Chapter 25: Aries I
"No, I'm not!" she denied thickly, sounding hurt.
"Yes, you are!" he insisted. "Here, sit down for a while." He guided her to the floor and she obeyed. Then he picked up the bottle and smelled the contents one more time. He couldn't smell anything different, except perhaps that it smelled a bit more acrid than usual, when he tasted the contents he also felt the flavor was a bit bitterer. "They put alcohol in the peach juice, because they knew you wouldn't notice, and probably knew I wouldn't touch it," he concluded.
Turning around for any indication of what to do next, he noticed something different in the room, but it took him a few seconds to discover what it was. The tunnels were now switched, and the tunnel he had gone through the first time, and that had been blocked by a slide, was now free, while the other was blocked with rocks.
"Jen, come on, we have to pack and get walking," he said without looking at her, but he only got a loud snore for an answer. Lowering his gaze, he discovered his wife was asleep, sprawled on the floor, with her mouth wide open. He tried to hold back, but a snort and a laugh escaped him at the sight of Jen drunk.
Deciding to leave her there, he summoned a flashlight and headed towards the tunnel, but in the entrance he found an inscription he remembered seeing and ignoring the first time he went through that tunnel. It said: "Bring your companion."
He backtracked, packed the food and the sleeping bags, and then soaked a towel in the river water and put it on Jen's face, hoping the cold water would wake her up and keep her alert.
She opened her eyes, startled, and looked at him, confused. "What is it?"
"Come on, we have to go," he said.
"Go where?" she asked, still confused.
"Through the next tunnel."
"I'm tired, I think I'll wait for you here." She closed her eyes again, but he shook her awake.
"That's not possible, honey, we have to go together, and it has to be now."
"Let me sleep for a while," she begged.
He pondered the possibilities and agreed. "An hour," he said. She wasted no time in falling asleep again.
The basket was still there, and he double-checked it, looking for instructions, but there were none. The letter Jen had read was still there, and it only said they should beware the bad traits of Sagittarius, while embracing the good ones, such as honesty and optimism. The Brotherhood also congratulated them on completing their fifth task, said Jen had been excellent at solving it, and also congratulated Alex for being such good bait, although he knew better what they meant. They had given him a series of instructions in the previous letter that had started with the phrase: 'Don't read this out loud'. He put the letter back in the basket and sat down, then summoned Buda.
"Yes?"
"Buda, when you said you bit one of the members of The Brotherhood, did you mean that? Or were you exaggerating?"
"I did bite him," Buda assured.
"So perhaps you have a DNA sample of the subject? Perhaps epithelial cells in your teeth?"
The robot took a few seconds to answer. "I did. I have analyzed them." His voice was that of someone who wants to put the topic away as if it wasn't important.
But Alex wasn't going to let go. "And?"
"Well, it was female."
"And?"
"I have nothing to run it against!" the mouse complained.
"Run it against the marks you have predetermined," Alex ordered.
"What for? It's just you, Jen and the other Rangers."
"Just for the sake of it, go on," the human ordered.
Buda took a couple of minutes to do as he was asked, and then looked at Alex, almost amazed. "You are not going to believe this."
"Try me."
"The sample is female. And it came out close family to Jen."
"Close family to Jen? But her mother is dead, and she has no sisters that I know of."
"Maybe she did have one, but her parents didn't want to go through these tasks to save her and instead let The Brotherhood keep her?"
Alex looked at Buda with a disbelieving face for a second, then nodded and changed his expression. "It's a theory. And what about your video recorder, do you have anything on tape?"
"I probably did, but they erased it, they erased the whole thing."
"That's ok, it's not your fault." They both fell silent, while Alex tried to add up the clues given to him so far about the new task. "Jen is drunk and we got wine and chocolate in the basket again. It's not much." After a few seconds, he told Buda, "Last time we got wine we asked Tao to look it up for us, wine and Heracles, and he said something about a centaur?"
"Centaurs, in plural," Buda corrected. "During the task of the Erymanthian Boar."
"What happened that time, again?"
