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

“Harmony, wait! What happens if they start torturing me before you come back?”

She thought about this. “You know that thing you do where you open your mouth and swazz people off? Try not to do that. They’ll probably go easy on you for a start.”

“Harmony!”

“I’m kidding. I just have some errands to run. I’ll come back for you soon.”

“But what if you don’t?”

“Then know that I tried my very best. And that I felt very bad about having failed you. I’ll never forget you, Quentin.”

“It’s Quincy.”

“Oh, yeah, right.” She gave me a finger wave and disappeared again.

I wasn’t sure what ‘errands’ she was running, but I was sure they involved some sort of mischief. I hoped she wouldn’t get herself caught. I needed her to rescue me.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I lost my crown. The Colonel took it from me in the early hours of the morning. I’d managed an occasional nap during the night, but it’s hard to sleep when you’re chained up. Muscles in my arms and legs and back ached and even my lungs were tired from the unaccustomed pressure that had been placed on them. Harmony had not reappeared and now I was concerned about her fate as well as my own. I was surprised when Colonel Hodge started to undo the bolts on the crown. I had expected him to leave it in place so he could force me to do what he wanted.

“Better?” he asked as he took it off.

“Like a weight has been lifted from me,” I said.

“Aren’t you curious about why I have removed it?”

“You think I look better without it?”

He shook his head. “I’ve found someone it will suit better.”

“A pretender to my throne?”

“A greater fool than you,” he said.

I had a horrible feeling I knew where this was going.

“Impossible!” I said.

“A young woman broke in here with the insane idea of rescuing you,” the Colonel said. “After her first visit to you, I doubled the guard in this section.”

There it was, the news I had feared.

“Who would do such a thing?” I asked. I was bluffing but my heart wasn’t in it.

“I think you know. I am going to crown her Queen of Fools,” he said.

“And if I don’t do as you ask, you will explode her skull,” I said.

“You’re really very good at this, Quincy.”

“I watch a lot of movies.”

“Ah, yes. The hero is always prepared to sacrifice his own life, but if you threaten the life of someone he cares about, he’ll do just about anything.”

The Colonel was obviously a film fan too.

“I’ll just pop next door and see how this fits,” he said. “Then I’ll be back to run through the script with you.”

“Script?”

“Oh, yes. I have it all written out. You have a lead role to play this morning. You will be my emissary.”

“Emissary?”

“It’s like a diplomatic messenger,” he said.

“I’ve never been very diplomatic.”

“You’ll be fine.”

I knew that I’d be anything but ‘fine’. Last night he’d said that I would be killed after I had completed my chores today.

*

The ground floor of the council house was a big open room with a platform at the far end that could be used as a stage. This was where the townsfolk held their dances and their wedding receptions and all the other public gatherings a small town holds during the course of a year.

Upstairs was the mayor’s office and the council meeting chamber. The meeting room held a large oblong table with eight chairs around it and not much else. Mayor Brennan sat at the head of the table. Along the table to his left were the Deputy Mayor, who was manager of the local bank; the butcher, and Horace the hotel owner. Opposite them were Madam Fifi and an empty seat that I knew was the Colonel’s. He hadn’t taken his seat at the table since his defeat in the last mayoral elections. Patricia Brennan sat on her husband’s immediate right, serving in a non-voting capacity as council treasurer and secretary. Sheriff Galton, as the town’s elected law enforcer, was also present and sat facing the Mayor.

They all looked surprised when I entered unannounced. They looked even more startled when the two armed grey robots came in and stood behind me. The robot’s looked shiny and menacing. I looked a bit dishevelled. I had deliberately not washed the dried blood off my forehead – I wanted the council to see that I had been bullied into doing this.

“This is a private meeting, Mr. Quigley,” the Mayor said. “If you wish to petition the council, we have...”

“I am here to deliver a communication from Colonel Damian Hodge,” I said.

“This is highly irregular,” the banker muttered.

“I believe the Colonel is permitted to send a proxy to speak in his absence,” I said. I had been coached by the Colonel earlier.

“That is correct,” the Mayor said. “Though normally matters for discussion are placed on the agenda before the meeting.”

“Let’s agree that these are not normal circumstances,” I said, indicating the robots that stood behind and to either side of me.

“The council will listen to Colonel Hodge’s message,” the Mayor said.

“It is less a message and more a list of demands,” I said.

“Just tell us what he said, Quincy,” Patricia Brennan said. “We know he coerced you into speaking for him.”

“Thank you, ma’am. Colonel Hodge has instructed me to convey to the council his three demands. First, Mister Brennan is to resign from the position of mayor with immediate effect.”

The members of the council looked around at each other. The butcher and the banker began a muttered conversation. Mayor Brennan held up his hand to quiet the chatter.

“Please continue, Quincy. We will hear all of the Colonel’s demands before discussing them.”

“Dismissing them, you mean,” the banker said.

“Charles, please...” the Mayor said. He nodded for me to continue.

“Second, an election must be held to appoint a new mayor.”

“We’ll just nominate you for re-election,” Madam Fifi said to Mayor Brennan. “Of course I will