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

“Have the Council of Eritree made a move yet?” He asked the handsome Augment with anthracite skin and braids that went down to his waist who was currently at the helm.

“No,” the man said, with an insolent shrug. “They know that we are a force to be reckoned with.”

Kepler snorted. “Or they know we are a sitting duck.  Do me a favor and keep an eye on the radar.  Has the Scotclan ship moved at all?”

“No.  If they do we will show them no mercy.”

“Let us hope they do not apply the same principles to us,” Kepler said, his irritation once again threatening to overwhelm his augmented controls.

“Have you become so fearful of the inferior ones in the last century,” the short, white Augment said, appearing from nowhere like some sort of mythical imp.

“What was your name again?” Kepler asked, his tone, dangerously soft.

“Petre.  I was once the lord of Alpha Centauri.”

Kepler had advanced on the man and was now close enough to count the scars on his augmented skull. “Well, Petre, let me tell you a little something about this century…”

Kepler’s datapad buzzed.

Head to the maintenance deck in area C.  Do not tell the others.

Kepler’s heart soared. The Voice still had a use for him.  Had they realized just how much of a moron Augustus was?  Most likely they wanted him to take back control somehow.

He glanced at Petre, who was still glaring at him, waiting for Kepler to make his move.

“In this century, you learn to expect the unexpected.”

Kepler turned on his heel and stalked out of the room.  He hurried along the corridors of the Black Maria, pausing only to fling the empty teacup to the ground.  He should never have doubted the Voice.  No doubt even now it was making plans to stop Augustus and his cronies making a mess of the rescue.

It only took a few minutes for Kepler to reach the maintenance section.  It stank of oil and old sweat, but such things no longer mattered to the God.  His datapad buzzed once more.

Open the airlock.  I am waiting outside.

Kepler had already noticed the large airlock at one end of the hangar.  He hurried over to it.  There was a rack of spacesuits hanging just outside the airlock.  He pulled one on as quickly as he could.  Kepler’s hand was trembling as he keyed himself into the airlock.  The Voice was there, just on the other side!  He would finally get to meet them.

His ears popped as the pressure equalized, then the doors opened.  On the other side was a figure in a spacesuit.  They raised one hand in a kind of salute.

Kepler stepped out of the airlock.

The figure in front of him paused.  Then they raised their other hand.

Kepler screamed as the stunner fired, the sound echoing in his helmet as he hit the ground and then all was black.

Chapter 45

Biddy watched as Lu Tang’s eyes flickered open.  There was an instant of pure rage, then a calm acceptance.

“You tricked me.”

“Yes.” They were in Biddy’s office back on the Black Maria.  Once they had access to the airlock, courtesy of Lu Tang, it hadn’t been a problem to retake the ship.  The Augments had been unarmed and completely unprepared when Phil and Hastings had stormed into the command room.

“The other Augments on board?”

“Crammed into the cells.  A bit of a squeeze, but they’ll survive.  Now I need your help to round up the others.”

“The others?”

Biddy sucked in her cheeks. “You know who I mean.  The ones that are helping awaken the army.”

“Army?” Lu Tang sat up with a groan.  He looked like he had aged ten years in the time Biddy had known him.  Biddy glared at him, trying to ignore the stab of pity making itself felt in her chest.

“You have been misinformed,” Lu Tang said, with something of his previous supercilious tone. “My friends are not an army.  They were victims of a terrible crime…”

“I know that.  But they have taken the portal drive.  Do you think I don’t know what that means?”

Lu Tang groaned once more. “There is nothing I can do about that.”

“Is that right.” Biddy chewed the inside of her cheek.  She wasn’t someone who was usually afraid to say what she thought, but something was making her hesitate. If she got this wrong, if she misjudged her words in the next ten minutes, then the results could be catastrophic. “Can I tell you a little story?”

The man groaned. “Humans and their need for constant chatter.  Go on, I suppose I have no choice other than to listen.”

Biddy sighed. “All right then.  When I was first investigating you I had a member of my team look into the records of all the known Augments.”

Lu Tang snorted. “I shouldn’t imagine that was an easy task.”

“No, it wasn’t.  Most of the records were partial at best.  And many of the Augments had disappeared over the years because… well, you know why.  But we did find a few.  Tolly, for a start.”

“Traitor!” Lu Tang’s jaw twitched with tension.  Biddy just hoped he could keep it together for long enough to hear her out.

“Yes, well, that’s up to you to decide.  We also found a few others.  Some guy we called Augment C, a people smuggler, we thought that was you at first.”

“Nope.”

His face was grey and sweating.  Biddy wondered just how sick the creature actually was.

“Yeah, well, I worked that out eventually.  But then I got told all about someone we called Augment B.  It all started to slide into place.  No one knew his name.  No one had seen him for fifty years.  He had been badly burned by radiation on Saturn.  Everyone thought he was dead.”