How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph.Page)
Quote #1
What had seemed like utter failure from the road into the city seemed, now, entirely on target. The place was bustling, workers everywhere in their primary-colored jumpsuits, the place getting built. Any investors seeing the project from this vantage point would be convinced that it was being completed with great taste and with what Alan, at least, saw as admirable speed. (VI.74.52)
Our hero can't help but feel optimistic when he sees KAEC from the upper floors of the Black Box. But is it a snapshot of reality, even for an adventurous person—or just another piece of delusion meant to lure the eager or greedy? Alan's desire to be a part of something visionary influences everything he seems around him, and keeps him from understanding the precarious nature of the investment in KAEC.
Quote #2
Someone, Kit or the digitizers, had arranged them all more or less chronologically, and now he could, and too often did, scan through the thousand pictures, a record of his life, in minutes. All he had to do was keep his finger on the leftward arrow. It was too easy. It was not good. It kept him in a dangerous stasis of nostalgia and regret and horror. (XV.30.104)
Sometimes, exploration can be a bad thing, especially when excavating those internal layers that might hide unpleasant things like heartache, regret, and past failures. Technology has a way of putting such painful journeys right at our fingertips, as Alan learns when he scrolls through his digitized pictures. And just as Facebook sometimes gobsmacks us with memories we'd rather forget, Alan gets dragged down by this "gift" from Kit. When exploration sends you backward, it might not be a good thing.
Quote #3
He had a distant inkling that he would regret this. He struck a match and got as close to sterilizing the blade as he could. Then he took the knife and slowly twisted it into the growth. There was pain, but only the kind normally associated with puncturing the skin. When he had reached the growth, and in seconds he knew he had, there was nothing extraordinary. Just pain. Standard, fascinating pain. (XV.39.106)
Ok, here's a life tip: don't use a steak knife to do exploratory surgery. We don't care how much you think you've sterilized the blade. Alan can't help himself here because: a) he's drunk; b) he just has to know what's going wrong with his body.
It's his hope/fear that this lump really is a festering disease. It would explain everything bad that has happened to him since it began to grow. Unfortunately, this probing doesn't give Alan what he wants. He'll just have to accept the fact that his problems are often of his own making.