Outer Passage

"It's as if an anteater has stumbled upon a particularly juicy nest of ants. The ants can try to fight back, to bite and sting, but the anteater has long evolved to ignore them. He doesn't even feel them. He just knows they are food. He'll gorge himself, then wander off to sleep. The ants do not mourn; they have no time for it. They merely rebuild in the hope that the anteater will stay away while knowing its return is inevitable."

- The Travels of Germone Ferush