"It was Heracles' third labor: track down, capture and bring back the Erymanthian Boar; the boar had to be alive, to make the task a bit harder. The travel was long and towards Mount Erymanthius, so Heracles decided to visit his friend Pholus, who was a centaur. Pholus was kind enough to cook meat for Heracles but when he asked for wine, Pholus said they only had one jar, property of all the centaurs, because it had been given to them by Dionysus. Heracles told Pholus not to worry and convinced him to open the wine jar. The smell of the wine was very strong and all the centaurs smelled it and attacked Heracles and Pholus angrily for violating the present. The centaurs were armed with rocks and sticks, and Heracles used his bow and his poisoned arrows to defend himself. The centaurs, trying to protect themselves from the arrows, hid in the cave where Chiron, Heracles' teacher, lived. In his attack Heracles failed to notice he had shot Chiron, who as an immortal didn't die but suffered from terrible pain for a very long time until he gave up his immortality in favor of Prometheus, and died to get rid of the pain. Pholus also perished by one of Heracles arrows."
"What happened then?" Alex asked.
"Well, I guess you must be wondering when the Erymanthian boar enters the picture, and it's right now. After killing his friends, Heracles, full of remorse, returned to his journey, to complete his task. He sought out the Erymanthian Boar, driving it from the forest, up to the snow-covered peaks, where he chased it until it weakened. The boar fell into a large snow- drift, Heracles pounced on it, tightly binding it's feet and then threw it over his shoulders and returned home with it, when he showed it to King Eurystheus. He became frightened and asked Heracles to remove the beast from the throne room. In other versions, Heracles used a net to trap the beast and carry it back to the king."
"That doesn't explain why they got Jen drunk."
"Because of the centaurs; they were known for their drunkenness, and were worshippers of Dionysus, the god of wine."
"So now I know what to expect: arrows, snow and nets, with Jen in that condition." He let out a sigh, then clapped his hands and got up. "It'll be hard, but I can do it. I just need to find a way." Both, human and robot, thought for a while about what Alex could do. After a few minutes, Alex let out a chuckle and looked at Buda. "She's going to hate me for this, but she could be my boar."
"What do you mean?"
"I could tie her extremities and throw her over my shoulder, and carry her around."
"The only problem with that is your back and all the damage you could add to what it's already suffering from."
"Yeah, you're right. Not to mention I may need to move fast. I need another option, and it has to be quick."
"You know what to do," Buda said simply.
"Yeah, I have to wake Jennifer up, and force her to stay awake and drag her with me."
"What are you waiting for?"
"I said I'd let her sleep for an hour, and I'm going to keep my word."
"It's wasting time."
"No, I need Jen a bit more aware."
"The more you let her sleep--"
"The more aware she will get. I'll give her some coffee when she wakes up; Dad packed the coffee maker." Then, with a bitter tone he added, "One would think he'd pack a razor."
While he waited for the hour to pass, Alex made some coffee, and then, after pouring a cup for himself, he asked Buda to find the picture of the babies the brotherhood had provided. He stared at them silently, and a small smile crept onto his face. They were going to get their children back, and they were going to hear them call them 'mommy' and 'daddy'. He was going to play baseball with them, and maybe even soccer. Together, Jen and he could teach them martial arts, even. Perhaps one of them would like science, and he could share his other passion with that one, computers, natural science and history. Jen liked math, so that was something else to share with them. When they got the babies back they were going to spend a day at the park, and then they were redecorating their room. And of course, throw a welcome back party.
He felt very optimistic about getting the twins back, and had so many plans for the family. He turned his head and saw Jen, still asleep. He moved towards her and kissed her forehead. She stirred but didn't wake up. He caressed her hair and kissed her cheek. "I love you so much." She moaned softly. "Wake up now, baby, your hour is up." She turned her back to him and kept sleeping.
He ran his fingers through her hair and then down her back and up her arm, accompanying his caresses with tender kisses around the head and cheek. "Wake up, sleepy head."
"No," she finally groaned.
"Come on, I made you coffee."
"I don't want coffee."
"You can't sleep any longer, honey, we have to go on."
"Five more minutes."
"It's not going to happen."
Against her desires, she opened her eyes and turned on her back to look at him. "I'm still dizzy."
"You are still drunk," he said, brushing his lips against hers. "But don't worry, we will soon enough turn that into a hangover!" He helped her to her feet and offered her some coffee.
"Where did you get the coffee from?"
"Dad packed the coffee maker."
"He packed us appliances?"
"Camping appliances."
