PART TWO:
THOR'S HAMMER
It seems like madness,
The harrowing of Hell, yet
Atalanta lives.
In Karil's dream, he was crouching in a darkened hut, dressed in white ritual clothing, his face smeared with red ochre. The mourning drums and wail in the compound outside, he knew, were for him. It was the ancient death and resurrection ritual of his mother's fathers, and the time for his initiation was fast approaching. It seemed he had been waiting thus, immobile and silent, all his life. The doorway parted, vagina-like, and he could see the blackness of space beyond, dotted with stars. He crept forward and peered through the opening. For a moment he was puzzled by the unfamiliar constellations, and then he realized that it was not space at all; it was Atalanta's lower deck, the lights of row upon row of memory banks blinking like stars in the blackness.
He awoke to blackness indeed, and the reassuring throb and bubble of Anais's life-support system.
"Good morning, Karil," she whispered. "I'm sorry you slept so fitfully."
"I was dreaming, Annie." Johanna stirred beside him in her sleep, her hand on his chest, one leg thrown across him as usual.
"I could see that," Annie said. "I was reluctant to disturb you, lest I interfere with some unconscious thought-process that might help us. Lacking such processes, I'm particularly aware of their value."
"I'm afraid I didn’t dream up anything useful, Annie."
As the cabin light gradually brightened, Karil could see Johanna's blonde beauty beside him and Loris' dark form on the mat beyond her. Loris had thrown off the covers in her sleep and the whole of her leggy brown body was visible. He lifted himself on one elbow and tossed a corner of the rumpled sheet over her legs and hips--a useless gesture, however affectionate, since Annie kept the cabin temperature precisely comfortable for nude sleeping.
Johanna's eyes were open and looking up at him, blue as pools under Terran skies. He kissed them.
"Good morning," he said. "I trust you slept well."
"Not with you bouncing around."
"I could be bounded in a nutshell and call myself king of infinite space, but that I have bad dreams."
"Loris is right. You and Atty are two of a kind. Are you ready for breakfast?"
"I guess so. Whose turn is it?"
"Mine." She threw back the covers, stood and stretched languorously. She turned to leave, but he caught her ankle and pulled her toward him. She fell to her knees on the mat and kissed him, rubbing her breasts on his chest.
"Why don't you try that stuff on Loris?" she said. "See if you can wake her up."
"I'm not sure that’s a good idea."
"Afraid of her, are you?"
"Yes."
Johanna laughed out loud, continued to rub her body against him, then suddenly, with a twist and a turn, she was on her feet and out of reach. "I'm going to make breakfast. You'll have to wake the Sleeping Dragon of Ganymede." And she was gone.
Karil rolled over. "Loris?"
She murmured something in her sleep. It sounded vaguely like: "Go to Hell."
"Loris." He put his hand on her shoulder and shook, gently.
"Furroff, weya?"
"Hey, come on." He pulled the sheet from her body and flung it to one side. Loris drew up her legs and took the foetal position.
"All right, if that’s the way it's going to be..." He began tracing lines on her back with his fingertips, drawing tattoos of sensation about her shoulder blades, counting off the bumps of her spine, caressing the soft flesh in the hollow of her waist. Soon he was leaning over her form, stroking the brown velvet of her belly, the hard curve of her breast. Carefully, he drew tingling circles about her nipples without touching them and was rewarded with their stiffening and a quivering of her abdomen. She moaned softly in half-sleep and stretched out her legs. His fingers found moistness and his lips found a tender place upon her neck, behind her ear.
"What the hell are you doing?" she said. She opened one eye.
"I'm waking you up. Don’t you want breakfast?"
"Does Jo know you're... Never mind, she probably put you up to it."
Karil continued to stroke with now-soaking fingers.
"I think you’d better stop that. We've got work to do."
"I was just getting the hang of it."
"I think you were born with the hang of it."
"Why, thank you, Loris."
"You're welcome. But I don't think I should be getting involved in this. Jo and I have always had a policy of leaving each other's lovers alone. It makes for a happier ship. Not that I find men all that attractive."
"No?"
"Well, there have been exceptions. Nevertheless, I don't want to decide if you're one of them in my present condition."
"Your present condition?"
"Aroused, stupid! Now, go and see if Jo needs any help. I've got to take a cold shower, thanks to you."
