by T E Olivant
“Time to get up,” a sneering voice said from the door.
Lu Tang opened his eyes. The plate of curry was cold. Had he been truly asleep? Well, no matter. Two men stood waiting in the doorway, the muscle from earlier and another young man in greasy overalls. Both were at least a foot taller than him and looked like they could handle themselves. Even so Lu Tang was sorely tempted to attack. A swift punch to the throat of the one on the left followed by a kick to the groin of the other would incapacitate them in moments. But what would that achieve apart from soothing his mind?
Better to keep his temper and attack when his enemies were at their lowest ebb.
“Mackay is waiting for you,” the bodyguard said. “So get moving or we’ll drag you to her.”
Lu Tang moved from his bench and followed the men along the corridor. There was no point in attacking the pawns, he told himself. He would save his strength to kill the Queen.
Chapter 25
At first, Biddy had been hoping that the Augment would talk. She was worried that he would stay silent, and she would never get the answers to her questions. Within about five minutes of getting him into the interview room, however, she realized the problem would be getting him to shut up.
“I knew they’d send someone after me. I sort of thought it would be someone a bit more impressive than a child with a laser pistol.”
“I’m twenty-seven,” Biddy said. “I’m a detective working for Scotclan. And it’s a stungun.”
The Augment smirked again. “What’s the matter, too scared to use lethal force?”
“You’ll have heard of the murder clause,” Biddy said, just about managing to speak through gritted teeth. The stungun was at her hip, but she kept her hand on it where Lu Tang could see. Elvis and Phil were also in the room, just waiting for the Augment to try something. Hoping he would, judging by their tense faces.
“Ah yes, I had forgotten. One of the worst tendencies of Gods is to punish blasphemy rather severely. If it helps, I won’t tell anyone if you kill me right now.”
Was the guy making a joke? Man, he was obnoxious. She looked up at the camera on the wall. Of course, every moment in this room would be recorded as part of the suspect’s testimony. But that meant she had to watch her step as well. No doubt Campbell would love to find something in her actions that he could use to bump her back down to a probationer.
“Let’s go back to the start,” Biddy said, firmly. It was time she showed the Augment who was in control. “What is your name?”
“Lu Tang.”
Biddy shook her head. “No, it isn’t. That alias has only existed for a few weeks. I want to know your real name, please.”
The Augment’s fingers tapped against the table in front of him. It was an annoying, arrhythmic sound and it was getting on her nerves.
“Lu Tang will suffice for the moment.”
Biddy’s hand tensed on the stungun. The Augment noticed and let out a chuckle.
“You know,” she said softly, “no laws exist to stop me from electrocuting you in the nuts.”
“Charming,” the Augment said and winked at her.
Biddy was finding it hard to reconcile the irritating creature in front of her with everything the Clan had taught her about the Gods. All knowing, all powerful… not all good. Not even the most ardent of believers thought that the Augments were all good. But still, the Gods were meant to be something above and beyond even the comprehension of a lowly human. This guy just seemed like any other arrogant alpha male type.
But there was still that tiny sliver of doubt. It wasn’t like she was a true Faithful or anything, but she still had that niggling feeling in the back of her brain that she was wrong to even speak to a being like the Augment. What would it do to her soul if she did hand him over to Scotclan?
Biddy shuddered. She needed to stop worrying about the whole God thing. In front of her was a guy who had most likely murdered two hundred people. An asshole. Remember that.
“You look like you’re thinking hard about something. Better be careful not to overtax that puny human brain of yours.”
“I was thinking about how easy it would be to take you back to the surface and blame your unfortunate death on a group of angry miners,” Biddy sniped back. “No murder clause then.”
“Ah, but you seem the type to be afflicted with a terrible case of morality. No, I don’t think you would let others take the blame for my demise. More is the pity.”
Biddy stared up at the ceiling. She wanted to get rid of him so badly, and yet she wanted answers even more. Perhaps it was time to try another tactic.
“I’m sorry that your friend was shot,” she said.
“Tibo? An acquaintance, nothing more. But shooting him was a little unnecessary. I trust he is receiving medical attention?”
“Yes. He’s stable, for now. When we return to Eritree I’ll arrange to have him transferred to a more extensive medical facility.”
“He is talking?”
“No. Unconscious.”
Biddy tried to gage the man’s reaction, but if anything he was disconnected. He certainly didn’t seem to feel any concern for the man who had helped him. What an asshole.
“You don’t seem the shoot first kind of girl,” the Augment said.
“Detective, not girl. And no, I’m not. Actually it wasn’t me or any member of my crew that shot him, it was someone else.”
“Someone else?”
“An observer we had been obliged to take onboard. From Scotclan.”
“That would be the same organization as Chief Campbell?”
“Yes.”
“May I ask why they are interested in me?”
Biddy’s eyebrows shot up. “Why do you think? You killed everyone onboard the Westward Ho!”
“Do you really think I was responsible for that ship going down? Do you simply believe everything you’re told? I was told you were a Detective? Perhaps the meaning of the word has changed in the last century.”
