Let's Make a Deal (Bob and Nikki Book 11), стр. 67

I looked at Natti. “Good negotiating technique, but you’re busted now. No wonder I’ve been dreading these sessions.”

Natti looked at me, confused. “I don’t quite understand what you’re talking about, Bob.”

“The ultrasonic noisemaker in your briefcase. It wears on our patience after a few hours. Does it really make it easier to get me to agree to things, though? When we had to deal with louder versions of that, it just made me mean.”

Natti looked even more confused. “Noisemaker? What are you talking about? Ultrasonics work on us, just as bad as you, if not worse. Why would I plant such a thing in my briefcase? Did you bump your head, Bob?”

Nikki said, “Hon, I honestly think he didn’t know about it.”

I replied, “That’s what I read on his face, surprising as it is.” I turned back to Natti. “Take your papers out, and we’ll get rid of that thing for you.”

One of the Marines came up, pushing a cart for him to empty his case onto. Once he had emptied it, Andre took it, and carefully examined it. When he was certain he had the right spot, he flipped open a knife, and cut it out. He scanned the device, and then crushed it between his fingers. Suddenly, I felt better. Andre handed the case to Natti, and said, “Here you go, Ambassador. It should be a lot more pleasant to be around, now.” Snitz had laid down. I squatted, and gave him a scratch. I said, “Thanks, boy. You saved the day, again.” He panted, and got up and trotted off. I shook my head, and said, “I’m thinking he needs to be the Commodore, not me.”

Nikki said, “At least your orders are easier to understand.”

I turned to Natti. “I’m guessing that was put there without your knowledge, Ambassador?”

Natti looked up from organizing his briefcase. “It most certainly was, Commodore. I had no idea it was there.”

“You’re saying someone on your side is still trying to sabotage the negotiations?”

“So it would seem.”

“Excuse me a moment, please.” I turned away and asked, “Gene, do you have recordings of our earlier meetings?”

“Yes, Boss. I thought you wanted me to record them.”

“I did. Do they have enough audio quality to tell if the Ambassador’s briefcase was putting out ultrasound the whole time?”

“They do, and it was. Sorry, Boss, I didn’t think to check that earlier.”

“Neither did I, Gene. Don’t worry about it.”

I turned back to Natti. “Ambassador, it seems that nasty little bugger has been trying to mess us up from the start. It’s a wonder we got anything done.”

“I would say so. I feel so much better since your man crushed it.”

“Perhaps now we can make some progress.”

“Why don’t we go find out.” We headed for the transit. Natti asked, “The Emperor wanted me to ask you where the ship that left was headed.”

“I’m sure he did. Well, you’ve asked, does that fulfill your obligation?”

“You’re saying you have no intention of telling me anything about it?”

Andre spoke up. “Sir, he has no intention of telling crew members who don’t have a need to know, and I don’t think he’s told any of the other Captains in the fleet. You would be quite a ways down the list.”

I asked, “Why do we rate an escort today, Andre?”

“That little noisemaker proved that these talks aren’t as safe as we would all like to think they are, Boss. Sally has informed me that she will have Scotti recycle me into a vacuum cleaner, if I let you come to harm.”

“Understood, Andre. I wouldn’t want to be on Sally’s bad side, either.”

Natti asked, “Who is this Sally?”

“One of my Captains. She has picket duty right now.”

“Why is she in charge of discipline for the bots?”

“She’s the highest ranking bot in the fleet, Ambassador.”

“I thought you said she was one of your Captains?”

“She is. We also have some bots Captaining destroyers, but she’s the only bot in charge of a carrier.”

“I see. That’s not something we would do, at all.”

“Your people forced my hand. I hadn’t intended to reactivate the fleet until I had more humans for crew. As it is, I have to say I’m very pleased with the crews I have. I should have known the bots would do fine. They always do.”

Andre said, “Thanks, Boss.”

“Thank you, Andre.”

We got to the ready room, and Andre posted outside the door. The rest of us went in and got to work. Without the noisemaker, we got a lot more done. By the time Stella came in with the lunch cart, we had gotten more done than we had managed on any other day so far. Natti said, “I don’t have the words to tell you how sorry I am for bringing that thing to these meetings. Thank you for figuring it out.”

I replied, “I wish I could take credit for that. Snitz did that all on his own, and I still haven’t figured out how.”

Nikki said, “He has been doing things he really shouldn’t be able to lately, hasn’t he?”

“I think being in the autodoc did him some good, but he really surprised me this time. I don’t have a clue how he figured that one out.”

Snappi asked, “What do you mean, Commodore?”

“Snitz decided I needed company today, all of his own accord. Then you guys came aboard, and he found the noisemaker. That seemed to satisfy him, and he wandered off to do his regular dog things. Seemed like he knew what he had to do, and once he had it taken care of, he went back to his normal routine. That’s more mental ability than he should be able to muster. There must be something I’m missing, because