Hep gave me a smirking grin when I noted he had never drawn his own weapons. Of all my brothers, he has always been on my side. Not even Eros would chance displeasing Zeus for my sake, but Hephaestus always had my back. It may be because we were a favored pair of the Frost Giants when they bred us before allowing us free will. Five of my children were borne out from Hep.
I know how foreign and distasteful that all sounds, but you need to keep in mind that we were much akin to lab rats for the Jotunn. They have no morality to speak of, and they saw us as no more than bacteria under a microscope they could use as a weapon against their eternal enemy. You had to learn to deal with it and disassociate these acts with your own morality.
There is never any romantic attachment nor much pleasure in the couplings. They were the only means to propagate in order to ensure the survival of our species. All other civilizations started the exact same way, from two in the beginning until numbers grow enough to be self-sustaining, accepting the genome degradation until the breeding base has enough diversity to offset the degradation. That number is usually around fifty thousand.
That said, I see Hep as my brother, nothing more and nothing less. Just as he sees me as his little sister... though I am older than him, being the third child of Zeus and Hera, Eros being the fourth.
I said as I glanced at Arina who had a nervous but endearing smile on her face, “Hera and Zeus of Olympus, this is Arina the Whispering Breeze, First Valkyriefrior of Valhalla, and daughter of Odin of Asgard. Arina, the leaders of Olympus.”
Everyone except mother and father dropped to a knee to give a wondering centurion salute, eyes averted down from the thoroughly embarrassed looking Valkyrie.
Hera almost whispered in her disbelief, “A God of Asgard?”
I nodded as Arina offered an arm to her in greeting, “Well met, Hera.”
Mother reached out, and before I could stop her, she grasped Arina's shoulder in our customary greeting expecting Arina to respond in kind. The Roman Centurions who observed our culture on earth had adopted the greeting for a time.
Arina blushed profusely as I leaned forward and whispered, “Mother, prolonged physical contact like that is seen as a sexual invitation to the Asgard. Like this.”
I offered my forearm to a red-faced Arina. Mother released her hand, and Arina demonstrated bumping forearms with me. Then I moved back, to be unobtrusive as the Little One composed herself and offered her arm to father, “Well met, Zeus.”
Father looked bent out of shape still, but the innocence that seemed to flow from Arina was enough to melt even him as he sighed then bumped forearms with her, repeating almost in question, not knowing if it was the proper response, “Well met, Arina.”
Then before anything else could be said, he looked at me. “Do you expect us to believe this child is a god?”
I almost chuckled at that. To a human, he would appear to be in his mid-twenties, and Arina would only look a year or two younger than him in their eyes. One should never judge the mettle of another by the outer wrapper. That is a lesson he taught me long before the Asgard even came to be.
I shook my head and answered before she could. I saw the frustration in her eyes at his words. She really didn't like people thinking her people were gods. “No father, I do not believe that the Asgard are gods. They, like us, were an experiment of the Jotunn. Their race has just progressed more quickly than ours with their technological prowess. Their science is almost a match for the Frost Giants and Titans.”
Then before he could argue I added, “The Asgard have brought down the Ginnungagap on Folkvangr, dispatching Ymir himself and his crew to the beyond. They have stood against Rhea and the Titans, disabling her ship and freeing half of our enslaved men.”
A startled gasp rippled through the gathering crowd, then I added as I stood tall and proud of my Asgard friends, “And they bring an antigen for the Titan nano-phage for our men. No longer will the Titans be able to lure our men away with their false love.”
I could see the mistrust in father's eyes. But mother turned to Arina and asked, “Is this true? Can you free my sons from the lure of the sirens?”
Arina was looking around nervously at all the people bowing to her, their fists on their chests as she said, “Yes... I...” She stopped at that when mother dropped to a knee to give the centurion salute as well. She slapped the back of father's leg hard.
