Argonaut Affair

5

"The Isle of Lemnos," Tiphys said, steering toward the green island lying ahead of them. "We had best anchor tonight in the protection of its bay, Jason. The sun is getting low and unfamiliar waters can be treacherous at night. Besides, we shall need to go ashore in search of fresh water to replenish our supply."

"And m-m-meat," said Hercules, whacking himself on the belly with a sound like wood splitting.

"Very well," said Jason. "We anchor for the night at Lemnos. Argus, Mopsus, Idmon, Telamon and Oileus, you shall remain with the ship while the rest of us go ashore in search of water and provisions."

"Lemnos," Steiger said, "according to the myth, an island of beautiful Amazon women." He glanced at Delaney and grinned. "Think that's what we'll find?"

"I'm more worried about having a ringer on this voyage," said Delaney.

Steiger nodded, suddenly serious. "If he's among the Argonauts, it would explain the hooded cloak. He wouldn't want to be recognized. But if the centaur's in on some sort of plot with him, why would he want to disguise himself for a private meeting?"

"Maybe the centaur never knew what he really looked like and he wanted to keep it that way. And that raises more questions."

"You said you thought you recognized the voice. None of the Argonauts' voices ring any bells with you?"

Delaney shook his head. "Several of them have deep voices. And whoever it was could have been altering his normal voice."

"Too bad you didn't notice if anyone was missing when you trailed Chiron."

"If anyone had left during the night, one of us should have spotted him," Delaney said. "And if someone left after I did, he should have spotted me."

"If one of these characters was equipped with a warp disc," Steiger said, "he could have clocked out of the cave and to that clearing without anyone noticing."

Delaney glanced at him sharply. "I think we'd better talk about this. Let's see if we can split away from the main group once we're ashore."

They spoke in low voices, but the Argo was not the best place to hold a surreptitious conversation. No space had been wasted in the construction of the galley and they were all in fairly close contact all the time. All three temporal agents had been on ocean voyages before, but no matter what the time period or what type of vessel, one thing about life on the sea remained constant. Time passed very slowly.

The Argo was an uncomplicated vessel. There was no need to climb the rigging to take in or let out sails, because there was only the one simple, triangular lateen sail which could be hoisted or taken down easily and quickly. There was no need to perform maintenance on armaments, because there were none. There was no need to maintain engines or generators, pumps or electrical equipment or any of the other items found on more modern ships. The Argo was as primitive as a ship could be short of the reed vessels of the Polynesians. Shipboard duties were simple. There was not much else to do save row or watch for leaks and bail if the need arose. When they were close to shore, one of the men would go into the bow and let down a weighted rope so that soundings could be taken. Theirs was not an ambitious ocean-crossing voyage so much as an extended offshore cruise. On their course in the Aegean Sea, they were never very far from land and much of their voyage would be spent following the coastline, sailing between the islands and the mainland. With the proper crew and under the right conditions, the Argo might have been capable of crossing an ocean, but even expert sailors would have found it quite a hardship.

The Vikings, sailing roughly similar vessels in the North Sea, braved far more of the dangers of the deep than did the Argonauts, and most of the Argonauts were not experienced sailors. The majority of them were landlubbers to whom the voyage took on epic proportions. When the sea was calm, they rowed, which was backbreaking work. When the winds were fair, they made slow headway under sail with the oars shipped. At such times, there was not a great deal to do on board.

The sun had burned every one of them. They had rigged an awning to provide some very much needed shade, but skin was nevertheless tender and muscles were still sore. Hylas was kept busy applying olive oil to sunburned skin and some of the crew felt seasick, even in the relatively calm seas they had experienced. Delaney, who had once endured a squall in the crow's nest of a British man o'war, wondered uneasily how this crew would fare in the event of a storm.

While they were under sail, a listless lethargy was the prevalent atmosphere on board and even Orpheus, a seemingly inexhaustible source of songs and tales, fell to sitting idly on deck and staring out to sea, lost in his own thoughts. After a day's sail, the Argonauts looked forward to spending time ashore.

They anchored in the small protected bay and waded in, pleased at the prospect of getting in some hunting. They split up into small groups and went off in different directions to explore the island. It gave the temporal agents a chance to go off by themselves.

