PeterWatts_Blindsight

Peter Watts 202 Blindsight
Imagine you are Amanda Bates.
The control you wield over your troops would give wet dreams
and nightmares to generals of ages past. You can drop instantly
into the sensorium of anyone under your command, experience the
battlefield from any number of first-person perspectives. Your
every soldier is loyal unto death, asking no questions, obeying all
commands with alacrity and dedication to which mere flesh could
never even aspire. You don't just respect a chain of command:
you are one.
You are a little bit scared of your own power. You are a little bit
scared of the things you've already done with it.
Taking orders comes as naturally as giving them. Oh, you've
been known to question policy on occasion, or seek a bigger
picture than may be strictly necessary for the job at hand. Your
command initiative has become the stuff of legends. But you have
never disobeyed a direct order. When asked for your perspective,
you serve it straight up and unvarnished— until the decision is
made, and the orders handed down. Then you do your job without
question. Even when questions arise, you would hardly waste time
asking them unless you expected an answer you could use.
Why, then, demand analytical details from a vampire?
Not for information. Might as well expect the sighted to explain
vision to the congenitally blind. Not for clarification; there was no
ambiguity in Sarasti's bottom line. Not even for the benefit of poor
dumb Siri Keeton, who may have missed some salient point but is
too ashamed to raise his own hand.
No, there is only one reason why you might ask for such details:
to challenge. To rebel, to the infinitesimal degree that rebellion is
permitted once the word is given.
You argued and advocated as forcefully as you could, back when
Sarasti was soliciting input. But he ignored yours, abandoned any
attempt at communication and preemptively invaded foreign
territory. He knew that Rorschach might contain living beings and
still he tore it open without regard for their welfare. He may have
killed helpless innocents. He may have roused an angry giant.
You don't know.