Secrets of the Tau by Cavan Scott

Author:Cavan Scott
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2019-07-23T12:46:09+00:00

The captain turned to Mekki. ‘What about you, Tech-Head? Take your pick.’

The Martian strolled up and down the weapon bays, before retrieving a long, wand-like device. It had a power pack at one end and forked prongs at the other. Amity nodded in appreciation. ‘A shock-prod. Not a bad choice, although you’ll have to be up close and personal for it to work. Have neither of you really handled a weapon before?’

‘I have,’ Mekki said, drawing a shocked glance from Zelia.

‘When?’

He slipped the prod into a pocket on his backpack. ‘Long before I met your mother. When I esc–’ He paused, that nerve pulsing between his electoos again. ‘I mean, when I left Mars.’

Once again, Zelia realised how little she knew about the Martian, but this wasn’t the time for more questions.

Satisfied, Amity ushered them out of the armoury.

‘So, what happened with your Jokaero? I’m assuming that Karter didn’t want to return the merchandise.’

Zelia and Mekki followed her back to the bridge, Grunt lumbering behind.

‘No,’ Zelia admitted. ‘He said he bought him fair and square.’

‘And your ganger friend?’ Amity asked, fastening her hair in a ponytail as she strode onto the flight deck.

Zelia shook her head. ‘I’ve no idea where Talen is.’

The captain took a deep breath. ‘Then, I guess it’s down to me.’

‘What do you mean?’ Zelia asked, as Amity checked the charge on her beamer.

‘I still have business of my own to attend to, but after I’m done, I’ll swing by Karter’s. Maybe I can persuade him to change his mind.’

Amity returned the gun to her belt and recovered her hat from Grunt’s head.

‘Protect the children,’ she told the servitor. ‘Nothing bad happens to them. Do you understand?’

Grunt’s head jerked forwards in a rough approximation of a nod, and Amity slapped the servitor on its metal arm.

‘Excellent.’ She swept from the bridge, telling Zelia and Mekki to stay on the ship until she returned.

Once they were alone, Mekki started checking his wrist-screen.

‘What are you doing?’ Zelia asked.

‘Looking for mentions of thinking drones.’

‘Like Karter’s?’

Mekki nodded, although it soon became clear that his database contained nothing that could help. He moved to a nearby console, slipping his haptic implants into an access port, and consulted the ship’s own computer banks.

‘Anything?’ Zelia asked, but Mekki shook his head.

‘I am afraid not. Of course, any information on Abominable Intelligence would probably have been expunged from the records.’ The Martian’s face darkened. ‘I should have thought of that.’

Zelia couldn’t let him get maudlin. ‘We’ll just have to improvise.’ She turned to leave. ‘Come on. Karter must have left by now.’

The Martian hesitated.

‘What is it?’ Zelia asked.

‘The captain told us to stay on board the ship.’

‘She works for us,’ Zelia reminded him, ‘not the other way around.’

‘But the drone…’ Mekki said, as Zelia went to leave. ‘I still do not know how to deactivate it. Perhaps it is better if we leave it to Captain Amity.’

Zelia shook her head. ‘If Amity goes in guns blazing, there’s a chance that Fleapit could get hurt.’ Then she turned to Grunt.

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