"You're going to call me a paranoid again," said Steiger, "but hear me out first. I've been thinking about this ever since we left Mount Pelion. Something's wrong here. Someone else is conducting some sort of covert operation on this voyage. Our friend with the hooded cloak really seems to get around. He could be someone in the pay of King Pelias, someone who's infiltrated the Argonauts as we have, but there's another possibility that worries me even more. Our hooded friend might not be working for Pelias at all."

"I'm not calling you a paranoid yet," said Finn, "but I'm reserving judgment.''

"All right. Consider this. The centaur shows up in our time-line, coming through conveniently at a point where we just happen to have Observers stationed. The fact of the centaur's existence predisposes us to consider the possibility that physical laws might be significantly different in this universe. The debriefing of the centaur seems to corroborate the events described in one of our most ancient myths, in which supernatural forces figure prominently. We witness at least one event so far, at Delphi, which appears to be supernatural. We've got some mysterious hooded figure cropping up both at Iolchos and at Pelion. Now maybe supernatural events are natural here, but consider that any one of us could have duplicated the seemingly magical appearance and disappearance of the Oracle… by using a warp disc. Our friend in the hooded cloak might be getting around the same way."

"Wait," said Andre, "let's go back to the beginning for a moment. What do you mean by saying that the centaur appeared 'conveniently' at a point in time where we happened to have Observers on the scene? Assuming it was all planned somehow, how could the opposition have arranged to have a confluence occur at such a convenient point?"

"They didn't have to arrange it," said Steiger. "Suppose they discovered the confluence first. They could have conducted a scouting expedition just as Curtis did. They have the ability to scan for warp discs somehow. Wouldn't it make sense that it would be the first thing they'd do? They could have discovered we had Observers in the area and decided to take advantage of that fact."

"So they created a centaur in their genetic engineering labs, programmed it, and sent it through the confluence to provide us with disinformation meant to send us on some sort of wild goose chase?" said Delaney. "Maybe. It's a long shot, but it's possible, I suppose. But if this whole thing is a setup of some sort, then they'd have to be aware of us. Even if they hadn't spotted us at the very beginning, they'd know about you from the night you tried to follow the hooded man back to Iolchos. They would have had plenty of time to discover your warp disc while you were unconscious. And if they identified you, they'd have to know about us as well, which means that our cover has been blown. So why didn't they relieve you of your warp disc? Why haven't they made any moves?"

"I don't know," said Steiger. "I could be wrong about all this, but my gut tells me we're being waltzed through some kind of scenario by somebody who wants us to accept things just as they appear. I have the feeling we're walking into something."

The ground suddenly seemed to leap up beneath them and seconds later, they were suspended about six feet off the ground in a large rope net. Delaney found himself staring down into the face of a lovely young woman who held a sort of leather bellows in her hands.

"What-" he began, but before he could get the next word out, she squeezed the bellows and blew a suffocating mist into his face. It blinded him and he started coughing violently. Everything started spinning and then all feeling left him.

Delaney awoke in a large room with stone walls. Light was coming into the cell from barred windows high overhead. The floor was cold and damp, made of mortared stone, and lying on it had given him a backache. His head throbbed, his eyes stung and his lungs felt as if he had breathed in acid fumes. He made an effort to sit up and discovered that both his hands and feet were manacled.

The Argonauts were lying all around him in various positions of unconsciousness, similarly shackled. He made a quick head count and saw that they had captured everyone who came ashore. Those who had remained on board the Argo were absent, as was Andre. Steiger rolled slightly and moaned, starting to come around.

"What was that you were saying about walking into something?" said Delaney.

Steiger sat up slowly. "God, my head feels like it's about to burst. What happened?"

"We were netted in some sort of animal trap, then neatly gassed," said Delaney. "We must have been the first ones they caught. The others are still out of it."

Steiger held up his hands and shook the chains. "Slave traders?" he said, grimacing.

"Back in our timeline, they did a pretty brisk slave trade in these days," said Delaney. "But if the one who gassed us was a slave trader, she sure didn't look the part."

"She?"

"You didn't see her?"

