“You really need to learn when to keep your mouth shut,” Rogers said.

“My mouth doesn’t move when I talk.”

Rogers sighed. “Couldn’t you have just backed me up, there?”

“What data would you like me to back up?”

“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Rogers said. He wrapped his salute-repellent sling around his arm, stepped into the hallway, and closed the door behind him. It was just about time to heat up Klein’s cheese-and-beet sandwich. Klein had some peculiar tastes, but at least he’d honored his end of the deal and allowed Rogers to sample the goods, which is why Rogers didn’t mind continuing to make Klein’s food. Kitchen operations were being restored slowly, so it was nice to eat some real food in the meantime.

“I’m saying, couldn’t you have told the Viking that I was really going and performing maintenance on the outside of the ship?”

“Droids have a very difficult time lying,” Deet said. “We have to draw on known data to make conclusions. It’s called artificial intelligence for a reason.”

“Well, you should practice,” Rogers said. “Because I do it a lot, and I can’t have you telling everyone I’m lying every time I need to bend the truth a little to get something done.”

“Have you ever considered employing the truth more often instead?”

“Absolutely not,” Rogers said. “I’m trying to get with Captain Alsinbury, and being my true self isn’t going to get me anywhere at all.”

“Get with?”

“You know,” Rogers said. “Ah, you know. Get with. Roll in the hay. Do the horizontal boogie. Almost, very nearly reproduce but don’t really.”

“I am unable to process nearly everything you just said to me,” Deet said.

“Forget it.”

They came to the admiral’s door, but before Rogers could slide his keycard into the slot and get ready to wake what would undoubtedly be a very grumpy, and specifically hungry, admiral, Deet made what sounded like a very important droid noise.

“Do you want to talk to me about something?”

Deet’s eyes flashed excitedly, and he beeped. “Yes! Do you speak droid?”

Rogers pointed to the blue-and-gray projection of a large stop sign that was coming out of the holographic generator in Deet’s chestplate, which was probably what had given him the clue.

“. . . Yes.”

Deet didn’t say anything for a moment. “Joke?”

“Yes. What do you want?”

“I thought I should tell you,” Deet said, his digitized voice sounding, perhaps, a little annoyed, “that my sensors have picked up several strange devices in the admiral’s room. They are transmitting data, but they aren’t transmitting any of it to the main network of the ship.”

Rogers raised an eyebrow. “Strange devices? You mean bugs?”

“Please do not persist in your deception regarding the cleaning of space bugs from the exterior of the ship.”

Rogers whapped him on the nose. “No, you idiot. ‘Bugs’ is another word for hidden listening devices used to spy on people. Is that what you’re talking about?”