Let's Make a Deal (Bob and Nikki Book 11)
way to the galley, without interruption. I knew Nikki was probably right, and I wondered how Gene had managed to keep the trouble off our route. Nikki said, “It’s a miracle, Caveman! We made it.”Stella was waiting for us, and guided us to a table. She brought out our usual drinks, and asked, “What would you like?”
I didn’t have a craving for anything, so I said, “Just the special for me.” Nikki said, “Me, too. The kids have quit being so picky about what I eat.” Stella took off to put our orders in, and I asked, “Things are getting a little easier?”
“For right now. Give it another week or two, and you can paint Goodyear down my side. My uniforms are starting to get tight. With Jimmis, I went from not showing to big as a freighter in under a month.”
“You know you’ll still be the prettiest girl in the galaxy, no matter how big you get, right?”
“Are you sure you don’t need us to print you up some more of those contacts?”
“I’m serious. I look at you, and all I see is beautiful.”
She had been looking at me that time, and I could tell she didn’t see any evidence of deception. She said, “You really believe that, don’t you?”
“I do. I’m the luckiest guy in the whole galaxy.”
“Wanna find out if it’s luck, or skill?”
“I’m scared, now. What are you talking about?”
“Some of us figured that sooner or later, it was going to come to a fleet engagement. We built a little sim to see if you could fight a fleet or not.”
“Okay, I suppose, who all was in on this?”
“I’m, aah, not at liberty to say.”
“Your Grandpa, the prick, you say?”
“I never said that.” I could have figured out who else had a hand in this new sim, but Stella brought out our meal. After we had eaten, we headed for the sim deck. On the transit, Nikki said we had pushed our luck enough for one day. Bone was waiting for us. He said, “Howdy, Boss. I hear they’ve cooked up something special for you.”
“That’s what I hear, too. You think I have a chance at all?”
“You’ve beaten several sims that the old-timers thought couldn’t be. I wouldn’t want to bet against you.”
“I notice you didn’t say you had bet on me, either.”
“Too close to call, I would say.”
“Let’s get on with it, then.” He was about to hook me up, when Snitz came running and jumped in my lap. I scratched his ears and said, “I can use all the help I can get. Thanks for showing up.” Bone finished getting me ready, and the sim started. I handled the first wave of Squirrel ships just fine, but as soon as we had them where we wanted them, the second wave jumped in behind us. I hollered for Ruth to do Death Blossom, and she managed to save our bacon, but they had done a lot of damage to the fleet before we were able to get the situation under control. It took three more runs before I got an outcome I was happy with. I unhooked, and petted Snitz. He seemed a little disappointed we had finished so soon. I moved him off my lap, and got out of the pod. Nikki was standing there looking perturbed. She said, “Dangit, Caveman! We worked for more than a week on that scenario, and you went through it in half a day. How are we supposed to keep up with you?”
“It always takes longer to make something than to use it. I think I learned some good stuff. You and your team built a good scenario.”
“Oh, I’m glad you were able to figure it out, it’s just a little frustrating to see something you worked so hard on get trashed so easily.”
Bone spoke up. “I’m glad you fly for us, Boss. That was good work in there. The old-timers wouldn’t have been able to get close to that kind of performance.”
“They tell me my main advantage is that I let the bots take care of their jobs, without looking over their shoulders all the time.”
“I saw that. You sure do go about it differently. Seems to work for you. Keep up the good work, Boss.”
“Thanks, Bone. That means a lot, coming from somebody who has seen as much as you.” I looked at my watch. “Looks like we’ve got time to eat again, and then catch a nap before Sue’s earliest estimate of when the Squirrels could get here.”
Nikki replied, “That’s good. Gus is hungry again.”
“Becky doesn’t get hungry?”
“Why, no, Caveman. She’s a little lady. She doesn’t kick and fuss.” She was still convinced Murphy had some problem waiting for me, if we walked, so we took the transit. Stella fed us another fine meal, and I took Snitz by the grass room. We settled in for a nap, but Nikki was having trouble dropping off to sleep. I asked, “What’s wrong, Space Cadet?”
“I’m just worried about this battle you’re about to go into. Do you really think you can take them out as easily as you did in the sim? I’m worried we didn’t make it hard enough to really challenge you.”
“I’ve taken on this many ships before, with just the Gene, so I don’t think it will be too bad.”
“But these are going to be ships with better crews than what you’ve had to go against before.”
“All of them just went through a mutiny. That has to have a bad effect on crew morale, and their ability to work together. This crew was a little off their game for a few days, even though Bill and Jennie didn’t succeed. I can’t imagine that it would have been better if they had.”
“I suppose that’s right, and you sent Grandpa out to