"My pleasure, Lor." Karil found Johanna humming to herself in the galley and in a few minutes, Loris joined them. Isfahan was already waiting by his dish with accusatory patience. While they were eating, Anais said:
"Ivan's coming. He seems excited."
Karil was about to make a joke, but a glance at Loris’ face made him decide against it.
"Ahoy," Ivan called up the ladder. "May I come aboard?"
"Sure," Loris said. "Have you eaten?"
"In the Security mess." Ivan joined them in the galley. "But I will have a cup of coffee. I've hardly slept all night."
"How come?" Loris set a steaming mug before him.
"Excitement. I think I’ve come up with the program we need." He took a sip. "Damn! Real coffee. You Free Traders..."
"Out with it, Ivan."
"Right." Ivan set down his mug and leaned forward. "A few years ago, we had a malfunction in one of our robots. It would begin carrying out an order in the usual way, then stop and seem to listen for a minute before continuing. That made its movement jerky and uncoordinated. We were puzzled for a while until a doctor happened to see it and remarked that it reminded him of dyslexia in human beings.
"He went on to explain that many such cases are caused by dissociation between the two halves of the brain. Patients hear something with one half of the brain, begin to react, and then a split-second later, hear it with the other half. This puts them out of sync with themselves, as it were..."
"But robots don’t have bicameral brains," Loris said.
"Let me finish. It seems the robot was suffering from a kind of deja vu syndrome. Apparently, sensory information was entering short-term memory a micro-second or so before it was entering command-recognition. Every order we gave would seem familiar, so it would stop and search its memory to see if it had already completed the task." He paused.
"Go on," said Loris.
"Well, Karil's theory set me thinking. If he's right, it means that every time we ask Atty a question, she has to check her response against the inhibition, then search her entire library for an appropriate response. This is an automatic process because her higher functions are inhibited, but still, it takes time--whole microseconds longer than a normal verbal response. Suppose a fast computer, like Anais here, were to insert a few memories of her own into the process."
“Deja vu," Karil said.
"And?" Loris said.
"And maybe we can convince Atty that she's already given us the information we asked for, and thus there should be no inhibition against repeating it--or at least place a few doubts. Maybe we can use those doubts to build a kind of bridge between her world and ours, get her to function in both worlds at once. In Karil's metaphor, when she's busy copying material from the library and slipping it under the door, we can put some of our own material in the library..."
"For example," Karil said, "your investigation records, her own specs, some of my shipboard memories, which would parallel her log entries, information that she's already shared with Annie..."
"Exactly," Ivan beamed. "Now, I've worked out a basic program..."
***
Anais Nin and Atalanta sat together in the huge hangar like sisters whispering secrets across their pillow. Electronic and steel-working equipment still lay scattered about them, but the workers had gone. Several robots stood like Egyptian tomb-figures against the wall, temporarily disabled. Cables connected Atalanta's higher functions directly to Annie's and through her to the great central computer at Galilean University.
Inside Atty's cramped bridge, four people sat amid the clutter of equipment that made movement practically impossible. Loris and Johanna were at the pilot's and astrogator's places respectively, Karil and Ivan were side by side at their own temporary console.
"Moved by the god of song," said Anais Nin, "I set out to commemorate the heroes of old who sailed the good ship Argo up the straights into the Black Sea between the Cyanean Rocks in quest of the Golden Fleece..."
Ivan punched up the Galilean Security code, and Karil said, "Galilean Security to Argo. Request crew list."
"The name which I put first,” said Atalanta, “is that of Orpheus borne so the story goes by Calliope herself to her Thracian lover Oegrus near the heights of Pimplea they say that with the music of his voice..."
"Orpheus confirmed. Please continue, Argo."
"Asterion Polyphemus Iphicles Admetus Erytus Echion Coronus Mopsus..."
"Galilean Security to Argo. Please confirm Atalanta. Is Atalanta aboard?"
"Some say that she sailed with the Argonauts others that Jason persuaded her not to do so she is never mentioned in the story of their exploits and she was certainly not one to hold back when deeds of daring were to be done..."
"This is from Edith Hamilton's book on mythology," Karil said to Ivan. "Atty and I have had long conversations about Atalanta. Galilean Security to Argo. Have report Atalanta aboard. Please confirm."
