“I notice you’re not referring to him as ‘the little fucker’ anymore,” said Corvallis. “Okay, okay, he… — Neal Stephenson

“I notice you’re not referring to him as ‘the little fucker’ anymore,” said Corvallis.

“Okay, okay, he stopped being a little fucker when he raised an army of twelve hundred high-level characters and deployed them in battle array around his projected route of advance,” Richard admitted. “I have to admit I was wondering why he was taking so long to move away from that cave. I didn’t reckon that he was going to set the whole thing up like Sherman’s march to the sea.”

“Did you notice his leapfrogging cavalry screens?”

“Yes, I fucking noticed them.”

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