LITMIR.BIZ

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was the legendary gold-copper alloy that was the hallmark of Atlantean society. Seeing it as a staple of decorations and animatronic statues in city plazas seems at odds with the unstable explosive compound you described.”

      “Fand told me what the stuff was called,” Kane responded. “Besides, the outpost was a couple thousand years old and under the ocean. Who can say that the seawater exposure didn’t rust it or cause some kind of other imbalance, like dynamite left sitting too long? Maybe kept away from rust-inducing salty humidity, it’s great.”

      Brigid shrugged. “You stated that it was stored in a vault. Under excellent storage conditions. However, it could be akin to a high-energy metal like uranium. I wish you’d brought back a sample.”

      “Quayle kept me kind of busy for that. Plus, that whole sunlight-making-it-go-off-like-a-grenade thing dissuaded me.”

      Brigid locked eyes with Kane for a moment. Though the two shared an enormous affection for each other, it was commonplace for them to push each other’s buttons even in the most casual of conversations. “In its stable format, orichalcum could easily prove to be a reliable power source. Given Grecian familiarity with Atlantean mythology, it’s quite possible that these robots may be artifacts from an outpost placed in Greece. Or it could be a component of a highly durable alloy.”

      “Given the artifacts we’ve found around the world, it’s very possible that Atlantis itself was the beneficiary of Annunaki and Tuatha de Danaan technology,” Lakesh added. “The orichalcum that Kane discovered could be a manufactured element, along the lines of plutonium. But the most important thing is that they have apparently mastered a lost form of technology. We had a glimpse of it in Wei Qiang’s at the Tomb of the Three Sovereigns.”

      “Those suckers were strong, but still only man-size. Basically, semi-intelligent muscle. Double their size and give them a thinking person at the controls, you’ve got some considerable power on your side.” Grant nodded, for emphasis, at the image on the monitor of lifeless, scaled mutants and their shattered muskets being shoveled into a mass grave. “I wondered how those robots did what they did, I mean programming wise. They reacted to our actions with some reasonable responses.”

      “Ancient forms of computers have been discovered. The most prominent of these is the Antikyteria Mechanism,” Philboyd answered. “The Antikyteria was an analog gear-style computer that was capable of charting star patterns. It’s a fairly simple looking design and more minute versions of that gear, working in concert, could form a non-circuit-board style computer.”

      “Didn’t Archytas also mention that he possessed an automated, steam-powered, wooden robot pigeon?” Lakesh asked.

      “Around 200 B.C.,” Brigid confirmed. One of the former archivist’s strongest interests was research into out-of-place artifacts, examples of modern technology originating in historical eras. Philboyd seemed slightly put out that she fielded the question regarding robotics, but was used to her need to provide an explanation. “It was capable of flight, if I recall correctly.”

      “So they could have airborne mecha,” Kane said grimly.

      “Potentially,” Brigid said. “But I’d presume that it would simply be more efficient to hang one off the bottom of a Deathbird. I’d consider a Manta, but the damaged armor appears ill suited for orbital use.”

      Grant took a deep breath. “Fifteen feet tall. Plenty big, but not as big as some of the monstrosities in myths.”

      “Like Talos or the Colossus of Rhodes,” Brigid mentioned.

      “How big would those be?” Domi asked.

      “Descriptions are inconsistent,” Brigid explained. “And they could have been highly embellished as mythology advanced. Talos could reasonably have been about forty to sixty feet tall, and the Colossus about twice that.”

      Domi looked back to the robot laying on its back. “Well, it’s nice to know that we have friendly folks in control of that technology. I can see why we’d want to hook up with them right away.”

      Philboyd nodded. “The Greek robot pilots can fight, and they have an advanced form of technology. It’d be like the Tigers of Heaven had our Mantas from the start.”

      “And if the snake-faces are back and in action,” Grant began, “we can use that kind of fighting power.”

      “Which explains the presence of a dropship in the region,” Kane grumbled. “The Greeks represent a possible enemy, and the overlords don’t want to have to deal with them.”

      “You’re right. We’d better assemble an away team to meet them,” Lakesh urged. “Especially if they can be potential allies.”

      “With a heads-up, we could make invaluable friends,” Brigid noted. “What could go wrong?”

      Philboyd paled, remembering the conflict with Maccan, a Tuatha prince, that had been sparked when the Outlanders visited the Manitius Moon base for the first time. Grant and Kane looked at each other silently.

      “Suit up,” the two partners said in harmony.

      “I’m coming, too,” Domi added.

      “We might need backup from CAT Beta,” Kane said.

      “Then I’ll be on scene. If necessary, the rest of my team will pop in,” Domi said. “One of the ex-Mags can substitute for me.”

      Brigid Baptiste sighed. In asking the rhetorical question, she’d thrown out temptation for fate. She groaned softly. “Time to break out the battle bra again.”

      Chapter 3

      Diana was just another wheelchair jockey in the meeting hall, sitting with the rest of the pantheon of hero-suit drivers. Zoo, Airy, Pollie and the rest were arranged around a bisected corpse illuminated by a searing white cone of light. The separated torso had been seared. Cauterized wounds from Airy’s thermal ax had sealed in the dead thing’s juices behind walls of charred flesh. The face had been cleaned up, and it was at once handsome and intimidating. Though finely sculpted, the face’s beauty was sheathed in fine-scaled, lizardlike armor. Diana tried to shake off her imaginings of this creature’s angelic magnetism, even in its sleep of oblivion.

      She had to remind herself that this being had been fighting alongside the Tartarus mutants, joining them in a raid on a New Olympian settlement. The mutants were mass murderers, bred for attacking and exterminating humans. The wake of death and terror that Thanatos’s minions had left was something that Diana would never forget. She reminded herself of the scaled thugs’ horrific actions every time she touched her fused, fire-scarred cheek or forehead. The handsome snakelike humanoids that were related to the lifeless thing under the blazing light were allied with the monsters that inspired Diana to sacrifice her remaining leg so that she could fit into the cockpit of a hero suit.

      The orichalcum-framed battle suits had been designed around slighter, smaller creatures. As such, even a small woman like Diana had been before the Tartarus raids had scarred and mutilated her, was too large for the cockpit. The metal caps on her thigh stumps and the cybernetic port adjacent to her lower spine were less a reminder of her wounds than they were badges of her empowerment. Her half-destroyed face was a brand of the evil that rose from the Tartarus vats.

      No matter how beautiful the stranger was, the ugliness of his allegiance was unmistakable.

      Z00s, the chief of the pantheon, looked at her. His furry features made his nickname of Zoo all too appropriate. “Recognize what the creature is wearing, or are you still caught up looking into his eyes?”

      Diana bit back a response as she examined the burnished metal sheathing the corpse’s limbs and torso. “Secondary orichalcum. The color is a bit off, but he’s clothed in it.”

      “It’s more than just that,” Zoo, the Zeus of the New Olympians, noted. “It’s woven, nearly clothlike, and far more flexible than anything we’ve ever seen except in one instance.”

      Diana’s mind flashed

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