"You know, at this point I actually hope they're both alone. They'd both be better off if they're just chained to concrete pillars in an underground parking garage, rather than getting paired with anybody else from the house," Avram said. "Separate pillars, a long way from each other. I like both of them but they've got image problems right now, they need some PR guys. And a couple of lawyers. Maybe that's what somebody should request as a reward, 'I want a fucking lawyer.' It works on cop shows."
They were closer to the ladder now, and neither of them had lost a hand or a foot yet. Awesome. "I thought they were gonna go in a different direction with the survey, like if you mentioned a name they'd go make a special point out of hurting that person. Like, 'Oh, everybody likes Jack? Now Jack is in twenty-two pieces so everyone can have their very own!' But I wasn't expecting this junior-high move."
The floater had come to rest against the ladder. "Okay, so...huh," Avram said, looking up at the edge of the pool and trying to figure this out. Well, there wasn't much to figure, but he was still hoping there was a clever solution. The water level was lower than it would be in a clean, safe, usable pool, but it was still high enough for a person to climb out. One person. "So if this were just you by yourself, you'd move to the edge of the floater, reach the ladder, and the floater would move back slightly on the water in reaction. Which would be fine because you'd transfer your weight to the ladder and start climbing. Instead, when we move, our increased weight moving past the centre of mass will flip the thing over. Now's the time when I ask you, just hypothetically, if you're a good swimmer."