A Fistful of Trouble (Outlaws of the Galaxy Book 2) by Paul Tomlinson (free ebook reader for iphone .TXT) 📕

sheriff. He didn’t look like a Clyde. He was more of a Clarence. Or maybe a Bunty.

“He’s certainly a big one,” I said. “Army surplus. Served on a battleship during the war, or so I was told.”

“A military robot?” Mrs. Brennan said. “Aren’t they dangerous?”

“He was retrofitted with a limiter,” I said. This was a lie – Floyd’s delimiter was a fake. “He’d be illegal otherwise.”

“But without the limiter, he could kill people?” she asked. She was a handsome woman but not a great actress. On stage, no one would buy her feigned innocence. But maybe it was a double-bluff and she knew that I knew she was faking it.

“In theory, he would be a lethal weapon,” I said. “But no one’s going to be crazy enough to remove the limiter, are they?”

The Mayor smiled at me and refilled my glass. “I’m sure just the sight of him is enough to keep trouble away.”

I nodded and sipped my whiskey. It wasn’t the cheap kind so it went down smooth.

“He must attract a lot of interest,” Mrs. Brennan said. “People must pester you with questions about him all the time.”

“Mostly they just ask what I paid for him,” I said, reminding her I wasn’t a fool. She smiled and raised her glass to me again.

“I won’t ask you what you paid for him,” the Mayor said. “But I would like to ask if you’d consider selling him.”

“That’s another question I get asked a lot,” I said, refilling my own glass and Mrs. Brennan’s. “But most of the offers I get aren’t serious ones.”

“But you would consider parting with him?” the sheriff asked. They’d obviously primed him too.

“That big robot and I have been through a lot together,” I said. “I’d be most reluctant to see him go. But if someone were to offer me a good price, I would obviously consider it. And if the price was really good, I’d throw in the robot’s accessories.”

“What sort of accessories does he come with?” Mrs. Brennan asked.

I glanced towards the sheriff. “It wouldn’t be prudent for me to discuss illegal weaponry within earshot of an officer of the law.”

“Get lost, Clyde,” the Mayor said.

The sheriff didn’t seem offended by this. He refilled his glass and got up from the table. We all watched him walk across the floor towards the bar.

The Mayor leaned towards me. His eyes were bright and it wasn’t just the whiskey. “You mentioned illegal weapons. Are we talking large calibre?”

“Very.”

“Enough firepower to bring down a horse?” he asked.

“Enough to bring down a house,” I said.

Mayor Brennan grinned. “That robot of yours could well be something I’d like to purchase – on behalf of the town.”

I leaned back in my chair. “You must understand that you’re not the only person to have expressed an interest in him,” I said.

“Damian Hodge!” the Mayor said. A look passed between him and his wife that I couldn’t quite read. Presumably the Colonel was their sworn enemy.

“You will require people to submit sealed bids?” Mrs. Brennan asked.

“I was thinking that an auction – out in the open – would be fairer,” I said.

The Mayor sat back and thought about this. “When will you hold the sale?”

“Monday’s market day,” I said.

“Could you hold off until mid-morning?” the Mayor asked. “I will need to meet with my fellow councilmen to agree on a maximum bid.”

“Let’s make it noon, shall we?” I said. “You’ll find me near the other robots that are for sale. I think mine will stand out next to them, don’t you?”

Mayor Brennan laughed. “We’ll see you on Monday, Quincy.”

I said my goodnights and left the table. Crossing the floor towards the hotel lobby, I couldn’t help but smile. It had been a good evening’s work. If the Mayor and the Colonel got into a bidding war, Floyd and I might end up with all the cash we needed to wave goodbye to the planet Saphira. And if the sale price wasn’t quite all we’d hoped, Floyd could make his usual escape and then we could sneak back and run the ‘tin game’ scam again, selling him in secret to whoever had failed to buy him at the auction.

When I got back up to my room, I realised immediately that something was wrong. When I realised what it was, it made me smile some more.

Chapter Eight

There was someone in my room. The spicy scent of perfume gave her away. Cinnamon and citrus. In a movie, the hero would find the temptress naked in his bed, a single flimsy sheet pulled up under her chin. My bed was empty. I wasn’t in a movie. The intruder was hiding – and not because she was playing hard to get. Harmony had come up to my room to steal from me. Again. She’d thought she had plenty of time – didn’t know I was in a hurry to get back up here for my long-anticipated long hot soak. Now she was trapped in the room with me, not daring to move. It made me smile.

I could have called out her name, got her to show herself. Then taken back whatever she had stolen from my luggage and sent her on her way. I could have. But where’s the fun in that? It would have been too easy. I didn’t want it to be easy. I locked the door and pocketed my key. I wanted to test dear Harmony’s ingenuity.

The little jar of bubble bath provided by the hotel didn’t smell as nice as my visitor’s perfume, but it wasn’t bad. I turned on the hot tap to fill the bath and added a dribble of the honey-like liquid. I was only going to add cold water if I absolutely had to. Having a scalding hot bath and then lying on the bed with the air-conditioning on the coldest setting is one of modern life’s great pleasures. Even on a backward planet like Saphira.

Back in the main room I slowly stripped off my clothes and tossed them