"Well, it's disconcerting," said the smaller moravec. "Half the people standing up there on Thicket Ridge are supposed to be dead in a day or two, according to your stupid Iliad Iliad."

"It's not my my stupid stupid Iliad, Iliad," rumbled Orphu. "And besides ..."

"All bets are off," finished Mahnmut. "Uh-oh."

"What?"

"The negotiations are over. Hector and Achilles are stepping forward, grasping each other's forearms now ... good God!"

"What?"

"Can you hear that?" gasped Mahnmut.

"No," said Orphu.

"Sorry, sorry," said Mahnmut. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that literally. I just meant ... I mean ..."

"Get on on with it," snapped the Ionian. "What didn't I hear?" with it," snapped the Ionian. "What didn't I hear?"

"The armies-Greek and Trojan both-are roaring now. Good Lord, it's an overwhelming sound. Hundreds of thousands of Achaeans and Trojans combined, cheering, waving pennants, thrusting their swords and spears and banners into the air ... the cheering and yelling mob goes all the way back to the walls of Ilium. The people on the walls there-I can see Andromache and Helen and the other women Hockenberry pointed out-they're all shouting as well. The other Achaeans-the ones who were undecided, waiting by their ships-they've come out to the Greek trenches and are cheering and screaming as well. What a noise!"

"Well, you don't have to shout as well," Orphu said drily. "The k-link works just fine. What's happening now?"

"Well ... not much," said Mahnmut. "The captains are all shaking hands up and down the ridge. Bells and gongs are ringing out from the walled city. The armies are milling around-regular foot soldiers from each side crossing the no-man's-land to clap each other on the shoulder and exchange names or whatever-and everyone looks like they're ready to fight, but ..."

"But there's no one to fight," said Orphu.

"Right."

"Maybe the gods won't come down to fight," said the Ionian.

"I doubt that," said Mahnmut.

"Or maybe the Device will blow Olympos into a billion pieces," said Orphu.

Mahnmut was silent at the thought of this. He had seen the gods and goddesses up there, sentient beings by the thousands, and he had no wish to be a mass murderer.

"How long until your jury-rigged timer activates the Device?" asked Orphu, although he must have known himself.

Mahnmut checked his internal chronomoter. "Fifty-four minutes," he said.

Overhead, dark clouds suddenly boiled and roiled. It appeared that the gods were coming down after all.

When Mahnmut had dived into the Caldera Lake atop Olympus Mons, he had little hope of escape. He needed a minute or so to prep the Device for triggering-for detonation?-and he thought some depth and pressure might give him that time.

It did. Mahnmut dove to 800 meters, feeling the familiar and pleasant sensation of pressure pushing on every square millimeter of his frame, and found a ledge on the west side of the steep caldera wall where he could rest, secure the Device, and ready it. The gods did not pursue him into the water. Whether they didn't like to swim or foolishly thought that their lasering and microwaving of the surface would drive him up, Mahnmut didn't know or care.

He'd been negligent in not configuring a remote triggering mechanism before he and Orphu began their short-lived balloon trip, so he did so now, 800 meters down in the dark lake, his chestlamps illumating the ovoid macromolecular Device. Removing the access cover of its transalloy shell, Mahnmut cannibalized bits of himself-one of his four power cells to provide the necessary 32-volt trigger signal, one of his three redundant tightbeam/radio receivers arc-welded to the trigger plate by his wrist laser, and a timer made from his external chronometer. Finally, he'd attached a crude motion-contact sensor rigged from one of his own transponders, so the Device would auto-trigger at this depth if anyone other than he touched it.

If these ersatz gods come down for me now, I'll trigger the thing manually, he'd thought as he sat on the ledge 800 meters below the lake surface. But he didn't want to destroy himself-if destruction was, indeed, the Device's purpose-and he didn't want to hide underwater all day. But the Hockenberry human had promised to QT back for him, so he'd wait. He wanted to see Orphu again. Besides, their mission-the late Koros III's and Ri Po's mission, actually-was to deliver the Device to Olympus Mons and transmit its arrival via the communicator. Both these objectives had been met. In a sense, Mahnmut and the Ionian had completed their mission. he'd thought as he sat on the ledge 800 meters below the lake surface. But he didn't want to destroy himself-if destruction was, indeed, the Device's purpose-and he didn't want to hide underwater all day. But the Hockenberry human had promised to QT back for him, so he'd wait. He wanted to see Orphu again. Besides, their mission-the late Koros III's and Ri Po's mission, actually-was to deliver the Device to Olympus Mons and transmit its arrival via the communicator. Both these objectives had been met. In a sense, Mahnmut and the Ionian had completed their mission.

