The Arrows of Hercules
- Автор: Де Камп Лайон Спрэг
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Научная фантастика
Электронная книга - «The Arrows of Hercules». Краткое содержание книги:
“Exciting and quite believable adventures.”—Classical World
“Rousing piece of fiction...pace is rapid and unrelenting.” —The Arizona Republic
"Thessalian witchcraft!" muttered a bodyguard, making a sign against the evil eye.
"Zeus almighty!" said Dionysios. "I see you have one more dart. Try that, to prove this was not a fluke."
The third dart was discharged. Dionysios prowled around the engine, prodding and poking and asking questions. At last he said:
"Can you vary the range?"
"No, sir," said Zopyros. "You would have to set it up at a known distance from your target."
Dionysios stood in thought, fondling his beard. At last he said: "That too narrowly limits its use. Understand, my clear Zopyros, I think you have here the greatest advance in the military art since iron weapons took the place of bronze. Nevertheless I shall not be satisfied, to the point of ordering production, until you can vary the range. With your genius, I am sure you can overcome this obstacle." Seeing disappointment on Zopyros' face, he added: "Meanwhile, your salary is raised! to two and a half drachmai a day. And I will make it known that you are to have all the men and materials you wish. You shall have the very highest—what's that word again?—priority."
Dionysios patted Zopyros' shoulder and squeezed his arm. He added: "This success makes it necessary to tighten security precautions. As soon as the new apartment building is finished, you and your team shall move to Ortygia, along with the rest of the engineers. I shouldn't care to have you kidnapped by Carthaginian spies! I heard what befell you on your return from Carthage."
"You're right, sir. One such attempt is enough; next time I might not be so lucky."
The next ten-day Zopyros spent in thought. Although he sketched mechanism after mechanism, none satisfied him. There were two obvious ways to vary the range. One was to vary the angle at which the dart was discharged. The other was to vary the distance the bowstring was pulled back before it was released.
The first solution was mechanically simple. It meant pivoting the bow and its attached trough about the lateral axis. But it entailed making the whole engine much larger, taller, and heavier. The second solution—varying the length of pull—avoided this difficulty, but it involved a tricky mechanical problem.
At last Zopyros drew up plans for several small models, embodying alternative plans. One had a pivoted bow. Another had three triggers, spaced along the trough, instead of one. Another had a heavy bronze trigger mechanism sliding loosely in the missile groove and pulled back by the windlass.
Meanwhile, things did not go well at the Arsenal. Lithodomos developed curious ideas of running the organization. For one thing, he shared—or had acquired—Dionysios' hatred of Phoenicians. However, Dionysios was careful to conceal his feelings in the presence of the fourteen Punic engineers whom Zopyros had recruited in Carthage. In fact, the tyrannos went out of his way to be cordial to them. Lithodomos, on the other hand, used them rudely. He made remarks in their hearing about "treacherous, cowardly, sneaking moneygrubbers." He taunted them when he greeted them in the morning:
"Ē, Azruel, burnt any babies lately?" Or: "Swindled any widows and orphans lately?" Or: "Tortured any prisoners lately?"
The Phoenicians bowed low with forced, sour smiles. In time, two of them disappeared. Dionysios was furious when he heard about it, as he was sure that they would go to Carthage and reveal all they had learnt of the new weapons. Apparently he had words with Lithodomos, for the latter moderated his language towards the remaining Phoenicians.
Lithodomos also interfered in the details of the research projects. Although he obviously knew no more of engineering than Zopyros did of Etruscan divination, he was always bustling about, full of ideas and insisting that they be put into practice at once. The next day he would be back, countermanding his previous orders and issuing new ones. One project after another ground to a halt as its engineer despaired of carrying out impractical and mutually contradictory instructions.
Alexis and Pyres trailed their superior around the Arsenal with unhappy expressions. They tried to moderate Lithodomos' enthusiasms and to defend the project engineers against the sweeping changes the Arsenal master demanded. There were furious quarrels between Lithodomos and the engineers, among the engineers themselves, and between Lithodomos on one hand and Alexis and Pyres on the other. Scarcely a day passed without Zopyros' hearing shouts and pounding of desks from the gallery. Much as Zopyros detested Alexis, he found himself sympathizing with the shipwright. Alexis at least knew good engineering from bad.
One day Lithodomos appeared with a dark-skinned man of medium height and slender build, with a narrow, hatchetlike face. He wore a woolen robe, belted and fringed, to his ankles, and on his head a knitted cap with a long dangling tail. His glossy black hair, carefully curled and tended, hung to his shoulders, and his beard was likewise curled and oiled. In his hand he carried a walking stick with an ivory head carved in the form of a little dragon.
Lithodomos, coming upon Zopyros, said: "O Zopyros, meet Durea of Babylon."
The Babylonian touched the end of his walking stick to his nose and said, in Greek with a strong accent: "May the divine stars bring you peace, my son!"
"He's our new scientist," said Lithodomos. "They've got a universal science out there in the East, based upon the stars. Boy, nothing's too scientific for us now!" He smirked, clucked, and poked Zopyros in the ribs.
"What is Master Durea going to do?" said Zopyros.
"He's going to revolutionize our production, that's what. Every time we have a question about where a project should go on the floor, or what priority it should have, or which of two designs is the better, we ask Durea, see? He gets out on the roof and consuits the stars. Then he casts a horoscope and tells us how to take advantage of the occult influences of the different stars."
At lunch, when Zopyros neared his usual eating place on the margins of the Spring of Arethousa, Archytas looked up and said: "What's the matter? You look sick."
"I am. Have you met our new Babylonian wizard?"
"No. What's all this?"
Zopyros told him. Archytas clutched his head, crying: "No! Father Zeus, it can't be!"
"Ha-ha, that's what you think. Archytas, tell me: Why are most higher executives such a gang of knaves, fools, and incompetents?"
Archytas thought a while. "They're not, really."
"Oh, come on! You know—"
"No, it just seems that way. Many, like Pyres, are able enough. But, when a knave or a fool gets power, he can make so much more trouble for those around him. The people you're thinking of would be fairly harmless as slaves or unskilled workers. Their virtues—if any—would be the same as they are now, and they would curb their vices for fear of punishment. But give such a man power, and see what happens. His virtues are no greater, and he now thinks he can indulge his vices with impunity. After all, vices are more fun than virtues if you can choose between them."
Zopyros growled: "I'm fed up with these particular vices. I was hoping to get far enough ahead of my work so that I could strike the big boss for leave, to go to Messana. But with the chaos which that thickskin is creating, I don't see how I ever shall."
Three days later, Lithodomos called a meeting of the engineers in a corner of the Arsenal. When they were lined up, he gestured to Durea beside him and said:
"We're going to reorganize the layout according to the latest scientific principles, as applied by my special consultant here. All the projects are to be moved to new locations on the floor, the way they're laid out on this chart, see?" He held up a large sheet of papyrus. "In this way, every project will be where the occult emanations of the stars will best help it along."
Somebody groaned. Lithodomos looked around, reddening angrily.