“So the captain, the first officer and the ship's doctor and sometimes the engineer all beam down to a planet. Together." "The entire complement of the senior officers?"Billy nodded"And who has the command of the ship?""I don't know. Junior officers I guess.""If they worked for me I would have them court-martialed. That sounds like a dereliction of duty.""I know. I know. I always thought it odd myself. But that's not the point.""What is the point?""They're usually accompanied by a guy in the red shirt. Always a crew member you've never seen before. And as soon as you see the shirt, you know he's going to die.”

“BILLY: Did you ever watch Star Trek?MACHIAVELLI: Do I look like I watch Star Trek?BILLY: It's hard to tell who's a Trekkie.MACHIAVELLI: Billy, I ran one of the most sophisticated secret service organizations in the world. I did not have time for Star Trek. (pause) I was more of a Star Wars fan. Why do you ask?BILLY: Well, when Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock beamed down to a planet, usually with Dr. McCoy and sometimes with Scotty from engineering...MACHIAVELLI: Wait a minute--what's Mr. Spock again?BILLY: A Vulcan.MACHIAVELLI: His rank.BILLY: The first officer.MACHIAVELLI: So the captain, the first officer, the ship's doctor, and sometimes the engineer all beam down to a planet. Together. The entire complement of the senior officers?BILLY: (nods)MACHIAVELLI: And who has command of the ship?BILLY: (shrug) I don't know. Junior officers, I guess.MACHIAVELLI: If they worked for me I'd have them court-martialed. That sounds like a gross dereliction of duty.BILLY: I know. I always thought it was a little odd myself.”

“Always? I know this sounds totally stupid, but sometimes I really can't see the point in living if I will always have to deal with this crap. I know I will have better times in my life, and I might even make myself into someone important, but if the whole time I have to deal with assholes, then what's the point?”

“It reminds me of that old joke- you know, a guy walks into a psychiatrist's office and says, hey doc, my brother's crazy! He thinks he's a chicken. Then the doc says, why don't you turn him in? Then the guy says, I would but I need the eggs. I guess that's how I feel about relationships. They're totally crazy, irrational, and absurd, but we keep going through it because we need the eggs.”

“the juniors were acting different because they are now the seniors. They even had T-shirts made. I don't know who plans these things.”

“I want to know the age. The sex. Most of all, the fingerprints. I'd like to identify who it is. After he had agreed, and I had left the office, walking to calm myself, I thought: And who am I? Please tell me who I am and what I'm doing.”