“Hey,” Biddy said, not appreciating the guy’s tone one little bit. “You’re lucky I haven’t let my crew rip you to pieces. Whole families were on that spaceship for God’s sake.”
“For my sake? Oh no, definitely not mine, as I believe I made clear.”
Biddy moved closer so that she was staring straight into the Augment’s large black pupils. “You are not a God.”
Biddy heard an intake of breath from behind her, either Phil or Elvis, she couldn’t see which without taking her eyes off the Augment.
Lu Tang stared at her. “Maybe you are not so stupid after all.”
Was there such a thing as hate at first sight? It would be beyond evil to kill a God, a crime for which there could never be forgiveness. But at that moment Biddy Mackay would have happily broken the man’s neck.
“Tell me about the Westward Ho!,” Biddy demanded.
“No. Not when you have already made your mind up.”
“Then tell me what you were doing on Eritree.”
Now the Augment simply sat back and shook his head. Well, two could play that game. She stood up.
“Take him back to his cell,” she said to Phil. Then she turned back to the Augment. “If you don’t tell me everything in the next hour then I’m going to hand you over to Campbell. And he’s the one that sent me the Observer who shot your friend. So there’s a good chance you won’t get off his ship alive. Just think about that for the next fifty-nine minutes.”
The Augment glared at her as he was led out of the room, but that was just fine. It meant she might actually be getting under his skin.
Biddy called the Geek her datapad as she walked out of the interview room.
“Any luck?” she asked before he had a chance to speak.
“I’ve only had a couple of hours.”
“But you’ve got something, right?”
“I’ve checked his datapad,” the Geek said. Biddy grinned, she had taken it out of the life-raft just in case there was something on it. “Looks like he h
ad a meeting with someone just a few hours ago.”
“Good work. Do you know who the meet was with?”
“I traced him easy enough. Minor criminal by the look of it, working for one of the gangs based in Moscov. Might have ties to some relatively big players if his recent spending is anything to go by. Want me to track him down?”
Biddy rubbed her eyes. She shouldn’t really be spending any more time on this. They had the prey after all. Soon enough he would confess and she would hand him over to Campbell. And yet… she wanted to know what the Augment was up to.
“Do you have a number there for him?”
“Let me check… yes, I’ve got the number the Augment was using for him.”
“Call it then and patch me through.”
The Geek went silent for a moment. “Don’t you want to… I don’t know, track him down at home and ambush him or something? Just calling a bad guy seems a little obvious.”
“I’m on the clock. Either he’ll talk to me or he won’t. Both will tell me something about him. Go on, make the call.”
The Geek’s worried face disappeared, to be replaced by a holding screen. Then an unfamiliar face popped up. It was handsome but a bit too manicured in a way that suggested someone who spent too long in front of the mirror. His hair was just ridiculous.
“This is Biddy Mackay and I am speaking to you as a member of Scotclan. Please don’t end the call.”
“Why would I do that?”
The young guy’s teeth were whiter than nature had ever intended. Biddy knew that Detectives should reserve judgement, but she’d already decided she hated the guy.
“All right girly, what can I do for you,” he said, looking her up and down with a smirk. Yep, definitely true hatred.
“You had a meeting with a man a few hours ago. This person is now in our custody. I would like to know what the meeting was about.”
“Ah, I know who you are now. You’re the girl who saw off the head of the Council on the surface. You’ve really made an enemy there, by the way.”
“I’ve made a few today.”
The man laughed an annoying hissing little laugh. “So I’ve heard. I’d bet folding on it that you don’t last the week.”
Biddy glared at the datapad. “Listen, I’m not here for a chat. Either you speak to me, or you get hauled into a cell by a Scotclan Chief.”
“Scotclan. That makes you a ‘tec, right?”
“Right.”
“Well, Detective girly, you better know this. You are in way over your head. If you think your little band of tartan cops can do anything about what’s going down in this system.”
“You’ve been watching too many old Earthen movies.”
The man’s grin turned into a sneer. “And you’ve not seen enough. You know those ones where plucky young cop gets killed before the end of the first act, that’s what we’re in right now.”
Biddy clicked to end the call. Clearly the asshole wasn’t going to tell her anything more.
“You recorded that call, right Geek?”
“Of course,” a disembodied voice answered.
“Good. Think you can trace where his signal came from?”
“Give me an hour.”
Chapter 26
Lu Tang had been back in his cell for forty-five minutes and he still hadn’t decided what to do. This kind of indecision was unusual for him, and he was not finding it a particularly pleasant experience. He had been forced to admit that the child-Detective was not entirely without intelligence. The interview had been frustrating for both of them, but the ultimatum was a neat strategy. Of course, there were ways around it, but here again the girl had been careful. Mackay had made sure that he had been thoroughly searched then securely locked in a cell without any convenient escape routes. Perhaps he had underestimated her.
