Nightside, cities glistened in chains, and a spray of tinkertoy habitats girdled the planet. Gossamer starbridges reached from the equator towards orbit.

I think I set myself on a course to become a scientist around about the time that Carl Sagan's 'Cosmos' series was on television, and there really was no going back for me at that point, and then I went on to study space science and then get my Ph.D., then go aboard and work in the European Space Agency.

There is man named Giri who is waiting for me in Sotari. He is my…” She paused, searching for words to describe a concept that she had no words for. “The closest words that describe it that I can think of is Soul’s Blood. He is my partner, my mate, the nourishment that gives me life. The person who fills the emptiness that hadn’t existed until it was filled.

If you can’t be with the side you want, work to fix the side you’re with.

But beyond a certain scale vast was simply vast.

I'm not a morning person: I can't function until I've had a coffee - or several.