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One called a continuum. Where is the link? How does the gate operate?
Outside my little tent, I knew, insects buzzed and the stars turned on their spheres. The moon rose and
climbed up the night sky. Midnight came and went. Still I lay there as in a trance, my eyes closed, my
vision focused on the times when the Golden One had pulled me through the gate that linked his world
with mine.
I saw a pattern. I replayed each moment when the Golden One had summoned me before him, and saw
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the same pattern of energies arrange themselves in the atoms around me. I visualized the pattern, froze it
in my memory, and then poured every gram of mental energy I had into that image. I felt perspiration
trickling across my brow, my chest, my arms and legs. Still I concentrated until it felt as if my brain was
on fire.
I will not stop, I told myself. I will break through or kill myself. There is no third way.
A flash of cryogenic cold swept through me and then, with the abruptness of a light being switched on, I
felt a gentle warming glow.
I opened my eyes and saw myself standing in the middle of a circle of the same gods and goddesses I
had met before. But this time I was on their level, in their midst. And they looked shocked.
"How dare you!"
"Who summoned you?"
"You have no right to intrude here!"
I grinned at their surprise. They were truly splendid, robed and gowned in rich fabrics and glittering
metallics. I had on nothing except my leather kilt, I realized.
"The insolence of this creature!" said one of the women.
I searched their faces for the Golden One. He pushed past two other men and confronted me.
"How did you get here?" he demanded.
"You showed me the way."
Anger flared in his gold-flecked eyes. But the older, bearded one I thought of as Zeus stepped forward
to stand beside him.
"You show remarkable abilities, Orion," he said to me. Then, turning to the Golden One, "You should be
congratulated for making him so talented."
I thought I saw a trace of an ironic smile on Zeus's bearded face. The Golden One bowed his head
slightly in acknowledgment.
"Very well, Orion," he said, "so you've found your way here. To what purpose? What do you want?"
"I want to know if you have decided to make Troy win this war or not."
They glanced back and forth at one another without answering.
"That's not for you to know," said the Golden One.
I looked around at all their faces, so flawlessly beautiful, so unable to hide their inner feelings.
"By that," I said, "I take it that you are still arguing among yourselves about what the outcome should be.
Good! The Achaians will attack Troy one more time. And this time they will take the city and burn it to
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the ground."
"Impossible!" snapped the Golden One. "I won't permit it."
"You think that by killing Achilles you've ruined any chance the Achaians had of winning. Well, you're
wrong. We'll win. And on our next attack."
"I'll destroy you!" he raged.
I regarded him calmly. Strangely enough, I actually felt serene within myself. Not a trace of fear.
"You can destroy me, certainly," I said. "But I have learned something about you self-styled gods and
goddesses. You cannot destroy all of your creatures. You can influence us, manipulate us, but you
haven't the power to destroy us, one and all. You may have created us, but now we exist and act on our
own. We are beyond your control not totally, I know, but we have much more freedom of action than
you like to admit."
Zeus said softly, like the warning rumble of distant thunder, "Be careful, Orion. You are tempting a
terrible wrath."
"Your powers are limited," I insisted. And suddenly I understood why. "You can't destroy us! If you did,
you would be destroying yourselves!You exist only as long as your creatures exist. Our destinies are
linked throughout time."
One of the goddesses, a cruel smile on her beautiful lips, stepped toward me. "You flatter yourself,
arrogant creature. You can be destroyed utterly, and very painfully, too."
The Golden One agreed. "We don't have to destroy all of you creatures. Merely striking a city with
plague or sending a devastating earthquake is usually enough to get what we want from you pitiful little
worms." The goddess reminded me of what the Achaians had said of Hera, the wife of Zeus: beautiful,
wily, and a relentless, implacable enemy.
"Personally, I favor the Achaians," she said, tracing a fingernail down my bare chest hard enough to
draw blood. "But if your conceited interference is what we have to look forward to, I will gladly switch
my loyalty to agree with our Apollo, here."
The Golden One took her hand and kissed it. "You see, Orion," he said to me, "you are dealing with
forces far beyond your scope. Perhaps it would be better if I eliminated you now, once and for all."
"As you eliminated the one called Athene?" I snarled.
"More insolence!"
"Destroy him now and be done with it," said one of the other males.
The Golden One nodded, a half-reluctant smile on his lips. "I'm afraid you've outlived your usefulness,
Orion."
"Leave him alone."
The words were spoken in a hissing, rasping whisper, but they froze all the gods and goddesses ringed
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around me.
They stepped aside to make room for a burly, massive figure who walked slowly toward me. It was as if
they were afraid to touch him, afraid that his powerful arms would crush them if he merely reached out.
His shoulders were rounded, but broad and thick with muscle. His body was heavy and deep, his legs
shorter than I would have expected, but equally massive and powerful. His face was wide, with eyes that
burned red beneath thick brows.
Unlike the others in their splendid robes, he wore a black leather vest and knee-length kilt of forest
green. His skin was gray, the hair of his head black and pulled straight back. Despite his slightly bent
posture he loomed over me and all the others there.
He came straight up to me, glowering before me like a smoldering volcano.
"Do you remember me?" His voice was a harsh, labored whisper.
"Ahriman," I said, awed by his presence.
He closed his eyes for a moment. Then, "We have been enemies for long, long ages, Orion. Do you
remember that?"
I looked deep into those red burning eyes and saw pain and hatred and a hunt that spanned fifty
thousand years. I saw a battle in the snow and ice of a bygone era, and a struggle between us in other
places, other times.
"It's... all confused," I said to him.
"Go back to your world, Orion," said Ahriman. "Once you did me a good turn and now I repay the
debt. Go back to your world and don't tempt your destiny any further."
"I'll go back to my world," I said. "And I'll help the Achaians to conquer Troy."
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