Gears of Troy: A Scifi Fantasy Harem

by Daniel Pierce

  “Nice to meet you, Cressida. I’m Troy. This is Helen.”

  15

  We returned to the ship much more quickly than we travelled inland. Carrying Cressida with my broken rib was not easy, but I was able to ignore the pain after a time.

  I brought her down into the back room of the galley, setting her on the bed before retrieving a bowl of water and a rag.

  “I’m going to get some food for you,” I said, rubbing her face and arms with the wet cloth. “Use this to wash whatever else you can and just call out when you’re ready to eat.”

  She nodded and I left, closing the curtain on my way out. I filled a cup with water and found some crackers, thinking it would be best to start off light. Helen watched me from the couch, arms crossed.

  “We are inviting more danger by having her here,” she said flatly.

  “I really think you’re worrying too much about that, Helen.”

  “It is your ship and you may do as you wish, but be warned, Troy. I do not think that having her present is a good idea.”

  “Hey, if something happens, we’ll deal with it like everything else. Remember that big-ass Cyclops motherfucker I killed earlier? Remember the tribe on Santorini a few days back? We’ve got nothing to worry about. I don’t think Cressida has anything nefarious planned for us, but if so, I think we’ll come out on top, don’t you?”

  She looked away.

  “Helen, this is good. We just saved someone. We have a new crew member to help us out. Everything’s going better than expected.”

  She stared, then her eyes softened.

  “Also, I’m thinking the odds of her being a prisoner of the Cyclops—or whoever controlled it—are pretty high. As we were saying earlier, the Cyclops was focused on you when we had our run-in with it. I’m beginning to think it might have been looking for young women like the two of you. Do you think that’s likely?”

  “Maybe.” She looked away again, but without any heat. “Probably.” The last came out as a sigh of admission.

  “Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking.” She was adjusting to my appeal to reason. “Anyway, I saw something back in the cave that might clue us in to what’s going on. I didn’t get a good look at it, so I’m going to check it out when I make the run for more water. Did you see anything unusual in the cave?”

  “Nothing aside from a suspicious-looking girl, no.”

  “Well, there was definitely something metallic, and now that I’ve had a moment to think about it, I’m going back.” I leaned against the counter, resting my hands on its surface. She did not say anything. “But yeah, so I definitely need to go back and get water now that there’s three of us. While I’m gone, I’m going to need you to—”

  “I am ready!” Cressida shouted from the back.

  “Be right back.” I took the water and crackers into the back room and handed them to the girl.

  She had a slight smile on her face as I came in.

  “Try some of these.”

  Her eyes widened at the sight. She grabbed a handful of crackers and stuffed them in her mouth, gagging before she even swallowed them all.

  Oh shit. “Hey, hey, slow down.” I pulled the crackers away and held the water bowl to her chin. “Spit.” She emptied what was left in her mouth, and I helped her sip water from the cup. “When was the last time you ate?”

  “I have not consumed a meal in a few moons’ time.”

  What the fuck, I thought. “You haven’t eaten anything in all that time?”

  “I was given a few nuts and berries now and again, but never anything to stave off the constant pain of hunger.”

  Poor girl. I wanted to fix everything for her right there but knew it would take time and patience. And food, of course.

  “Helen and I will fix you up.” I set everything down on the end table. “Rest down here and eat those crackers a little at a time. They’re really dry, so make sure you sip some water with every bite. If you eat too fast or too much after going without food for so long, it can really hurt you. We don’t want that to happen. Understand?”

  She nodded.

  “Good. We’re low on water, so I need to head back and refill our stores.”

  She latched onto my arm. “Do not go. Please.”

  “Everything will be all right, Cressida. I’m going to have Helen watch you while I’m away. She can get you anything you need.”

  She looked to the curtain and back at me. “Your Helen does not like me. I knew this right away.”

  “She just has a hard time trusting people is all. She’s been through a lot, as have you. Everything’s going to be fine, I promise. I’m going to head out. I shouldn’t be more than a few hours. When I get back, I’d like to hear what happened to you, if you’re willing to talk about it.”

  She nodded, reluctantly letting go of my arm.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll get you to wherever you need to be,” I assured her before leaving the room. She watched me as I went, pleading with her eyes for me to stay.

  Helen had not budged from the couch, and was hesitant to look at me. I knelt before her, tipping her chin up so her eyes met mine. She didn’t resist.

  “I need you to watch her while I’m gone.”

  “You do not even know we can trust her, Troy, and you wish to leave me alone with her? How will you feel if I am dead when you return?”

  “You’re being silly, Helen. She’s in there, literally starving, and you’re a combat-ready half-human, half-robot. I think you’d be fine even if she did come charging at you.” I laughed at the thought. “Seriously though, she needs us right now, so you’re going to get her whatever she asks for while I’m out. Don’t argue with me about this.”

  Somehow, she seemed blind to all reason when it came to Cressida. Her sudden mistrust frustrated me because it was an unexpected obstacle to deal with. The last thing I needed was people on my ship not getting along. My ship was my—our—sanctuary. There was no need for anyone to be uncomfortable while on board.