"Hell, I turned my head and the next thing I knew, it was like breathing tear gas. I didn't see a thing. What did she look like?"

"Diana."

"Who?"

"The goddess of the hunt. Young, beautiful, cute little figure in a miniskirt, long legs, bow, quiverful of arrows, lovely golden hair-, eyes you could die for…"

"Right, I get the picture. You think we found our Amazons?"

"More like they found us."

"Where's Andre?"

"I don't know."

"Anyone else missing?"

"Only the men back on the boat."

Steiger looked around at the cell. "Lovely accommodations."

"According to the story, they murdered all their men for bringing back concubines from Thrace," said Delaney.

"Is there a point to this or are you just being bright and cheery?"

"Also according to the story, they made the Argonauts quite welcome, if you'll recall."

"That's right," said Steiger, "I'm still not thinking too clearly. They stayed here for a while and enjoyed the company of a lot of horny women and they would have stayed longer if Hercules hadn't kicked their butts back aboard the ship. This part wasn't in the script."

The other Argonauts started to come around. It turned out that several of the hunting parties had been caught in nets as well, others had fallen into pits, the rest were approached by lovely young women and gassed when they allowed them to get close.

"I do not understand this," Jason said. "Were all of us captured by women?"

"Why have we been chained?" roared Hercules, furiously. Suddenly, there was no trace of a stutter. The deep voice rumbled forth smoothly in ringing, stentorian tones. "Who dares chain the son of Zeus?"

He stood and held his arms out before him, pulling the chains taut. The muscles in his shoulders and chest bunched, standing out in sharp relief, and a moment later, the chains snapped cleanly.

Steiger stared, eyes wide. "Jesus, did you see that?" he whispered.

Delaney tried his own chains. "I saw it, but I don't believe it. These links are almost an inch thick!"

Hercules reached down and snapped the chains holding his feet together, then turned his attention to the chains holding Hylas. One by one, he freed each of the Argonauts and when he was done, he wasn't even breathing hard.

"I must be dreaming," Steiger said softly to Delaney. "Nobody could be that strong!"

"Not even Hercules?" Delaney said.

His fury building, Hercules attacked the door, throwing himself against it repeatedly like a charging rhinocerous, until the heavy wood splintered and the hinges broke, sending both Hercules and the door crashing outward into the corridor beyond.

They ran out after Hercules as he stormed down the corridor, roaring at the top of his lungs. He came to a door at the end of the corridor and launched himself against it without breaking stride, smashing through it and into the room beyond.

It was a large central chamber, brightly lit with torches. There were rich tapestries hanging on the walls and thick carpets on the stone floor. There were long, low tables and couches placed around the perimeter of the room and there was a large group of about thirty young women facing them. They were all dressed in short chitons and sandals laced up to their knees. Their hair was worn long and pulled back, fastened by clasps at the nape of the neck. Each of them held a bow drawn back with an arrow nocked and ready to fly. Confronted with this sight, even Hercules was brought up short.

"Is this how you greet all your visitors?" demanded Jason, slowly coming forward with his hands held at his sides. "What have we done to be so rudely treated? Who are you? Why have our weapons been taken? And where are all your men?"

"Our men are gone," said a young woman, coming out from behind the others. She alone carried no weapons. "I am Hypsipyle, Queen of Lemnos. Our men have all gone off to war and women left alone are vulnerable. We feared an attack by our enemies or by pirates, so we made preparations to protect ourselves. We did not know of your intentions. Which of you is Jason?"

"I am Jason, King of Iolchos."

"I ask you to forgive us, Jason," said Queen Hypsipyle. "It appears we acted hastily and misjudged you and your friends." She turned to the other women. "Put down your bows and make these strangers welcome."

"Where is Atalanta?" Delaney said.

"It is she who has convinced me that you came in peace," said Hypsipyle. "If you will follow me, I will take you to her."

She led Steiger and Delaney down one of several corridors branching off from the main chamber. They passed a number of women heading the other way, carrying trays of food. All were young and beautiful and very fit. She stopped before a door and beckoned them inside. It was a bath chamber, filled with steam and fragrant smells from the scented water and the burning braziers. The tiled sunken bath filled most of the room and Andre sat within it, being bathed by two beautiful young women.

