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

that Kepler has been sorely deceived by a rogue member of our Clan.  He is also… unwell.”

A talent for understatement, Kepler thought, working his jaw once more to see if he might be able to speak.

“He has the portal drive,” Augustus said, edging towards the safety of the Scotclan group. “And he is turning off the life support in the pods.  He has lost his mind.”

“It was never mine to lose, was it, Chief?” Kepler hissed, each word a thousand agonies in his aching muscles.

Campbell took a step forward. “You are sick, Kepler.  If you give me the drive, I can help make you well again.”

Augustus’s face creased into a frown. “Why should you have the drive, little human?  It belongs to your Gods!”

Campbell kept his eyes on Kepler. “You think you know what happened to you, but you don’t.  All along we have been helping you, trying to save you.”

The Voice, Kepler thought, trying to keep his blurry vision focused on the man.  How could he have been so naive?  Was it simply that he had wanted to believe so badly that there was someone looking out for him?  He barked out a laugh.  For the first time he realized exactly how the stupid Faithful had fallen for the same trick.  Idiots all of them.

“How long have you been looking for the portal drive,” Kepler asked Campbell.

“Decades.  At first we thought it was nothing more than a myth.  We didn’t know if the Gods had truly created something so wonderful.”

Augustus snorted. “Of course we had.  And we could have made a thousand more of them if we hadn’t been imprisoned.”

The Scotclan Chief glanced at Augustus with something closer to irritation than reverence.  Kepler felt the urge to giggle once more.  It was always a disappointing experience to meet your Gods in the flesh.

“Undoubtably, my lord,” Campbell groveled. “Now that we have you back with us, we hope that you will grant us your knowledge to make many more portal drives.”

“We must have the prototype to work from,” Augustus said, pointing to the device that was nestled against Kepler’s stomach. “Those who engineered it for us will be long dead.  You must protect the device.”

“I’m sure we will,” Campbell said gently. “Our friend Kepler here has no wish to do anything to damage the device.  He knows that it is safer in our hands than in those of our enemies.”

“And whose hands would that be, Chief?” Biddy Mackay walked through the door pointing her stungun directly at Campbell. “Do you mean Scotclan’s?  The hands of the Gods?  Or perhaps your own?”

Even Kepler had to admit that the Detective’s expression was impressive.  Her gun was held steady without the slightest waver and her eyes fixed straight on the Chief’s.

“Better put down your weapons, guys.  Yes, all of you.  As I’m sure Campbell has already told you, I don’t have to obey Scotclan’s rules anymore.  So I won’t hesitate to shoot a single one of you.”

The members of Scotclan placed their guns gently on the floor.  One of them, a handsome, dark-haired man who seemed vaguely familiar tried to speak to Mackay, but she didn’t even glance in his direction.

“This is what it was all about, right Campbell?  You couldn’t have cared less how long your Gods spent in the freezer as long as you got the drive.”

Campbell bristled, and Kepler reckoned that even the most self-obsessed of the Augments would realize that Mackay had hit a nerve.

“Of course our primary mission was to find the Gods…”

“So you could use them, right?  To reclaim the galaxy for the Clans.”

“Among other things.  But they are our Gods, they would want to help us.”

Kepler snorted back a laugh at Augustus’s disgusted expression.  No one seemed to notice.

“All right then, let them take over now.” Mackay was close to Campbell, moving her body between the Scotclan men and Kepler’s chair. “Give this tall guy with the arms like girders control over all the clans right this second.  They are your Gods, right?”

“Well, perhaps that would be a little hasty…”

Augustus’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean, Campbell?  The girl is right, surely.  We have come to reclaim our rights.  Tell your people to serve me.”

Campbell said nothing.  The room fell silent as he chewed his lip and glared at Mackay.

“You see, I’m afraid that times have moved on,” Mackay said, turning to Augustus and the other Augments. “No one is going to worship at your feet anymore.  Oh, there’s a few faithful left, here and there, but the Clans are in power now, and they won’t give it up.”

“Then we will show them just what we can do!” Augustus lunged towards Kepler who managed to stick out a foot and clip him on the ankle.  He held the portal drive above his head.

“I will activate this damned thing if anyone else tries to grab it.” Kepler said, finding that rage at the collective stupidity of the people in the room had given him his voice back.

“Just what do you intend to do with it?” Campbell asked. “You have rejected the mission that you were created for.  What will you do now?”

“Sell it to the highest bidder?” Kepler said, his eyes on Mackay. “Or maybe I’ll just keep it for myself.  I don’t believe that anyone in this room has any more right to it than I do.”

“Give me the portal drive,” the young Detective said, stepping neatly over the prone figure of Augustus. “I swear that I will find a proper place for it.”

“You can have the drive,” Kepler said, even though the words pained him. “But you will have to wait until the hibernation pods go out.  There’s enough Gods in the world already.”

The Detective shook her head. “Believe me, you have enough reason to hate them.  But the