“A tension went out of the air. Their business here was over then, and they all knew it; the magic moment had arrived when it was understood that nothing more would be established, discovered, or decided today. But the meeting, having once begun, must drag on for several long more hours before it could be ended. The engines of protocol had enormous inertial mass; once set in motion they took forever to grind to a stop.”

— Michael Swanwick, book Stations of the Tide

Source: Stations of the Tide (1991), Chapter 8, “Conversations in the Puzzle Palace” (p. 141)

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Michael Swanwick96

American science fiction author 1950

Maurice Davis (1921–1993) American rabbi

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1920s