"Hayden wasn't always a poker cheat. Once he dreamt of getting a mathematics degree, but the lure of cracking so-called secure algorithms protecting online casinos proved too much to resist. He told himself that they could take their losses out of the money they made from annoying flash advertisements he had to end...
"Convinced that no detail had been missed and every preparation carried out flawlessly, he picked up the shopping bag that held the remaining necessary elements to complete the ritual and entered the circle."
"She hadn't aged a day since I first saw her in that courtyard, playing a careless tune as she danced barefoot on the manicured lawn near the ancient tree in its center."
"... The tree is still here, towering over the others, like an old shepherd standing guard over his flock. Time will not diminish its greatness, or my awe for it. I wish to forget this pilgrimage and go home now, but I continue onward, taking comfort from the cold smooth metal in my pocket..."
"Want to know a secret, Grandpa? There's no fish in this river. Probably hasn't been any here since before I was born." "Hush up and watch your line."
"One flick and marquee lights sprang to life above the entrance to announce the Imperial Theater's first showing since the world died."
/ A device out of time lost at sea for ages / / marks a message well hid in a sea of pages / / Trust only the holder of time's cruel sands / / and unlock with the key from Zimmerman's hands. /
"I reckoned I'd seen my share of strangeness in that terrible war between the states, but I never imagined the things I'd witness in my journeys out west. Steam locomotives racing along endless steel tracks may make travel faster from one destination to another, dear reader, but true adventure still lies in the empty...
"The natives of Cyberius-4 took exception to the outpost, which was why the Major was humming a small tune as he shaved in his thermally sealed tent on the god-forsaken northern range of the planet."