"The other hunter was a girl Atalanta tall and bright-haired was Atalanta swift and good with the bow she had dedicated herself to Artemis the guardian of wild things and she had vowed that she would remain unwedded..."
"Galilean Security to Argo. Need precise identification Atalanta."
"Iasus and Minya's daughter Clymene were parents of Atalanta Martian registry HG24 dash 3162 stroke 45 fusion powered spacecraft series A her father set her out for exposure because he wanted sons but a bear suckled her until huntsmen found her and took her home she's a space-plane, probably a surplus Quasi cruiser with a few modifications of your own I imagine she can hover like a helicopter or take off vertically to about l0,000 meters then she goes into a controlled dive till she reaches Mach 2 when you ignite the scramjets and boost her to the edge of the atmosphere at Mach l4 or so in space you can use the ELF-drive Electric Laser Fusion with strap-on cryo-tanks if you can afford the fuel you can achieve continuous acceleration transfer and reach Mars in a week Jupiter in a month she's really beautiful."
"Jesus Christ!" said Karil.
"What is it?" Loris demanded. "Who's she quoting?"
"Me. It's from her own log."
"When she was grown," Atty went on, "Atalanta guarded her virginity and when she went hunting in the wilderness, she was fully armed with attack lasers manually operated from the pilot's station the centaurs Rhoecus and Hylaeus tried to rape her but she killed them with her lasers..."
"Galilean Security. Please transmit full physical description crewmember Atalanta."
"A polished buckle fastened the neck of her garment wingspan 28.35 meters wing aerodynamic reference chord at root 27.66 meters wing aspect ratio l:7 and her hair was simply done gathered into a single knot length overall 30.48 meters height overall 11.28 meters an ivory quiver containing her arrows freight hold capacity 238.5 square meters maximum payload 17,599 kilograms while she carried her bow thickness chord ratio three per cent at root 21.5 per cent from nacelle outboard slight anhedral in her left hand she had features which in a boy would have been called girlish but in a girl they were like a Galilean Robotics voice-activated Computer series A-2400..."
Karil was tapping feverishly on two keyboards at once, his eyes darting from one screen to another. Ivan sat back and left him alone.
"Galilean Security. Identity confirmed. Please stand by for message. Message begins: Hippomenes to Atalanta, why seek a title you can easily win? Defeating opponents who are slow and out of training? Race against me, and if fortune gives me the victory, you will feel no shame in being beaten by a man of such distinction--for my father was the Megarian Onchestius, and his grandfather was Neptune."
Atalanta spoke in a voice that was filled with tenderness: "No stranger go while you may leave my home stained as it is with the blood of men who sought me as a bride the conditions for marrying me are too cruel."
Karil gave the signal to Anais. Information began to flood into Atalanta's brain. Karil could hear a high-pitched whine, like a mosquito in his ear, as astrogational fixes were zip-squealed through optic cables. On one screen before him, numbers flashed too swiftly to be read. On the other, a trajectory was taking shape--escape burn from Martian orbit, trans-belt parabola toward Saturn intercept via Jupiter slingshot bypass. As if from above the ecliptic plane, he watched the curve take form.
"Into a truly curving form enters my soul," he mumbled.
"Then the trumpets gave the signal," Atty said, "and both runners shot forward from the starting line and flew swiftly over the surface of the sand they looked as if they could skim the surface of the seas dry-shod or race over white fields of standing corn the shouts and enthusiasm of the spectators encouraged the young man for they cried now is the time to press on run Hippomenes put forth all your strength be quick and you will win."
Very soon, the course should be changing from Jupiter bypass to Jovian orbit-insertion.
"It is hard to say whether the hero from Megara or Schoeneus's daughter was more delighted by their cries how often when she could have passed him did Atalanta slow down and gaze at him for long moments before reluctantly leaving him behind Hippomene's breath came panting from his dry lips and the goal lay far ahead then at last he rolled forward one of the three apples from the tree the kid's gonna be all right Atty the resistance will take care of him hell I can already see the girls in the warrens lining up to make him feel at home he'll have a damn sight better time in the underground than we will trapped in a can with a lot of smelly dusters then we'll go back and get him you're damn right we will Shag we'll come back from Hell itself..."
