“Absolutely, Sergeant,” said the robot. It gave a very passable imitation of a wink. “And, by the way, it’s a pleasure finally to see you without all that silly purple. Awkward for me to pretend I didn’t see you.”
“Say what?” said Harry. “You mean you could see me all along, even with the camo? I be damn-“
“That is exactly right, Sergeant,” said the robot.
“Why did you pretend you couldn’t see us, then?” said Jennie, her eyes beginning to smolder.
“Very simple, Miss Higgins,” said the robot. “That purple antirobot camouflage is distributed by Phule-Proof Industries. For me to reveal that it was ineffective would be to damage my owner’s interests, which of course I am programmed to protect. So until he reprogrammed me, I had to pretend that it did, in fact, work as advertised.”
Chocolate Harry let out a long, low whistle. “Man, that’s way too fast for my speed. I got to tell you, Cap’n, I’m glad this sucker is on our side.”
“So am I, Harry,” said Phule, chuckling. “So am I”
Journal #612
General Blitzkrieg was not at all happy when he received the news from Zenobia. To begin with, he was forced to pay off his thousand-dollar bet with Colonel Battleax when the arbiters-General Havoc, Ambassador Gottesman, and the third judge chosen by them, Chief Plenipotentary Korg of Zenobia-declared that Omega Company had successfully achieved the mission’s stated objectives. And that was only the beginning.
Next, the Alliance Senate had called him in to testify on the treaty that my employer had concluded between the Zenobians and the Nanoids, who had turned out to have great potential as trading partners for the Alliance, once communications channels had been opened up. Having gone on record as opposing Omega Company’s being given the Zenobia assignment, he was caught completely off guard by this development. It was particularly aggravating that he was forced to depend almost entirely on Captain Jester’s reports to prepare himself for the Senate hearings.