by T E Olivant
A hint of a smile played on the Geek’s lips. “Maybe. Ito is a bit of a gym nut. Of course, a lot of the guys on the EarthSats are, seeing as they never step outside their pods.”
Biddy deliberately kept her face neutral, thinking about how much time the Geek spent in front of his viewscreens.
“Anyway, when he’s using the gym he likes to hook up the best speakers he’s got to crank up the music. Some sort of neo-funk, very derivative stuff.”
“And the relevance is?”
“Only way to get the tunes into the speakers at the symgym is to hook up his own cloud system to the gym unit. Of course he’ll get the odd security system alert, but it’s just music, right?”
Biddy was grinning now. “And that gets you in?”
“Yep. I’ll spare you the details as you wouldn’t understand them anyway, but the symgym’s security is significantly more lax than his private system. For four thirty-minute sessions every day his system is wide open.”
“Great. What did you find?”
The smile disappeared from the Geek’s face. “Nothing good.”
“Get on with it, kid,” Hastings growled.
“I just followed the money, that’s all. The company that pays Ito has a trail that loops around the cloud systems of at least three planets, but it only come back to one place. Tirnanog. More specifically the headquarters of the Most Holy Knights of Dark Space. That’s the connection, Biddy. It’s the Knights.”
Biddy couldn’t help but let out a groan. “Thanks Geek,” she said, after she’d taken a deep breath. “It’s not your fault it’s bad news. Will you keep working on it for me?”
“Of course.”
“Listen, everyone. Keep this information to yourself. I’m not sure how the Knights tie in with all this, but it doesn’t change anything. We search for the Augment. When we find him, we hand him over.”
“But if the Knights are involved…” Elvis interrupted.
“Then we will deal with it. And they will have to face the wrath of Scotclan.” Biddy found the idea rather comforting. If the Knights were involved then the Black Maria and her crew were probably too insignificant for anyone to worry about. That suited her just fine.
“For now we will head to Pratchett Cinque and pick up our passenger. Remember, don’t give Scotclan the rope to hang us with. Keep it by the book, while they are onboard anyway.”
There were a few mumbled noises of assent. Most of the crew simply looked stunned by what the Geek had uncovered. Biddy was too, although she tried to at least appear calm. Since they had taken Tirnanog and stolen power from the Gods, the Knights had generally kept a low profile, preferring to keep to their own little quadrant of the universe. Something had changed, and Biddy was not best pleased to find herself in the middle of it. Still, she couldn’t lose focus. Find the Augment, get back her birthright, make sure her crew came out of it with all their limbs intact. That was more than enough for one mission.
Chapter 12
The last time Lu Tang had been to this planet it had been nothing more than a lump of rock with a few mining stations clinging to it like parasites. Now the terraforming of Eritree had started in earnest and the greys and browns of the arid surface were showing patches of verdant green. It would be another fifty years or so before the puny humans would be able to live outside their plastic homes, but it would happen within his lifetime.
Like everything else.
Lu Tang grimaced. One of the implants on his left side was playing up. Pins and needles shot along the nerves that surrounded his ulna bone. Well, he didn’t have time to fix it right now. Instead he pumped some more endorphins around his brain until he forgot about the pain.
“Time to get up, Augment.”
He turned to stare at the little round man named Tibo who had entered his cabin.
“I’m Lu Tang now,” he said, with a note of admonishment.
The old man with thighs as thick as bulkheads shrugged. “Sure. I’ll try and remember.”
“See that you do.” The Augment was irritated. And he was even more irritated to discover his own irritation. His hormones should be controlled in such a way that such emotional weakness wouldn’t bother him. But clearly they were not working efficiently, or he wouldn’t have wanted to smack every human he met across the jaw.
He was beginning to think that meeting with Tibo was a mistake. The ridiculous spaceship was a profound error, that was for sure. A starglider, it was called, with great golden sails that shimmered through the sky like a golden fish. It was showy, and unnecessary. Tibo had always had a predilection for the flamboyant, but Lu Tang would have preferred something less conspicuous. Like any other craft in the quadrant.
