Sam quoted The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks (Culture, #10)
The Scavenger species are circling. It is, truly, the End Days for the Gzilt civilization. …
If you wanted to feel you were still somehow in control of a ship or a fleet or even your civilisation, talking amongst yourselves seemed to be the way you convinced yourself of it.
— The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks (Culture, #10)