"Good to know." She drank the coffee slowly, and after emptying a cup, demanded a refill.
"Here you go."
"Thank you."
After she drank the coffee, she claimed to be feeling a little better, although her head was killing her. Alex said he understood and gave her a pill. They walked towards the tunnel and lit their flashlights.
After walking for a couple of minutes in the rocky cave, they spotted a corridor, now covered in marble. On both sides, what seemed to be an army of centaurs stood, carved halfway out of the wall, as if their hind legs were behind the rock. Alex didn't stop to look at them, for the darkness and the silence had scared him and he wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Cautiously, they walked into it, looking in all directions, Alex's senses at full alert, Jen as alert as she could be. Jen held Alex's arm, and he took her hand in his, grasping it strongly.
"I don't like it," Alex said, as his steps echoed in the corridor.
"Me neither, I thought we already had gone through the Sagittarius task," she said.
"What do you mean?"
"The centaurs in the walls are holding tensed bows, as if they were about to shoot us."
Alex looked attentively at the carvings and discovered it was true; the carved centaurs were looking at them with angry and cruel expressions, like the ones in the face of those who seek revenge, their muscular arms tensing their bows to the maximum and aiming their arrows towards him and his wife. The expressions of the centaurs were so terrible, Alex felt his breathing become short and shallow, and Jen shaking by his side. Suddenly he held his breath for a second and then sniffed the air. "Do you smell that?"
"Yeah, it smells like wine." She looked at him and asked, "What does it mean?"
"I'll tell you what it means," he said as they heard a clatter behind them approaching fast. "RUN!!"
They broke into a run as the centaurs on both sides of the corridor began shooting arrows at them in order, first the ones by the entrance and then the rest, getting closer and closer to the couple. Alex ran as fast as his legs could carry him, and he dragged Jen, who responded to his tugging by running at top speed herself. They were so desperate to escape the arrows they didn't notice where they were going, until the floor ended and they fell with two startled gasps.
The temperature of what they landed on wrapped around them like a straight jacket and began immediately pressing against them and against their brains the second they sank into it as if it were quicksand.
But it wasn't quicksand.
It was snow.
To be continued...
"No, I'm not!" she denied thickly, sounding hurt.
"Yes, you are!" he insisted. "Here, sit down for a while." He guided her to the floor and she obeyed. Then he picked up the bottle and smelled the contents one more time. He couldn't smell anything different, except perhaps that it smelled a bit more acrid than usual, when he tasted the contents he also felt the flavor was a bit bitterer. "They put alcohol in the peach juice, because they knew you wouldn't notice, and probably knew I wouldn't touch it," he concluded.
Turning around for any indication of what to do next, he noticed something different in the room, but it took him a few seconds to discover what it was. The tunnels were now switched, and the tunnel he had gone through the first time, and that had been blocked by a slide, was now free, while the other was blocked with rocks.
"Jen, come on, we have to pack and get walking," he said without looking at her, but he only got a loud snore for an answer. Lowering his gaze, he discovered his wife was asleep, sprawled on the floor, with her mouth wide open. He tried to hold back, but a snort and a laugh escaped him at the sight of Jen drunk.
Deciding to leave her there, he summoned a flashlight and headed towards the tunnel, but in the entrance he found an inscription he remembered seeing and ignoring the first time he went through that tunnel. It said: "Bring your companion."
He backtracked, packed the food and the sleeping bags, and then soaked a towel in the river water and put it on Jen's face, hoping the cold water would wake her up and keep her alert.
She opened her eyes, startled, and looked at him, confused. "What is it?"
"Come on, we have to go," he said.
"Go where?" she asked, still confused.
"Through the next tunnel."
"I'm tired, I think I'll wait for you here." She closed her eyes again, but he shook her awake.
"That's not possible, honey, we have to go together, and it has to be now."
"Let me sleep for a while," she begged.
He pondered the possibilities and agreed. "An hour," he said. She wasted no time in falling asleep again.
The basket was still there, and he double-checked it, looking for instructions, but there were none. The letter Jen had read was still there, and it only said they should beware the bad traits of Sagittarius, while embracing the good ones, such as honesty and optimism. The Brotherhood also congratulated them on completing their fifth task, said Jen had been excellent at solving it, and also congratulated Alex for being such good bait, although he knew better what they meant. They had given him a series of instructions in the previous letter that had started with the phrase: 'Don't read this out loud'. He put the letter back in the basket and sat down, then summoned Buda.
