- Paul Tanner: That's not just some ordinary psycho down there. That's the most dangerous piece of equipment I've ever seen. He'll take you and tear along the dotted line.
- Paul Tanner: Any moment now, something is going to be arriving that is guarateed to stand your hair on end. It took six beefy men to put him into the two straightjackets he's wearing - and they send down a philologist.
- Tom Kagan: Well, I do know a little karate.
- Quarlo Clobregnny: Why do you peep me this?
- Tom Kagan: I want you to know. I want you to understand.
- Quarlo Clobregnny: *I* grasp! You! You are the drum-dumb! Send me home always, now! Don't you know there's a war on?
- Tom Kagan: I... I can't send you home. I don't know how. NOBODY knows how. Your... your home doesn't exist yet.
- Paul Tanner: This weapon is incredible. It has no power sourse at all. None at all. It's inexhaustible. I could fire it steadily for a month and its power wouldn't decrease by one kilowatt.
- [prologue]
- Control Voice: Night comes too soon on the battlefield. For some men it comes permanently, their eyes never open to the light of day, but for this man fighting this war, there is never total darkness. The spidery beams of light in the sky are the descendents of the modern laser beam, heat rays that sear through tungsten steel and flesh as though they were cheesecloth, and this soldier must go against those weapons. His name is Quarlo, and he is a foot soldier, the ultimate infantryman. Trained from birth by the state, he has never known love, or closeness, or warmth. He is geared for only one purpose: to kill the enemy. And the enemy waits for him.
- Quarlo Clobregnny: My name's Quarlo. Clobregnny. Prite! ArEmEeEnTeeEnDeeO.
- Tom Kagan: Well... Brother, you can say that again.