How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
The twins were grinning at him. Jerry waved at the hill. "How would you like to play Cretaceous Returns, but with real feeling?"
Pyramid Hill managers knew exactly what to charge for different levels of touchy-feely experience. The low end was pretty cheap; "real feeling" was at the top. "Ah, that's too expensive."
"Sure it is. If you pay." (4.12-4)
Wherever there's power and rules, there's going to be people trying to break the rules. Like here, where the Radners think about breaking in to the amusement park's most expensive game form. This may be a silly little moment that doesn't impact the plot much, but it sets up a pattern we'll see again, with the little guys (like Juan and the Radners) trying to sneak past the big guys (the Pyramid Hill managers).
Quote #5
Alfred Vaz had no official rank in the External Intelligence Agency, but he had immense power there. Even with modern compartmentalization techniques, he never could have cloaked his research programs otherwise. (9.53)
One big question in Rainbows End is how individual power deals with institutional power. So, Rabbit can go merrily hacking through computer security, but the Elder Cabal can't really stop the school administration from shredding all the books. But those lines aren't always so clear, as we see here with Vaz: Vaz is a very powerful person who both does and doesn't belong to the intelligence community, where he has power and influence, but no official rank and a super secret office.
Quote #6
Tommie looked up from his laptop. "He's gone. And I've deadzoned the sixth floor." He pointed at an LED on the edge of his ancient-looking laptop.
Robert remembered some of Bob's claims: "Even the Homeland Security hardware?"
"Don't tell, Robert." He patted his computer. "Genuine Paraguayan inside, shipped just before they shut the fabs down." (15.45-48)
If the Radners survive their teenage years, they might grow up to be someone like Tommie Parker. And instead of fooling the Pyramid Hill managers, they might be doing something like fooling Homeland Security and other government surveillance. And here we see where his power comes from: some illegal "technology." (Bonus: His Paraguayan tech might be related to Bob's mission to Asuncion, Paraguay (7.37).)