"Yes?"
"Buda, when you said you bit one of the members of The Brotherhood, did you mean that? Or were you exaggerating?"
"I did bite him," Buda assured.
"So perhaps you have a DNA sample of the subject? Perhaps epithelial cells in your teeth?"
The robot took a few seconds to answer. "I did. I have analyzed them." His voice was that of someone who wants to put the topic away as if it wasn't important.
But Alex wasn't going to let go. "And?"
"Well, it was female."
"And?"
"I have nothing to run it against!" the mouse complained.
"Run it against the marks you have predetermined," Alex ordered.
"What for? It's just you, Jen and the other Rangers."
"Just for the sake of it, go on," the human ordered.
Buda took a couple of minutes to do as he was asked, and then looked at Alex, almost amazed. "You are not going to believe this."
"Try me."
"The sample is female. And it came out close family to Jen."
"Close family to Jen? But her mother is dead, and she has no sisters that I know of."
"Maybe she did have one, but her parents didn't want to go through these tasks to save her and instead let The Brotherhood keep her?"
Alex looked at Buda with a disbelieving face for a second, then nodded and changed his expression. "It's a theory. And what about your video recorder, do you have anything on tape?"
"I probably did, but they erased it, they erased the whole thing."
"That's ok, it's not your fault." They both fell silent, while Alex tried to add up the clues given to him so far about the new task. "Jen is drunk and we got wine and chocolate in the basket again. It's not much." After a few seconds, he told Buda, "Last time we got wine we asked Tao to look it up for us, wine and Heracles, and he said something about a centaur?"
"Centaurs, in plural," Buda corrected. "During the task of the Erymanthian Boar."
"What happened that time, again?"
"It was Heracles' third labor: track down, capture and bring back the Erymanthian Boar; the boar had to be alive, to make the task a bit harder. The travel was long and towards Mount Erymanthius, so Heracles decided to visit his friend Pholus, who was a centaur. Pholus was kind enough to cook meat for Heracles but when he asked for wine, Pholus said they only had one jar, property of all the centaurs, because it had been given to them by Dionysus. Heracles told Pholus not to worry and convinced him to open the wine jar. The smell of the wine was very strong and all the centaurs smelled it and attacked Heracles and Pholus angrily for violating the present. The centaurs were armed with rocks and sticks, and Heracles used his bow and his poisoned arrows to defend himself. The centaurs, trying to protect themselves from the arrows, hid in the cave where Chiron, Heracles' teacher, lived. In his attack Heracles failed to notice he had shot Chiron, who as an immortal didn't die but suffered from terrible pain for a very long time until he gave up his immortality in favor of Prometheus, and died to get rid of the pain. Pholus also perished by one of Heracles arrows."
"What happened then?" Alex asked.
"Well, I guess you must be wondering when the Erymanthian boar enters the picture, and it's right now. After killing his friends, Heracles, full of remorse, returned to his journey, to complete his task. He sought out the Erymanthian Boar, driving it from the forest, up to the snow-covered peaks, where he chased it until it weakened. The boar fell into a large snow- drift, Heracles pounced on it, tightly binding it's feet and then threw it over his shoulders and returned home with it, when he showed it to King Eurystheus. He became frightened and asked Heracles to remove the beast from the throne room. In other versions, Heracles used a net to trap the beast and carry it back to the king."
"That doesn't explain why they got Jen drunk."
"Because of the centaurs; they were known for their drunkenness, and were worshippers of Dionysus, the god of wine."
"So now I know what to expect: arrows, snow and nets, with Jen in that condition." He let out a sigh, then clapped his hands and got up. "It'll be hard, but I can do it. I just need to find a way." Both, human and robot, thought for a while about what Alex could do. After a few minutes, Alex let out a chuckle and looked at Buda. "She's going to hate me for this, but she could be my boar."
"What do you mean?"
"I could tie her extremities and throw her over my shoulder, and carry her around."
"The only problem with that is your back and all the damage you could add to what it's already suffering from."
"Yeah, you're right. Not to mention I may need to move fast. I need another option, and it has to be quick."
