God's Bounty Hunter (Biddy Mackay Space Detective Book 1) by T Olivant (reading in the dark .txt) 📕

And then Macleod shot him.

Chapter 18

The tiny escape pod was barely fifteen square feet.  It was entirely made from plastic, which was why it could evade any sensors from troublesome people trying to follow him.  It was rather unsettling: travelling through the void of space in something that could be broken into by a few good thumps with a hammer, but it served its purpose.

Lu Tang tapped at the controls and allowed himself a grin.  The spaceship that Tibo had supplied, the starglider, had been utterly ridiculous, and he never would have gotten aboard if it hadn’t been for this handy little craft.  And it had proved to be the right decision.

As soon as he had seen the Scotclan spacecraft looming on the viewscreen, he knew it was time to leave.  In fact, he was kind of disappointed that they hadn’t caught up with him earlier.  He hadn’t exactly been keeping a low profile.  A hundred years ago law enforcement had really meant something.  Now it was just a bunch of kids playing around in spaceships that they barely knew how to fly.  Pathetic.

The portal drive was wedged between his boots.  Not a very auspicious place for such a precious object, but needs must.  He could feel the heat of the little engine through the soles of the boots, pulsing like a heartbeat.

“Unlucky, old man,” Tibo had said as he had helped strap him into the escape pod.  There had been more than a little relief on his face as Lu Tang had disappeared into the atmosphere.  Well, Tibo had it all wrong.  He hadn’t been unlucky at all.  This was just the next stage in his plan, that was all.  Sure, it would have been nice to have completed his transaction on Eritree with no interruptions, but there was still every possibility that his plan would meet with success.

One good thing about the tiny plastic craft was that it was equipped with a full range of interstellar communications tech.  Lu Tang put a call through to the cloud on Eritree.

“Hello.” The screen was still black even though he could hear his contact.  Clearly they had chosen not to be seen.  This did not worry the Augment too much: he had had plenty of reasons to keep his own face hidden over the centuries.

“It’s me,” Lu Tang said. “I have had to change my plans.  They caught up with the starglider.”

“No they didn’t,” the voice said. “It was someone else.  A Detective.”

“Ah,” Lu Tang was only half focused on the call.  He was working out his trajectory.  The life-raft’s maneuverability was limited and he would have to make sure his calculations were correct unless he wanted to end up as a streak of burning ash in the planet’s atmosphere. “I will still be able to make the exchange, as long as the people on Eritree don’t get scared off.”

“I will ensure that they do not.  But you must be careful that your true mission is not discovered.”

“Of course,” Lu Tang said stiffly.  The monotone voice was starting to annoy him.  He was a God, not some child to be patronized.

“The Detective could be a problem.  They have a reputation for a failure to follow orders.  This could be costly.  If they try to prevent you making the exchange then you will need to eliminate them.”

“Understood.”

“Remember, little God, this is your chance at redemption.  If you fail we will find a new home for you.  And it will not be as hospitable as Widdershins 3.”

Lu Tang felt his cheeks grow hot.  An odd sensation.  His augmented brain was not behaving optimally once more.

“I am having some… upgrade difficulties in the cerebellum,” Lu Tang said, biting down the temptation to keep his failings to himself.  After all, if he could not trust the person who had freed him from prison, who could he trust?

“That is understandable.  You have been placed under undue stress.  When your mission is complete we will arrange for a full program of repairs.”

“Thank you,” he said, his cheeks growing redder at the desperation in his own voice.

“Once you have made the delivery of the portal drive you will await instructions for the next phase in our operations.”

Now Lu Tang paused, momentarily lost for words. “You do not intend for me to actually hand over the drive, do you?”

“Certainly.”

“But… But it is the only one of its kind.  The Augments have guarded it for decades.  And in the wrong hands it could be –”

“In the wrong hands it could be a terrible weapon.  Yes, we are not ignorant of this fact.  You might say it is the very reason for these actions.  What harm will it do us if the humans destroy themselves?”

“Well, none,” Lu Tang said, trying to dispel the raging voice in his head that screamed this was all wrong.  It was his imbalanced hormones, no doubt.  He had to trust the voice on the call.  He had never been able to trust anyone else in all his centuries of life.  They must know what they were doing.  The alternative was unthinkable.

“And besides,” the voice went on. “It will be the human’s greed for power that leads them to use the portal drive.  If they destroy themselves while doing it, the blame would be with them.”

“Of course,” Lu Tang agreed, soothed by the voice’s logic.  He could feel the twitch under his eye easing up just from talking to the voice.

“You will land on the planet and precede with the exchange as planned.  If the Detective ship catches up with you before then you must eliminate them.  The exchange is paramount.  We must regain what has been stolen from us.”

“Yes.” Lu Tang whispered.  This he knew with the sort of burning passion that the silly humans reserved for their false Gods.  He had to