"Do you believe this?" Delaney asked, speaking in English. "We get chained and thrown into a cold cell while Cleopatra here gets the red carpet treatment."

"Apparently there are some advantages to being a woman around here," Andre said. "Come on in and get your backs scrubbed."

"You don't have to ask me twice," said Delaney, shucking his chiton and sandals. He got in and one of the women smilingly moved over and began to scrub him gently with a soft-cloth.

Steiger sat down cross-legged on the floor. "Would it be too much trouble to ask just what in hell is happening here?"

Delaney reclined into the woman's arms and sighed. "Right this minute, I'm in no particular hurry to find out."

A woman bent down over Steiger and smiled, gesturing toward the bath, but he shook his head.

"I could force myself to stay here for a while," Delaney said, grinning.

Steiger frowned. "What did you tell Queen What's-her-name?"

"Hypsipyle," Andre said. "She thought I was being kept by the crew against my will, sort of a ship's concubine. I told her I was part of the crew, voluntarily, and we were on a voyage to Colchis to bring back the golden fleece. She thought the Argonauts were pirates. She seems to have a tendency to think the worst of men."

"Have you seen any men here at all?" said Steiger.

"Not a one. No old people or children, either."

"How did Hypsipyle account for that?"

"She said the men were away at war and the children were being kept with the old people on another part of the island, for their protection."

"And none of the men stayed behind to provide this protection?"

"The women seem quite capable of looking after themselves," said Andre, "which makes me wonder why none of them went to war with the men. I spent more time answering questions that asking them. Hypsipyle said you were all being kept in another part of the palace until she could determine whether or not you were a threat. I wasn't sure of my ground, so I didn't want to press her. Apparently, she's decided we're welcome to stay, so long as our stay is brief. Her story is obviously thin, but it matches the events of the myth."

"I know and I don't buy it."

"You sure you don't want a scrub?" Delaney asked.

"Delaney, doesn't any of this seem a little unusual to you?"

"Sure. But that doesn't mean I can't enjoy myself while I think about it. I do my best thinking when I'm relaxed." He looked up at the woman in whose arms he reclined and smiled. "And this sure is relaxing."

Steiger spoke to her in Greek. "Where are all the old people? Where are the children?"

She smiled at him vacuously and shook her head, as if she didn't understand. She beckoned him into the tub.

"No thanks. I'm old enough to wash myself." He got to his feet and switched back to English. "We're obviously not going to get anything out of them. I'm going to take a look around. Something about this mission has to start making sense, sooner or later."

"I thought he said he didn't get tense," said Delaney, after Steiger had left.

"He's right, you know," said Andre. "There's something very peculiar about these women. With the exception of Hypsipyle, they all seem stunted in their development. Childlike. It's as if they were all stamped out of the same mold. They're all young and beautiful, yet somehow asexual."

Delaney reached out and touched the naked breast of the woman bathing him. She made no response. "You think maybe they're just not interested in men?" he said.

"No one's made a pass at me," said Andre. "I've tried communicating with them, but you see what they're like. They don't really seem interested in us at all. We're speaking in a foreign language that they've never heard before and they're not in the least bit curious. I've spoken with Hypsipyle, but nothing I say gets more than a smile out of any of the others. I haven't even heard any of them converse among themselves."

"Interesting," said Delaney, looking thoughtful. "No men, no children and apparently no one over the age of twenty-five. They're all young, all beautiful, and they all act somehow retarded, except in direct response to Hypsipyle. And they only seem capable of limited reactions."

As if in play, Delaney threw his arms around one of the women, then suddenly bit down hard on the flesh of her upper arm.

"Finn!" Andre shouted, shocked by his action.

The woman merely looked puzzled.

"That should have made her scream," said Andre.

Delaney pushed the woman away and got out of the bath. "It should have, only androids don't feel pain."

"Androids!"

"Come on. We'd better go find Creed."

Steiger pressed himself against the wall and waited until the women passed by, then turned the corner. He heard the sounds of music and male laughter from the direction of the main chamber. The women had been carrying trays of food. The Argonauts were being royally entertained. He ran quickly down the length of the corridor until he came to a flight of steps leading down. He listened for a moment, then slowly started down the stairs.