Lu Tang turned his gaze back to the planet that drifted by outside the window of the spaceship. An illusion of course. It was the ship that was moving, not the lump of rock. But still, it was hard not to imagine the thing was creeping up on him. Like it was waiting for his arrival, and not in a welcoming fashion. Eritree. The miner’s paradise. And for a God? Something more like hell, perhaps.
He sniffed and adjusted his hormone controls once more. He was becoming sentimental. A fatal habit in an Augment. It had finished off more of his people than he could count. How many of them were left now? A handful that he knew about, but there were probably more. Keeping out of the way, skulking about where the humans couldn’t find them. And why? Because they dared to become Gods?
Lu Tang’s hands balled into fists. He relaxed them before Tibo could notice. Best not to appear erratic in front of the staff.
“You still wish to avoid Moscov?” Tibo asked.
“Yes. For the moment at least. There are still those there who would be… interested in my arrival.”
“You haven’t set foot on Eritree for a decade. I think you’re probably safe.”
“Some memories are longer than others.”
Tibo laughed. “True, Augment.”
“Do not call me that.”
“Sorry, Lu Tang. I have set a course for a small property that I have a few hundred miles from Moscov. A little osmium mine, nothing fancy, but it might suit your purposes.”
“It sounds adequate. And have you begun the preparations that I asked you for?”
“Yes, yes, it is all in hand.”
Lu Tang gave Tibo a smile that was just a flash of predatory teeth. “You will, of course, be ready in time?”
“Of course.” The old man’s expression did not change. “We are just obtaining the necessary permissions. Security on this planet is extraordinarily high.”
“It’s a pilgrim world,” Lu Tang said.
“Not anymore. Eritree was once part of the alliance of the Faithful, but it does not align itself that way now. According to the cloud it is open-and-eager-to-trade-with-valued-guests,” Tibo said, his voice sing-song as he read out the tiny world’s marketing pitch.
“Once a pilgrim always a pilgrim,” Lu Tang replied.
“You shouldn’t have a problem there then,” Tibo said.
It would take the work of a bare second to smash his nose into his brain, Lu Tang thought as Tibo’s blank face stared back at him.
“I’m not here as an Augment, remember. I am just a human.”
“Sure,” Tibo said again, not realizing how close he was to an instant lobotomy. “Would you like to see the weapon?”
Now Lu Tang smiled and this time it went all the way to his eyes.
“Indeed I would.”
Chapter 13
A message had arrived from Scotclan: Our Observer will meet you at the information stand in the arrivals hall on Joker, the satellite station of Pratchett Cinque, 15:00 earth time tomorrow.
Biddy wondered if the text had been deliberately phrased to piss her off. As she stood in the tiny arrivals hall watching blank-faced miners shuffle into shuttle craft, she thought that it probably had. Mind you, life could be worse. She could be like the men around her, backs bowed from working deep under the ground on an alien planet.
>
It was five to three. Phil fidgeted beside her.
“Any sign?” her bodyguard asked.
“Not yet. Just be patient.”
Phil grunted, then scuffed his feet on the metal floor. He was normally pretty good at waiting, but he was on edge. This place and its air of quiet desperation was getting to both of them.
A miner staggered past, the irises around his pupil bright white. Biddy tried not to stare. She had heard about the new drug sweeping the mines. Keepup they called it. It was a stimulant that meant you only had to sleep once a week. The miners took it so they could work longer shifts. Officially the mine owners didn’t allow it, but most encouraged its use. After all, the people were there to work, so why shouldn’t they work a little harder. And if there was the odd side effect? Well, no one really cared about the miners anyway.
Were the miners on her home world just as miserable? Probably, but it would be different when we own Tirnanog once more, Biddy told herself. Then the mines will be owned by the people that work in them. And we’ll do it right.
