the summer of 2078. It was at this point that Quid admitted to me that he had spent his life accumulating relationships with various women because he was incapable of maintaining any friendships unless there was some degree of sexual attraction, however slight it may have been. This frustration at himself and the male population manifested as a deeply seated distrust of the public at large; eventually, he withdrew from public life altogether, maintaining a vast network of female friends through correspondence and, until the end of net neutrality in 2054, the internet.

We spoke once more on this topic shortly thereafter. Quid had just finished the manuscript that brought an end to the series of novels that he had spent the better part of his life writing, and made a rare public appearance at a party thrown by Emma Harkin. (Later, I came to realize that he needed to attend this sort of event roughly twice a year- it was a sort of decompression, I think.) He approached me at the party, illegal cigarrette