Simon Hawke - Argonaut Affair

"There would still be risks," Delaney said, "but if they're not as experienced with temporal adjustments as we are, it would be worthwhile taking them. We're at war and they need to develop strategy and train the troops."

"And by using androids," Steiger said, "they'd be minimizing the danger to their personnel. They could also be testing out the feasibility of using androids in offensive operations directed against our timeline. Finn, maybe your idea's not so crazy, after all. Androids make great cannon fodder. They don't retreat and they fight 'til they drop. They could be experimenting with different types of androids-the women on Lemnos, the giants here, if that's what they are-"

With a scream, a body landed upon Steiger, knocking him from his horse. It was a body twice as big as he was, with an unusually long torso from which sprouted six muscular arms. The creature was matted with hair so that it almost seemed covered with fur. It looked like a human spider with four of its arms wrapped around Steiger, pinning him to the ground, while the two remaining arms pummeled him with blows. Andre unsheathed her sword and brought it down hard upon the creature's neck, decapitating it with one stroke. Warm blood spurted from its neck and splattered Steiger.

The things were leaping down upon the Argonauts from the rocks above, screaming as they fell, knocking the riders from their horses. Andre wheeled her horse and avoided one, then managed to shake loose another that had landed on her horse behind her. Delaney was brought down, but he broke the creature's grip and slashed his sword across its face. It did not even cry out. A second blow with the sword split its skull and it fell.

Several of the king's soldiers died in the initial assault, but none of the Argonauts had fallen. While they were at best barely adequate as sailors, in hand to hand combat, each was in his element. The few who were not warriors, such as Mopsus, Idmon and young Hylas, had stayed behind at the palace. Jason and Theseus stood back to back, laying about them with their swords. Hercules caught one of the giants on the fly, then dropped the creature on his knee, breaking its back. He unslung his bow, which no one but he could pull, and started to let loose his long war arrows. Each one found a mark.

Only a killing blow would stop the giants. They didn't seem to feel lesser wounds at all. If one arm was cut off, the others would continue fighting. The battle raged as the sky darkened and visibility grew poorer. Hercules ran out of arrows and drew his sword, striking such powerful strokes that his opponents were cut cleanly in half. A club struck Andre's sword arm and it went numb from her hand up to her shoulder. As the giant struck again, she rolled, avoiding the blow, and came up with her sword held in her left hand, but a sword point ripped through the giant's chest as Orpheus ran it through from behind and the creature fell.

The battle seemed to last for hours, but at the end, the Argonauts emerged victorious. When it was over, the ground was littered with the bodies of dead giants, as well as those of soldiers and several of the Argonauts. They had lost Euphemus, as well as Admetus, Pirithous, Menoetius, Zetes and Calais. Most of the surviving Argonauts were covered with blood, if not their own, then that of the giants. Tiphys had sustained the most severe injuries. Meleager had been knocked unconscious and King Cyzicus was dead, transfixed by an arrow shot by Hercules. It had struck its target with such force that it passed completely through the giant and penetrated the ruler of the Dalions.

"Some maneuvers," Steiger said to Delaney as they stared down at the dead king. "If these are war games, friend, they're playing them for keeps."

"I checked one of the bodies to see if the giants had any run numbers tattooed on them, like the Lemnos women did," said Andre.

"And?"

"I couldn't find any."

"That doesn't prove they weren't androids," Steiger said.

"True," said Andre. "But it also doesn't prove they were."

They accompanied a party of Dalions into the hills the next day and returned to the scene of the battle. The Dalions surmised that the surviving giants had carried off their dead, because there were no corpses to be found. Shortly before nightfall, they found the caves where the giants had been living. There was no sign of the six-armed creatures, but there was evidence that the caves had been abandoned in a hurry. They did not discover any of the women whom the giants had carried off, but they discovered clothing that had belonged to them. They also discovered an item of clothing that seemed too large for a woman and too small for a giant.

Steiger held up the hooded cloak. "You suppose it's just a coincidence?" he said, not sounding as if he believed it.

"It could have belonged to anyone," Delaney said.

"And it could also have been left behind on purpose," Andre said.

"Somebody's playing cat and mouse with us," said Steiger grimly, "and I'm not in the mood for games."

They returned to the town and attended the funeral for King Cyzicus, the soldiers who had died with him and their fellow Argonauts who fell in battle. In honor of the dead, the Dalions held games in which all their finest athletes participated. The day after the ceremonies, the Dalions provisioned the Argo, as Cyzicus had promised, and the Argonauts set sail once again. With Tiphys badly injured and feverish, Argus took the tiller as they rowed along the Mysian shore, past the mouth of the Rhindacus to the Bay of Arganthus. They sailed on through the Bosporous and as the day neared its end, they were approaching the Euxine Sea.

Jason directed Argus to steer in toward a sheltered cove because a storm was brewing. On the heights above, they could see a structure with tall marble columns that looked like a temple. When they came ashore, they found a pathway leading up to it running alongside the cliff. The sky grew dark as they approached the structure and it began to thunder. Jagged lightning flashes lit up the sky. The rain came pelting down and they ran inside the temple to find shelter. It was dark inside the ruined edifice and it appeared to be deserted.

"We will rest here for the night and wait out the storm," said Jason. "We cannot be far from the Euxine Sea. Once we leave the Bosporous, we can follow the coastline and it should bring us to Colchis."

"I have an intuition that our journey shall not be an easy one," said Idmon, frowning. "And I also feel that we must leave this place at once."

"Why?" said Theseus. "There is nothing here."

From somewhere within the temple echoed a screeching sound.

"What was that?" said Theseus.

"It must have been the wind," said Argus. "This place is deserted."

"Not quite deserted," Hylas said, pointing. A very old man in filthy robes was slowly coming toward them with a shambling gait, holding his arms out before him. His hair was long and gray, hanging to his shoulders. He looked emaciated.

"Who is there?" he shouted. "Is someone there? I was certain I heard voices! Is anyone there?"

"I am Jason, King of Iolchos and captain of the Argonauts. We did not mean to intrude upon your home, old man. We only came seeking shelter from the storm."

The old man stopped and his arms fell to his sides. "There is someone," he said, with obvious relief. "Thank the gods. I thought surely I was going mad. Who spoke? Where are you?"

"We stand before you, old man," Theseus said. "Can you not see?"

"No, I cannot," he said in a quivering voice. "I am blind. I am poor, blind, cursed Phineus, once king of Bithynia, now no more than a half-mad penitent who lives in this cold, dreary abandoned place."

"My apologies, King Phineus, for coming unbidden to your home," said Jason. "But why, if this place is so wretched, do you remain?"