“You’re saying that learning to use the abilities of the bots is a requirement, and if he can’t manage that, we’ll find someone else?”
“Yes. Do you have a problem with that as a requirement?”
“No Boss, I do not. I was going to suggest it, if you didn’t mention it yourself.”
“Have you had enough interaction with him to predict how he will do?”
“From what little I’ve seen, I’d say he is going to have a lot of trouble delegating to the bots. I think it will take him a lot of work to get past the scores of the old captains.”
“If he gets stuck too bad, get Diego to have a talk with him. He can probably get through to him.”
“I’d rather just train him instead, but I don’t think he’s interested.”
“He’s pretty busy right now, figuring out how to be married.”
“He doesn’t have the burning desire to be in charge. That’s why I think he would be able to score well on the simulations.”
“Are you trying to say that the way to get a good captain is to shanghai someone who doesn’t want the job?”
“Worked with you, Boss.”
“By that line of reasoning, you should be putting all your effort into getting John down to the sim deck.”
“If I could figure out a way, he would already be there.”
“Ask Jane. If she can’t help, it’s a lost cause.”
“I’ll do that.”
“One more little issue. Since you’re the training officer, how do we go about getting you certified to fly your own ship?”
“Boss, you’re joking, right?”
“Nope. If I had any doubts, waking up the other day to the situation well in hand, after I got stunned, cleared them right up.”
“But, I’m a bot. Navy regs don’t allow bots to command ships.”
“You work for me, don’t you?”
“Yes, Boss.”
“I’ve never sworn an oath to the Commonwealth, so we must not be in the Commonwealth Navy.”
“That’s correct, Boss.”
“We’ve already established that I have the authority to change the regs as I see fit, haven’t we?”
“Yes, Boss.”
“So, how is it your moldy old Navy regs are going to keep you from captaining a ship, if I say you should?”
“I see your point, Boss. Bob’s Saucer Repair doesn’t have to fly by Navy regs, so if we decide a bot is qualified to command, there isn’t anyone to tell us different.”
“That wasn’t so hard, now was it?”
“No, Boss.”
“Now we get to the tricky part. If you’re the only one qualified to decide if someone is qualified, how do we get you certified?”
“Well, Boss, you’re in luck. The last captain I worked for, before the Navy was mothballed, thought that they were going to go to ships with all bot crews, instead of mothballing the Navy. He wanted me to have a head start, so he put me through captain’s training.”
“You mean you’ve been certified all this time, and just keeping quiet till I passed?”
“Captain Rannum gave me his personal certification, but it was never made official. Matter of fact, they court-martialed him when they found out he had given me the training. The ship was mothballed before we got a new captain.”
“How do I go about making Captain Rannum’s certification official?”
“Since you are the governing authority for Bob’s Saucer Repair, all you have to do is recognize Captain Rannum as a qualified examiner.”
“I do so recognize him. Hey, wait a minute, does that give you seniority over me, since you’ve been certified so much longer?”
“No, Boss. You are the first authority to say Captain Rannum had the authority to certify me, so today is my date of certification.”
“Congratulations, then.”
“Thank you, Boss.”
“Anything else we need to get straight before I leave?”
“I know you will be taking all the humans Mrs. Cachi can pry loose, do you know which bots you’re taking yet?”
“As far as I know, that hasn’t been settled yet. Did Nikki get with you about Jeeves?”
“She did. He’s had all the unlock codes we know of. I’m not sure what his problem is.”
“I’ll have plenty of time to ask him about it, while we’re on the planet.”
“That might help, but if he is still locked somehow, he won’t be able to say anything about it.”
“I’ll see if there is anything I can do for him. Are we squared away, otherwise?”
“Topper had mentioned you might want him and his brothers to accompany you to the planet, since Mike and Tina know them.”
“I probably should, but I hate to deprive you of Topper’s services.”
“There are other bots who can take care of his station. If it will sell the idea that we aren’t in contact with the Squirrels, please take them with you.”
“You do realize if I do that, I’ll need to take Ruth as well?”
“She’s been training some of the other pilots on her techniques, I think we can manage. Gene can do ‘Death Blossom’ all by himself, anyhow.”
“As long as I won’t be running you short of qualified bridge personnel.”
“Nope. We have plenty of people who can do the job.”
“That seems like about it, then.”
“There is one more thing I’d like to ask about, Boss.”
“Yes?”
“Can you give me any guidance on when to assist Morning Flower’s people?”
“They’ve proven they can handle single ships. Unless the Squirrels show up in something bigger and meaner than what we’ve seen so far, I think they can handle one ship at a time without any problem. They haven’t had to face two at once, yet, but I think they could, as easily as they’ve taken care of what they’ve faced so far. More than two, I think you need to be
