by T E Olivant
Never had Biddy felt more like punching Macleod in her smug, supercilious face. All those deaths on the Westward Ho!, the imprisonment of the Augments, the poor, crumpled body of Lu Tang lying just meters away… And now the woman wanted her to accept a promotion? It was beyond the pale!
Biddy took a step forward to tell the old woman exactly what she thought of her, but she stopped as a gentle hand squeezed her arm.
“Maybe leave it for another day, eh ‘tec?” Elvis said, his voice sounding just as tired as she was.
Biddy took a deep breath. “All right Macleod. You win, for now.”
“I’m glad you see it that way, Inspector. All right, clansmen, let’s get this place cleaned up.” With that she turned on her heel and started ordering about the people in the room, men and Gods alike.
“Is she watching me?” Biddy murmured to Elvis.
“No.”
“Good.” Biddy walked over to Lu Tang’s corpse. She leaned down beside him and put her mouth to his ear. “We did it,” she said softly. The face was as cold as marble, but as the Detective watched one eyelid gave out the tiniest flutter. It was enough.
Epilogue
The hospital bed in Moscov was cutting edge technology. It used anti-gravity devices so that the patient could float in any position, eliminating the traditional hazards of muscle wastage and bed sores. Biddy could tell that it had slightly disappointed the doctors from Eritree that Lu Tang had elected to lie flat on his back.
“I am getting better,” the man said quietly, in answer to her insistent question. “I will never fully recover, of course. But no man can truly recover from mortality, can they?”
Biddy nodded. The strange being who had once been a God seemed to have developed a rather irritating habit of philosophical speech. But he had let her shoot him, so the Detective figured she would just have to put up with it.
“Any news on Campbell?” Lu Tang managed to say before collapsing into a coughing fit. Biddy held the bottle to his mouth and watched as he gulped down some fluids.
“Macleod isn’t saying much,” the Detective replied, once Lu Tang was comfortable once more. “I’ve got a feeling the Clan would like to quietly retire him. But I’ve submitted the reports on the Westward Ho! to the judges. I won’t let them get away with all those deaths.”
“Good,” Lu Tang said, his eyes closed.
“Why did you let me do it?” Biddy asked suddenly. “The doctors said I could have killed you, even with the stungun. You must have known that.”
“Ah, well. One of the few things denied to the Gods is the ability to die. I suppose I liked the idea of regaining that strength.”
“But you’re not a God, are you?”
“Who’s to say? Kepler wasn’t a God, but Lu Tang just might be. It’s something I’ve got to think about.”
“Ah, right.” Biddy was totally out of her depth. Luckily at that moment a young female doctor arrived with a stern face.
“It’s time for your pain relief, Mr. Tang.” The woman pressed a button on the bed and Lu Tang’s eyelids began to droop.
“Thank you, Detective,” Lu Tang murmured.
Biddy managed a small nod. Just because he had turned out to be more victim than perpetrator, didn’t mean that she liked the man.
“He’ll be out for a couple of hours,” the Doctor explained, tucking the covers neatly around him. As she leant down to check his pulse, Biddy could have sworn the woman muttered ‘blessed be’.
The Scotclan detective rubbed her eyes. She was tempted to lie down beside him. Biddy had managed a couple of hours sleep once she had been allowed to return to the Black Maria, but it hadn’t made up for the days spent junked up on adrenaline. Her body hadn’t worked out that the case was over yet.
All of her crew had been granted official pardons. Even Elvis had returned to the fold, but Biddy hadn’t decided what to do about him yet. Or Hastings, who was still officially under investigation for trying to kill Lu Tang. Just because the portal drive was gone didn’t mean that any of her problems had disappeared. And Macleod seemed to be sitting pretty in the heart of Scotclan, and that wasn’t something that filled her with confidence.
Biddy sat and listened to Lu Tang’s breathing, slow and steady. Perhaps she could just close her eyes for a second –
A figure appeared in the doorway. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, a face of such age, such calmness that the only word for it was holy. There should have been a bright light, a choir of heavenly voices. Anything other than a small cough and a shuffle of feet.
“Would you like a tea?” Tolly, the Head of the Gods, most powerful and divine creature in the universe held out a mug.
Biddy swallowed. “Yes, thank you,” she said. As she took the cup from his hand their fingers met for a moment and she was surprised to feel… nothing. Warm dry skin. Just like any other human.
“Our friend is sleeping, I see.”
“He won’t ever fully recover,” Biddy said, the accusation clear in her voice. “He’ll never be able to live a normal life after what was done to him.”
Tolly smiled and it was like the sun shining down from heaven. Biddy found this completely infuriating.
“What is normal?” Tolly replied, his fingertips pressed together. “One might say that your own life has been far from normal. And I hear that you are to be promoted. Would you prefer a normal life?”
“Lu Tang never had a choice.”
Tolly nodded. “Is that the name he has chosen? Yes, you are correct. He was a victim of the actions of others. But that need not define his future. He can do that himself.”
Was there any Augment that didn’t love the sound of his own voice? Biddy folded her arms. “I just need to know something. Did you know?”
Tolly raised an eyebrow. “You mean did I know that he wasn’t really an Augment?”
“Yes.”
“Not at first. It was entirely possible that someone had slipped through the net. But I was pretty sure he wasn’t who Scotclan said he was. And then when I spoke to him it started to become clear. His body was shutting down, rejecting the augmentation process. If he had been a true Augment that process would have completed hundreds of years ago.”
Biddy chewed her cheek. She believed Tolly, or wanted to anyway. She hated to think that anyone could have known the truth about Lu Tang and let him carry on.
“You sent the plastic man. You hired me.”
Tolly’s face didn’t lose an atom of composure. “When I heard about the Westward Ho! I had to do something. If the Clans wanted the Augments badly enough to cause such a tragedy… well, I knew that it had to stop. I knew you had the reputation of being something of a rebel, and I took a chance. I’d say it paid off.”
“Would you?” Biddy shrugged. She glanced at the sleeping figure on the bed. Biddy thought she had never felt so sorry for anyone in her life. “What will you do with him?”
“Take him home with me. He may not be a normal Augment, but he has earned the right to be one of us. He can come back to Mars.”
“And if he doesn’t want to go?”
“Then I won’t force him. But I think he might just come with me. Otherwise, he’ll be one more piece of property for Scotclan and its enemies to fight over.”
Biddy rubbed a hand over her eyes. There were a hundred things she should be doing right now. Making up with Scotclan would be a good start. Sorting out what was left of her ship might be another. And yet, she couldn’t help but feel there was somewhere else she was needed more.
“Can I stay here until he wakes up?”
Tolly looked at her for a second, then shrugged. “Humans. So sentimental. Of course, you may stay here as long as you like.”
Biddy’s eyes were shut before the God left the room.
Afterword
Thanks for reading! This new series grew out of my novel The Last Poet Laureate of Mars, set a hundred years earlier. For some reason I couldn’t get Tolly and his augmented friends out of
my head, and kept wondering what would happen next. Biddy Mackay and the Scotclan are what I would imagine will happen to Scottish people a few hundred years in the future. We will never give up our devotion to a nice cup of tea!
If you would like to keep reading Biddy’s adventures around the galaxy, pick up book two in the series, available later in 2021.