  “Do you understand?” I asked. “Tell me you understand.”

  “I understand.”

  “Tell me you will help Cressida with anything she needs.”

  This time, she did sigh, but his face lost the tightness of disagreement.

  “Good. I’ll be back. Thank you.” I smiled and went to rig up some barrels on deck.

  I was sure a full drum was more than enough to last us for a week—those things were pretty big—but I decided it was best to bring two along to be extra prepared. The whole contraption, pallet and all, would probably weigh over 200 pounds when filled. I was about to get one hell of a workout.

  I rubbed my side. It would be awhile before my ribs healed back up, but it was just another challenge on our quest that would make victory so much sweeter in the end.

  Everything was all fastened up, and I was beginning to lug it into the raft when Helen approached.

  “Troy, I understand that this girl seems weak and frail and deserving of pity to you, but I beg you to reconsider.”

  I stopped and gave her my attention. “Okay, I’m listening.”

  “She herself may be no threat, but what of her captors? What if they send more golems to destroy us? The sea is no barrier to such things, and they would have ways of finding her.”

  “All the more reason to help her then. Helen, I don’t know why having her onboard is bothering you so much. I haven’t seen you this worried about danger up until now. Look, all I know is that Cressida is a victim. She needs help. The human thing to do is to provide that help. That’s what decent humans do.”

  She looked as if I had struck her. Her eyes narrowed, tears forming at the sides. The human reference was a low blow to her, and I immediately regretted saying it.

  “Look,” I said, putting a hand on her shoulder, “everything is going to be all right. Just go down there and check on her once in a while. I’ll be back soon. We can talk then.”

  She made for the steps to the galley, and I got in the raft, lo
wering myself and my pallet of barrels into the water.

  16

  On my way to shore, I mulled over what could have made Helen so tense with Cressida. There was clearly some Egyptian business going on. I wondered if she was afraid of meddling in the affairs of her makers. She seemed convinced that it was more likely a rogue priest acting on his own, but I reminded myself that I still knew very little about her. Perhaps there were some secrets she was holding out on me. The urge to press her for details about her Pharaohs grew stronger the more I considered it. I wanted to trust her and could see little reason not to aside from the whole Cressida thing.

  I thought it was also likely that she did not want any chance of the Pharaohs discovering her newfound humanity. Maybe she worried that if there were agents of her makers on the island, they might notice that she was less android than she used to be and report back to their Masters. She had told me she didn’t think it was the Pharaohs who were behind her transformation, and it stood to reason that they would want to change her back if not outright destroy her.

  I rowed on, accepting that only time would tell. Events would pan out one way or another. My main concerns were making sure I kept breathing, and finding my way back home.

  My return to the stream took half the time it did before. The empty pallet hardly weighed me down. Every once in a while, it would get snagged by roots or scrape against the trunk of a tree, but it was a fairly easy process to free it and continue on my way.

  I pulled my luggage over to a thick patch of bushes not far off from the running water, making sure it was out of sight of anyone who might happen by.

  “Now you wait here, girl. Daddy’ll be right back.” I patted one of the drums and headed for the cave, spitting on the heap of golem dust as I stomped through. “Fuck you.”

  I half-expected to get jumped along the way but encountered nothing. There were still no signs of any wildlife larger than an insect.

  I checked in with my hands. “How you doing, boys?” I went through the motion of cracking my knuckles, which was a habit I developed over the years with my real hands. Organo-metal appendages did not have such a feature, so the act was not nearly as satisfying. “You ready for your next big test? Hauling all that weight back to Moonshadow is going to be one hell of a feat. But we can do it. You haven’t let me down yet.”

  The closer I got to the cave, the more thoughts of Cressida came to mind. I could not stop wondering how a beautiful young girl like her ended up in such a place, starving and surrounded by death. I assumed that maybe she was captured and brought from elsewhere. Hopefully she would be in a mood to divulge when I got back. It would have been good to get as much information from her as I could before returning to the island, but I didn’t think it was a good idea to bombard her with questions the moment we freed her from months of captivity.

  The cavern entrance appeared unchanged. I pulled out my flashlight and strode in, sweeping the beam from side to side like a blind man would with his walking cane. In a way, it was my walking cane.

  I noticed a metallic smell the moment I walked into the main chamber. It served to remind me even more that the world I was in was not the ancient one I read about in history books back home.

  I kept my light on this time and proceeded to the back. The spot where we found Cressida held no hint of our encounter aside from a few small puddles left behind after I splashed her awake.

  The smell of metal grew stronger as I approached the object. It was partially covered by animal hides, maybe those of a bear or wolf. I made a quick three-sixty visual sweep to make sure no one was around and pulled the skins to the floor.

  The thing was like a miniature four-faced chrome pyramid, resting atop a platform of the same material. I could not tell at first look if the platform was attached to the structure or not. Its surface was smooth and warm to the touch. The tip, about the length of my open hand from top to bottom, was made of some cloudy see-through material. I stuck my face up to it as close as I could, leaning against the object for support, like a kid might ogle through a store window to look at toys.

