Fred Saberhagen The Book of the Gods 03 The Arms of Hercules

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and
once more thanked its creator. It would offer considerable protection from
any
weapon the Giants might strike at me with, and from the arctic blasts of
freezing air as well.
I thanked the Smith as politely as I could, while keeping to myself my
serious
doubts that I would ever need armor of any kind to shield me in a fight on
the
other hand, if we were going to fight in a cold climate I would certainly be
grateful for something to keep me warm.
Daedalus, who had come to observe the fitting, cautioned me that the suit's
materials had not been tested against burns or poisons.
And Hephaestus said: "Since I have been told something of your strength, I
have
not stinted on the armor's strength by trying to reduce its weight. Few
mortal
men who wore this would be able to lift their arms, or even move their feet.
But
you should have no difficulty."
He also told me that his mortal name was Andy Ferrante. "You might as well
call
me Andy, Hercules. I'm even newer at this game than Apollo is." And he put
out
his hand for me to shake.
And in the course of our talk, Hephaestus mentioned his dream of someday,
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somehow, gaining the power of manufacturing Faces. But any such effort would
have to wait until the war was over.
When I was dressed in my new suit, and after I had allowed myself a few
hours'
sleep and had eaten, I resumed my study of the research projects that were
currently under way.
There was another golden maiden here, and other inhuman helpers who were less
spectacular, if only because they were invisible.
By studying the materials and processes that the Giants had used to create
the
monsters, the Smith and the Artisan between them thought they had gained some
important insight as to the nature of the Giants, and some clues to their
special weapon as well. Though the Boar and Hydra, and the sea monster that
had
almost eaten the Trojan princess, were of course of different species than
the
Giants, they, too, were designed creatures, incorporating odylic magic.
Part of the work recently accomplished by the Smith and the Artisan had been
the
building of a kind of greenhouse on a remote high ledge of Vulcan's fortress,
and the planting of Apple seeds therein. So far there had not been enough of
a
crop to allow much in the way of experimentation.
Daedalus told me as he suspected that the Giants, whether moved by some
intellectual curiosity or only acting on instinct, had also been
experimenting.
Not with helmets, unfortunately, but with means of turning all native earthly
life into monstrous variations that would cease to reproduce. So far they had
had only occasional success.
"And we still don't know with any certainty where the Giants themselves came
from I find it fascinating that Atlas told you they issued from the earth. I
wonder if he meant that the first ones grew like plants? Oh, how I wish I had
been there when you were talking to him!"
"I wish so, too," I told the Artisan. "Maybe when this war is over we can go
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back and talk to him again."
Almost all the Giants with whom people had reported having encountered were
male. But my tutors assured me again that female examples, Giants who seemed
to
have been modeled in more or less crude imitation of human women, were not
unknown.
Though Giants rarely spoke to gods or humans, there had been a few dialogues
between the two species over the centuries. Generally these communications
consisted of little more than shouted threats, challenges, or warnings.
Presumably the Titans communicated more frequently among themselves.
The life span of each Giant seemed to be enormous, though probably not
comparable to that of a god.
Neither Daedalus nor Hephaestus had yet been able to learn exactly where on
earth the Giants had first sprung to life, or when except that it must have
been
in the remote past.
Or whether, somewhere in the dim past, they had actually been human to me
that
was the most chilling possibility of all.
The more I thought about our race of enemies, the more I realized that I knew
almost nothing about them. I spoke my thoughts aloud to Daedalus. "I wonder,
are
there Giant infants somewhere?"
"I suppose everything that lives must pass through some stage of immaturity.
Antaeus, as you describe him, Hercules, must have been quite young, as Giants
go."
"That had never occurred to me," I remarked, trying to cast back my thoughts. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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