The stone steps led down to a landing, then turned at a right angle and continued down to a floor below ground level. He went down and paused at the end of the stairs. To his left was a large wooden door before which stood two women armed with spears. One of them saw him and immediately came forward, spear held crosswise in front of her.

"I'm sorry," Steiger said in Greek, "I seem to have become lost. I saw my friends coming in this direction and I was trying to find them."

The woman made no other response save pointing in the direction from which he had come, her face expressionless.

The other woman remained near the door, watching them.

"You don't seem to understand," said Steiger. "They came this way, I'm sure of it. They were with the queen."

The woman pointed again, more emphatically.

"What's behind that door?"

She came closer, as if to push him back with her body, still pointing back toward the stairs.

"I get the message," Steiger said. He turned around as if to obey, then spun around again quickly and plucked the spear out of her hands. "All right, now we're going to-"

He ducked quickly and the spear thrown by the other woman passed inches over his head and fell clattering on the stairs behind him. The woman whose spear he had taken grabbed at it, attempting to wrestle it away from him. Steiger twisted to one side and used her strength and momentum to throw her off her feet. The other woman came at him quickly and Steiger held the spear toward her, point first, but she didn't even slow down. Only by jerking the spear away at the last moment did Steiger prevent her from impaling herself on its point.

"Are you crazy? What-"

She was on him and he had to toss the spear behind him to grapple with her. Then her companion joined the fray and Steiger quickly found his hands full. He used a judo throw to flip the first one away from him, then grasped the arm of the second and pivoted, turning her around in front of him and forcing her hand up behind her back in an armlock. She continued struggling and Steiger increased the pressure. It seemed to have no effect. He kept up the pressure, turning her to keep her body between himself and the second woman, who had recovered from his throw and was trying to get at him. Neither of them made a sound as they fought.

Steiger suddenly heard a snapping sound and felt a looseness in the woman's arm. He had broken it and she did not even cry out. He pushed her away and they both came back at him. One of them held a dagger. He had no choice but to stop holding back. He executed a spinning wheel kick and sent the knife flying out of her grasp. She went after it and her companion, now also armed with a blade, came at him. He trapped her wrist, spun backwards into her body and delivered a hard elbow strike into her solar plexus. It should have taken all the fight out of her, but she merely sagged, struggling for breath, while the other woman launched herself at him.

He blocked the knife thrust and delivered a punishing hammer-first blow to the bridge of her nose, breaking it. Blood spurted, but again there was no outcry and the woman kept at him. He smashed a blow into her midsection, knocking the wind out of her, but as she bent over, fighting for breath, her companion was already regaining hers and preparing to rush at him again.

"All right, ladies," Steiger said, breathing hard himself. "From here on in, it's hardball."

As the woman launched herself at him, Steiger's foot arced up in a powerful sidekick and caught her in the throat, smashing the trachea. Blood gushed from her mouth, but she still came at him for several steps before she fell, gargling hideously. Behind them, the heavy wooden door opened and a hooded figure came out. The moment he saw what was happening, he bolted back inside and slammed the door shut. Almost fatally distracted, Steiger twisted at the last moment and his breath hissed out in pain as the dagger slashed along his side. He smashed his elbow into the woman's temple, then drove a hard right into her stomach, doubling her over, and brought the edge of his hand down hard upon the back of her neck, breaking it. She fell to the floor, motionless.

Steiger was at the door in an instant, tugging on it, but it was bolted from inside. He quickly turned and picked up one of the long daggers, jamming it into the narrow gap between the door and the wall, working the blade in and up against the crossbar on the other side. He felt it lift and he pulled back on the door, opening it wide.

Behind the door was a small, rectangular room with stone walls and a stone floor. Illumination was provided by two torches set into the walls. There was no sign of the hooded figure. Pushed against the walls were several crudely made, low wooden tables upon which the nude bodies of beautiful young women were stacked like cordwood.

