How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Interesting," Ian murmured, "how we keep on wanting to know the time, in the midst of all that's going on."
"Yes."
"As if we still had appointments to keep."
"Yes."
A silence stretched between them, a chasm. She searched for something to say. Tick. The shelves seemed more substantial now than the walls. The clock nested in the middle of them, surrounded by preserves. (37.66-70)
This novel has taken our typical understanding of time and given it an upgrade (think of it as Time 2.0). But this quote shows us that our perception of time is something fundamental to people. The clock symbolizing time has been surrounded by preserves, as though Marjorie is trying to preserve it along with the world she once knew.
Quote #8
Gordon got a few words here and there, and a very clear RA 18 5 36 DEC 30 29.2, and that was all. The coordinates made sense now. Up ahead in the future they would have a precise fix on where they would seem to be in the sky. The solar apex was an average of the sun's motion. Thirty-five years from now the earth would be in a location near the average motion. (41.38)
This reveal of how the future could find the past harkens to some ideas in Einstein's special relativity, specifically that we move not only through space, but through time, too. But click on that link if you want to really explore this.
Quote #9
Hello, 2349. Hello out there. This is 1998, an x and t in your memory. Hello. ATTEMPT CONTACT.
Renfrew smiled with flinty irony. Whispers came flitting, embedding soft words of tomorrow in the indium. Someone was there. Someone brought hope. (45.25-26)
Essentially, time goes on. Renfrew may have been unsuccessful in securing a future for his spot in reality, but the way time works in the universe suggests that this doesn't mean there will be no future for humanity, which is uplifting… in a way.