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.'