They were all clearly lifeless, but there were no signs of decomposition nor was there any evidence of the smells associated with death. He approached the tables and examined one of the bodies intently. With the exception of the fact that all signs of life were absent, the woman looked merely asleep. The body was perfectly formed, as were all the others, and on the inside of the back of the left thigh, Steiger found a tiny tattoo. A serial number. A quick examination showed that other bodies had the same tattoo, all the numbers different, but varying by no more than several digits. "Androids," Steiger said in a low voice. He hurried into the outer chamber and quickly stripped the clothing off the two guards, then dragged them into the storage cell. He wiped off the blood-it had to be synthetic, he thought-with one of the chitons the androids had been wearing and then wadded up the clothing and tucked it beneath the stacked bodies. Then he lifted up each one and added it to the stacks, arranging the bodies carefully. He ran back up the stairs, checked to make sure the corridor was clear and encountered Finn and Andre coming the other way.

"Creed," said Andre, "we found out something about these women. They're all-"

"Androids," said Steiger.

Delaney stared at him. "How did you know?"

"I just had a nasty tussle with a couple of them in the cellar. They're dead, if that's the proper term. There's a whole roomful of inactive androids down there, stacked up in piles. Run numbers tattooed on the backs of their inner thighs, where you wouldn't notice them unless you were a lot closer than you should be. And our hooded friend was down there, as well. He got a good look at me while I was fighting with the android guards stationed in front of that storage room. He ducked back into the room and by the time I got in there, he was gone. The only way he could have gotten out without my seeing him was through a secret passage or by clocking out."

"You were right," said Delaney. "This changes everything. They're onto us for sure."

"It still doesn't explain the centaur, though," said Andre. "There's no way an android could have gotten by that examination, no matter how sophisticated it was."

"There's no time to think about that now," said Delaney. "We've got to get out of here and fast."

"Good luck convincing the Argonauts to leave," said Andre. "They're having a high old time, enjoying the feast and watching the dancing girls. We've got a problem."

"Let's not panic," Steiger said. "They may not find the bodies right away. I stripped them down and piled them on top of the others. And unless our hooded friend gets to Hypsipyle, she's going to be busy with the entertainment for a while. My guess is that she's probably human. If we can get her alone, maybe we can get some answers. Let's go back to the feast before she sends someone to the bath looking for us."

"What happens if our hooded friend clocks back with reinforcements?" asked Delaney.

"We'll burn that bridge when we get to it. We've probably been blown right from the beginning. I'd like to know why nobody's come after us yet."

"It does look as if we're following a script," said Andre. "Only what is the script?"

"Nothing to do but follow it and see," said Steiger. "Maybe if we improvise some changes, we'll force their hand."

"What bothers me is why," said Delaney. "It just doesn't make any sense. It almost looks as if they're trying to create some sort of a disruption in their own timeline!"

"Or maybe it's the other way around," Steiger said.

"What do you mean?" asked Andre.

"Maybe the convergence effect has caused a disruption in their history that they're attempting to adjust," said Steiger. "We've apparently become involved in some sort of complex plot and I find it hard to believe that all this was staged expressly for our benefit. I can't think of a reason for it. What if we've accidentally stumbled into one of their temporal adjustments?"

"It would explain a lot," said Delaney. "If that's the case, then it increases our chances of creating a significant disruption in their timeline. All we have to do is sabotage their adjustment."

"It also increases the risk," said Andre. "We'd have to know what their plan was before we could interfere," said Steiger. "Otherwise, we just might wind up accomplishing their mission for them. Besides, we could be wrong. We simply don't have enough information. The hooded man seems to be the key. He keeps turning up at all the right places. If we could only get our hands on him…"

"So what's our next move?" said Andre. "Do we try to interrogate Hypsipyle?"

"If we get the chance," said Steiger, "but it would be very risky. This whole thing is liable to blow up on us at any time, the moment those two androids I put down are discovered. No, unless we get a clear shot, I don't think we should chance it. They're going through this charade with the Argonauts for a reason. I say we change the game plan on them. We've got to get the Argonauts to leave. At least it will buy us time."

"Only how do we break up the party?" asked Andre.

Delaney snapped his fingers. "Hercules!"

"What?"

"Why not use the myth to our advantage?" Delaney said. "According to the story, Hercules became outraged that the Argonauts were carrying on with women when they had a mission to accomplish. You saw what he was like when his temper was aroused."

