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

“Augment B’s name was Kepler,” he said in a soft, solemn voice. “He did not die after Saturn.  His face was rebuilt so that no one recognized him.  They sent him to prison because the pain of the radiation had driven him mad.  They were hoping he’d do everyone a favor and die.  But he lived.  I am your Augment B.  I am Kepler.”

“I’m sorry,” Biddy said, and she meant it.  Whatever Lu Tang had done, he didn’t deserve to hear what she had to say.  But what other option was there?

“Sorry?  Why?  Because I survived all of them?  Don’t pity me for that.  You should pity my attackers!  When I catch up with them they will finally pay.”

“No, I’m sorry because you’re wrong.  You are not Kepler.  You are not Augment B.  You can’t be, because he died fifty years ago.”

Lu Tang’s mouth curled into a cruel smirk. “You’re playing games with me even now, little girl Detective?  You insult both of us.”

It was amazing.  Now that she knew the truth about Lu Tang, Biddy didn’t even feel annoyed by his arrogance.  All she felt was pity. “It’s not a game.  I had my suspicions, even before I spoke to Tolly.  My assistant, Kenzie, contacted him an hour ago just to make sure of the facts.”

“Oh I see, the traitor told you all this.  Well, don’t believe a word that came out of his filthy mouth.” Lu Tang fidgeted on the sofa.  Biddy made sure her stungun was still on the desk where she could grab it if he decided to attack.

She forced herself to meet Lu Tang’s eyes. “Tolly told me about the sort of procedures that Augment’s do on each other’s memories.  They are meant to be illegal now, of course, but if you have a lot of money and no morals, then you can do as you please in certain parts of the galaxy.  Anyway, one of these procedures is memory erasure.”

Lu Tang frowned. “I’m not missing any memories.  I can remember centuries of being Kepler.  I’m sorry, Mackay, but whatever game you are playing is simply tiresome.  Leave me alone.”

“Not just yet.  The thing is, memories can’t just be erased.  They can also be implanted.  Just before the Augment known as Kepler died, a group of Augments performed some sort of memory drain on him.  Then they stored it gods’ know where, waiting for a time when it was useful.”

“Please just be quiet,” Lu Tang said softly.

“I wish I could, but you need to hear this.  Ten years ago they came across a young man.  I don’t know why but he must have owed this group of Augments big time.  They decided to use him for their own purposes.  Either he agreed or they forced him into it.  I don’t know the details.  However it actually came about, the end result is the same.  This man was given Kepler’s memories, then locked up in Widdershins 3 while the memories took hold.”

“The man was a human?”

Biddy swallowed. “At first.  But they had to put him through part of the Augmentation process so that they could implant the memories.  They… they performed surgery on him, on his skull and inside his brain so that he was indistinguishable from an Augment, at least on the outside.”

“And on the inside?”

“A bit of both, I suppose.  But they didn’t give him quite enough Augmented abilities to deal with the surgeries.  Something went wrong and his brain began to rebel.  He began to have side effects and the people who had done this to him realized they needed to move before it was too late.”

“Too late?”

Biddy took a deep breath and met Lu Tang’s eyes. “Before his body broke down.  They knew he didn’t have long left to live.”

The room was so quiet that Biddy could hear the gentle throb of the Black Maria’s engines through the metal walls.

“I don’t believe you.  I am… I must be Kepler.”

“You can check my research if you like.”

Lu Tang shook his head. “What if this is all a lie?  You could have come up with all this just to turn me against the Augments.  How do you expect me to trust a word you say?”

Biddy leaned forward and took Lu Tang’s hand.  The man flinched, but didn’t pull away. “Do you really feel like one of them.  Really?”

“I’m… not sure.”

The detective took a deep breath. “I would love to give you time to process this, believe me, I would, but those Augments you woke up have the portal drive.  Do you know what they intend to do with it?”

“Kill every living creature in this solar system I should imagine.”

Biddy bit back a wave of anger. “And you just plan on letting them do that, do you?”

Lu Tang shrugged. “They are in the maintenance compound.  You have the ship.  There is nowhere for them to go.”

“And they can’t use the portal drive without a ship?”

“Well… not as an engine, but I suppose they could detonate the drive.  But they would be sacrificing themselves in the process.”

The gnawing anxiety that had been churning in Biddy’s stomach turned to genuine fear. “And would they do that?”

Lu Tang looked down at his feet. “Honestly, I have no idea what they would do anymore.”

Chapter 46

Lu Tang hadn’t wanted to listen to the detective.  He’d wanted to rage at her, to tell her that it was all a pack of lies.  And yet… Hadn’t there always been a part of him that had known he wasn’t really a God?  He was too prone to awkward questions, too willing to compromise.  And it would explain his physiological problems which were becoming more pronounced by the minute.  What had the girl said about not having long to live?  The way he felt