Shade's Children Quotes
"A razor blade gave me freedom from the Dorms."
"Shade would say that it wasn’t the razor blade that gave me freedom. It was what I did with it."
"It took three months of practice for me to build that picture into something real, a hard, sharp object to hold in my hand."
"Only one in ten thousand gets out of the Dormitories, according to Shade."
"Even now, when I look at the scar, I wonder how... But it’s done now. I’ve been free for eight years."
"How did I get out of the Dorms? I just read that. He held up a sign."
"I moved it out. If I can see something or I know where it is and how big, I can... think... it somewhere else."
"I don’t count my birthdays. Not since then."
"The tracer? That was easy to get rid of."
"We’ll have to wait a few hours for the tide to go down. It looks like it’s on the turn."
"They’re just the enemy. That’s all. The enemy."
"I remember Dorms. But not getting out. Petar and Jemmie took me."
"I’ll make them kill me, Gold-Eye thought desperately as the Myrmidons—toying with him now—raised their net guns."
"The fog had laid a film of moisture on the old stones of the embankment, and in his panic Gold-Eye had run to one of the hardest spots to climb."
"I am Gold-Eye. Ninde is angry because Shade does this video now, without months’ wait. He not say why."
"If I were merely a computer, I could not think as a man. If I were still only a man, I could not exist. But I am only an electronic reality—or am I? No physicality. No glands. No hormones. No sudden pleasure from the sun warming my face... or a woman smiling for me alone."
"War changes the breathing man. How could it not change me?"
"There is only one goal. The Overlords must be defeated and the world returned to normality. My normality. The wind cool and fresh, stinging eyes; the shock of the surf on skin; a soft kiss, lips just touching soft skin below the ear, her long hair held back... Irrelevance. Whatever the cost, we will regain humanity’s kingdom."
"I watched whole families—or what was left of them—get on. Ten-year-olds carrying babies, five-year-old twins holding hands... there were heaps of them. All trusting, because the guys in the suits looked like grown-ups."
"Better to concentrate on what we have to do. Don't think about tomorrow. It can look after itself."
"If you see a creature that you don’t recognize, it is vital that you report it to Shade. Do not assume that it is a creature known to other people."
"I guess I was twelve when the Change happened... I realized something strange had happened. It was so quiet, for a start. No traffic. No planes—and we lived right under the flight path."
"The Overlords started changing the weather... The first signs came just before dusk, with a freezing wind rolling up the bay, chilling the water."
It’s necessary," Ella replied coldly. "Come on.
"Someone had to slow them down," explained Ninde slowly.
"Don’t be stupid, children. Drum will be long gone by the time you get to the Meat Factory."
"Humankind became Earth’s dominant species through evolution, natural selection, survival of the fittest."
"Are you sure?" asked Ella. "But I’m hanging on."
"I think that for better . . . or worse . . . we’re no longer Shade’s Children."
"The sooner it’s done . . . the sooner . . . well, I am sure everyone looks forward to final victory."
"I fear that without any warning, and without my ability to automatically lock hatches, any resistance would have been short."
"I am Shade. You will answer my questions first."
"It’s still the same thing. Destroy the Grand Projector."
"I have killed children . . . . I can’t believe I/you said that babies . . . babies! will be used for . . . no . . . I cannot . . . personality integration error . . . shut down and restart."
"So I don’t think that it will have left me with any riding skills. Come on . . . let’s try it."
"I have come to collect what we bargained for. The body-construction data and access to an appropriate laboratory."
"I am not Robert Ingman. Yes I . . . fucking . . . well am."
"Every day lost means another hundred children used up in the Meat Factory, taken apart for the Overlords’ foul purposes—so we must hurry!"