or not."
"You’re the same goofy Michael I’ve always known."
"But first things first. We need to find out more about Kaine, about this Doctrine thing, and try to end it."
"He’d expected fierce heat, but instead it was cool and tingly with power."
"Michael could barely keep his eyes open as his body rocketed upward with the shaft of purple light."
"His mind went back to the train incident and the warning he’d been given."
"His back ached, his head spun, a spell of dizziness enveloped him in a rush behind his ears."
"Michael didn’t know what to do, what to say."
"Michael’s mind went back to the train incident."
"No, I don’t expect you to stop Kaine. In fact, quite the opposite. If you do find him, it’d be way too dangerous for you to try anything by yourselves."
"Trust me, I understand. All too well. Kaine is more powerful than we ever would’ve thought."
"All my agents and analysts are inside the VirtNet for a three-day job. They Lifted from their homes—we only have a skeleton crew here to run things."
"I’m just hoping you can find out where he is, without actually going there. If we can discover the location of his central coding—if there even is such a place—then I have a plan for how to destroy him."
"You have no idea just how secret your mission was."
"The politics are only a small part of it. Ultimately, what matters is the security of the VirtNet and the safety of the people who frequent it."
"We’re all on the same side. I had to tread carefully for reasons we don’t have time to discuss right now."
"Yes, I know Michael was a Tangent and was inserted into the body of Jackson Porter. I know it’s happening all over the world."
"I need to get you three inside the VirtNet, and I need you to use those skills of yours. You’ll be protected like never before, I promise."
"We don’t have time, I’m telling you, we don’t have time! I need to get you in those Coffins."
"Never in his life had he been forced to use a NetScreen to program within the Sleep."
"It took an hour. Possibly the longest, most excruciating hour of his life."
"Eventually Michael had gotten bored and programmed gigantic, gravity-defying ladders to beat the system."
"He was sure someone wiser could come up with a really good philosophical parallel."
"The noise of it was a rushing boom, filling the air."
"It was exhilarating and made him feel more awake than he had in a long time."
"Squinting, he studied the endless sea stretching in every direction."
"Michael couldn’t imagine where they’d been sent—or why—but he didn’t really care at that moment."
"The ice-cold water swallowed him, igniting his nerves and making his heart pound from the shock of it."
"Sorry!" she yelled. "I forgot those things had unpredictable timers on them in the game!"
"Michael would have laughed, too, if he didn’t feel like his nether regions were about to freeze solid."
"The water’s just an illusion," Sarah said, seemingly out of nowhere."
"It’s weird, you know? Because of all the programs Weber drenched us in to make sure Kaine couldn’t find us."
"It was programming in a way he’d never done it before, and he was more than a little excited."
"They were about to do the one thing every human feared, no matter how brave."
"Michael pointed at his mouth, trying to show them they had to do this."
"His heart was whole again, thumping and thumping, if a little fast."
"Together they floated in a surreal world of purple lights and code."
"That was the worst few seconds of my entire life," Sarah said."
"It’s almost like normal, when we close our eyes in the Sleep and access whatever program we’re in."
"An entire world of logical code extended farther than Michael could see."
"No sign of people. Anywhere. At least according to the heat sigs."
"Are we sure this isn’t too easy? I’m getting nervous."
"Come on, Sarah, lead us to the mainframe. Or whatever his programming looks like here."
"It’s on the top floor. In a column at the center of the building—looks like it goes down the entire length of the building, even into the basement, but the easiest way to access it is from above."
"If there’d been guards, they would’ve been on top of them by now—there was no doubt in Michael’s mind."
"A deep, mechanical growl that throbbed along with the light, keeping the same rhythm."
"I think our luck finally ran out. I’ve got heat sigs all along the outside of the building."
"No chance of turning back. Only forward now."
"I have no idea. Someone who gets paid a lot more than you do told me to put it there and press a few buttons. So I did."
"The whole thing was melting. Its corners were no longer square, its edges no longer sharp."
"Everything was a lie. They won’t tell us much. Just that we’re under arrest."
"We were never in Lifeblood Deep. They had to have drugged us at some point—knocked us out after we got in the Coffins, I don’t know—and then Lifted us and dropped us in the Wake, in the real Atlanta."
"Everything said in here is recorded. I have to be careful. But just know that what you think about me is not true."
"The VNS created Kaine, Michael. But now he’s gone rogue."
"You can never destroy a human intelligence. Nor a programmed intelligence. They’re stored. All of them."
"Things will get worse before they get better. But I do believe that they can and will get better."