"Yeah, I saw," said Steiger. "And it makes me wonder. That kind of strength is more than a little inhuman, wouldn't you say?"

Andre shut her eyes. "I don't want to know about it," she said, wearily. "Hercules an android, too? This is insane."

"Before our paranoia completely runs away with us," Delaney said, "remember there have been lots of documented cases of strongmen capable of breaking chains and bending iron. Hercules may be unbelievably strong, but he seems human enough to me. Besides, I've never heard of an android that stutters. And he loses his stutter when he's angry, like some people who stutter lose it when they're singing or otherwise preoccupied. That's a purely human characteristic."

"All right, you've got a point," said Steiger, "but I'm not taking anything at face value anymore. Whichever way it goes, we can always scrub the mission and clock out. But I want to get to the bottom of this somehow."

"I think we're all agreed on that," said Andre.

"Okay, then. Let's see what we can do to get the Argonauts moving before all hell breaks loose."

"Too late," said Delaney.

Hypsipyle was walking swiftly down the corridor in the vanguard of about twenty android Amazons. On seeing them, she pointed and shouted, "There they are! Seize them!"

As the androids started forward, Delaney charged unexpectedly. He ploughed into them, moving fast and low. In the narrow corridor, there was no room for them to spread out and he bowled several over, pushing past the others to grab at Hypsipyle and spin her around in front of him, his arm across her throat applying pressure.

"Call them off or I'll break your neck," he said.

"Stay where you are!" said Hypsipyle, her voice cracking slightly. The androids froze where they stood, looking at her expressionlessly.

"All right," said Delaney, "now you tell them to head back to the main chamber and we'll follow. If any of them makes a move against us, I'll start breaking things in this lovely body." She did as she was told and the androids filed past Delaney. They all went into the main chamber, where the party had almost completely broken up. The music had stopped and there was no more revelry and dancing. About half the Argonauts were passed out on the floor, the others were slumping in a stupor, on the verge of unconsciousness. Steiger ran over to Hercules, who sat with his back against a wall, shaking his head slowly and trying to focus his gaze.

"Hercules! Hercules, come on, wake up!" He slapped the strongman several times, then checked his eyes. "They've all been drugged!"

The androids in the room all stared at Hypsipyle, as if awaiting instructions. None of them spoke.

"What have you done to them?" said Delaney, squeezing her throat.

She coughed and gasped for breath. "If you harm me, none of you will leave here alive."

"Perhaps," said Delaney. "And perhaps with you dead, none of them will know what to do. It's not as if they're living, reasoning beings, is it?"

"I–I do not understand."

"I think you do. Now answer my question."

"There-there was a potent sleeping draught mixed into their wine," she said.

"Why?"

She did not answer and he squeezed harder, blocking off the flow of blood to her brain just long enough to bring her to the brink of unconsciousness.

"Why?"

She gasped and coughed. "I do not know. I swear it! I merely did as I was told."

"Told? By whom?"

"By-by Hermes."

"Hermes?" said Steiger.

"The messenger of the gods. He who hides his face so that mortals may not look upon it."

"Sound familiar?" Andre said.

"Tell them to bring all our weapons here," said Delaney. "Do precisely as I say and we'll let you go unharmed. Otherwise-"

"I–I will tell them."

She directed the androids to return the weapons of the Argonauts and they silently moved to follow her orders.

"You think maybe she really doesn't know?" said Andre.

"I don't know," said Delaney. "It's possible. The truth now," he said to Hypsipyle. "There are no men here, are there?"

She shook her head.

"And no children? No old people?"

She shook her head again.

"Of course," said Delaney. "No one grows old here, do they?"

Hypsipyle burst into tears. "I was promised! I was promised that I, too, would never age! I was promised that if I took care of them I would be their queen and live forever!"

"She may be a terrific actress, Finn," said Andre, "but I believe her. Look at her. She's terrified."

Steiger looked at her closely and nodded. "She's coming down with the cold sweats, all right.''

"What are you saying? I do not understand you!"

Delaney switched back to Greek. "What happened to the women in the cellar?"

"They broke faith with the gods and their immortality was taken from them. They suffered for their lack of faith, as you too shall suffer!"

