全书

Az.: 文笔丰满 质感很好. 叙述平和庄重 带来一种扑面而来的真实感. 本书的一大创意是将谍战题材融入外层空间的对抗中 当然手法是古典的 而结果是有些不了了之的.  在构想上 未来世界具体科技的使用 所谓 200 余年的科技发展 而今看来 可能反而更像是一个平行世界中的机械朋克时代（通讯 侦查卫星 手持式设备 超级计算机等等都在想象中缺位）. 即使是对近未来的畅想 也设想不到半个世纪可以进步的程度 有多惊人. 而另一方面 无论是在地球 还是太空 在人群之中 不变的依旧是伴随人性的浮沉 和挥之不去的战争之暗影.  
## Chapter Three
“Well,” he began, “I guess stars are like people. The well-behaved ones never attract much attention. They teach us something, of course, but we can learn a lot more from the ones that go off the rails.”
“Well, perhaps not. We’ve made some progress in the past million years, and I suppose an astronomer should be patient. But look at the mess we’re running into now—don’t you ever wonder how it’s all going to end?”
## Chapter Four
“But it could not be denied that human nature is always very much the same, among all classes and on all planets.”
“Men could not bear to think of eternity for long”
## Chapter Five
“There were still those who believed that Man would have been happier had he stayed on his own planet; but it was rather too late, now, to do anything about that. In any case, had he remained on Earth, he would not have been Man. The restlessness that had driven him over the face of his own world, that had made him climb the skies and plumb the seas, would not be assuaged while the Moon and planets beckoned to him across the deeps of space.”
## Chapter Six
“That was a somewhat depressing thought. Why had Man ever bothered to leave his own world if all his travels and experiences had made so little difference to his fundamental nature? He might just as well have stayed at home, instead of exporting himself and his foibles, at great expense, to another world.”
“The dark domes, which gave so little sign of the life and light they held, sank beneath the horizon. As he watched them go, Sadler was struck by a sudden, somber thought. They had been built to withstand the forces that Nature could bring against them—but how pitiably fragile they would be if ever they faced the fury of Man!”
 
## Chapter Eight
“Very small men usually took care to compensate for their physical deficiencies (how many dictators had been of even average height?) ”
## Chapter Nine
“As he sat in his little cubicle, shuffling his sheets and trying to put himself into the places of the men he was watching, Sadler sometimes felt that he was playing an intricate game, in which most of the rules were flexible and all the players unknown. It was a deadly game, the moves were taking place at accelerating speed—and upon its outcome might depend the future of the human race.”
## Chapter Ten
“If this happens, and Earth tries to keep its discovery to itself, the consequences may be serious. It’s all very well to say that Earth would be within its rights. Legal arguments don’t carry much weight when you’re fighting thousand-atmosphere pressures on Jupiter, or trying to thaw out the frozen moons of Saturn. Don’t forget, as you enjoy your mild spring days and peaceful summer evenings, how lucky you are to live in the temperate region of the solar system, where the air never freezes and the rocks never melt….”
## Chapter Eleven
“No one was better aware of this than Sadler. Sometimes he wondered if his unknown colleagues, scattered over the solar system, felt equally frustrated. Only the man at the top could see the complete picture—or something approaching it. He had never realized the isolation in which a spy must work, the horrible feeling that you are alone, that there is no one you can trust, no one with whom you can share your burdens.”
## Chapter Twelve
“The Earth, almost vertically overhead, illuminated the great wall immediately opposite. The canyon marched away to right and left as far as the eye could follow, and sometimes the blue-green light falling upon the rock face produced a most unexpected illusion. Sadler found it easy to imagine, if he moved his head suddenly, that he was looking into the heart of a gigantic waterfall, sweeping down forever into the depths of the Moon.”
## Chapter Thirteen
“Slowly the Moon was turning toward the sun, as it could never turn toward the Earth. The line of day was crawling across the mountains and plains, banishing the unimaginable cold of the long night. Already the entire westward wall of the Apennines was ablaze, and the Mare Imbrium was climbing into the dawn. But Plato still lay in darkness, lit only by the radiance of the waning Earth.”
## Chapter Eighteen
“Only this, thought Sadler. The heavens might blaze with portents, the galaxy might burn with the beacon lights of detonating stars, but man would go about his own affairs with a sublime indifference. He was busy with the planets now, and the stars would have to wait. He would not be overawed by anything that they could do; and in his own good time, he would deal with them as he considered fit.”