PeterWatts_Blindsight

Peter Watts 196 Blindsight
My glass was almost empty; I sipped to make it last. "I—I dream
about him sometimes, though. About— being him."
"What's it like?"
"It was—colorful. Everything was more saturated, you know?
Sounds, smells. Richer than life."
"And now?"
I looked at him.
"You said it was colorful. What changed?"
"I don't know. Maybe nothing. I just— I don't actually
remember the dreams when I wake up any more."
"So how do you know you still have them?" Pag asked.
Fuck it I thought, and tipped back the last of my pint in a single
gulp. "I know."
"How?"
I frowned, taken aback. I had to think for a few moments before
I remembered.
"I wake up smiling," I said.
"Grunts look the enemy in the eye. Grunts know the stakes. Grunts know the
price of poor strategy. What do the generals know? Overlays and Tactical
plots. The whole chain of command is upside-down."
—Kenneth Lubin, Zero Sum
It went bad from the moment we breached. The plan had called
for precise havoc along the new beachhead, subtly arranged to
entrap some blood-cell-with-waldoes as it sought to repair the
damage. Our job had been to set the trap and stand back, trusting
Sarasti's assurances that we would not have long to wait.
We had no time at all. Something squirmed in the swirling dust
the moment we breached, serpentine movement down the hole that
instantly kicked Bates renowned field initiative into high gear.
Her grunts dived through and caught a scrambler twitching in their