"Perhaps we shall," said Delaney. "Now listen carefully, your life depends upon it. I want you to tell them to pick up our weapons, and the Argonauts, and carry them all back to our ship. We'll be watching closely, so don't try any tricks. Tell them."

It was a strange procession through the woods to the shore of Lemnos, androids carrying weapons followed by others carrying the limp bodies of the Argonauts, with the temporal agents and Queen Hypsipyle bringing up the rear, Creed and Andre supporting a groggy, semi-conscious Hercules between them. They came out of the woods and saw the Argo riding gracefully at anchor just offshore. Delaney hailed the ship.

"Telamon! Argus!"

There was no response.

He called again. "Oileus! Idmon! Mopsus!"

Silence.

"What happened to them?" Delaney said, tightening his arm around Hypsipyle's throat. "Where are they?"

"Still aboard your ship," she said, weakly. Delaney could feel her trembling. "No doubt asleep by now. Wine was brought to them with a message from Jason, saying that you were all being feasted generously and promising to send men back to take their place so that they could come ashore and partake as well. Meanwhile, here was wine for them."

"Very clever. I hope you're telling the truth. Andre, go out to the ship and make ready to sail. And you, Your Highness, tell your subjects to take the weapons and the men and put them aboard our ship. Remember, at the first sign of trickery, I'll wring your neck."

Delaney and Steiger watched carefully as the androids carried the weapons and the unconscious Argonauts out to the ship and Andre helped lift them aboard.

"All right, Creed, go on out."

Steiger nodded. "I'll signal when we're ready to cast off. Watch yourself."

"You will die for this," said Hypsipyle. "You cannot defy the gods! You cannot escape their vengeance!"

"Shut up, Your Majesty."

She gasped for breath and coughed again as Delaney applied pressure to her throat and then released it. Steiger soon gave his signal from the ship and when the last android had waded back ashore, Delaney ordered Hypsipyle to send them back to the palace. After the last one was out of sight, he shoved her forward hard and she fell sprawling on the beach.

"Go back to your subjects," he said and turned to wade out to the ship.

Hypsipyle scrambled to her feet and started running toward the woods. "Come back!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Come back! Kill them! Kill them all!"

"Goddamn you-" Delaney started splashing out toward the ship as fast as the water would allow him. He was about halfway out when they came running out of the woods, sprinting down the beach.

"Cast off!" he shouted. "Cast off!"

He saw the anchor being hauled up and the sail being raised and he dived forward into the shallow water and started swimming furiously. The large sail luffed and then filled as Steiger turned the Argo into the wind. The ship began to move. Andre shouted at him to hurry and threw a rope over the side. He pulled himself aboard and glanced back. The androids were halfway out to the ship. On deck, the Argonauts all lay sprawled, unconscious. Hercules was snoring.

"It might get a bit sticky," Steiger called to them from the tiller.

Finn and Andre both grabbed swords from the pile of weapons. The wind was not strong and the ship moved slowly in the bay. With a spray of water, one of the androids leaped up out of the bay like a porpoise and grasped the side. Andre hit it in the face with the flat of her sword and the android fell back. Two more climbed up over the side and Delaney kicked one off and ran the other through. The ship was moving more quickly now, leaving the shallow water. Some of the androids were being left behind, but that still left others who had been in the forefront swimming beside the ship and trying to climb on board. Delaney grabbed one of the oars and swept several of them off deck while Andre was kept busy knocking them off with her sword. And then they were all falling behind as the ship outdistanced them, picking up speed and heading out to sea. From the shore, they could barely hear Hypsipyle screaming after them.

Delaney dropped the oar to the deck and took a deep breath. "Well, that was certainly stimulating."

"What, you tired?" Steiger shouted, from the steersman's post. "Who's going to trim the sail?"

Delaney shot him an obscene gesture.

"What do we tell these sleeping beauties when they wake up?" asked Andre, looking down at the senseless Greeks.

"Why don't we tell them what a great time we all had?" said Delaney.

Andre grimaced. "They're liable not to remember it."

"So? You think that'll be a problem?"

"Won't it?"

Delaney shook his head. "I doubt it. I've yet to meet a Greek who would admit he couldn't hold his liquor."