"No. Humans need fantasy, to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape."
"With Tooth Fairies, and Hogfathers..."
"Yes. As practice you have to start out learning to believe the little lies."
"So we can believe the big ones?"
"Yes, justice, Mercy, Duty, that sort of thing."
"They're not the same at all..."
"You think so? Then take the universe and grind it down to the finest powder, and sieve it through the finest sieve, and then show me one atom of justice - one molecule of mercy, and yet... You try act as if there is some ideal order in the world. As if there is some... Some rightness in the universe by which it may be judged!"
"But people have got to believe that, or else what's the point?"
I know what you must think of us... Our facility's poor, our knowledge woefully incomplete. En Son told my ancestors of your Prime Directive, how we weren't ready for your technology or ideas. We know we're not Star-Flight, but you don't need a real ship to believe in what it stands for. What about you? Do you believe, Dal R'El?
"Then listen well. Your work will outlive you… the people around you might not. One day you’re going to wake up, assuming you’ve slept at all, and realize that the world is a very different place than the last time you remembered to look at it. You will abruptly, viscerally regret the absence of something as small as a single cup of tea. So I ask you again… what would you like to drink?"
"Did you know the Akavari made these old mannequin's by petrifying deserters into wood, fascinating subject - sometimes the spell wouldn't properly stick and the things would start walking around, the restraining enchantments are apparently easily broken... Wait, what are you doing with that fireball."
"You said the enchantments might break. I'm Fixing them."
"You may have just saved the entire quadrant, and all it cost, was the life of one Romulan senator, one criminal... And the self respect of one Starfleet officer. I don't know about you, but I'd call that a bargain."
"Of course, it was also said, usually by the same people, that crooks always had close set eyes, lightning never struck twice in the same place, and that if the gods had wanted humans to fly, they'd have given them an airline ticket."
Little Jack Horner sat in a corner eating a christmas pie. He stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plum and said "The Horse used the Elevator? ... I didn't know he knew how to do that,"
"If you remember, we described them quite clearly in vague, abstract, contradictory terms before! Why would we do that if we weren't certain... On how to use them... Yes..."
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--Sweetie Belle
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--Sweetie Belle
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