"Like a button on a shirt buttoned wrong, every attempt to correct things led to yet another fine - not to say elegant - mess." (Chapter 1, p. 3).

"I stood there a good twenty seconds, mouth agape, staring up at it. Then I let out a long, deep breath that might easily have been beamed straight to the moon. Surprise was not the word." (Chapter 4, p. 21).

"No matter how out of focus the picture, I had to unravel each strand patiently." (Chapter 13, p. 95).

"The more I walked, the less I trusted my memory." (Chapter 13, p. 102).

"But, no matter how advanced the system, no matter how precise, unless we have the will to communicate, there's no connection." (Chapter 17, p. 126).

"When I awoke the following morning, it was April. As delicately rendered as a passage from Truman Capote, fleeting, fragile, beautiful." (Chapter 20, p. 161).

"'You realize what a vulnerable position you're in...