Robert Asprin – Tambu

She paused for breath.

“Go on,” Tambu encouraged, amused despite himself at the accuracy of her statements.

“Well, I’ve been sitting here trying to figure out why you’re doing this, and I can come up with only one answer: Your mind’s already made up on the subject of the Defense Alliance. What’s more, you don’t think that your decision is going to be particularly popular with the captains, so instead of just coming out and speaking your mind, you’ve set up this cat-and-mouse game. It’s my guess you’re hoping you can talk us around to where we come up with your idea and think we did it ourselves.”

She paused, licked her lips, and continued, her shoulders drooping slightly.

“I don’t know. I may be entirely wrong about this, but it’s the only thing that fits what’s going on. If I’m wrong, I apologize.”

Her head came up and her eyes bored out of the viewscreen at him.

“But if I’m right, I think I can speak for all of us when I say could you knock off the bullshit and tell us what you’re thinking? You can save everyone a lot of time and emotional stress by just being honest with us. We might not like it, but it beats being treated like children.”

She dropped back into her seat, and Tambu winced as the room stared at the viewscreen, waiting for his answer.

“Thank you, A.C.,” he said slowly. “And I really mean that. All I can say is that you’re absolutely right.”

The captains shifted uneasily and muttered to each other as he continued.

“There are two points of clarification before I share my thoughts with you. First, though I was manipulating the discussion, I was not being close-minded. If a point had been raised from the floor that had escaped my earlier studies on the situation, I would have given it my full consideration. Second, knowing my decision would be unpopular and therefore require considerable explanation, I was trying to bundle that explanation in a choreographed discussion rather than simply lecturing and dictating. Now, I can only apologize to the captains. Whatever my intentions, my methods in dealing with you were less than honest, and therefore in clear violation of my own principles and the spirit of these meetings. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”