He looked at her then me and then slowly dropped to a knee and saluted as mother said, “Then we welcome you to our Citadel, Arina. Savior of the men of Olympus.”
I was fighting back a chuckle as I schooled my face, so I didn't smirk as Arina was quickly grabbing their elbows to drag them to their feet, “Please, don't do that... I didn't do...”
I cut her off by moving my hands up, causing everyone to rise as I called out, “She has returned our men to us! Arina of Asgard!”
A roar went up as mother cocked an eyebrow at how easily Arina had pulled them to their feet.
The Little One leaned in to whisper over the roaring crowd, “I hate you.”
I grinned at her like the feline who ate the sky flitter and whispered back, “Tough, I love you.”
She giggled back. “I love you too, but I hate you.”
I could live with that. It was fun how playful she could be at times.
She quickly recovered from her embarrassment as she said sweetly, “My people and your men have been trekking through the Jungle for days in search of the Citadel, and we would appreciate if ships could be sent to ferry the expedition here.”
Alarm bells sounded in my head as my parents stiffened, panic in mother's eyes as she asked, “They are here now? Out there?”
We nodded but before we could ask anything Zeus was shouting, “Transports! Now! Our men are in the jungle!”
Everyone went into motion, in an almost panicked fervor, and I asked, Caeneus and mother over the rising noise of people shouting orders over one another to be heard, “What is it?” Why were they in such a panic?
Caeneus swallowed and said, “Screechers.” As if that explained it all.
Hera grabbed my and Arina's arms and started leading us to the landing pads by the gates. “Another failed experiment by the Frost Giants. Cloaked predators that have no eyes, they hunt by smell, likely to target the Titan's pheromones. We lost three firstborn, four secondborn, and twelve thirdborns before we even knew they were on us. None of our cloaking technology masked our scents or pheromones from our emotions. They came right into the citadel digging under the shroud, seeking the pheromones, our auto-canons not registering them.”
Zeus finished as a large transport landed by us. “They decloak as they screech in a tone which paralyzes, right before they strike. By the time we fought them off, we had taken so many losses. We've learned how to cloak our scent now and to detect their cloaking. They've learned to stay clear the canons now that we can detect them, but the ones that remain hunt in the jungle.”
Tych! And we had been out there all this time. Perhaps it was only the River Styx that had prevented us from coming across them, assuming they cannot swim.
Arina and I were running to the transport without needing any prompting. And as it, and three other transports, took to the sky, mother moved in front of me. Even with the concern of her children on her mind, she smiled at me. And I could see the love as she said in a wavering tone, “Welcome home Artemis. I am so glad that you have not been lost to us.” And she hugged me.
I blinked, feeling my eyes watering. Mother hadn't hugged me in millennia. And I... I hadn't realized how much I had missed it until that moment. Father placed a hand on my shoulder as mother and I embraced, and I caught a glance of Arina placing a hand over her mouth, her own eyes looking watery.
Chapter 4
Extraction
The vessels cloaked as we shot through the gates, Zeus cocked an eyebrow when the pilot asked for coordinates of our camp, and Arina grabbed the air then flicked a finger. An icon appeared on the map on the navigational
console marking the site. Mother looked between the console and Arina, eyes wide. Yes, our systems were shielded and encrypted to Jotunn tech, but the Asgard tech could interface with just about anything as it learned on the fly.
I would have chuckled if I wasn't still in shock over hearing that we had again lost some of our population, including some firstborn – our genetic pool had just been limited again. I absently wondered if I had more brothers and sisters now. Had our numbers been replenished?
Originally we had ten firstborn. After we lost most of our population, mother and father had again had more children, raising the firstborn to fourteen. Mother spoke of wanting twenty-one day. Now hearing of losing three of my brothers and sisters, did they again have children? Were there more than fourteen firstborn now?
The Ragnarok knew about the abilities of the Asgard, and had developed systems that were scattered and dissociated to various stations on their consoles with randomly rotating interfaces to combat the ability, and had only met with limited success. So most of their mechanical systems were manual or passive 'dumb' systems.
