“Understood. And the crew that have debt bonds to the Clan?”
Another pause. “Ah yes, I see that several of your crew owe Clan debts. Yes they will be wiped clean, if that is another condition of yours?”
Was that a note of grudging respect in the Chief’s voice?
“It is,” Biddy replied, a little of the tension easing from her shoulders.
“Your own debt however…”
“Once again, I understand,” Biddy said firmly, before the man could blurt out any more details.
Innes stood up. “I will send over the contract before you reach Fast Light. Tread carefully Mackay, I suspect this mission will prove more difficult than either of us anticipates.”
The screen clicked off.
“That was… interesting,” Elvis said from the back of the room.
“Shouldn’t you be watching my engines?” Biddy said, not looking round. She heard a chuckle from behind her but ignored it.
“Francesca, have you plotted the flight plan yet?”
The navigator pressed something on her console and a map of the galaxy filled the viewscreen. “This was the route I had planned.”
They all stared at it. Biddy pointed at a small cluster of stars. “In a week we’ll be at the Fuller system to pick up our new passenger. A Scotclan observer is a pain in the ass, but it doesn’t change anything. I want to be as prepared as possible before they show up. I’m going to get the Geek working on intel on the Augment, but I need each one of you to be one hundred percent focused on your work. Don’t let the Clan have any reasons to think we’re not the best in the business, okay?”
The crew murmured assent.
“Don’t you think it’s a bit strange that he didn’t say Blessed Be?” Kenzie said softly. “I thought all the high up Scotclan types were of the Faith?”
“It’s not that simple,” Biddy replied, although she had a point. Did that mean that the Chief did not worship the Gods? Was that why he was happy enough to let her hunt the Augment?
“Permission to speak freely?” Elvis said.
“Would it make a difference if I said no?”
“Nope.” The engineer gave her a perfect white smile. “Listen, what happens if against all the odds we do manage to find this Augment. What happens then? How exactly are we going to capture a God?”
“Can we just shoot him?” Hastings muttered. Biddy didn’t meet his eyes. She knew he was thinking about his brother.
“Apart from the fact that we don’t shoot people unless we really, really have to, we definitely can’t shoot an Augment.”
“It’s because of the murder clause, right?” Francesca said.
Biddy grimaced. “That’s one of the problems.”
“What’s the murder clause?” Kenzie asked.
Francesca paused, waiting for the nod from Biddy. When she gave it the Navigator turned to the young girl. “The murder clause applies to all Augments, not just this guy. You see, no one is allowed to kill an Augment. No matter what they do. They are just too valuable. That’s why they put that thing in their heads so they can’t commit suicide.”
“The God chip.”
“Yeah, that’s what people call it. And if any of us mere mortals were to kill an Augment it would be… well, a million times worse than murder. Because it would be killing a God.”
“So what happens if you did kill him?” Hastings asked. “Hypothetically, obviously.”
“The murder clause,” Biddy explained. “Your life and the lives of everyone involved in the Augment’s death would be instantly forfeit. It’s the only crime for which the death penalty is automatic.”
“Right. Don’t kill the Augment. Got it.”
Biddy stood up to leave. “Let me worry about the Augment. I want you to worry about Scotclan. This cruiser needs to be in perfect shape when we let them onboard. Now get to work.”
The Geek had made his nest in a small room just off the engine cooling system. As such it was always slightly too warm for Biddy who unzipped the front of her spacesuit to let some air cool her clammy skin.
“You’ve looked at the log of the mission?” Biddy said as she walked in. The Geek wasn’t much interested in small talk and that suited her just fine.
“Sure.” The small figure was wrapped in a jumper two sizes too big for him. “I’m working on the intel already. An interesting case.”
“That’s an understatement. This Augment…”
“I’m on it already. I’ve taken all the info that your robofreak provided us with. I’m running it through the cloud right now, but a lot of the systems are dodgy this far out in the solar system. Local servers are fine, but lots of the archives are difficult to access.”
“You’ll get there,” Biddy said, although it wasn’t exactly what she wanted to hear. Her job relied on good quality intel, and if that was lacking it was just one other thing to worry about.
“Sure. But it might take a while.”
“Start with the Westward Ho!. That should still be on the news cloud. Cross reference with any Augment activity nearby.”
Geek sniffed. “I know what I’m doing.”
Biddy managed to avoid rolling her eyes. Geek was off the scale smart, but he was touchy about his inexperience. As if many other fifteen year-olds could have held down a role on a ‘tec ship.
“Of course you do,” Biddy said. “But the problem is that at the moment the net is pretty wide. I need everything on the Augments and the locations you’ve already taken down. We’ll sift through it later. Oh, and I’ve got another job for you.” Biddy tapped the screen and brought up a picture of the plastic man. “Find out about this guy. Whoever is controlling this avatar is our client. Or someone who works for them. I want to
