The provided excerpts come from a collection of science fiction stories titled "Engineman - Eric Brown," which features several interconnected narratives revolving around Enginemen—specialized crew members who "mind-push" starships through a dimension called the nada-continuum (or "flux"). The central theme is the decline of this profession due to interface technology and the ensuing social and physical struggles of the former Enginemen, such as Mirren, who suffers from a terminal illness, and his brother, Bobby. Other plotlines introduce characters like Ella Hunter, navigating a hostile, post-collapse Paris overgrown with alien vegetation, and her complex relationship with her father, Hirst Hunter, an executive of the powerful, oppressive Danzig Organisation who is secretly working against them with a group called the Disciples and an alien race, the Lho-Dharvo. The texts also explore existential and artistic concepts related to death, consciousness, and the sublime nature of the flux.