The Masque of Agamemnon - Sean Williams, ebook
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
The Masque of AgamemnonSean Williams and Simon BrownNot long after the Achaean fleet arrived at the periphery of the Iliumsystem, its area sensors noted a phenomenon its sentient matrix couldneither accept nor explain. An owl appeared in the middle of the fleet,circled around it three times-its wings eclipsing the distant point oflight that was Ilium's sun-then headed straight for the Over-captain's ownship, Mycenae. Just as it was about to smash into the ship's hull, therewas an intense flash of blue light and the owl disappeared.Internal sensors picked it up next: a bird the size of a human child,dipping and soaring within Mycenae's vast internal halls and corridors.Before any alarm could be given, the sensor matrices received a supersedecommand; the owl was a messenger from the goddess Athena, and it was notto be interfered with.Seconds later, the owl reached its destination, the chamber of Agamemnon,Over-captain of the entire Achaean fleet. What happened therein is notrecorded, but an hour later Agamemnon announced to his crew he was goingto hold a grand ball.His wife, Clytemnestra, attributed the idea to his love of games and hispenchant for petulant, almost childlike whims. She thought the idea afoolish notion, but she did not argue against it; she loved her husbandand indulged him in all things.Arrangements were quickly made and maser beams carried messages to all theother ships of the fleet, demanding their captains attend the Great Masqueof Agamemnon."Your brother should spend more time worrying about the Trojans," Helentold her husband, Menelaus.The Captain of Sparta grimaced. He disliked anyone criticising his olderbrother, but in this instance he had to agree with his wife. Agamemnon wasspending a large amount of the fleet's energy and time to throw his ball;energy and time that could have been better spent prosecuting an attackagainst the Trojans' home on Ilium."Nevertheless, he has commanded the presence of all his captains and theirwives, so we must go.""But why a masque? He loves his games too much. And I suppose we will endup spending the whole time with Nestor.""Nestor is the oldest among us and his words the wisest.""The most boring, you mean. Oh, Menelaus," she pouted. "I wish we didn'thave to go."Although Menelaus agreed with Helen's sentiment, he would not allowhimself to say so.Achilles had made a silver helmet for his friend Patroclus to wear to theball. When Patroclus saw it he could not find the words to thank Achilles;it was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. Then Achillesshowed him the helmet he himself would be wearing, and to Patroclus'surprise it was exactly the same as the one he had been given."I don't understand, Achilles. Are we going as brothers?"Achilles laughed. "As lovers, dear Patroclus. But there is more to it thansymbolism."Patroclus looked blankly at his friend, which made Achilles laugh evenharder. "We are the same size and shape. With these helmets, and wearingthe livery of my ship, no one will be able to tell us apart.""A game?"Achilles shrugged, gently placed one of the helmets on Patroclus' head. Heleaned forward quickly and kissed his friend on the lips, then closed thehelmet's faceplate, hiding his friend's face entirely except for his eyesand mouth."A game of sorts, I suppose, to match Agamemnon's own." Achilles put onhis own helmet, closed the faceplate. "We are, behind these disguises,nothing but shadows of ourselves, and as shadows at the Over-captain'smasque, who knows what secrets we will learn?""Secrets?""I have heard rumours that Agamemnon has invited a surprise guest.""A surprise guest?""A Trojan," Achilles said.His real name was Bernal, but AlterEgo insisted on calling him Paris."Get used to it. Our hosts insist on you adopting the name for thisoccasion.""If they explained why, it would be easier," Bernal complained. Strappedinto the gravity couch of the small ship in which he was travelling, hehad little to do except complain. AlterEgo took care of all the ship'sfunctions; Bernal was nothing but baggage."Presumably, it has something to do with the fact that all the messageswe've received from our visitors come in the name of Agamemnon.""Over-captain of the Achaean fleet, for pity's sake.""You can snort all you want, Paris, but we know very little else aboutthem, and it will probably be in your best interests to take themseriously.""Not to mention the best interests of the whole of Cirrus."Bernal aligned the external telescope, the only instrument the shipcarried that used visible light and installed specifically for Bernal'suse. He could not see his planet-now more than forty billion kilometresaway-but the system's yellow dwarf sun, Anatole, was the brightest objectin the sky, and Cirrus was somewhere within a few arc seconds of it."Homesick?" AlterEgo asked."Scared, more like," Bernal answered. "When was the last time one of mypeople travelled this far from home?"Bernal was sure he heard AlterEgo's brain hum, even though he knew the AIdidn't have any parts that hummed as such. He had been in the AI's companyfor too long. "Two hundred and twenty-seven years ago. Explorer and minernamed Groenig. Last message came when her ship was forty-three billionkilometres from home. Never heard from since.""No one went after her?""What good would that have done? Even back then, when intrasystem shippingwas much more active than now, there would not have been more than two orthree ships that could have reached her last known position within sixmonths; far too late to do anything to help her if she was in trouble.Most likely there was some onboard disaster, or maybe the loneliness gotto her and she committed suicide."The answer irritated Bernal. "What the hell did you wake me for, anyway?""I did have the telescope aligned on something I thought you'd beinterested in seeing.""Don't whinge. What was it?""Fortunately, I took the precaution of storing some images over a threeday period, which was just enough time to create some very interestingholographic-""If you've got something to show me, get on with it," Bernal commanded.Several small laser beams intersected about half a metre in front ofBernal's face. At first they formed nothing but a white shell, but asecond later a 3D-image appeared. It looked like a crown of thorns. "Howbig is it?""Some of my sensor readings indicate the object's mass is close to sevenmillion tonnes."Bernal was surprised. Without a reference point, he had assumed the objectwas quite small. Then he remembered AlterEgo saying it had taken threedays to get a workable 3D image, which was a lot of time to work with fora computer of AlterEgo's capability."What did you say its dimensions were?""I didn't, but I estimate a radius of eighty or so kilometres.""My God! Is this one of the Achaean ships?""I should think that if this was just one of their ships, a fleet of themwould have been detected from Cirrus several years ago. I surmise,therefore, that this is the fleet, its individual components joined insome way."Bernal peered at the holograph. "Can you make out any repetitions ofshape? Anything we could identify as a single unit?""Ah, I was hoping you would ask that." Bernal was sure he heard smugnessin that voice. "Indeed, this is why I woke you."The holographic image changed, metamorphosed into something more like aship. Bernal peered at it. Well, vaguely more like a ship."It reminds me of something I've seen before, but for the life of me Ican't figure what.""Using some deductive logic, a little dash of intuition and a thoroughsearch of the Cirrus Archives, I think I've discovered something,"AlterEgo said. "Watch what happens when I remove from the Achaean ship theyoungest hull material, connective grids and certain extraneous energydispersion vanes."The image altered instantaneously into something barely a tenth the sizeof the original. Bernal studied the new shape for a moment before a memoryclicked in his brain."I don't believe it!"AlterEgo just hummed."A Von Neumann probe . . ." Bernal's voice faded as he realised theimplications."Precisely my deduction," AlterEgo agreed, superimposing a secondholograph over the first: a blue outline that almost perfectly matched theimage of the Achaean artefact. "This diagram is from Cirrus' most ancientlibrary stores. It is, of course, one of the original plans for a VonNeumann probe, circa 2090 CE."Bernal whistled. "But that was nearly 5,000 years ago. They were the firsthuman-made ships to reach the stars.""And in their seedbank...
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]