Still, he would figure his way out of this newest form of capture soon enough. It was a question of timing rather than method. Would it be better to escape now before this Scotclan organization took custody of him? Or would it be better to wait until there was someone more important that he would be able to bribe.
He laid back on the bench that was the cell’s sole piece of furniture and stretched out his legs. He might even be comfortable here, as long as no one tried to feed him any of the terrible stuff that came out of the canteen. Yes, there were worse places to spend an hour.
There was a slight vibration on the bed. He looked down and saw that one of his calves was twitching. Strange that he couldn’t feel it. He did a mental biology check: hormones were normal if a little elevated for stress, nervous system was reporting no anomalies. But there was an anomaly, even if it was a small one. Perhaps the last few weeks of exertion had misaligned some aspect of his physiology. Shame he didn’t have the facilities for a full medical. His captors were probably unlikely to provide him with one.
He closed his eyes once more. In ten minutes he would give the Detective her answer. No point in worrying about it until then.
A sound made him sit back up. The door opened and a man he had never seen before walked in. He wore a spacesuit with a pilot’s badge on the side and when he entered he made sure to lock the door behind him.
“Hello murderer,” the man said, almost casually. “Do Gods say prayers? If so you might want to think of a few right now.”
It was then that Lu Tang noticed the man was holding a gun.
Chapter 27
Biddy looked at her datapad. It was time to check on her prisoner, but something was making her hesitate. The Augment unsettled her, that was the problem. In her brief time as a Detective she had apprehended seven murderers. And this Lu Tang was not like any of them.
Murderers were either cocky or terrified. This guy had been neither. Sure, there was an element of the cocky about him, a sort of general Godly arrogance, but that had disappeared when she had mentioned the deaths of the people onboard the Westward Ho!. When she had asked him about the ship he hadn’t seemed cocky. Or afraid. He had seemed vaguely confused, like he had missed something important. And that wasn’t the reaction of a guilty man.
Shit. Biddy rubbed her face. She wasn’t starting to think he might be innocent, was she? She put down her datapad and walked back towards the cells. It was time for the Augment to answer her questions. If he still refused then she would have no choice but to hand him over to Scotclan. And maybe that would be for the best. At least then he would be someone else’s problem.
When Biddy entered the room she knew instantly that it had all gone to shit. The Augment was not lying on the bench. He was standing against the wall with his hands on his head. And there was a man in front of him pointing a gun right between his eyes.
“Hastings! Put that gun down!”
“Walk away, Biddy. Just turn your back and walk away.”
Biddy edged closer. She could see the sweat running down the Captain’s temple.
“I can’t do that, Hastings.”
“He killed my brother!” Biddy felt an almost physical pain looking at the Captain. She could see how much this was costing him. He was a practical man not given to big gestures. He would never have hurt anyone normally. And yet, for him to go this far meant that he fully intended to go through with it.
As well as the horror that was rising up from the soles of her feet, Biddy couldn’t help but feel wracked with guilt. Biddy Mackay, foolish young space Detective, had put Hastings in this situation and she would have to be the one to talk him out of it. The alternative was unthinkable.
“I’m not sure that’s true,” Biddy said, trying to keep her tone light rather than going into hysterics. “The evidence is not as clear as we thought.”
“He’s got you believing his lies now. Look at him! He’s not even human anymore. How can you trust anything he says?”
“I don’t. He’s a liar and a thief. But I’m not sure he is responsible for the Westward Ho!. Please Hastings, don’t forget about the murder clause. He’s just not worth it.”
“But…�
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“Your life and your family’s lives. That’s what it’ll cost if you kill him. Is that really what you want?”
Hastings shook his head but he didn’t lower the gun.
Biddy took a ragged breath. “Remember when we were chasing that rogue symbot across the surface of the Moon? The whole time I didn’t look back to see if you were following me. Why was that, Captain?”
“Because you didn’t need to,” Hastings said, and Biddy praised whatever was left of her shattered faith that he was willing to go along with her this far.
“I didn’t need to. Because I knew that you would always be right there behind me, where I needed you to be. Well, I need you now Hastings. I need you to stay with me. If you shoot this asshole now then I’ll lose you. And you’re going to lose a hell of a lot more.”
“We could just push him out an airlock. No one would know.”
“Do you think the idea hasn’t occurred to me? Sure, we get rid of this bastard and the universe is a little bit richer for it. But what happens the next time we take a suspect? Do we do the same? And the next time? I signed up to Scotclan to be a Detective, not a vigilante. And I think you did too.”
The gun was wavering now in Hastings hand. But it was still pointed at the Augment. If the God only lost a limb then would the murder charge still hold? Biddy didn’t particularly want to find out.
“Please, Captain. You’ve trusted me before. Do it now. Put the gun down and walk away.”
Hastings hesitated, just for a second. Biddy used that moment to position herself between him and the Augment.
“Sorry,” Hastings whispered.
“It’s okay,” Biddy said, taking the gun from his hand.
“I wasn’t saying it to you. I’m saying it to my brother. I’m sorry I didn’t have the guts to kill the bastard for him.”