The grand ship had successfully achieved close Earth orbit just over two centuries ago, in the time period of the local vernacular, and the robots activated as planned. Asteroids were mined and miles-long living quarters were extruded from the hub in a great circle. Lastly, now, tens of thousands of settlers are revived from stasis, far from their homes. During the stay of fifty years, many will permanently emigrate while the rest, and their new children, will reenter stasis until the next stop further out on the Orion galactic arm.
Cadmus has signed on as a kinetic diplomat because he feels a need for the physicality that hasn’t had, even when he chooses physical immersion in his action games, where actuators and plot diversity stresses his muscles. His home planet, Festes, is entirely covered and deeply dug with windowless living quarters packed hundreds of stories deep. Intelligent machines provide for everyone’s needs including stress detectors used to prevent bad behavior. Aberrant activity is addressed before problems arise.
Cadmus had only emerged from the animator several hours ago, without incident. He feels great, seemingly falling asleep in one solar system only to wake in another. The machines have noted his desires and optimized his senses and structure before he woke; he’s now a muscled brown hunk with straight long hair and creamy unblemished skin.
The beautifully green planetary vistas are projected on scenes up and down the halls but he wants to see for himself, with his own eyes. Most of the conscious have found themselves overjoying a new life in a new land, temporarily separated from family, and succumbing to a period of overindulgence with drugs, alcohol, and sex. He pushes these urges aside, at least for now. He headed toward the view hub at the ships’ center while passing the overdosed as they slumped in the halls and were attended to by medical bots.
Finally traversing the final redundant airlock he floated to one of several observation seats over the tempered glass plate, now the only separation between him and the planet’s surface teeming with indiginous populations.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” asked a pretty young lady set back in shadow.
Looking toward the voice he found her to be quite attractive, of the same general healthy description as himself, only female. She was draped carefully from head to foot exposing no skin. The machines could have adjusted them to any attributes and he felt a connection since she had chosen the same appearance as himself.
“I’m Cadmus. And you?” he asked
“Europa,” she answered.
He marveled at the greenery as he again looked down at lush islands in a tranquil sea.
“That’s Crete and Malta and the Mediterranean Sea. If you look at the magnifier screen you can detect the stonework left by the Dals,” she said. From the air it was easy to see landing pads, roads, and other alien structures easily identified as Dal. The Dals are a handsome blonde race friendly with them, the Hyadeans, allies scattered after the Lyran galactic wars.
“How are the locals?” he asked while pointing to a Lebanese settlement on the edge of the Litani river.
“Peaceful, semiliterates who fish, farm, and trade. They build decent sail craft.”
“Do they look like us?”
“They have black skin, eyes, and black, kinky hair on their heads.”
“Any aliens living with them?”
“The reptile Draconians provided some influence, working undercover after the Dals pulled out. I’ve checked the readouts and nothing is found of the lizards at this time,” she said.
“I think that is where I’ll go, for now. Is that what you’re dressed for?”
She stood and turned, displaying a smile, to model her pieces of cotton.
“Shall we travel together?” she suggested politely.
“That will be fine,” he agreed.
They left the observatory and booked a room in the dorms. They browsed the literature and prepared to leave the next morning. During the night the machine taught them the language and customs as well as recent history and names of VIPs. Giddy with childish excitement they started their day with a large breakfast at the commissary before boarding a small lander. It was their first time traversing an atmosphere; their home planet had elevators from land to orbit. Even their advanced sciences couldn’t hide the ferocious energies that buffeted the craft. The deafening retros finally cut out gentling them alongside a rutted path. Drones zipped about quickly extinguishing grass fires.
Cadmus’s glee quickly turned to shock at his first exposure to hot weather, the sun, bugs, and the smells of nature.
“I should have brought a hat!” he exclaimed and was answered with a servo delivery of one, from the lander, for each of them that matched their ensembles; business casual of the period. They quickly got to work, struggling with the unfamiliar burro and its cart as they moved toward the city of thousands. As soon as they were clear the shuttle lifted with a roar.
