"Pre-Alpha" would be generous.

"Pod 042 and the SSDD are prototypes," Rachit said. "So... pretty well tested for that stage."

Elise knew that wishy-washy tone of voice. Rachit and his engineers had probably just bought a keg, wobbled around for a few hours blindfolded, and declared it ready to demo. Great. Time to press back a little.

"I'll make it look just as graceful as you pay me to," Elise smiled.

"Hey!" Rachit frowned. "Extortion is very unladylike."

"It's not extortion," Elise said smoothly. "I'm just saying this easily falls under my contract's category of nonstandard product presentations. That's a minimum increase of 25%... subject to discretion, of course."

"Of course," Rachit said, swaying loosely from his rappel. "You've got it."

"Slow down, tiger." Elise's lips spread into a wolfish grin. "I said that was the minimum."

"Now, hold on..."

"Double my standard fee," Elise demanded. "Plus an extra fifty percent for the grueling hours of last-minute training which you absolutely gave me prior to handling such new technology. If you don't like it, I'm sure you can get Vera to demo this instead. She's probably used to the sort of thing requiring balance and poise... but oh, wait! You've got her in some kind of ninja exoskeleton. How much did you pay to get that custom-fitted for today?"

Elise watched the gears turn in Rachit's brain. Two and a half times Ellie's normal fee was far from pocket change, even for a company like Electric Sheep. But if Rachit's team didn't make their deadlines and deliver on their promises to the bosses, they'd be in far more trouble than going a little over budget.

"Fine," Rachid groaned. "But I expect you to put on a damn fine show for our stockholders."

Ellie gave him her most winning smile. "Don't I always?"

Rachid ended the call with a wave of his hand. The screen went blank.

"Damn, girl," Yasmin whistled. "Never seen you shake a suit down like that before. You keep this up, and I'm stealing a seat on the first trip to your private island."

"Maybe not an island..." Elise said smugly. "But if you ask nicely, I'll let you go skinny dipping in my new pool. I'm thinking of putting in marble statues and rose-perfumed water."

In truth, Elise didn't even own a house, much less a pool. It was nice to dream, though. Now all she had to do was pull this off, and she'd be that much closer to the lifestyles of the rich and famous.