The Vastalimi Gambit

A large bomb obscures a lot of evidence.

He understood the phenomenon, of how almost dying made you appreciate what life had to offer. And it was a potent drug, that feeling. Battle was not glorious. But surviving it? That was.

“The rules are different for rich men,” he said. “Always have been.”

You’re not an ape, use a tool!

Death came for all, and it was never a matter of “if,” only “when.”

“We aren’t looking for trouble.”

“Doesn’t mean you won’t find it.”

When he saw me look her over, he hinted that she might be willing to, ah, stay behind and work out details of the contract with me personally, no matter how long it might take.”

Jo nodded. No surprise there. Sex had sold stuff ever since stuff had been around.

Well. You were allowed to be young and stupid, when you were young and stupid, and if it didn’t do you in, you might get older and wiser.

Desire, she realized, was a thick fog that could completely obscure reality.

The good old days always seemed better in distant memory than they had actually been at the time.

But was it not you who used to tell me that the more you knew, the better? That knowledge was the sharpest fang?

“So here we have the basic ingredients in the art of distraction,” Gunny said to Singh, as they walked toward the rendezvous point. “When in doubt, wait until dark, turn off the lights, and blow shit up.”

Droc was not particularly religious himself. If the gods responded to entreaties, they had never demonstrated it to him. Better his time was spent doing something that might work.