“I’m going to sell this bitching horse right away!” Cadmus griped.
“Actually, it’s a gelding,” an uncomplaining Electra, even in her burdensome clothing, corrected.
“I’m going to get some decent boots, too!”
“Good luck with that,” she added.
Only a short distance later they came across a pockmarked bronze shrine of a full-sized naked, almost obscenely so, woman.
“I thought these people were conservative?” Cadmus remarked.
“That’s a statue of the Goddess Astarte. She’s considered to be so beautiful that even clothing debases her.”
“Hmph,” grunted Cadmus while pulling on the burro’s leash to make some progress.
“Would you require some assistance?” inquired a fellow traveler that had closed the ground from behind. He, and his closely following family, were dressed less formally, in loosely woven cotton cloth wraps with bare feet and rattan hats. They led a mule, larger than the burro, dragging a cart with rickety sides filled with baskets of potatoes and topped with reed cages of chickens.
“How much?” Cadmus inquired directly but politely.
“I would be pleased to serve, but whatever you can spare would help,” he said.
Europe was already fishing in her purse and produced a nearly circular copper-zinc coin which she handed to the middle-aged dark man who, in turn, signed for a few of his older children to lead the errant beast.
“Ahh, a King David!” the man enthused. The allied city-states along the Mediterranian minted their own coins in copper, silver, and gold, but the King David was preferred by all although becoming rare.
“What’s your business? Do you have trade goods in the cart?” the man asked casually.
Not sensing danger Cadmus told Baltasar, as he had introduced himself, that their small cart was filled with personal belongings (of which he hadn't even seen) and that they had a gift for the king and were on a quest to deliver it.
“So you want an audience with King Agenor and Queen Telephassa?”
This news excited Baltasar who shouted it out to all they passed on the rutted road now becoming flatter and populated as they neared the city. He embellished the story with his own announcement that he was escorting renowned visitors from the Gods.
This news excited some of the temporarily idle population to fall in step forming an entourage that pressured them toward the palace without even a stop to refresh. The royal suffette acting as doorman had caught wind of their arrival and waylaid them at the steps. He was used to confronting strangers from far away lands with strange customs but emissaries from the Gods were rare.
“Petitioners are required to offer an honorarium,” he said.
Europa proffered a single gold King David surprising the judge and gathering a noticeable gasp from the onlookers; a silver would have done it.
“Take them to King Agenor,” he proclaimed, already moving to the next order of business. The pages, young muscular men with matching copper bracelets politely led them to a bungalow where they would wait. Others fetched their belongings and others stabled the cantankerous burro.
Cadmus couldn’t wait any longer and used the toilet pot that was set under a wooden stool in the corner. Europa followed suit covering the refuse with the powdered lime provided. Their upscale rock-walled room had an open window providing them with the views, the sounds, and the smells of the street populace.
The two took solid wooden chairs at a table laden with fresh foods, the first time the pair had eaten anything past protein or green bars. They weren’t the only people waiting to see the king and later they joined a group in a community center where they were entertained by a show of plays and singers. The king kept them waiting three days. He sat on a stone throne with a back, held a scepter, and was layered in silk and was heavily adorned but no crown. The room was awash with curious royalty and a few guards.
“What can I do for you?” he asked not unkindly.
“It’s not what you can do for me but what I can do for you!” Cadmus spieled causing the king to smirk, the crowd to titter, and Europa to roll her eyes.
“I hear you bring gifts from the Gods. What would that be?” the king continued.
Europa pushed Cadmus aside and began explaining to the king that his language, a picture-based rune collection she called Linear B, could be updated. She detailed the improvements in governance, the arts, and business that an alphabetic language could achieve.
“How much must the crown commit to see this project achieved?” asked King Agenor.
When Cadmus explained that the two of them were sent from afar to do this, already funded, the king smiled before instructing an assistant to see to their needs. Within days they were hard at it, their instructions widely distributed using runners. Queen Telephassa was thoroughly enamored with them and they often dined with the royal family. Status barriers relaxed over time and they all became friends. Several months into their new lives they received some bad news.
