“I looked back, but Bast and Sadie seemed fine. They were still staring at the water as if it were some amazing Internet video.”

“We’re on the moon,” Sadie murmured.“El Paso, Texas,” Bast corrected.”

“I didn’t say a word but staredAt Derek, still a little hazed.He stared back, uncertain, scared,Still unbelieving and amazed.”

“Internet users, that blue screen of death you were looking at this morning? That's the sky. If you're still confused, look it up on Wikipedia tomorrow.”

“The Martians were there—in the canal—reflected in the water.... The Martians stared back up at them for a long, long silent time from the rippling water....”

“Staring at the stars was like staring backward in time, since some stars are so far away that their light takes millions of years just to reach us. That we see stars not as they look now, but as they were when dinosaurs roamed the earth. The whole concept just struck me as…amazing somehow.”