Chiron's care so the centaur could prepare him for the day when he would return to Iolchos and reclaim his birthright.
Jason grew up with Chiron and his other young students and remembering the wishes of his father, he learned his lessons well. He became accomplished in all Chiron had to teach him and he lived by the principles which Chiron preached. He vowed never to speak harshly to any soul whom he might meet upon his travels, to give his help to all in need of it and always to stand by his word.
When he grew into a young man, he left Mount Pelion and traveled back to Iolchos to reclaim the throne. On his journey home, he encountered an old woman on the banks of the river Anaurus. Frail and weak, she begged his help to cross the swiftly flowing river. Remembering his vow, Jason did not refuse her. He took her on his back and started to cross the river.
Halfway across, his foot became wedged between two rocks in the riverbed. In freeing his foot, he broke his sandal, which was swiftly carried away by the current. Jason was upset because he would have to enter Iolchos with one foot bare, looking like a beggar, but the old woman whom he had helped across the river was actually the goddess Hera, Queen of the Immortals on Olympus, in disguise and though he lost his sandal, Jason gained her favor.
When Jason came to Iolchos and arrived for an audience with King Pelias, the king was greatly disturbed. The Oracle of Delphi prophesied that he would lose his kingdom to a man who came to him wearing only one sandal. Thinking to rid himself of Jason, Pelias promised to relinquish his throne if Jason would bring back the golden fleece to Iolchos, thereby proving his worth to rule. Pelias knew such a quest would be hazardous and he was convinced Jason would never return from it.
Jason went to the Oracle of Delphi and asked for guidance. Speaking with the voice of Hera, the Oracle told him to seek out Argus, the shipwright, and to have him build a galley with fifty oars, then to send out a call for heroes to accompany him upon his quest. Then the Oracle told him to cut down the Speaking Oak of Dodona and give Argus the trunk to carve into a figurehead which would guide him on his voyage. Jason did as he was told and while the ship was being built, the call went out across the land for heroes to sail with him. When the ship was finished, it was named the Argo in honor of its builder. The crew, calling themselves the Argonauts, set sail from Iolchos on their quest for the golden fleece…
The programming run ended and Finn Delaney sat up, massaging his temples. Cybernetic programming always left him with a slight headache. He glanced over at Steiger, lying back in the contoured chair with his eyes closed. Andre Cross sat up and frowned.
'That was the strangest mission programming session I've ever had,' she said. 'Gods who walk with mortals, oracles that see into the future, flying rams, monsters, supernatural events…' She shook her head. 'If I hadn't seen the centaur for myself, I'd swear someone played a joke and slipped in a fake program.'
'I was thinking the same sort of thing,' Delaney said. 'It's impossible to take the story seriously. It's an ancient fable, after all. Still, there's the centaur…' He glanced at Steiger, still lying back with his eyes closed.
'Creed? 'said Delaney.
Steiger grunted in reply.
'What's wrong?'
'I'm thinking,' Steiger said.
'That could be dangerous,' said Delaney, grinning.
Steiger opened his eyes, but didn't smile.
'It was a joke,' Delaney said.
'I got that,' Steiger said.
'Right,' said Delaney. 'Apparently what you don't got is a sense of humor.'
'Everybody has their own way of breaking the tension just before a mission,' Steiger replied. He glanced at Delaney. 'Some people make jokes. I guess I'm not one of those people.'
'How do you handle the tension?' Andre said.
Steiger swung his feet down onto the floor and stood. 'I don't get tense.'
Andre shook her head as she watched him leave the room, heading for the Ordnance Section. 'I don't quite know what to make of him,' she said. 'We've been involved on several missions together, yet I still can't figure him out.'
'He's been out in the cold too long,' Delaney said. 'Field agent Phoenix, man of a thousand lives. We've seen only two of them-Temporal Corps deserter Barry Martingale and Pathan warlord Sharif Khan. Both very different personalities. We haven't seen much of Creed Steiger yet.'
'You make him sound schizophrenic,' Andre said.
'That's one of the reasons I've always had a hard time working with T.I.A. people, especially field agents,' said Delaney. 'The best of them have never been too tightly wrapped. Remember our old friend, Carnehan, agent Mongoose? He was an excellent case in point.'
'That doesn't sound like a promising analysis of our new partner,' Andre said.
'Maybe it's not,' Delaney said. 'But on the other hand, he's a survivor. The fact that he made bird colonel in Temporal Intelligence speaks for itself. And don't forget we wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for his help on our last two missions.'
'Do you really think he doesn't feel the tension?' Andre said.
'I don't know. I sure as hell do. Every time. Maybe he internalizes it. Some people just don't seem to get tense. They don't feel fear; they never panic.'
'There's a word for people like that,' Andre said.
'What word is that?'
'Crazy.'
The outpost was located in the 2nd century B.C., high in the Alpine range overlooking the Po Valley. Several miles to the west was the pass through which Hannibal would take his 26,00 °Carthaginians to meet with the Roman consul Scipio at the Battle of Trebia. The three temporal agents materialized in the heart of the small outpost, which was well concealed in the rocks high above the valley.
Beneath their coveralls, the three agents wore lightweight chitons, the knee-length universal garment of the ancient Greeks. Made from wool and sometimes embroidered with borders covered by geometrical designs, chitons were rectangular one-piece garments worn draped over the left shoulder, leaving the right arm and shoulder bare. The chitons were sometimes pleated and usually fastened at the waist by girdles, little more than cords encircling the hips. They wore chlamys with their chitons, lightweight woolen capes or mantles which were fastened at the shoulder or the throat by brooches or fibulae, metal clasps resembling safety pins. Their warp discs were disguised as heavy silver bracelets.
They were met at the transition point by Major David Curtis, the officer in command of the outpost. He wore one-piece, lightweight battle fatigues and a plasma sidearm. 'All clear on this end,' Curds said. 'Are you straight on S.O.P.?'
Standard Operating Procedure called for them to program the transition coordinates for the other side of the confluence as soon as they went through, checking them with the outpost unit to make certain the coordinates were consistent with the confluence point on the other side. They would then have a temporal reference for the location of the confluence, which would enable them to return to precisely the same place and time when they completed their mission.
Curtis and two of his Rangers accompanied them on the short hop to the confluence point location, at the foot of the Alpine range. 'We go on foot from here,' said Curtis. 'We don't want to make a transition anywhere close to the confluence point itself. We don't know yet how warp disc fields might interact with a temporal convergence. Orders are to play it safe.'
'What's the temporal range of the confluence point?' said Steiger.
'It's a short one,' Curtis said. 'Three days. We've mapped it backwards and forwards to make absolutely sure. The centaur came through yesterday, Present Reference Time, and we'll synchronize temporal coordinates to have you coming through tomorrow, P.R.T., on completion of your mission.'
'That doesn't give us much timespace,' Delaney said.
'True, but it works for us as well as against us,' Curtis replied. 'We've got one day either side of Present Reference and then the rippling effect displaces the convergence and the confluence dissipates. No way to track it;