“I have received a rumor that we are to receive a visit from another God, Zeus,” the king said.
“Crap!” Cadmus said.
“I’ve said it before, we are travelers, not gods,” Europa said. It was useless; Agenor had witnessed a ship’s drone float through their window to resupply them with gold coins.
“I thought this would be good news. Why is it not?” Telephassa asked.
“I know him. He likes to boss people around,” Cadmus said.
“He is the king of the Gods?” Telephassa asked.
“He thinks he is!” Cadmus quiped.
“He is handsome, though,” Europa added causing Telephassa to smile.
He arrived two days later and acted the boor. He even tried to give orders to the king’s vassals differing from those of the king. His insults would have resulted in his execution if not for a few begrudging words from Cadmus. A few days later they would all be happy to find him gone if it weren’t for the knowledge that Europa had gone with him. Abducted, Telephassa soothed, but it wasn’t a certainty.
Cadmus took off to look for her, taking Telephassa’s daughter Harmonia as a companion and wandered into Delphi where he consulted the oracle who proscribed a cow. Pelagon, king of Procis, then gave him a special cow that he followed to Boeotia where it quit so he founded Thebes there. He decided to kill the cow and sent some buddies, Deioleon and Seriphus, to the nearby Ismenian spring for cleanup water. A water-dragon killed them. Cadmus bravely revenged them.
Athena, an oracle, instructed him to cull the teeth from the dead dragon and plant them. Up sprung a large group of armed and fierce men that he named Sportia. In truth, he requested some blank clones from the ship, but he decided he had too many when they arrived. He hit one of the fierce things with a rock which caused a fight among them and he allowed it to continue until only five remained alive. As the dull brutes learned about their lives they built the Cadmeia or citadel of Thebes and then became the royal founders.
Harmonia wanted a wedding and insisted on meeting his friends. He now had plenty of them as many on the ship followed his adventures. They descended from the heavens to attend and they brought amazing gifts.
The pleased bride soon provided an heir, Polydorus, and four daughters. Their descendants ruled the great city of Thebes for many generations.
Cadmus has signed on as a kinetic diplomat because he feels a need for the physicality that hasn’t had, even when he chooses physical immersion in his action games, where actuators and plot diversity stresses his muscles. His home planet, Festes, is entirely covered and deeply dug with windowless living quarters packed hundreds of stories deep. Intelligent machines provide for everyone’s needs including stress detectors used to prevent bad behavior. Aberrant activity is addressed before problems arise.
Cadmus had only emerged from the animator several hours ago, without incident. He feels great, seemingly falling asleep in one solar system only to wake in another. The machines have noted his desires and optimized his senses and structure before he woke; he’s now a muscled brown hunk with straight long hair and creamy unblemished skin.
The beautifully green planetary vistas are projected on scenes up and down the halls but he wants to see for himself, with his own eyes. Most of the conscious have found themselves overjoying a new life in a new land, temporarily separated from family, and succumbing to a period of overindulgence with drugs, alcohol, and sex. He pushes these urges aside, at least for now. He headed toward the view hub at the ships’ center while passing the overdosed as they slumped in the halls and were attended to by medical bots.
Finally traversing the final redundant airlock he floated to one of several observation seats over the tempered glass plate, now the only separation between him and the planet’s surface teeming with indiginous populations.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” asked a pretty young lady set back in shadow.
Looking toward the voice he found her to be quite attractive, of the same general healthy description as himself, only female. She was draped carefully from head to foot exposing no skin. The machines could have adjusted them to any attributes and he felt a connection since she had chosen the same appearance as himself.
“I’m Cadmus. And you?” he asked
“Europa,” she answered.
He marveled at the greenery as he again looked down at lush islands in a tranquil sea.