Then why am I hiding 800 800 meters under the surface in this impossible Caldera Lake? meters under the surface in this impossible Caldera Lake? He thought of the water boiling above him as the gods poured their anger and heat-rays into the lake and had to chuckle in his moravec way-this water should be boiling away anyway, since the top of Olympos Mons should be in near-vacuum. He thought of the water boiling above him as the gods poured their anger and heat-rays into the lake and had to chuckle in his moravec way-this water should be boiling away anyway, since the top of Olympos Mons should be in near-vacuum.

Then the time had come for the human named Hockenberry to return to rescue him, and, amazingly, he did.

"Describe Earth," said Orphu on Thicket Ridge. Mahnmut had slid down from the shell and was leading his friend by the rope leader he'd looped around the levitation harness. "And are you sure we're on Earth?" Orphu added.

"Pretty sure," said Mahnmut. "The gravity is right, the air is right, the sun looks the right size, and the plant life matches the images in the databanks. Oh, so do the human beings-although all these men and women seem to have memberships in the solar system's best health and exercise club."

"That good-looking, huh?" said Orphu.

"As humans go, I think so," said Mahnmut. "But since these are the first Homo sapiens I've met in person, who knows? Only Hockenberry of all the men I've met here looks as ordinary as the men and women in the photos and vids and holos you and I have in our data banks."

"What do you think ..." began Orphu.

Sshhh, said Mahnmut on the tightbeam. He'd pulled the k-link so he didn't have to ride on Orphu's shell any more. The clouds continued to swirl above the battlefield. said Mahnmut on the tightbeam. He'd pulled the k-link so he didn't have to ride on Orphu's shell any more. The clouds continued to swirl above the battlefield. Achilles is addressing the troops-both Trojans and Achaean. Achilles is addressing the troops-both Trojans and Achaean.

Can you understand him?

Of course I can. The files downloaded just fine, although some of the colloqialisms and cuss words I have to guess from context.

Can the other humans hear him without a public address system?

The man's got lungs of iron, said Mahnmut. said Mahnmut. Metaphorically speaking. His voice must be carrying all the way to the sea in one direction and all the way to the walls of Troy in the other. Metaphorically speaking. His voice must be carrying all the way to the sea in one direction and all the way to the walls of Troy in the other.

What's he saying? asked Orphu. asked Orphu.

I defy you, gods ... blah, blah, blah ... and now cry havoc and unleash the dogs of war ... blah, blah, blah ... recited Mahnmut. recited Mahnmut.

Wait, said Orphu. said Orphu. Did he really use that Shakespeare quote? Did he really use that Shakespeare quote?

No, said Mahnmut. said Mahnmut. I'm loosely translating. I'm loosely translating.

Whew, said the Ionian on the tightbeam. said the Ionian on the tightbeam. I thought we had an amazing bit of plagiarism there. How long until activation of the Device? I thought we had an amazing bit of plagiarism there. How long until activation of the Device?

Forty-one minutes, said Mahnmut. said Mahnmut. Is there something wrong with your ... Is there something wrong with your ... He stopped. He stopped.

What? said Orphu. said Orphu.

In the middle of Achilles' defiant cri de coeur cri de coeur against the gods, the King of the Gods appeared. Achilles stopped speaking. Two hundred thousand male faces and one robot face turned skyward on the plains of Ilium. against the gods, the King of the Gods appeared. Achilles stopped speaking. Two hundred thousand male faces and one robot face turned skyward on the plains of Ilium.

Zeus descended from the roiling black clouds in his golden chariot, pulled by four beautiful holographic horses.

The Achaean master-archer, Teucer, standing close to Achilles and Odysseus, took aim and launched an arrow skyward, but the chariot was too high and-Mahnmut was sure-surrounded by a powerful forcefield. The arrow arced and fell short, dropping into the thickets of brambles along the base of the ridge where the generals stood.

"YOU DARE TO DEFY ME?" boomed Zeus's voice across the length and breadth of the fields and shore and city where the armies were gathered. "BEHOLD THE CONSEQUENCE OF YOUR HUBRIS!"

