There were noes, nons, niets, neins—and then a hesitant oui followed almost immediately by a resounding da.
My eyes went to the Siberian monitor and Elaine was suddenly facing me on the screen, saying, "Doc, I'm in a lab in Russia and there's not a soul here who can speak English, just a bunch of leering old bearded men. I'm scared, doc, and—"
She wasn't there.
Sosnowski's voice came from Hanford, "She's here now, Bob. I cut the AGS out and then back in and bingo!"
Elaine was behind him, sporting a Cossack hat.
"Elaine, I would—" I started. And stopped. She wasn't there.
"Du bist wunderschon," a guttural voice proclaimed.
I swung to the Munich monitor. I didn't need a translation. Elaine was there and making an impression. She swapped the Cossack hat for a Tyrolean one which a grinning Bavarian had been wearing—and vanished.
"Elle est ici!" a nasal tenor said. "C'est la Sorbonne ou elle est. C'est DuBois qui parle. Ma foi! Elle est vraiment magnifique!—Mon dieu! Elle n'est plus!"
Though sadly neglected since college days, my "knowledge" of French told me that Elaine had arrived, conquered and departed, leaving Monsieur DuBois of the Paris AGS in a state of bemusement, indeed!