1n1REzE

Peter Watts 183 Blindsight
A hash of Batespeak: "—to your—right in front of—" and
Sascha as well, a bit more clearly: "—an't he see it..."
"See what Sascha! Someone tell me what—see what"
"—read Keeton, do you read"
Somehow Bates had boosted the signal; static roared like an
ocean, but I could hear the words behind it. "Yes! What—"
"Keep absolutely still, do you understand Absolutely still.
Acknowledge."
"Acknowledged." The drone kept me in its shaky sights, dark
stereocam irises spasming wide, stuttering to pinpoints. "Wha—"
"There's something in front of you, Keeton. Directly between
you and the grunt. Can't you see it"
"N-no. My HUD's down—"
Sascha broke in: "How can he not see it it's right th—"
Bates barked over her: "It's man-sized, radially symmetrical,
eight, nine arms. Like tentacles, but—segmented. Spiky."
"I don't see anything," I said. But I did: I saw something
reaching for me, in my pod back aboard Theseus. I saw something
curled up motionless in the ship's spine, watching as we laid our
best plans.
I saw Michelle the synesthesiac, curled into a fetal ball: You
can't see it...it's in—visible...
"What's it doing" I called. Why can't I see it Why can't I see
it
"Just—floating there. Kind of waving. Oh, sh—Keet—"
The grunt skidded sideways, as if slapped by a giant hand. It
bounced off the wall and suddenly the laser link was back, filling
the HUD with intelligence: first-person perspectives of Bates and
Sascha racing along alien tunnels, a grunt's-eye view of a space suit
with Keeton stenciled across its breastplate and there, right beside
it, some thing like a rippling starfish with too many arms—
The Gang barreled around the curve and now I almost could see
something with my own eyes, flickering like heat-lightning off to
one side. It was large, and it was moving, but somehow my eyes
just slid off every time they tried to get a fix. It's not real, I
thought, giddy with hysterical relief, it's just another hallucination
but then Bates sailed into view and it was right there, no flickering,