Hera, always more practical than Zeus, didn't let pride prevent her from asking, “How did you interface with the onboard computer like that?' Then she looked accusingly at me and prompted, “How much have you shared with them?”
I was about to protest, but Arina said in a matter of fact tone, “My Verr scanned your systems and adapted an interface to your programming.”
Father prompted cautiously, “All of our control systems are shielded and encoded.”
Arina nodded, and I caught the slight tick at the corner of her mouth. I covered my mouth and looked away to hide a smile. She was passively defending me as she shrugged. “It was only a sixty-bit floating quantum key. And you are shielded only to photon and electron-based scanning.”
Mother opened her mouth, then shut it. She had all the same questions I had had so long ago.
We used to know as an immutable fact, that all data and power relay was limited to three types, photon, electron, and chemical fusion and fission based. The Asgard tech is based on the use of force as energy. You cannot harness force, only the resulting changes in the environment around it. Yet somehow, the Asgard have figured out how to harness magnetic force itself. It still confounds me even after Arina and Odin have had many discussions with me on the subject as they tried to show me how simple it was once they had made the breakthrough.
All of our vehicles moved slowly compared even to the wind-spiders, by design, so that there is minimal atmospheric disruption in our passing so any sensors looking for that would not be able to detect us. We could, of course, kick the vessels into overdrive if pursued. I could see now that we have become so used to hiding, that we didn't really live.
Had the other races altered my perceptions so much while living among them these past few millennia? They live under the same threat of annihilation by the same enemy, the two Jotunn races loom as a specter over their very existence too, yet they are so... alive. They live and laugh and love out in the open. In plain view of their enemies. Yet they thrive, where our race is slowly dying of attrition.
I thought of the men we had brought home to be reunited with our brethren. Perhaps this will help to bring our numbers back from the brink.
I smiled as Zeus, Hera, and Hephaestus peppered the statuesque Asgard with questions. She started answering what she could but was still guarded with sensitive information. I understood, we still didn't have a formal alliance. That was the first thing on her agenda once our people were safe at the Citadel.
Caeneus pulled my attention from the Little One's plight. “Are all the Asgard so gorgeous?”
I looked at his smirk. The question was half genuine curiosity, half play because he knew I was still trying to wrap my brain around her being a him, and he was playing his shiny new man card to make me grin.
I contemplated the answer then answered with a noncommittal, “Well, yes... and no.”
He rolled his eyes, and I could certainly see Caenis' wry humor in the man. “Cryptic much?”
I chuckled at his consternation. “Well the pureblooded Asgard are extremely attractive people. But their race is unlike others, where blood does not make family nor race. Once they accept you as theirs, then that makes you Asgard, and they share all the benefits of their race with you.”
Trying to explain better I added, “The biggest benefit is the nanites that they supply their people to allow for long lives and fast healing. The things our Olympian physiology gives us naturally.”
I smirked. “I have been accepted as theirs and am technically Asgard myself, though I have no need of their nanites. And I have been accepted as a sister to two of the ruling caste, Kara and Kate, which makes me part of their family as sure as blood. So technically, that adorable woman there is my sister as well.”
Exhaling I shrugged, “So, long story short. The original Asgard are all beautiful people, and those of other races who have been adopted as Asgard have varied looks, which to me, makes them even more beautiful with their flaws. Wait until you meet Inatra at camp.”
Caeneus looked intrigued and was about to ask another question when I realized what I had just said. I held a finger up to forestall him and interrupted the animated conversation my parents were having with Arina. “Umm... mother, father. Before we get to the camp, I must let you know that some of the people from the Asgard expedition may be a little surprising to you now that all the races have united against the Jotunn threat.”
Arina looked confused a moment, then her eyes widened in understanding. I provided, “The Ragnarok are part of the coalition of races, and most are Asgard citizens now.”