“That’s Crete and Malta and the Mediterranean Sea. If you look at the magnifier screen you can detect the stonework left by the Dals,” she said. From the air it was easy to see landing pads, roads, and other alien structures easily identified as Dal. The Dals are a handsome blonde race friendly with them, the Hyadeans, allies scattered after the Lyran galactic wars.
“How are the locals?” he asked while pointing to a Lebanese settlement on the edge of the Litani river.
“Peaceful, semiliterates who fish, farm, and trade. They build decent sail craft.”
“Do they look like us?”
“They have black skin, eyes, and black, kinky hair on their heads.”
“Any aliens living with them?”
“The reptile Draconians provided some influence, working undercover after the Dals pulled out. I’ve checked the readouts and nothing is found of the lizards at this time,” she said.
“I think that is where I’ll go, for now. Is that what you’re dressed for?”
She stood and turned, displaying a smile, to model her pieces of cotton.
“Shall we travel together?” she suggested politely.
“That will be fine,” he agreed.
They left the observatory and booked a room in the dorms. They browsed the literature and prepared to leave the next morning. During the night the machine taught them the language and customs as well as recent history and names of VIPs. Giddy with childish excitement they started their day with a large breakfast at the commissary before boarding a small lander. It was their first time traversing an atmosphere; their home planet had elevators from land to orbit. Even their advanced sciences couldn’t hide the ferocious energies that buffeted the craft. The deafening retros finally cut out gentling them alongside a rutted path. Drones zipped about quickly extinguishing grass fires.
Cadmus’s glee quickly turned to shock at his first exposure to hot weather, the sun, bugs, and the smells of nature.
“I should have brought a hat!” he exclaimed and was answered with a servo delivery of one, from the lander, for each of them that matched their ensembles; business casual of the period. They quickly got to work, struggling with the unfamiliar burro and its cart as they moved toward the city of thousands. As soon as they were clear the shuttle lifted with a roar.
“I’m going to sell this bitching horse right away!” Cadmus griped.
“Actually, it’s a gelding,” an uncomplaining Electra, even in her burdensome clothing, corrected.
“I’m going to get some decent boots, too!”
“Good luck with that,” she added.
Only a short distance later they came across a pockmarked bronze shrine of a full-sized naked, almost obscenely so, woman.
“I thought these people were conservative?” Cadmus remarked.
“That’s a statue of the Goddess Astarte. She’s considered to be so beautiful that even clothing debases her.”
“Hmph,” grunted Cadmus while pulling on the burro’s leash to make some progress.
“Would you require some assistance?” inquired a fellow traveler that had closed the ground from behind. He, and his closely following family, were dressed less formally, in loosely woven cotton cloth wraps with bare feet and rattan hats. They led a mule, larger than the burro, dragging a cart with rickety sides filled with baskets of potatoes and topped with reed cages of chickens.
“How much?” Cadmus inquired directly but politely.
“I would be pleased to serve, but whatever you can spare would help,” he said.
Europe was already fishing in her purse and produced a nearly circular copper-zinc coin which she handed to the middle-aged dark man who, in turn, signed for a few of his older children to lead the errant beast.
“Ahh, a King David!” the man enthused. The allied city-states along the Mediterranian minted their own coins in copper, silver, and gold, but the King David was preferred by all although becoming rare.
“What’s your business? Do you have trade goods in the cart?” the man asked casually.
Not sensing danger Cadmus told Baltasar, as he had introduced himself, that their small cart was filled with personal belongings (of which he hadn't even seen) and that they had a gift for the king and were on a quest to deliver it.
“So you want an audience with King Agenor and Queen Telephassa?”
This news excited Baltasar who shouted it out to all they passed on the rutted road now becoming flatter and populated as they neared the city. He embellished the story with his own announcement that he was escorting renowned visitors from the Gods.
This news excited some of the temporarily idle population to fall in step forming an entourage that pressured them toward the palace without even a stop to refresh. The royal suffette acting as doorman had caught wind of their arrival and waylaid them at the steps. He was used to confronting strangers from far away lands with strange customs but emissaries from the Gods were rare.