15:00 came and went. Biddy looked around the hall. There was no one there apart from the groups of sullen miners and an elderly lady wrapped in an enormous scarf.
“Where the hell is he?” Phil asked, his hand reaching towards his weapon.
“Calm down,” Biddy said, watching the old lady as she looked around the stalls, keeping the scarf tight around her body against the cold. The tartan scarf.
“Ah.”
By the time Biddy reached her the woman was already smiling in recognition. “You’ll be the Detective?”
“Biddy Mackay.”
“Cher MacLeod.”
“So you are our observer,” Biddy said to fill the silence.
“That’s right, dear.” The woman looked like a kindly grandmother from a fairy-tale with curled grey hair and a sagging, wrinkled face that seemed to be set in a permanent twinkly smile. But this was a member of Scotclan, and Biddy was under no illusions that this woman would be anything but a hard case.
“Let me show you onboard.”
“Oh, I can show myself around. Please, just act as if I’m not here.”
Definitely a secret hardass, Biddy thought as she watched the woman bustle up the ramp onto the spaceship. She just had to hope that her crew would not be easily fooled.
The Detective walked back to the ship, aware that the woman was following her. Phil stayed by her side, casting suspicious looks as if the old lady was about to thrust a dagger into Biddy’s side. Mind you, it was probably best not to rule it out.
Biddy started off by walking more slowly than usual, but when it became clear that the old woman was still pretty spritely she upped her pace.
“Do you know why they call this satellite Joker?” The woman named Macleod asked as they walked towards the Black Maria.
“No idea.”
“They are all named after a deck of cards. Ace of spades and so on. Ever played a card game?”
“No. Is it an old Earth thing?” Perhaps the woman was a little addled, Biddy thought, unless there was an ulterior motive to the small talk.
“Yes. I once played an Admiral at Rummy in orbit of Saturn.”
“This is the ship,” Biddy said, cutting short the conversation with more than a little relief. “Do you want to do a walk-around, I can show you the engine room?”
“No thank you, I’m not here to examine the starship.” Macleod climbed up the steps to the airlock, leaving Biddy convinced that she was going to be observing a certain Scotclan detective and nothing else.
“Bring it on,” Biddy muttered under her breath as she climbed up behind the woman. Phil came up and sealed the airlock behind them.
“I’ll show you to your cabin and you can drop off your luggage. We’ll be leaving the station in half an hour or so, perhaps you’d like to observe from the command room?”
“Of course. I’ll see you there.” The woman disappeared into her cabin and the door clanged shut.
Biddy looked at Phil and shrugged. “I guess they could have sent somebody worse.”
The bodyguard took a knife from his boot and examined the blade thoughtfully. “Could be. But I’ll keep close to you just in case.”
Biddy doubted that Macleod was likely to attack her onboard her own ship, but she knew that it was better to have an overcautious bodyguard than a lazy one.
“Thanks. Now I need to make a quick call.”
This time when she answered the call, Biddy’s mother was wrapped in a pink toweling robe.
“This isn’t really a good time,” the older woman said.
“I can see that,” Biddy said, choking down a giggle. “Let me guess, you’ve got someone waiting next door?”
“I don’t know where you got that filthy mind from, youngster. And there might be a handsome Venusian pilot waiting in there so please make it quick.”
Biddy tried not to be depressed that her mother’s love life was so much more interesting than her own.
“I just need to run a name by you, mum. We’ve got a woman on the ship, an observer sent by Scotclan.”
“They’ve put you under observation?” Biddy’s mother bristled with indignation.
“I know. But it’s not a problem, only I need to know what I’m up against. Her name is Cher Macleod.”
“Macleod? Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Damnit Biddy, you are really in the brown stuff now. I thought that old hag was long dead. She trained Grand Chief Forbes himself, back in the day. We used to be scared of her back in the off-world satellites twenty years ago. She was an enforcer for the miners on Iona Beach.”
Iona Beach. The words kept haunting this mission.
