Free Good King Sauerkraut by Barbara Paul Page B

yourself with enough of the details that we can get down to specifics. Agreed?”
    They all agreed.
    Osterman paused. “There’s one more matter before we break up for today. King, put your pencil down. I want your full attention for this.”
    King obediently put his pencil down.
    â€œI want it understood once and for all,” Osterman said, “that King Sarcowicz is project leader here. You other three—every one of you has approached me about replacing him. The answer is still no.”
    King shot an anguished look at Dennis, who wouldn’t meet his eye.
    Osterman noticed. “That’s right, King—your partner too. They’re all worried about your organizational abilities. But you’re the talent that’s going to solve the robot problems if they can be solved, so you’re the one who’s going to run this show, not some superefficient pencil-pusher. If you get behind in the paperwork, hire someone to take care of it.”
    Gregory coughed discreetly. “It’s not just that, Warren. When Mimi and I design the circuitry for computer control of the platform, we’ll need to have thought out our software program completely so that the two are compatible. How you design the hardware of anything is determined by the instructions you use to operate that hardware. The program design must precede everything else.” He coughed again. “And that’s why this project should be under Mimi’s direction instead of King’s.”
    King grinned at Mimi, self-confident in victory. “You won the toss, huh?” She stared at him. He remembered, too late, how utterly humorless a woman she was.
    Osterman smiled pleasantly at the two from SmartSoft. “Programming über alles , is that it? I know you sold that bill of goods to the Navy once, but it won’t work here. You come up with the software to fit King’s designs, King’s and Dennis’s—not the other way around. That’s so obvious I’m surprised we’re even talking about it.”
    â€œIt’s not a bill of goods, Warren,” Gregory replied smoothly, showing no sign of taking offense. “It’s a fact of life. If—”
    â€œNo, Gregory. King is in charge . End of discussion.” There was a moment of uncomfortable silence. Osterman didn’t have to threaten to replace Gregory and Mimi if they gave him any flak; they all knew he’d do it in a flash if he felt that would help the project. So King had won the battle without having to fire a shot. He noticed the woman next to him watching the interchange closely, her face expressionless. Whoever Rae Borchard was, she wasn’t giving much away about herself.
    Warren Osterman murmured a few professional words of reconciliation and the meeting was over. King felt like a schoolboy again as he started gathering up notepads, folders, and the heavy binders full of papers. He’d forgotten to bring a briefcase, but he hid a smile when he saw the other three weren’t able to fit all these new documents into the cases they did remember to bring. Loaded down, all four of them stood helplessly before the conference room door. Rae opened it and let them out.
    â€œPit stop,” Gregory said.
    Mimi nodded. The two of them went off in search of rest rooms, leaving King and Dennis alone. King looked at the other man and said, “ Et tu , partner?”
    Angrily Dennis charged away toward the elevators, King close behind. The elevator buttons were the heat-activated kind, so King leaned over his armful of papers and breathed on the down button. “So what was all that crap you were giving me right before we left, about how you’d take care of the day-to-day stuff running the project and—”
    â€œThat’s what I’m going to end up doing anyway, isn’t it?” Dennis snapped. “You really think I enjoy doing all your grunge work while you go airily on your way,