“Anything you might need my help with?”
“No, Boss. I’ve got it moving in the right direction. Not as quickly as I might like, but it’s moving.”
“I figured you had it under control, but Mrs. Wilson thought we should be sure.”
“My track record from when I was bound to the Squirrels isn’t that good, I’m not surprised she felt the need to check in.”
“Glad you understand. Sorry to bother you.”
“No bother, Boss. Talk to you later.”
“Bye, Jeeves.” I put my comm away, and turned to Janet. “You need to go by your quarters, young lady. The bots trying to figure out how to move you can’t tell what is yours, and what is Milly’s.”
“I’m pretty sure there’s some of Rhonda’s stuff in there, too.”
Nikki said, “I don’t think that makes it better.”
Janet replied, “Oh, but it does. She brought lots of music from Earth.”
Nikki growled, and Janet was on her way. I said, “How are you going to explain this to Jimmis?”
“You aren’t going to help?”
“Your Mother doesn’t want me to have any contact with him, remember?”
“Some days I just want to send Pete and Abe to fetch him, you know?”
“I can see how you would, but that would cause more problems than it solved. Your Mom never said he couldn’t talk to Janet, did she?”
“My Mother doesn’t know Janet exists, Bob.”
“Well, then, let them get to know one another. By the time your Mom figures it out, it will be too late for her to do anything about it.”
“How would I tell him?”
“Jimmis seems to be pretty squared away. Just tell him, straight up, don’t try to be cute about it. I don’t know about Commonwealth kids, but Earth kids can tell right away when you’re working up to tell them something. It just makes it worse.”
“How would you tell him, then, smartass?”
“Hey, Jimmis. How are you doing? Listen, I’ve got something I need to tell you about. I hope it doesn’t upset you, but if it does, we’ll work it out, just like always, okay? Bob and I adopted a girl about your age. She was stuck out here in the wild stars with no one to look out for her, and we stepped up. It doesn’t mean either one of us thinks less of you, but I can see how it might bother you. Her name is Janet, she’s here if you would like to talk to her. Something along those lines, I think. Would that work with Jimmis?”
“I think it might, but first I would have to tell Janet about Jimmis, wouldn’t I?”
“I suppose you would. Is that a problem?”
“To explain Jimmis, I pretty much have to have the talk with her, don’t I?”
“Aren’t you already going to have to do that to explain Gus and Becky?”
“I guess I am, now that you mention it.”
“Think about where she is from. I’d say the chances are good she knows more than you give her credit for.”
“That’s true.”
“Any way you decide to go about it, you might want to get on the stick, before the Squirrels decide we aren’t having enough fun, and bring us another party.”
“You’re just a barrel of fun today, Caveman.”
Right on cue, Ambassador Natti came off the transit, waving a comm at me. “Commodore, my people would like to speak to you, please.”
I took the comm unit, and said, “Commodore Wilson. What can I do for you today?”
“You can return our fleet, you dastardly monkey.”
“Only too happy to, as soon as I find people to fly the ships who aren’t going to attack, as soon as I turn them loose.”
“You don’t trust our fleet officers?”
“They’ve already attacked once during these negotiations. Why should I believe they wouldn’t do it again?”
“Because I say they won’t!”
“That’s nice. I don’t believe we’ve met.”
“I am the Emperor of Oak, you impudent monkey!”
“I’m sure your Mother is very proud. Correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t you give the fleet orders before you sent them out here?”
“I did. What does that have to do with anything?”
“Were those orders to attack the first time they got an excuse?”
“No, they were not.”
“Then, I think you have trouble with getting your people to comply with your orders. Why am I to believe that they will suddenly decide to do as you say, after already countermanding your orders once?”
“The stories I have heard are true. You are frustratingly logical. What do you propose?”
“I have taken the liberty of training one of your officers in lie detection. I have hopes that he will be able to root out the members of the fleet who are trying to foment a war.”
“You do not want war with us?”
“I don’t want war with anyone, Your Highness. War wastes time and resources we could use for better things.”
“But you have reactivated the Commonwealth Navy!”
“Only because I didn’t want these good ships and bots to go to waste.”
“You have studied tactics and strategy until you can outfight any of our Captains.”
“All the better to send them home alive. It is harder to defeat them without harming them, than to simply blow them out of my sky.”
“Why would you expect me to believe all this?”
“To tell you the truth, Your Highness, I don’t. So far, I have met very few of your people who believed what I told them. I have no reason to believe you will be different.”
“Yet you are willing to make agreements with the Ambassador.”
“He is one of the few of your people I have found it possible to make deals with. I have confidence that he negotiates in good faith. I do not, however, have confidence that you will hold your people to
