The Bronze God of Rhodes
- Автор: Де Камп Лайон Спрэг
- Год: 1963
- Язык: английский
- Год: Bantam Books
- Жанр: Научная фантастика
Электронная книга - «The Bronze God of Rhodes». Краткое содержание книги:
From the sea in thousands of ships they came, the brutal legions of Antigonos, a giant lusting for the power of Alexander the Great. For endless weeks and months they battered at the tiny island city, smashing it with monstrous weapons, crushing it with the terrible weight of their numbers.
Among the handful of grim defenders was one man who fought for a dream, a vision of a great statue that would stand above the highest towers as a monument to his city's grandeur.
He was Chares, soldier, adventurer, a man tormented by passion, a wanderer in strange, deadly lands—an artist who lived to see his incredible dream become one of the seven wonders of the world.
In the end Demetrios called off his force. We hauled ashore the loose timbers from the wrecked sea towers and burnt the rest.
The next day, after a ten-day of bright clear weather, was overcast. We manned the Lighting again, but for a time nothing happened.
By noon the tale went round of how Admiral Exekestos, on the leading ship of the three that made the sortie, had been wounded and captured, along with the captain of the trireme. We sagely wagged our heads, agreeing that such rash tactics were justified only in such an emergency. Without his sea towers Demetrios would think twice before assailing our harbor again.
"Unless," said Mys, "that supertower we hear of really exists."
"I wouldn't give much credit to that," I said. "You know how rumors exaggerate everything."
Berosos: "I know I saw something the night of the raid down the coast. It could well be the engine of the rumors, as tall as the star towers that once rose over mighty Babylon."
"Oh, stuff!" I said. "The rumors also say that this engine will walk right up out of the water and crush our city flat. Where would Demetrios get the power to do that?"
"The gods grant that you be right," said the Babylonian. "But—ari! Look out yonder! That is the thing whereof we speak! Istar preserve us!"
"No!" I cried. "By Earth and the gods, it is!"
The "thing" was the rumored floating supertower, towed by a whole squadron of warships. Our trumpets called the men to their posts. As the engine came closer, I saw that it was mounted, not on two ships, but on six, side by side. Reckoning from the size of the ships, I estimated the tower's height as over seventy feet from the water.
Behind this new monster came all the rest of the fleet. Demetrios never gave up. Repulsed, he always thought up some new scheme or device and tried again. He was, in his way, a great commander—almost as great as the divine Alexander. I should have appreciated his genius more, however, had he not chosen my beautiful little city to demonstrate it on.
"Where is Onas?" I said.
Then I saw him. He knelt a few paces away before a little copper statuette. In front of it he had started a small blaze of tinder and shavings, and he was muttering some spell or prayer.
With the ominously slow approach of this amazing engine, prayers no longer seemed foolish. As the tower neared, I could see that catapults were mounted around its base, while its vast height was pocked with arrow slits. In my mind's eye, I could follow the tragic course of the battle. The monster would be pushed up to shore, where its enormous missile power would drive our men from the wall. The troopships would swarm up all at once; ladders would rise everywhere along the harbor wall ...
Just then a clear, beautiful ray of the sun broke through the clouds. I thought: O Bright One, I may not have believed in you, or indeed in any of the gods of my fathers. But if you do exist, forgive this sin of the least of your children. Save Rhodes, the city that worships you, and whose ancestor and patron you are. Save Rhodes, and I shall never doubt you again; nay more, I will devote my life to making a statue to you, the like of which has never been seen ...
I opened my eyes. The beam of sunlight swept over the Rhodian waterfront. Half dazzled, I raised my glance. Skeptical philosophers may say that what happened then was but wish-begotten illusion, but I know what I saw.
On a cloud stood Helios-Apollon himself, nude, with a crown of spiky golden rays on his brow. His right hand shaded his eyes as he looked down from his height upon Rhodes.
Somebody nudged me. "Ea, Chares! They seem to be having trouble with that thing!"
The divine vision faded; I brought my gaze back down to the sea. An easy breeze had been blowing from the south, wafting the monstrous engine gently along. Now this wind freshened. The galleys labored heavily, their bows digging into the seas.
The five triremes towing the giant sea tower slowly dragged their burden level with the mouth of the Great Harbor, past the end of the South Mole. Then they turned shoreward and began rowing towards us. To us, the five ships in line seemed to be standing still, oars rising and falling without progress.
Still Notos freshened. The sky darkened, and the swell from the south increased. The tower, instead of docilely following the galleys into the harbor, developed a will of its own. It drifted northward, away from the harbor mouth, sluing around the galleys that towed it. Soon the whole mass of equipment was turned completely about, facing south. The galleys still strove to reach the harbor mouth, but ever the tower drifted northward.
Said Berosos: "Meseems, O Chares, that this tower presents to the wind an area equal to that of many sails."
"No wonder," I said, "that, when the wind blows adversely, the tow ships can't make head against it."
The waves rose higher. Across the water I thought I could hear the groan of timbers and the creak of ropes as the tower's structure was strained.
The tow ships angled in towards shore but could not bring the tower squarely in front of the harbor mouth. Nor did they dare to come too close to the moles of the Little Harbor lest their engine run aground.
A confused shouting came from the galleys, thin in the distance, as the officers strove to incite their rowers to greater efforts. The other ships of the invasion fleet hovered about their prized machine.
Now the wind whipped the cloaks of the Rhodian officers on the wall and fluttered the crimson crests of their helmets. The sea tower, slowly swaying, drifted farther north as if pushed by a giant unseen hand.
We watched in fascination. The swell rose until the triremes towing the tower had trouble in handling their oars. In the rest of the fleet, some ships took in their lower oars and closed the ports.
The sea tower swayed like a drunken man. The cries and commands from the tower and from its tow ships merged into a continuous high screaming. A larger, single-banked galley—a fiver or sixer—backed cautiously towards the mass of ships as if to help tow. The five triremes tossed in the swell and fouled one another's oars.
And even the wind rose and rose.
At last the sea tower swayed over, over, over—and did not recover. It leaned slowly, farther and farther, until, with a terrible crunching, crackling, groaning, crashing, and roaring, the structure settled down upon its side, throwing spray and broken timbers high into the air. One of the ships that formed its base was lifted clear of the water before it broke loose and fell back with another mighty splash.
Then there was only a huge mass of wreckage: timbers, ropes, hides, and bobbing heads. The five tow ships cast loose at once and circled to pick up survivors. One of these galleys, however, was soon in trouble herself. She had shipped so much water through her oar ports that she settled. While she was signaling for help, she suddenly capsized and floated bottom-up, surrounded by struggling men.
The other ships wheeled and rowed back into the teeth of the waves. Silently, one by one, they slipped out of sight. On our walls, officers and men cast upon the whistling gale a lengthy sigh of relief and nameless gratitude.
As for me, I thought: I need no mortal model for my colossus. It shall depict the far-casting Apollon himself, ancestor and savior of Rhodes. What a fool I have been to think that any mere human being could be worthy of such a labor! Nor need I fear wounds and death, because the god will protect me until the task be done.
An hour later we were eating in Evios' tavern when Bias entered. "Men!" he said. "Finish up and come back to your posts."
We uttered simultaneous groans, of which mine was not the softest. "But, Commander!" I said. "Surely Demetrios won't try another attack today, what of the weather and the loss of his tower."