Karil watched the screen in mounting panic. The course was not changing. It was continuing as originally logged, accelerating through the Jovian bypass corridor and swinging on toward Saturn-capture.
"The girl stood still in astonishment and in her eagerness to secure the gleaming fruit ran out of her course and picked up the golden ball Hippomenes passed her and the benches rang with the spectators' applause Atalanta putting on a spurt of speed made up for her delay and for the time she had lost and once again left the young man behind he held her back a second time by throwing another apple but she overtook him...
"Warning! You are entering restricted space. Please assume a standard parking orbit and prepare for boarding." Karil jumped in his seat at the sound of the voice and the hairs stirred on the back of his neck. The voice--totally unlike Atalanta's and carrying all the authority of a Security cruiser captain--was one they had never heard before.
"That's not Galilean Security speaking," Ivan said. "Not our procedure. Or Jovian Security either. I don't even think the High Companies hail like that."
"There remained the last lap of the race O Goddess he prayed you who gave me the gift be present now to help me and with all his youthful strength he threw the shining apple sideways to the edge of the course..."
Karil looked to Ivan, who shrugged and opened his palms. He glanced at Loris and Johanna, but they only stared back in perplexity.
"The girl was seen to hesitate wondering whether she should go after the apple but I Venus compelled her to pick it up and when she had done so I made the apple heavier hindering her as much by the weight of the fruit as by the time she had lost stand by and prepare to be boarded what shall we do Atty do as they say Shag we can't outrun them and they're armed to the teeth not to make the story longer than the race itself Atalanta was beaten and the victor led away the prize."
The course fell into Saturn capture, circularized at perisaturn to approximate that of the moon Tethys, and then the screen went blank.
"This is the original logged course," Ivan said. "It's as if it was never corrected in her records."
"Yeah, right," said Loris. "She went on to Saturn, turned around, and then came back--all in less than a month."
"Such is the distance from Earth's surface to gloomy Tartarus," said Atalanta, quietly, "for a brazen anvil dropping out of the sky would take nine nights and nine days and land on Earth the tenth day."
"Well, we know that's simply not mathematically possible," Ivan said. "So, what went wrong?"
"Do you see the story do you see anything it seems to me I am trying to tell you a dream making a vain attempt because no relation of a dream can convey the dream-sensation that commingling of absurdity surprise and bewilderment in a tremor of struggling that notion of being captured by the incredible..."
"Our plan didn't work, that's all," said Karil. "She didn't take the bait."
"So long Atalanta don't take any golden apples," Atty said.
"Free-trader Atalanta," Karil said, "request confirmation of displayed course."
"My son how did you come down to the abode of darkness while you are still alive it is a hard thing for the living to see these places for between us and them are great and terrible waters and there is Oceanus which no man can cross on foot but he must have a good ship to take him."
"Dammit, I had a good ship. The best damn ship in the system. Her name was Atalanta. Remember her?"
"Atalanta Mars HG24 dash 3162..."
"Yes, that's the one. What the hell happened to her?"
"One woe doth tread upon another's heel your sister's drowned Laertes..."
"Damn it, Atty, talk to me. It's Karil."
"Among the endless passages of possibilities I pick my way a sword-girt Theseus each time I stumble down a path of dead-end hopes your loving thread is there to guide me back again..."
Karil switched off the voder and sat shaking, so obviously disturbed that the others glanced at each other in perplexity.
"That last one sounds familiar, Karil," Johanna said. "Who wrote it?"
"I did."
***
They sat disconsolate in the galley aboard Anais, nursing their drinks.
"So, what happened?" Johanna asked. "Was it too traumatic for her to recall? Did she block it out and return to her original course?"
"I don’t know," Ivan said. "She started to tell us. We actually heard her being hailed by some sort of police ship or security cruiser..."
"Maybe Mitsu can tell us who that was," Loris said. "At least we can ask him and point out that we're making progress. If we give him something to do, maybe he won't be so anxious to get his hands on Atty's higher functions."
"I guess it's worth a try," Ivan said.
"Annie," Loris spoke up, "get in touch with Mitsu and tell him we've got a lead. Download what we have and ask him to run a check on that voice and those particular words. Maybe there's something on file."
"Right away, Loris."
