God's Bounty Hunter (Biddy Mackay Space Detective Book 1) T Olivant (free ebook reader for pc .txt) 📖

“I would thank you for your assistance, Detective, but I sense you would not appreciate it.  Just know that you have allowed your Gods to regain their rightful place.  Soon enough the entire galaxy will understand the consequences of forgetting their Faith.  Good night.”

Only the strong arms of Lee and Ali held Biddy back from throttling the Augment before the doors shut behind him.

“At least Scotclan haven’t realized that we’re in here,” Kenzie said, earning her a rare smile from the new crew of Maintenance vehicle 783.  Half an hour later and the tiny craft was still parked outside the former prison of the Augments.  Biddy’s men were jammed in like vacuum packed pseudo-meat.

“We should get away from here,” Hastings said, not for the first time.

Biddy shook her head. “Not yet.  We need a solid plan.  You told me that the batteries on this thing will only get us one decent flight.”

The Captain nodded. “They were only designed to go back and forth from the depot.  Judging by the state of the engines we’ve already used up most of their charge coming in to land.”

“So we can’t afford to rush anything.  Perhaps we…”

“We need to decide one way or the other.  Sooner or later Scotclan will realize where we are,” Hastings reminded her.

“Yes, thank you, I am well aware of the time.” Biddy chewed the inside of her cheek.

“There’s a call coming through on the viewscreen,” Francesca said.

“What?” Biddy turned to the small screen at the front of the cramped cabin. “Cancel it!  If its Scotclan and they see us…”

Francesca thumped the console. “I can’t.  There’s some weird override thing going on.  It’s on a countdown and the call will start in one minute.”

“Where’s it coming from?”

“Mars.”

Biddy rubbed her knuckles into her face.

“Mars.  Let me guess, an anonymous caller?”

“No, actually.  It says it’s from some guy called Tolly.”

Biddy’s mouth made a perfect ‘o’ shape.

“Tolly?” Hastings asked. “Who’s that?”

“They don’t mean the Augment, do they?” Francesca asked, noting the horror on Biddy’s face.

“Blessed be,” Kenzie muttered.

“Who the hell is Tolly?” Hastings repeated.

Biddy took a deep breath. “From what I understand, if Augments are Gods then he is Zeus.

“Who’s Zeus?” asked Hastings.

“Old Earthen myth.  Head of the Gods.  The most important living creature in the galaxy.”

“And the head of the Gods wants to talk to us?” Now Hastings was going pale.

“Yes.”

Biddy closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. “All right,” she said finally. “Tell him we’ll take the call.”

The screen lit up and Biddy found herself looking into the eyes of the oldest living person in the universe.

“Hello,” Tolly said. “I guess you’re the one everybody has been talking about.” A face, not human, but not completely nonhuman stared at her with eyes as dark as space.

She swallowed. “I am Biddy Mackay.  And you are the Augment King.”

Kenzie gasped a little and Biddy narrowed her eyes.  Rude?  Perhaps.  But she was fed up of Gods of any flavor and she didn’t care what anyone thought about it anymore.

To her surprise, the face on screen smiled. “Augments don’t have Kings.  And I’m afraid we have trouble with any hierarchy that isn’t every man for himself.”

Biddy sighed. “Could you get to the point please, it has been a very long day.”

“I know.  You have been busy.  I see that you are currently without a ship.”

“As I’m sure you are aware, my ship has been stolen by one of your friends.  Well, by a bunch of them actually.”

Tolly massaged his chin with long, slender fingers. “I know about Lu Tang.  Perhaps you could update me on the others?”

A sharp insistent headache had lodged itself at her temple.  Biddy was exhausted and fed up.  She had never seen this ancient being before, but there was something about him that inspired trust.  And anyway, what else did she have to lose?  She told him the entire story of Lu Tang and the awakened Augments.

“It is as I feared,” Tolly said once Biddy had finished.

“Can you help me get my ship back?” Biddy asked, wincing at the desperation in her voice.

“I can try.  But most importantly we must stop Lu Tang or Kepler or whatever he calls himself from going any further.”

“What does that mean?” Hastings asked.

“I mean that Lu Tang was not honest with you.  For the last week I have been doing my own research into the Fuller system.  I knew about the missing Augments of course, but I hadn’t realized this was where they had been taken.  For nearly a century I thought the division of Augments in that sector had been killed.”

“Why was that?” Biddy asked, drawn in by the Augment’s words.

“The Augments here established the mining colony planets.  Well, it is not surprising, we controlled the technology after all.  They were… Not nice people.  I say that as one of them, or rather, one like them.  They were buoyed by the Faithful, and they truly believed that they were Gods.  They made many more Augments, which was expressly against our rules at the time.  When two hundred of them disappeared overnight, the Augment Council thought they had been killed in a row over territory.  And, if I’m honest, those of us on Mars were more relieved than angered.  That is something that I will be judged for as much as anyone.”

The silence in the tiny ship was deafening.  Eventually, Biddy found her tongue. “Sorry, did you say two hundred Augments?”

Tolly’s alien face came closer to the viewscreen. “Yes.  Lu Tang only took you to the first room of the prison.  My scans have shown over two hundred sleeping Augments in that building.”

“That’s not a group of Gods waiting to be saved,” Francesca said, her eyes wide and bright.