Hippogryph was willing. “That bad?”
“Let’s put it this way. I had the concierge send it out to a lab. Got a call back saying ‘Congratulations, your moose is pregnant.’”" - Meaning and context.">
Chapter 17, “Butterflies” (p. 166)
“

“Last coffee I had was on the tube out from Denver.” He made a face.
Hippogryph was willing. “That bad?”
“Let’s put it this way. I had the concierge send it out to a lab. Got a call back saying ‘Congratulations, your moose is pregnant.’”

— Larry Niven

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "“Last coffee I had was on the tube out from Denver.” He made a face.
Hippogryph was willing. “That bad?”
“Let’s put it this way. I had the concierge send it out to a lab. Got a call back saying ‘Congratulations, your moose is pregnant.’”" in the context of "Chapter 17, “Butterflies” (p. 166)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Larry Niven" (Quotes, Dream Park, The Barsoom Project (1989): Co-written with Steven Barnes Page numbers from the trade paperback edition, published by Tor , November 2010 ) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Larry Niven

About Larry Niven

Laurence van Cott Niven (born 30 April 1938) is an American science fiction author, most famous as the author of Ringworld (1970), his "Known Space" stories, and Niven's laws.