How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
Who threw the stone at me? he asked himself. No one. But why does it bother me? I've undergone it before, during fusion. While using my empathy box, like everyone else. This isn't new. But it was. Because, he thought, I did it alone. (21.20)
Even getting stoned is better when you have a friend. Rick faces the same violence and difficulties on that hill as he does in the empathy box, but now he has no one to help him along. The task of climbing that hill alone was so difficult it almost killed him. (Just try climbing Everest without a whole support team.)