“I felt beautiful but also interrupted. I wasn't used to being so complicated.”

“It's just that life felt the right size in there... not too big and not too small. Wasn't so hard to work up a bit of courage. It's got so bloody complicated since then.”

“The reason I make things so complicated is simple: Because I like being the uncimplicator.”

“I wasn't interrupting," I interrupted, and Ms. East's mouth tilted down ever farther, which meant I'd just crossed into the land of Royally Screwed.”

“I wasn't a misanthrope and I wasn't a misogynist but I liked being alone. It felt good to sit alone in a small space and smoke and drink. I had always been good company for myself.”

“We flew gracefully between the complicated lattice of trusses like a pair of nymphs. Add our sexy outfits and transparent metallite alloy spacesuits to our naturally good looks, and you can see what I mean, can't you? I was swept with an overwhelming confidence in how beautiful I must look. That's it! It wasn't that we felt things were going too easily. The fact was, we were frustrated that there wasn't anyone around to admire us.”