  Nothing much seemed to be going on inside. My breath condensed against its surface. I wiped it off and tried to look down the center, thinking it would be a great time for someone to sneak up behind me and slam my head into its pointy top. There was an opening from the tip’s base into the rest of the object, but it was too dark to see anything. I shined my light in, but it was no use. The beam only glared against the surface, forcing me to look away. I tried removing the tip, but it did not budge.

  Its warmth intrigued me. I pressed my ear against the chrome and could hear a faint humming from within. I was beginning to think it was some sort of computer, definitely not something people in my day thought Egyptians had access to. Well, not reasonable people, anyway.

  I got down and ran my finger against the thin crevice between the pyramid and its foundation. Even if they weren’t attached, there was no telling how heavy the thing was. I pushed against the pyramid as hard as I could, but it refused to budge.

  I thumped it, flicked it, kicked it, and it didn’t dint or even sound hollow. It was as if I was assaulting a wall.

  Wrapping my hands around the tip, I twisted and yanked as hard as my grip on such a smooth surface would allow. Whoever put it there did not want it moved.

  Circling around it several times provided me with little more information. There did not seem to be a power source unless it was embedded in the cavern floor. Though, it wasn’t too far-fetched to assume there was a power source of some kind inside the thing itself. It was definitely doing something with all the humming and the warmth.

  Hell, I thought, maybe this is more magic bullshit. Perhaps this is what’s used to control golems.

  I considered fetching a rock and going to town on the tip but decided it probably would not have accomplished much for me. I had already spent way too much time messing with the thing and needed to get back before nightfall.

  Reluctantly, I returned to the stream with empty hands and filled my barrels.

  I underestimated how hard it would be to lug those bad boys back to my ship. I inched forward, stopping to take a breather every twenty minutes, glad neither of the ladies were around to see me in my moment of weakness. It was ten times more difficult navigating snags, and one time I had to reposition the barrels because the way I had initially tied them down put stress on the pallet’s weaker sections. I started cursing when I heard it begin to crack, but it was still in one piece when I retied everything. The thing was practically an antique, given to me by a factory-worker friend.

  I reached the top of the hill overlooking the sea and paused to take a last break. My raft rested among the debris and carrion whose stench I was about to drown in when I made my descent.

  “All right, girls.” I patted both drums. “This is the home stretch. Once we make it down there, we’ll be golden.”

  I was so light-headed after the trip, I could hardly wait to get back and pass out for a while. I went to take the rope and almost fell over the side of the pallet. Fuck. I attempted to steady myself against the rig and ended up pushing the whole damn thing down the hill. Fuck, fuck, fuck!

  It flew away like an unleashed dog. I stumbled after it but was not fast enough. It slammed into a tree, shattering the wooden frame. I clenched my teeth. Both barrels, now dented, rolled in opposite directions. Their tops had popped open, and water was pouring everywhere.

  “Son of a bitch!” They hadn’t rolled far from the wreck. I was quickly able to grab them up and stop the outpour. “Fucking gravity,” I spat, squeezing the dents out and fitting the tops back in place.

  I popped the tops back off to assess the damage. Each barrel was more than half empty. Well, more like they were a little under ‘halfway full’. I preferred to keep a positive perspective. Like, maybe we could make it halfway to Troy before we ran out of water and died.

  “It’s okay,” I mumbled. “Calm down. We’ll ask Helen how long she thinks it’ll
take us to get to Troy. If it’s less than a week, we have plenty of time.”

  On another positive note, making it the rest of the way to the raft was a total breeze, and so was loading the barrels since I didn’t have to maneuver the pallet. Life was good. Real fucking good.

  Helen came up to meet me as I reeled the raft to deck-level.

  “Hello, how are things?” I asked, still frustrated.

  “Things are good,” she said. She moved to help me lift the barrels aboard. “Was there not a sled here before?” Her speech was still peppered with tense undertones, though she seemed to have calmed down from her earlier tension.

  “Nope. No sled.”

  “Are you sure, Troy?” She was talking more, at least. That was good. Maybe later the two of us would be on the same level, because in that moment I felt lingering irritation that the Egyptians hadn’t invented anti-gravity for water barrels. “I was sure I saw these barrels tied to a sled of some kind.”

  “Yes. I am sure. Good idea though. We should get one of those for stuff like this when we reach Ilium.”

  “I do think it would be smart, Troy.”

  I winced. “So, how long do you think it’ll take us to reach Ilium from here?”

  “It should take no longer than half a day’s time to reach land and then perhaps three days on foot,” she said. “We should consult the Moonshadow’s measuring devices and compare with my knowledge to be certain. I only have the ability to intuit so much.”

  “Right.” I thought for a moment. Things were not as bleak as I had conned myself into believing. “Sounds like we’re almost done sailing for now. I’ll check the dash after I clean up.” It sounded to me like I hadn’t needed to make that trip for water at all. It was nice to have, but we were kind of pressed for time. I wished she had said something sooner.

  As I began to drag the barrels away, she called after me, “Troy?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Those barrels are light. Did you intend to not fill them all the way?”

  I grinned wryly at her keen eyes. “Everything is going as planned.”