Let's Make a Deal (Bob and Nikki Book 11), стр. 59
“Yes, Ma’am.” As we headed out, I said, “I don’t know about you two, but I’m getting hungry.”
Janet said, “I went to the galley and got us something to eat, as soon as it looked like everything was going okay.”
“Well, then. I’m going to go eat. You two can suit yourselves.”
Nikki said, “I could stand to sit and sip a Coke.”
Janet said, “I better get back to work. Just because I’m the Captain’s daughter now, won’t keep Scotti from tearing me a new one.” Janet caught the first transit. I started to walk away, but Nikki said, “Not today, you don’t. We’re riding the transit, and staying out of trouble.” When the next car came, we got aboard, and went to the galley. Stella met us, and said, “Hi, Commodore. Enjoy your trip to visit the neighbors?”
“I did. How are you today?”
“Worried.”
“What about?”
“About this glitch in our programming that could let someone turn us against you, Boss. Scotti says she’s not having any luck finding the bad code, even with the signal telling her what to look for.”
“We’ll figure something out, Stella. Just give us a little time.” We told her what we wanted, and she went off to get it. Nikki said, “That doesn’t sound right to me, Caveman. A programming problem that stumps Scotti? I didn’t think such a thing could exist.”
“It doesn’t sound right to me either. I have to wonder if there is more to it.”
“How do you mean, Caveman?”
“I’m not sure. It’s almost like she doesn’t want to fix it, and that doesn’t make sense to me.”
“No, it doesn’t. Wait, what if she can’t fix it?”
“A tech problem that Scotti can’t fix? Are you high?”
“No, Caveman. Think about it. If nearly all the bots have this flaw in their programming, Scotti would have found it long ago, if she was allowed to do it.”
I looked at her for a moment, soaking in what she was saying. “You mean, the Squirrels put a limit on Scotti, and the other maintenance bots, to keep them from being able to fix this particular glitch?”
“I don’t know, but it makes more sense to me than Scotti suddenly found a problem that has her stumped, after all the amazing things she’s done.”
“It does, doesn’t it? How do you suggest we proceed, then?”
“Hmm, you would ask that, wouldn’t you? I’ll need Lakki, since she knows how the Squirrels program, and Taz, if he isn’t busy. I think the three of us can figure out what’s going on. I’ll get on it as soon as I finish my Coke.”
“Thanks, that one had me worried, just like Stella.” Stella came back out, with my lunch, and Nikki’s drink. She asked, “How are you just like me, Boss?”
“I was worried about Scotti not being able to figure out that glitch in your programming. Mrs. Wilson has it figured out, she thinks.”
“How soon can we get it out?”
“She has the idea figured out. It’s going to take some work to reduce it to practice. Please be patient with her, you know how slow us organics can be.”
“Can I tell Scotti she’s getting some help? She’s awfully worried about not being able to fix it.”
“Please don’t. We don’t know for sure if Mrs. Wilson has the right idea, or not.”
“You think Scotti has a block that’s keeping her from seeing the problem, don’t you?”
“We don’t know, yet. No need getting Scotti upset, until we know for sure.”
“I understand, Boss. Thanks for taking care of us.”
“That’s my job, Stella.”
“Strange, that’s not how all the other humans I’ve worked with saw it.”
“I’m your leader, right? That means I take care of you, and you take care of me. We work together, and things get done. How else would we go about it?”
“You’re the human, and we’re the bots. If anything goes wrong, it must be our fault. If we break down, it’s our fault.”
“That’s just silly. We never would get anything done like that.”
“It’s the Navy way, Boss.”
“Have you noticed, we ain’t in the Navy?”
“That becomes more clear with every passing day, Boss.” Nikki finished her Coke, and said, “I better get on this, Caveman. Okay if I use your ready room?”
“Sure. Holler if you need anything.”
“I will. Love you.”
“Love you, too. All three of you.” She headed out, and I dug into what was left of my lunch. When I finished, I couldn’t think of anything pressing I needed to take care of, so I decided to walk around the ship, and see how things were going. Tempting Murphy, I know, but it seemed like the thing to do, at the time. Amazingly, all I found were bots getting things done, and seemingly happy to be doing it. Maybe the ship was beginning to settle out. My comm rang. “Commodore Wilson.”
Topper said, “Boss, Shorty has a report on what that stealthed Squirrel ship is doing.”
“Yes?”
“Dropping off sensor platforms.”
“Do they have the nasty destruct charges like the ones we’ve dealt with before?”
“They do. What do you want to do about them?”
“Do they have the ability to maneuver?”
“No, Boss.”
“Record their positions, and make sure Tex has a fire mission planned to take them out. Other than that, don’t do anything that would let the Squirrels know we saw them put the platforms out.”
“Yes, Boss. Talk to you later.”
“Later, Topper.”
I nearly got the comm put away, when it rang again. “Commodore Wilson.”
“Caveman, we found the backdoor, and pushed the patch to all the bots in the fleet. It was simple, with the transmission to point the way. There’s no way Scotti had trouble finding it. We asked Tikki about it, and she said she found it too. Scotti said she was wrong, and wouldn’t let her push