Zeus stood from his seat, and I held a hand out to stop his protest. “I know they had arrived here as the aggressor and attempted to enslave us, but that was another time. The galaxy evolves around us as we sit still. They are fierce allies now.”
Father spat out, “You bring the enemy to our gates?”
I growled at him as I stood, “They are not the enemy father! If you would listen to what I am saying!” Then I thumped my chest. “One is my sister now...” I stabbed a finger toward Arina. “Her wife! And one of the most valiant fighters I have ever known.”
He started in on me like old times, “Your petulance and recklessness is going to wind up bringing the Jotunn down upon us! Why can't you be more like...”
He trailed off, and I stepped right up to him. As imposing as he was by the mere fact that he was of the Two, the leaders of Olympus, he was no taller than I was and I got right in his face and asked with no emotion in my tone. “More like Eros?”
I stabbed a finger out toward the jungle. “He was captured by the Titans, father! And I was right here, the entire time! Yet I still can do no right in your eyes!”
Hera looked as if I had just slapped her in the face as she winced then laid a hand on father's arm. He looked at her and me, seeing the look on her face then he just exhaled in exasperation over the familiar argument. We hadn't been reunited for an hour yet, and it has already begun.
He inhaled deeply through his nose and calmed himself and turned away to sit by the pilot again.
Arina looked like she didn't know what to do with her hands. She didn't like conflict, but that was what defined my relationship with my parents. I exhaled loudly in counterpoint, my blood still boiling as I growled out, “Well you've got your wish. I wanted it to be a surprise, but Eros is among the men rescued by the Asgard. You'll have the child you truly wanted back again.”
I didn't look back, but Hera made a distressed sound. I hated being so snippy, but it was endlessly frustrating to know that they would never see me as good enough simply being who I was. I closed my eyes when Arina stepped next to me and placed the back of her hand on my cheek.
I smiled at her and nodded my thanks as I calmed.
Then I chanced a look back at my parents.
Hera looked hopeful but stricken at the same time. “Eros is truly returned to us?”
I nodded and then looked out the window, surprised when she whispered to father, “Two of our children returned to us from the dead.”
Caeneus, being the person I had always known, but apparently didn't know at all whispered, “Smooth, Artie.”
I took a page from my brother's book and gave her an archaic finger strike to the air. Which got him laughing out loud. While similar to her old laugh, his had a lower register to it.
That reminded me, as Arina pulled me to sit between them on one of the many rows of benches in the transport. I turned to my old lover and asked, “Male?”
She chuckled again and then explained, “With our genetic pool getting thinner and thinner, and the loss of some firstborns to the screecher attack, Hestia came up with a way to infuse fresh firstborn DNA into the genetic pool to supplement Hera having children.”
He wiggled his eyebrows and continued, “By applying gene therapy to firstborns, it is possible to alter the XXXX genome to XXYY. Female to male. Though not male to female as it is easy to break a leg off of chromosomes, but almost impossible to add one since our chromosomal makeup is so dense. Where most races have twenty-three pairs, we possess sixty-seven quads.”
He shrugged. “I volunteered to try to help save our race.” Then he added with a smirk, “It certainly is... different.”
I understood much of it but, “But how, ummm...” I glanced down to indicate my question.
He looked thoroughly amused, and I shoved his shoulder as he said, “Tissue grown in a lab, just like Hestia can grow organs to replace ones that get too damaged for our bodies to naturally heal.”
He sounded proud as he said, “I've fathered ten children since you left. Four boys.”
I blinked at that in shock. “Good on you!”
Something had changed when two-thirds of our men had walked off to be enslaved by the false love the Titans' siren song offered them. We believe us women were affected in some way too by their magic, but still haven't figured out how. Because the birth ratios had swung from roughly fifty-fifty to one male birth for every five female after the Titans left.
Tales From Olympus: Gods Reunited Page 5