The chariot swung higher and then accelerated toward the south, as if Zeus were leaving the field in the direction of Mount Ida just visible on the southern horizon. Perhaps only Mahnmut, with his telescopic vision, saw the small silver spheroid Zeus dropped from the chariot when it was about fifteen kilometers south of them.

"Down!" roared Mahnmut on full amplification, shouting the word in Greek. "For your lives, get down now!! Don't look to the south!!"

Few obeyed his command.

Mahnmut grabbed Orphu's halter and ran for the slight shelter of a large boulder on the ridgetop thirty meters away.

The flash, when it came, blinded thousands. Mahnmut's polarizing filters automatically went from Value 6 to Value 300. He didn't pause in his wild running, tugging Orphu along behind him like a giant toy.

The shock wave hit seconds after the flash, rolling up from the south in a wall of dust and sending visible stress waves rippling through the atmosphere itself. The wind speed went from five kilometers per hour out of the west to a hundred klicks per hour from the south in less than a second. Hundreds of tents were ripped from their moorings and flown into the sky. Horses whinnied and fled their masters. The whitecaps blew out away from the land.

The roar and shock wave knocked everyone standing-everyone except Hector and Achilles-to the ground. The noise and shattering overpressure were overwhelming, vibrating human bones and moravec solid-state innards, as well as setting Mahnmut's organic parts quivering. It was as if the Earth itself was roaring and howling in anger. Hundreds of Achaean and Trojan soldiers two kilometers or so to the south of the ridge burst into flame and were thrown high into the air, their ashes falling on thousands of cowering, fleeing men running north.

A section of the south wall of Ilium crumbled and fell, carrying scores of men and women with it. Several of the wooden towers in the city burst into flame, and one tall tower-the one from which Hockenberry had watched Hector saying good-bye to his wife and son just days ago-fell into the streets with a crash.

Achilles and Hector had their hands to their faces, shielding their eyes from the terrible flash that threw their shadows a hundred meters behind them on Thicket Ridge. Behind them, great boulders that had stood firm high on the Amazon Myrine's mounded tomb vibrated, slipped, and fell, crushing running Achaeans and Trojans alike. Hector's polished helmet stayed on his head, but his proud crest of red horsehairs were torn off in the high winds that followed the initial shock wave.

Has something happened? tightbeamed Orphu. tightbeamed Orphu.

Yes, whispered Mahnmut. whispered Mahnmut.

I can feel some sort of vibration and pressure right through my shell, said Orphu. said Orphu.

Yes, whispered Mahnmut. The only reason the Ionian hadn't tumbled away on the winds and blast was that Mahnmut had lashed the rope around the largest rock he could find on the lee side of their sheltering boulder. whispered Mahnmut. The only reason the Ionian hadn't tumbled away on the winds and blast was that Mahnmut had lashed the rope around the largest rock he could find on the lee side of their sheltering boulder.

What ... began Orphu. began Orphu.

Just a minute, whispered Mahnmut. whispered Mahnmut.

The mushroom cloud was rising through ten thousand meters now, smoke and tons of radioactive debris lifting toward the stratosphere. The ground vibrated so fiercely to aftershocks that even Achilles and Hector had to drop to one knee rather than be thrown down like the tens of thousands of their men.

This atomic mushroom cloud resolved itself into a face.

"YOU WANT WAR, O MORTALS?" bellowed the bearded face of Zeus in the rising, roiling, slowly unfurling cloud. "THE IMMORTAL GODS WILL SHOW YOU WAR."

51.

The Equatorial Ring Prospero sat there in a long, royal-blue robe covered with brightly colored embroidery showing galaxies, suns, comets, and planets. He held a carved staff in one age-motttled right hand and there was a foot-thick book under the palm of his left hand. The carved chair with the broad armrests was not quite a throne, but close enough to impart a sense of magisterial authority reinforced by the magus's cool stare. The man was mostly bald, but a mane of vestigial white hair poured back over his ears and fell in curls to the blue of his robe. The once-grand head was now perched on an old man's withered neck, but the face was iron-firm with character, showing coolly indifferent if not actively cruel little eyes, a bold beak of a nose, a forceful declaration of a chin not yet lost in jowls or wattles, and a sorcerer's thin lips turned up in ancient habits of irony. He was, of course, a hologram.