“What did Macleod have to do with Iona Beach?”
Biddy’s mother rubbed some cream into her hands but she didn’t break eye contact. “When the Knights evicted the Celts from the planet they kept some of the Clans to do the mining, you know that, right?”
“Right,” Biddy rubbed her chin, trying to remember. “But Scotclan wasn’t happy about the ones that stayed. They said they couldn’t be part of the Celtic alliance if they collaborated with the Knights.”
“Uh huh. That’s what it was like at first. Us and them. And the ones that stayed on the planet were the first to become part of the Faith.”
Biddy massaged her temples. She couldn’t help but feel that this was all vitally important, but all she wanted was a hot shower and a sleep.
“Okay, but somehow the whole Celtic alliance ended up worshipping the Gods.”
“Eventually, yes. But the rift never really healed. The people who stayed on Tirnanog didn’t want to be part of the Clans by that point. They were kind of pissed off that Scotclan hadn’t backed them up. I don’t know the details, this was all before I was even born.”
“So how does Macleod fit into it?”
“The people on Tirnanog were being courted by the Knights. They have always opposed the Gods and you know how it ended.”
“There was an uprising,” Biddy said, more sure about this part of the story. “The people on Tirnanog took it from the Augments and declared allegiance to the Knights.”
Mary nodded. “And the Clans lost Iona Beach, Tirnanog and the whole shebang. Anyway, the part you might not know is that they didn’t want to stop there. They wanted all the planets controlled by the Clans. There were skirmishes for decades. One of the nastiest was on one of the moons of Saturn. Twenty years ago there was a massive off-world satellite orbiting Saturn. It used the gravity pull of one of the moons. Its name was Petrichor.”
A tug of memory pulled at Biddy, but she was tired and it was hard to keep up. “There was… wasn’t there a battle or something?”
“That’s right. The Knights were making a stand. They wanted to take the satellite from the Clans. Of course, it was a gesture more than anything else. There were only twenty people on the satellite, it was just an old research station. But they fought back.”
/> “That was Macleod?”
“Oh yes. Twenty people onboard the satellite and by the time the battle was over there was only one left. Macleod.”
“But I thought the Clan won? The Knights retreated to Tirnanog.”
“They won all right. But the word is that Macleod sacrificed every single person onboard to make it happen. When Scotclan came aboard they found Macleod sealed in the control room. It was the only area of the ship that still had oxygen. All the other airlocks had been opened. She had sacrificed the lot of them.”
“Why?”
“To stop the Knights getting the satellite. They couldn’t come aboard if the place was already a vacuum. That was how we won the war. A nice wee bedtime story for you.”
“That’s great.” Biddy felt bile rising in her throat. “And now I’m stuck with Macleod on my ship.”
Her mother nodded. “Watch your back, that’s all I’m saying. Since Saturn she’s been employed as a fixer by Scotclan and she’s still as ruthless as ever. Now can I get back to my friend?”
“Sure. Bye mum.”
Chapter 14
Hadn’t some famous Earthen thinker said that the point of weapons was to make them look so scary that you never had to use them? That was what was on Lu Tang’s mind as he looked at the rocket that Tibo caressed with one wrinkled hand. It was as big as ten men, shined so that it reflected the stars and covered in warning symbols.
“You’re sure it will do the job?” He asked Tibo.
“You fire this towards the entrance to one of the mines it’ll collapse the whole thing. It’s called an oscillator because it creates pulses of force. That takes care of fifty miles worth of tunnels.”
“Excellent.” Lu Tang stifled a yawn. He was definitely having some difficulty with his augmented senses. He should have been racing along on manufactured adrenaline, but he felt like going for a nap. Perhaps it was all the mental effort of the last few days. After so long planning everything from his prison cell on Widdershins 3, it was a completely different challenge to actually arrange things in person. He found talking to humans like Tibo increasingly taxing. And the rocket felt too much like a lump hammer being used to thread a needle.