I replied, “Seems extreme, doesn’t it? There’s probably more to it, but we haven’t found that out yet.”
Sally said, “However they did it, the damage is done.”
I said, “That’s true, but I’d just as soon they weren’t able to do the same thing to us.”
“Do you think we’re that big a threat to them?”
“No, I don’t. They don’t seem to share that opinion.”
Ruth spoke up. “Can’t they see we can out-fly and out-fight them?”
Sally replied, “They are biological. Logic may not be their foremost concern. No offense, Boss.”
“None taken. Intuitive leaps have their place, just like logic. I doubt we would do as well as we do without both.”
Ruth said, “It would be helpful to know what their main concern is, wouldn’t it?”
I replied, “It certainly would. Do you have some slick algorithm that will figure it out for us?”
“Nope. Sorry, Boss.”
“Sally, while I’m gone, would you have one of the bots talk to Haffi and Lakki, see if they can come up with some idea of how to come to terms with the Squirrels?”
“We can certainly try, Boss. I don’t think I could guarantee any results.”
“Didn’t expect you to. Just see what you can come up with. You can’t do any worse than I have so far.”
Just then, Nikki came over the intercom. “Everyone going to the planet, please report to the landing bay. Everyone going to the planet, please report to the landing bay. Captain Wilson, this means you. Get your hiney down here.”
Ruth and Topper handed off their stations, and we headed to the transit. Once we were moving, Topper said, “It’s a shame Mr. Sloan won’t be on the planet with us. I miss seeing him enjoy Sunshine and Dot.”
I replied, “None of Pierre’s work is getting appreciated these days. We need to figure out a way to get some of your art in front of people.”
He said, “Well, there are always Scotti’s tats, but it’s not quite the same as someone looking at a car or a bike.”
“We’ll think of something. How would you feel about doing a couple of landscapes to go on the walls of the new place?”
“Psyched? You want to look at my stuff every day?”
“Yours are better than a lot of things I’ve seen.”
The doors opened, and we saw Nikki directing the loading of three ships. She said, “Hi Caveman. You got my message?”
“You put it out on the overhead. Bots Scotti had down for maintenance got your message.”
“Speaking of bots, have you seen Jeeves?”
“He won’t be coming with us this trip. Something came up.”
“You figured out what had him acting so strangely?”
“We did, yeah. You were right, you just didn’t look far enough.”
“I tried all the Commonwealth codes we had. Did you find some more?”
“Nope. The lock wasn’t Commonwealth. Lakki got it open.”
“Wait, slow down. You’re saying he had a Squirrel lock on his programming?”
“He did. They captured him once upon a time, and sent him back to be an intelligence asset. Luckily, he was able to break enough of their programming to keep from reporting back, but he was still being compelled to gather intel.”
Ruth said, “That poor bot. No wonder he always acts like half his circuits aren’t functional.”
Topper asked, “Do you think we will be able to get him back the way he should be?”
“Lakki is working on it. She knows more about Squirrel programming than anyone else we have. If she can’t get it, we’ll have to turn Taz and Nikki loose to brute force it.”
Nikki asked, “What do you think Taz and I can do that Lakki can’t?”
“I don’t have any idea, but you would bring a different perspective to the problem, and you would be more willing to take a risk than Lakki.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Lakki is still new here. She is worried about messing up, and is afraid to take risks. You know we will fix whatever happens, and don’t worry as much.”
“I understand that much. I just don’t see what you think we could do in the way of brute force.”
“Back up as much of his memories as you can, and scrub him down to bare metal.”
Topper said, “That’s drastic, Boss, but it might be the only way.”
“Do you think they could save his personality?”
“Most of it, at any rate.”
“You sound like you’ve seen it done before.”
“Once. One of the bots in my batch at the factory was being programmed when there was a power glitch. It messed him up, and they had to scrub him down and start over.”
“Did he come out okay?”
“He did. He used to act like he was malfunctioning when there weren’t any humans around. It was funny, but the bosses back then wouldn’t have understood.”
“Sounds like a fun guy, a real mushroom. You think Dingus could buy him?”
“I don’t know, Boss. I haven’t heard from him in a long time. I think he might still be at the yard.”
“One of these days, we’re going to have to go there, just to wake up the bots, if nothing else.”
Nikki said, “I know you don’t want to, but leaving them out there in the dark, all alone, isn’t a good answer either.”
“I know, Space Cadet. I don’t suppose you’d fly that mission, so I don’t have to see all those ships we’re leaving behind?”
“You know that they are there, whether you see them or not. You know there are Engineers like Scotti working to keep them ready to fly. Just because you actually see them won’t change a thing.”
“What are you gonna do next, offer me an apple?”
“Wassamatta, Caveman, can’t take a little ribbing?”
Topper said, “Yowza, Boss. She got you good.”
“That