Daeman had watched Harman burst through the semipermeable membrane and fall to the floor under the unexpected gravity, just as Daeman had done. Then, seeing Daeman sitting in a comfortable chair with his osmosis mask off, Harman had peeled his own mask off, breathed in the fresh air deeply, and then staggered to the other empty chair.

"It's only one-third Earth gravity," said Prospero, "but it must seem like Jupiter after a month in near zero-g."

Neither Harman nor Daeman replied.

The room was circular, about fifteen meters across, and essentially a glassed-in dome from the floor up. Daeman hadn't seen it while they were approaching the crystal city on the chairs because they'd come in at the asteroid's south pole and this was the north pole, but he imagined it must look like a long, slender metal stalk with this glowing mushroom at its end. The only light in the room came from the soft glow of a circular virtual control console in the center of the space, behind Prospero, and the earthlight and moonlight and starlight flooding in above and around them. It was bright enough that Daeman could see the careful workings on the magus's embroidered robe and the hand-oiled carvings on his staff.

"You're Prospero," said Harman, his chest rising and falling quickly under the blue thermskin. The fresh air in the room had been a shock to Daeman as well. It was like breathing a rich, thick wine.

Prospero nodded.

"But you're not real," continued Harman. The man looked looked solid. The robe fell in beautiful but dynamic folds and wrinkles in the one-third gravity. solid. The robe fell in beautiful but dynamic folds and wrinkles in the one-third gravity.

Prospero shrugged. "This is true. I'm nothing more than a recorded echo of a shadow of a shade. But I can see you, hear you, talk with you, and sympathize with your travails. It's more than some real beings are capable of doing."

Daeman looked over his shoulder. He was holding the black gun loosely in his lap.

"Will Caliban come here?"

"No," said Prospero. "My former servant fears me. Fears this speaking memory of me. If the blue-eyed hag who bore him was here on this isle, that damned quantum-witch Sycorax, she'd be on you here in a minute, but Caliban fears me."

"Prospero," said Daeman, "we need to get off this rock. Back to Earth. Alive. Can you help us?"

The old man leaned his staff against his chair and held up both mottled hands. "Perhaps."

"Just perhaps?" said Daeman.

Prospero nodded. "As an echo of a recorded shadow, I can do do nothing. But I can give you information. You can act if you will, and if you nothing. But I can give you information. You can act if you will, and if you have have the will. Few of your kind do anymore." the will. Few of your kind do anymore."

"How do we get out of here?" asked Harman.

Prospero passed his hand over the book and a hologram rose above the center of the circular console behind him. It was the asteroid and the crystal city as seen from some miles out in space, the gold-glassed towers turning slowly beneath the vantage point as the asteroid turned on its axis. Daeman glanced at the bold blue and white of the Earth coming into view outside the windows and realized that the image was synchronized-it was a real-time view from somewhere out there.

"There!" cried Harman, pointing. He tried to jump out of his chair, but the gravity made him stagger and grab the armrest for support. "There," he said again.

Daeman saw it. On an outside slab of terrace five or six hundred feet up that first tall tower where they'd entered, its metal shell glowing now in Earthlight-a sonie. "We searched the city," said Daeman. "We never thought that there might be a vehicle parked outside outside the city." the city."

"It looks like the sonie we took to Jerusalem," said Harman, leaning forward the better to see the holographic display.

"It is is the same sonie," said Prospero. He moved his palm again and the image disappeared. the same sonie," said Prospero. He moved his palm again and the image disappeared.

"No," said Daeman. "Savi told us that sonies couldn't fly to the orbital rings."

"She didn't know they could," said the old magus. "Ariel freed it from the voynixes' stones and programmed it to come up here."

"Ariel?" Daeman stupidly repeated. He was so, so hungry, and so very tired. He sorted through his memory. "Ariel? The avatar of the biosphere below?"

"Something like that," said Prospero with a smile. "Savi never really met Ariel. All their communications were through the allnet. The old woman always thought that Ariel's persona was male, when most frequently the sprite chooses a female avatar."

Who gives a shit? thought Daeman. Aloud, he said, "Can we take the sonie back to Earth?" thought Daeman. Aloud, he said, "Can we take the sonie back to Earth?"

"I would think so," said Prospero. "I think Ariel sent it pre-programmed to return the three of you to Ardis Hall. Another deus ex machina. I'm not happy with the machine being here."

"Why not?" said Harman, but then he nodded. "Caliban."