A Fistful of Trouble (Outlaws of the Galaxy Book 2) Paul Tomlinson (reading strategies book .TXT) 📖

“I told you she wouldn’t come,” Floyd said.

He had. Several times. He’d warned me against trusting her. And my own experience told me that I shouldn’t. But I had wanted to believe her.

“There’s time yet,” I said, pacing backwards and forwards across the room.

“One shot is all it will take to spark this thing off,” Floyd said.

“I know.”

“You should get out of here before it starts,” Floyd said.

“That wasn’t the plan,” I said.

“It’s time for Plan B.”

I didn’t like Plan B. It was much, much riskier than Plan A.

“Let’s give her a few more minutes,” I said.

Floyd shook his head. “Plan B.”

I sighed. He was right. My part of Plan B was at least as risky as his. And again, I wished that I could have his absence of fear.

“If you need the toilet, go now,” Floyd said. “You won’t get another chance.”

“I’ve been. Several times,” I said. I tapped the screen on my watch and called Danny.

“We have a problem,” I told him. “Harmony’s not here.”

“Give her time, she’ll be there,” Danny said.

“We’re out of time. The Colonel’s on his way and I have to get out of here. We have to go to the back-up plan.”

Danny was quiet for a few heartbeats. He knew what this meant. “Okay,” he said, “I’ll be waiting for you.”

“I’ll see you in twenty minutes,” I said. I turned back to Floyd. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Colonel Hodge used this robot body to terrorise the local people,” Floyd said. “I want him to learn what that feels like.”

“I remember what it feels like,” I said. “I’m glad we’re on the same side now.”

“Did you prepare the container?” Floyd asked.

Plan B called for me to take Floyd, the artificial sentience, out of the big blue robot.

“Erm...” I said, reaching for the receptacle I had ready for him.

“That’s a bucket,” Floyd said.

“It’s a clean bucket,” I said. “And I put a towel inside it.”

“You have chased me, you’ve shot me, and you have sold me for scrap,” Floyd said. “But this is a new low.”

“Watch your oil pressure,” I said. “This is all I could find. It’s metal, it will protect you.”

Floyd shook his head slowly. He wasn’t saying ‘no’, he was just passing judgment on me.

My two drones, Gnat and Mozzie, were sitting on a table waiting. Floyd went over and established a link with them. They would be his eyes and ears so that he wasn’t completely blind or incapacitated.

“I won’t forget this,” Floyd said. “Someday I may be responsible for your medical care.”

“Just shoot me,” I said.

I opened up the casing of the big blue robot and lifted Floyd out of the chest cavity. It was the first time I’d had a proper look at him. He was an artificial sentience that had once controlled an entire battleship and for the last few decades he’d been squatting inside this old robot firefighter. He deserved more than this but I knew better than to make any rash promises about his next robot suit.

The container that held Floyd’s inner workings looked like a cubist’s idea of a soccer ball. It was matte-black and heavily armoured. The protection was there because he was worth more money than I’d stolen in my whole life. I transferred him carefully to the bucket.

Mozzie zipped across the room and hovered close to my ear.

“Guard that bucket with your life. I will be keeping a very close eye on you.” Mozzie had never spoken before but the tinny voice buzzing from the tiny speaker sounded right for the little drone. It didn’t sound at all like Floyd, though I recognised the tone of the threat. I wasn’t sure how much damage Floyd could do with two small drones, but I thought it was better not to find out.

“If I need to swazz, I won’t use the bucket,” I promised. “We’d better go.”

The big blue robot had taken up a position by one of the windows, looking out onto the front lawn. It was holding a rocket launcher. In its massive hands, the weapon looked small. But size didn’t really matter to the plan. The robot looked like Floyd, but it wasn’t. I saw Gnat turn to look towards the big blue robot. I knew what Floyd was thinking. It was just a shell. But that didn’t make it any easier to leave it behind. Floyd had occupied that shell for all the time I’d known him. He and I had been together longer than I’d been with my second wife. Not that this was saying much.

Floyd – his essence at least – was coming with me. In the bucket. If all went well, he’d be back in his old body soon. I didn’t want to think what the odds against that were.

I’d come into the house via the Colonel’s escape tunnel and would be making my exit the same way. I still had the feeds from the tunnel’s security cameras showing on my screen so I’d know where Colonel Hodge and his robot were. I didn’t want to accidentally bump into them. I had noted various hiding places along the length of the tunnel that I could duck into when they got close. Having planned my escape as best I could, I moved towards the Colonel’s secret door that opened into his secret tunnel.

“Haven’t you forgotten something?” the drone voice asked over my shoulder.

“The bucket!” I jogged back for it.

I bet the Colonel never thought he’d have to use his escape route to sneak back into his own house. I had the images from the security cameras sent to the screen on my sleeve. It wasn’t the most entertaining show I’d ever seen. Lots of walking down identical corridors. Like an antique science fiction show. It only livened up a bit when I saw the Colonel and his sidekick creep out of the hidden door and enter the mansion from under the main stairs. If I ever build myself a