1n1REzE

Peter Watts 104 Blindsight
"They don't know everything," Szpindel insisted. "And the
principle works for any scenario involving incomplete information,
not just the ignorant extreme."
"Not as well."
"But some, and that gives us a chance. Doesn't matter how good
you are at poker when it comes to the deal, eh Cards still deal out
with the same odds."
"So that's what we're playing. Poker."
"Be thankful it's not chess. We wouldn't have a hope in hell."
"Hey. I'm supposed to be the optimist in this relationship."
"You are. I'm just fatalistically cheerful. We all come into the
story halfway through, we all catch up as best we can, and we're all
gonna die before it ends."
"That's my Isaac. Master of the no-win scenario."
"You can win. Winner's the guy who makes the best guess on
how it all comes out."
"So you are just guessing."
"Yup. And you can't make an informed guess without data, eh
And we could be the very first to find out what's gonna happen to
the whole Human race. I'd say that puts us into the semifinals,
easy."
Michelle didn't answer for a very long time. When she did, I
couldn't hear her words.
Neither could Szpindel: "Sorry"
"Covert to invulnerable, you said. Remember"
"Uh huh. Rorschach's Graduation Day. "
"How soon, do you think"
"No idea. But I don't think it's the kind of thing that's gonna slip
by unnoticed. And that's why I don't think it attacked us."
She must have looked a question.
"Because when it does, it won't be some debatable candy-ass
bitch slap," he told her. "When that fucker rises up, we're gonna
know."
A sudden flicker from behind. I spun in the cramped
passageway and bit down on a cry: something squirmed out of
sight around the corner, something with arms, barely glimpsed,
gone in an instant.