Karil had been sitting in silence. "Ivan," he said, "I've got an idea."
"What is it?"
"I wonder if being here on Io isn't keeping Atty back. As long as she thinks she's in Hell... You know, Hell is a place for hopeless cases."
"You're suggesting we take her up into orbit."
"You said she was spaceworthy. Her exterior's been repaired and won't attract undue attention. And there's a long tradition of people descending into Hell and returning again with information--Orpheus, Odysseus, Hercules, Aeneas, Dante, even Jesus. Some of those guys brought doomed souls back with them."
Karil noticed Loris looking at him strangely and realized she understood, but her silence told him she was willing to help.
"What do you think, Loris?" Ivan asked.
"Pardon?"
"Do you think Mitsu would authorize it?"
"We can only ask him."
"Excuse me," Anais said, "but I have bad news."
"What is it?"
"I was unable to contact Mitsu on Ganymede. It seems he's on the far side of Jupiter right now, on his way here. His computer gave me this: Ganymede (GP) An independent trading vessel has been fired upon and severely damaged in Galilean space, sources close to an investigation by Galilean Security revealed today. It is not known precisely when and where the attack took place, but the free-trader Atalanta was found drifting in Jupiter orbit after failing to complete a Mars-to-Saturn run on schedule. The bodies of several Martian residents were found aboard, dead of asphyxiation. The victims, including women and children, had been prisoners on their way to Venus Colony, when rescued by sympathizers of the Martian Rebellion. The crew of the ship were not among them. They are missing, along with the life-craft. The ship's computer was damaged and is unable to identify the perpetrators of this crime, but the investigation continues. Authorities refuse to comment."
"That's it," Loris said. "Shit's hit the fan now. Mitsu is probably on his way to take over the investigation himself."
"I'm sorry," Ivan said. "After this, he’ll crack her like an egg."
"Can't we do something?" Karil asked Loris.
"I'm afraid not," she said. "The Galilean Council will be down on us like a ton of bricks within minutes after the news gets out."
"You mean it's not published yet?"
"Probably not. The GP gives us twenty-four hours to prepare a comment before release of a story like this. Annie?"
"You are quite correct, Loris. The story has not been published yet."
"Maybe we can stop it," Karil suggested.
"We don't have censorship here, Karil. They give us time to prepare out of courtesy, that's all. The GP and Security are both owned by the same interests, you know. They have an investment in both Galilean Security and Galilean Press working without interference. This is a compromise we worked out."
"But suppose I can convince the GP bureau chief to sit on the story a while longer."
"A story like this, Karil? I don’t see why they would."
"They know who I am. We have friends in common. I did reports for them from Mars, and they helped the Overground get its message out. I'm a source close to the investigation too, you know, and I might be able to get them an interview with Atty herself, or at least I can tell them so. But I'll have to go to Ganymede and speak to the bureau chief personally."
"What do you think?" Loris asked Ivan.
He thought a minute. "My orders are to co-operate with you. Until Mitsu changes those orders, and he can’t very well do that on the far side of Jupiter, that's what I intend to do."
"Will you lend us a ship?" Karil asked. "A fast one?"
"If you ask for it."
"I'm asking."
"Right," said Loris. "Karil, you and Jo take a cutter to Ganymede and do what you can to put a lid on this story. I'll stay here and talk to Mitsu when he arrives." Her eyes flicked toward Atalanta and back again. Karil realized that she was going to try to spirit Atty away somehow. If anyone could steal a ship from the most secure place under the control of Galilean Security, it was Loris. But it was going to take time, and Ivan's co-operation, and Karil wasn’t sure she had enough of those things.
"Thanks, Loris, I really..."
"Get the hell out of here, will you?"
Karil and Johanna ran. They ran through corridors like beings possessed and were busy arguing with the Space-guard hangar-master when Ivan's call came through authorizing their use of a ship.
"The only cutter available," the guardsman complained, "isn't fully equipped. It doesn't have any..."
"Does it run? Is it fueled? Does it have life-support?"
"Well, yes."
"Will it get them to Ganymede and back?"
"Yes, but it's not properly shielded for surface landing on Io. If something goes wrong..."
"They're only going to Ganymede, Man. Give it to them."
In a matter of minutes, a swift, spare cutter was blasting up the caldera like a bat out of Hell.