"You know what to do," Buda said simply.
"Yeah, I have to wake Jennifer up, and force her to stay awake and drag her with me."
"What are you waiting for?"
"I said I'd let her sleep for an hour, and I'm going to keep my word."
"It's wasting time."
"No, I need Jen a bit more aware."
"The more you let her sleep--"
"The more aware she will get. I'll give her some coffee when she wakes up; Dad packed the coffee maker." Then, with a bitter tone he added, "One would think he'd pack a razor."
While he waited for the hour to pass, Alex made some coffee, and then, after pouring a cup for himself, he asked Buda to find the picture of the babies the brotherhood had provided. He stared at them silently, and a small smile crept onto his face. They were going to get their children back, and they were going to hear them call them 'mommy' and 'daddy'. He was going to play baseball with them, and maybe even soccer. Together, Jen and he could teach them martial arts, even. Perhaps one of them would like science, and he could share his other passion with that one, computers, natural science and history. Jen liked math, so that was something else to share with them. When they got the babies back they were going to spend a day at the park, and then they were redecorating their room. And of course, throw a welcome back party.
He felt very optimistic about getting the twins back, and had so many plans for the family. He turned his head and saw Jen, still asleep. He moved towards her and kissed her forehead. She stirred but didn't wake up. He caressed her hair and kissed her cheek. "I love you so much." She moaned softly. "Wake up now, baby, your hour is up." She turned her back to him and kept sleeping.
He ran his fingers through her hair and then down her back and up her arm, accompanying his caresses with tender kisses around the head and cheek. "Wake up, sleepy head."
"No," she finally groaned.
"Come on, I made you coffee."
"I don't want coffee."
"You can't sleep any longer, honey, we have to go on."
"Five more minutes."
"It's not going to happen."
Against her desires, she opened her eyes and turned on her back to look at him. "I'm still dizzy."
"You are still drunk," he said, brushing his lips against hers. "But don't worry, we will soon enough turn that into a hangover!" He helped her to her feet and offered her some coffee.
"Where did you get the coffee from?"
"Dad packed the coffee maker."
"He packed us appliances?"
"Camping appliances."
"Good to know." She drank the coffee slowly, and after emptying a cup, demanded a refill.
"Here you go."
"Thank you."
After she drank the coffee, she claimed to be feeling a little better, although her head was killing her. Alex said he understood and gave her a pill. They walked towards the tunnel and lit their flashlights.
After walking for a couple of minutes in the rocky cave, they spotted a corridor, now covered in marble. On both sides, what seemed to be an army of centaurs stood, carved halfway out of the wall, as if their hind legs were behind the rock. Alex didn't stop to look at them, for the darkness and the silence had scared him and he wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Cautiously, they walked into it, looking in all directions, Alex's senses at full alert, Jen as alert as she could be. Jen held Alex's arm, and he took her hand in his, grasping it strongly.
"I don't like it," Alex said, as his steps echoed in the corridor.
"Me neither, I thought we already had gone through the Sagittarius task," she said.
"What do you mean?"
"The centaurs in the walls are holding tensed bows, as if they were about to shoot us."
Alex looked attentively at the carvings and discovered it was true; the carved centaurs were looking at them with angry and cruel expressions, like the ones in the face of those who seek revenge, their muscular arms tensing their bows to the maximum and aiming their arrows towards him and his wife. The expressions of the centaurs were so terrible, Alex felt his breathing become short and shallow, and Jen shaking by his side. Suddenly he held his breath for a second and then sniffed the air. "Do you smell that?"
"Yeah, it smells like wine." She looked at him and asked, "What does it mean?"
"I'll tell you what it means," he said as they heard a clatter behind them approaching fast. "RUN!!"
They broke into a run as the centaurs on both sides of the corridor began shooting arrows at them in order, first the ones by the entrance and then the rest, getting closer and closer to the couple. Alex ran as fast as his legs could carry him, and he dragged Jen, who responded to his tugging by running at top speed herself. They were so desperate to escape the arrows they didn't notice where they were going, until the floor ended and they fell with two startled gasps.
The temperature of what they landed on wrapped around them like a straight jacket and began immediately pressing against them and against their brains the second they sank into it as if it were quicksand.
But it wasn't quicksand.
It was snow.
To be continued...