Read Online Black Swan by Chris Knopf - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Chris Knopf
next year."
    "What's a Q?" asked Gwyneth.
    "Quarter," I told her. "We're now in the 4 Q of this yearâOctober, November, December."
    "N-Spock is the dominant application for massive analytical processing, serving notably scientific research, securities trading and industrial R&D," read Amanda off her screen. "Though in recent years a number of competitors have eroded this position with applications that take better advantage of Next Gen processors and cloud computing. Whatever the hell that means."
    "The march of progress is catching up to them," I said. "Happens to everybody."
    "It's more drag race than march," said Amanda.
    "I wouldn't feel too bad for them. Dominant share is still dominant share, and it'll be years before people are willing to chuck their proven N-Spock platforms for the flavor of the month."
    "Throwing in the towel on the Swan will not be a financial decision," said Amanda. "The Feys are crazy rich."
    "They're in the right place," I said.
    Gwyneth scoffed.
    "New money means nothing here, folks. No matter how much you have."
    "According to the corporate press release, Fey simply announced his retirement, apparently in keeping with a succession plan, and that was that," said Amanda. "There's not much else on Subversive that makes any sense to me. If you want to savor the technical enhancements to N-Spock 5.0, I'll go do a little shopping."
    "We have some nice things on sale," said Gwyneth.
60 BLACK SWAN
    I was actually tempted, but since the N-Spock of my day was version 2.5, I didn't think I'd understand the technical specs any better than Amanda. So we left after she bought a book on divination strategies from the I Ching that Gwyneth insisted was the only reliable way to keep track of the impending storm.
    "A lot more dependable than the official weather report," she said.
    We took another circuitous route back to the Swan, stopping along the way at the general store to take Burton's advice and stock up on essentials, like breakfast food, batteries, water, paper towels, ice and Absolut. There was no sign of Anderson Track, the surly gas station manager, and made it all the way back with no further incident.
    In the small parking area to the right of the Swan a silver Lexus was parked next to Derrick's Town Car. It had a Massachusetts vanity plate that read SUBVERTECH.
    "What is this, the company party?" said Amanda.
    We walked around the hotel and out onto the docks. I unclipped Eddie and he made a dash for the boat, considered for a moment leaping up on the deck, then thought better of it. He looked back at us and barked.
    "Keep your fur on."
    We spent the next several hours securing the boat. I stripped off the sails and stowed anything that could blow off in the wind. Being a brand new boat, there was a minimum of gear hanging off the railings that tends to accumulate over time. Still, I went around with a screwdriver and pair of pliers and a box full of cotter pins and rings, tightening anything remotely suspect.
    I used bungee cords to pull clanging halyard fittings away from the pristine white mast and cleated off the running rigging. I hoisted the dinghy's motor up and into a deep lazarette, then pulled the dinghy itself onto the dock where I deflated and folded it, then stowed it with the motor.
Chris Knopf 61
    It took a while to retie the lines, doubling up and estimating the necessary slack. I looked with envy across the inlet at the yacht club's floating docks, which would have made so much fiddling unnecessary, inured as they were against the rise and fall of the tides.
    Amanda stowed and re-secured all the provisions, put
    "What's a Q?" asked Gwyneth.
    "Quarter," I told her. "We're now in the 4 Q of this yearâOctober, November, December."
    "N-Spock is the dominant application for massive analytical processing, serving notably scientific research, securities trading and industrial R&D," read Amanda off her screen. "Though in recent years a number of competitors have eroded this position with applications that take better advantage of Next Gen processors and cloud computing. Whatever the hell that means."
    "The march of progress is catching up to them," I said. "Happens to everybody."
    "It's more drag race than march," said Amanda.
    "I wouldn't feel too bad for them. Dominant share is still dominant share, and it'll be years before people are willing to chuck their proven N-Spock platforms for the flavor of the month."
    "Throwing in the towel on the Swan will not be a financial decision," said Amanda. "The Feys are crazy rich."
    "They're in the right place," I said.
    Gwyneth scoffed.
    "New money means nothing here, folks. No matter how much you have."
    "According to the corporate press release, Fey simply announced his retirement, apparently in keeping with a succession plan, and that was that," said Amanda. "There's not much else on Subversive that makes any sense to me. If you want to savor the technical enhancements to N-Spock 5.0, I'll go do a little shopping."
    "We have some nice things on sale," said Gwyneth.
60 BLACK SWAN
    I was actually tempted, but since the N-Spock of my day was version 2.5, I didn't think I'd understand the technical specs any better than Amanda. So we left after she bought a book on divination strategies from the I Ching that Gwyneth insisted was the only reliable way to keep track of the impending storm.
    "A lot more dependable than the official weather report," she said.
    We took another circuitous route back to the Swan, stopping along the way at the general store to take Burton's advice and stock up on essentials, like breakfast food, batteries, water, paper towels, ice and Absolut. There was no sign of Anderson Track, the surly gas station manager, and made it all the way back with no further incident.
    In the small parking area to the right of the Swan a silver Lexus was parked next to Derrick's Town Car. It had a Massachusetts vanity plate that read SUBVERTECH.
    "What is this, the company party?" said Amanda.
    We walked around the hotel and out onto the docks. I unclipped Eddie and he made a dash for the boat, considered for a moment leaping up on the deck, then thought better of it. He looked back at us and barked.
    "Keep your fur on."
    We spent the next several hours securing the boat. I stripped off the sails and stowed anything that could blow off in the wind. Being a brand new boat, there was a minimum of gear hanging off the railings that tends to accumulate over time. Still, I went around with a screwdriver and pair of pliers and a box full of cotter pins and rings, tightening anything remotely suspect.
    I used bungee cords to pull clanging halyard fittings away from the pristine white mast and cleated off the running rigging. I hoisted the dinghy's motor up and into a deep lazarette, then pulled the dinghy itself onto the dock where I deflated and folded it, then stowed it with the motor.
Chris Knopf 61
    It took a while to retie the lines, doubling up and estimating the necessary slack. I looked with envy across the inlet at the yacht club's floating docks, which would have made so much fiddling unnecessary, inured as they were against the rise and fall of the tides.
    Amanda stowed and re-secured all the provisions, put
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