TW07 The Argonaut Affair NEW (12 page)

"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?"