“Petitioners are required to offer an honorarium,” he said.
Europa proffered a single gold King David surprising the judge and gathering a noticeable gasp from the onlookers; a silver would have done it.
“Take them to King Agenor,” he proclaimed, already moving to the next order of business. The pages, young muscular men with matching copper bracelets politely led them to a bungalow where they would wait. Others fetched their belongings and others stabled the cantankerous burro.
Cadmus couldn’t wait any longer and used the toilet pot that was set under a wooden stool in the corner. Europa followed suit covering the refuse with the powdered lime provided. Their upscale rock-walled room had an open window providing them with the views, the sounds, and the smells of the street populace.
The two took solid wooden chairs at a table laden with fresh foods, the first time the pair had eaten anything past protein or green bars. They weren’t the only people waiting to see the king and later they joined a group in a community center where they were entertained by a show of plays and singers. The king kept them waiting three days. He sat on a stone throne with a back, held a scepter, and was layered in silk and was heavily adorned but no crown. The room was awash with curious royalty and a few guards.
“What can I do for you?” he asked not unkindly.
“It’s not what you can do for me but what I can do for you!” Cadmus spieled causing the king to smirk, the crowd to titter, and Europa to roll her eyes.
“I hear you bring gifts from the Gods. What would that be?” the king continued.
Europa pushed Cadmus aside and began explaining to the king that his language, a picture-based rune collection she called Linear B, could be updated. She detailed the improvements in governance, the arts, and business that an alphabetic language could achieve.
“How much must the crown commit to see this project achieved?” asked King Agenor.
When Cadmus explained that the two of them were sent from afar to do this, already funded, the king smiled before instructing an assistant to see to their needs. Within days they were hard at it, their instructions widely distributed using runners. Queen Telephassa was thoroughly enamored with them and they often dined with the royal family. Status barriers relaxed over time and they all became friends. Several months into their new lives they received some bad news.
“I have received a rumor that we are to receive a visit from another God, Zeus,” the king said.
“Crap!” Cadmus said.
“I’ve said it before, we are travelers, not gods,” Europa said. It was useless; Agenor had witnessed a ship’s drone float through their window to resupply them with gold coins.
“I thought this would be good news. Why is it not?” Telephassa asked.
“I know him. He likes to boss people around,” Cadmus said.
“He is the king of the Gods?” Telephassa asked.
“He thinks he is!” Cadmus quiped.
“He is handsome, though,” Europa added causing Telephassa to smile.
He arrived two days later and acted the boor. He even tried to give orders to the king’s vassals differing from those of the king. His insults would have resulted in his execution if not for a few begrudging words from Cadmus. A few days later they would all be happy to find him gone if it weren’t for the knowledge that Europa had gone with him. Abducted, Telephassa soothed, but it wasn’t a certainty.
Cadmus took off to look for her, taking Telephassa’s daughter Harmonia as a companion and wandered into Delphi where he consulted the oracle who proscribed a cow. Pelagon, king of Procis, then gave him a special cow that he followed to Boeotia where it quit so he founded Thebes there. He decided to kill the cow and sent some buddies, Deioleon and Seriphus, to the nearby Ismenian spring for cleanup water. A water-dragon killed them. Cadmus bravely revenged them.
Athena, an oracle, instructed him to cull the teeth from the dead dragon and plant them. Up sprung a large group of armed and fierce men that he named Sportia. In truth, he requested some blank clones from the ship, but he decided he had too many when they arrived. He hit one of the fierce things with a rock which caused a fight among them and he allowed it to continue until only five remained alive. As the dull brutes learned about their lives they built the Cadmeia or citadel of Thebes and then became the royal founders.
Harmonia wanted a wedding and insisted on meeting his friends. He now had plenty of them as many on the ship followed his adventures. They descended from the heavens to attend and they brought amazing gifts.
The pleased bride soon provided an heir, Polydorus, and four daughters. Their descendants ruled the great city of Thebes for many generations.
