"What it tries to say doesn't matter: I see what it makes me see."
This quote shows how authoritative and headstrong Pepita is. While walking through the streets of London, she talks to her boyfriend Arthur about the mysterious, forsaken city of Kôr. He points out that even the poem she recites about the city says that the place does not exist. However, she cuts him off immediately, thus dismissing his argument before he can even explain his thoughts. Instead, she only considers her own thoughts valid.
"If you can blow whole places out of existence, you can blow whole places into it."
Seeing the destruction of London all around her, this quote shows that Pepita has hope for the reconstruction of the city after the war.
"What, you mean we're there now, that here's there, that now's then?"
This quote shows how confused Arthur is about Pepita's thoughts about Kôr. She keeps talking about this fictitious place and the couple being alone there; however, when he points out that now, at this moment, at this place, they are already alone, she does not acknowledge the real him and instead keeps dreaming of the utopic place. Arthur, therefore, is not sure if she actually wants to be with him in reality.
"We might not have to, but I bet I should."
Arthur is talking about keeping track of time. When Pepita says that in Kôr they would not have to worry about time, Arthur replies that even if they don't have to, he at least should, because as a soldier he knows more than anyone that time is limited--after all, war can quickly kill him. He, therefore, means that he should use his precious time wisely; in this case, he would like to spend his time not discussing the nature of a fictitious place but instead focus on the real world.
"A game's a game, but what's a hallucination? You begin by laughing, then it gets in you and you can't laugh it off."
In the early morning, Arthur gets up to smoke a cigarette. He talks to Callie, who has woken up as well, about Pepita and her thoughts of Kôr. This quote shows that even though he was skeptical about the mental healing power that the fictitious place has, he now starts to believe in it as well. After waking up he says he did not know where he had been, indicating that he must have dreamed about Kôr as well.
"To be human's to be at a dead loss."
Arthur says this at the end of his conversation with Callie. In this context, he thinks that it is human nature not to know what to do, and it is important to have hope and something to look forward to. He indirectly validates Pepita's visions of Kôr, her mental safe place, where she goes to escape reality.
