PeterWatts_Blindsight

Peter Watts 83 Blindsight
Bates ignored the jibe. "The fact that Rorschach's still growing
may be the best reason to leave it alone for a while. We don't have
any idea what the—mature, I guess—what the mature form of this
artefact might be. Sure, it hid. Lots of animals take cover from
predators without being predators, especially young ones. Sure, it's
—evasive. Doesn't give us the answers we want. But maybe it
doesn't know them, did you consider that? How much luck would
you have interrogating a Human embryo? Adult could be a whole
different animal."
"Adult could put our asses through a meatgrinder."
"So could the embryo for all we know." Bates rolled her eyes.
"Jesus, Isaac, you're the biologist. I shouldn't have to tell you how
many shy reclusive critters pack a punch when they're cornered.
Porcupine doesn't want any trouble, but he'll still give you a faceful
of quills if you ignore the warning."
Szpindel said nothing. He slid his coffee sideways along the
concave tabletop, to the very limit of his reach. The liquid sat
there in its mug, a dark circle perfectly parallel to the rim but
canted slightly towards us. I even thought I could make out the
merest convexity in the surface itself.
Szpindel smiled faintly at the effect.
James cleared her throat. "Not to downplay your concerns,
Isaac, but we've hardly exhausted the diplomatic route. And at
least it's willing to talk, even if it's not as forthcoming as we'd
like."
"Sure it talks," Szpindel said, eyes still on the leaning mug. "Not
like us."
"Well, no. There's some—"
"It's not just slippery, it's downright dyslexic sometimes, you
noticed? And it mixes up its pronouns."
"Given that it picked up the language entirely via passive
eavesdropping, it's remarkably fluent. In fact, from what I can tell
they're more efficient at processing speech than we are."
"Gotta be efficient at a language if you're going to be so evasive
in it, eh?"
"If they were human I might agree with you," James replied.
"But what appears to us as evasion or deceit could just as easily be