A God Called Bruce Pt. 03

"When Hephaestus finally regained consciousness and Dionysus gave him something to sober up he was taken quite aback. He is a decent guy and seeing his mother in that much distress did not sit well with him. In spite of his anger he felt sorry for her. He is not stupid though. He knew that if he freed Hera without some commitment things would go back the way they had been for a long time and nothing would change.

"He demanded that in exchange for her freedom Hera had to release him from exile and had to swear an oath there would be no retaliation for what he had done, by her or anyone else. After three days Hera finally agreed and true to his word Hephaestus released her. He told the Gods present that from this day on he was to be known by his Roman name Vulcan, because the Romans had accepted him for his skill and honour and had not looked down on him because of his crippled leg.

"They tell me that Hera did not get out of her bath for three days."

"How do things stand now between Hera and Vulcan?" I felt I needed to know, since Hera would soon find out that Vulcan was involved with my project, if she didn't know already.

"It's difficult to say. She never discusses him with me when I see her. I have to admit I never bring the subject up either. Perhaps that is something you can ferret out. I can't say I blame her. It took a long time for me to realise that putting physical perfection above such things as skill, honour, steadfastness and so forth is a rather stupid thing to do, apart from it being unfair. Vulcan is a good son, I am proud of him. I am just sorry it took me such a long time to see it."

"As much as I have enjoyed this talk, I think I better get to work, otherwise little gets done," I said. "Please forgive me, but it is your project and I am responsible for it."

"You are a good boy, you have my blessing."

I gave Kia some more scratchies and took my leave of the two.

Without bothering to stop over at Bruce's place I went straight to the complex.

Vulcan was already at work, the others had not yet arrived. I asked him what he was doing.

"Building a blacksmith shop that is to my liking," he said. "I don't like their idea of an anvil for a start. I am making a mould to cast one that suits me better."

"I had a long chat with your father just now. He told me how you returned to Olympus."

"The old coot talks too much," said Vulcan.

"If you don't mind, can you tell me how you found the power to neutralise Hera's powers and forced her to stay put?"

Vulcan laughed out aloud. "I didn't use any power at all. Silly old bitch never figured what I'd done. Those Gods aren't real smart, you know. Humans are much smarter. They have to be in order to survive. I learned that on Earth. All I did was build a gadget that inverted her flows of energy. She wanted to get up, that flow, inverted by my machine, forced her down. All the power that was used actually came from her. If the stupid bitch had tried to use her power to force herself into the throne she would have been thrown clear and would have been free. When I freed her, all I did was switch my gadget off."

"That was one hell of a gamble on your part," I said.

"No it wasn't. If it hadn't worked things would have been as before. I couldn't lose. I could only win. There wasn't much chance of her catching on, if truth be told. The Gods on Olympus have it too easy. Anything that requires a bit of real effort and some lateral thinking, is way beyond them. You have proved that yourself by what you did. That's why we are here and that's why I am supporting you for all I'm worth."

At that moment the rest of the gang turned up and we went on to other things.

Chapter 23: Hestia

Gadeirus and Darrin were busy building the interface when I looked in on them. Algenon wasn't doing much. I asked him to give me a briefing where he was at with the database. Bruce wanted to know too, so we went to the lunch room with its inevitable beer and left the others to what they were doing.

"The database is finished as far as I am concerned. I have used the alien indexing system, now all we have to find out is what the symbols mean."

"What good is it then? Wouldn't you be better off designing your own system?" I was a bit disappointed, I had expected more.

"Their indexing system shows more than the pictures do," explained Algenon. "This much I have been able to determine. I take it some symbols are references to atmosphere, gravity, length of day, seasons and so forth, things that don't show up on a picture of a power spot. We would have to visit each spot to find out the conditions there and add the information to the picture. This would take a very long time, even for us Gods. It is much simpler to ask the AI what the symbols mean once we establish communication. Don't forget when we started with the database we didn't know about this place or the AI.

"Once we came here everything changed. The big priority now is to establish contact and meaningful dialogue. Gadeirus is communicating with it now in some primitive fashion, for what we want that's not good enough. I wrote several communication programmes, hopefully one of them will suit the AI. We will find out soon, possibly today."

There wasn't anything I could do to help so I took my leave and went home. I still had some of that Chinese duck left. I heated it up and had it in my backyard with a beer. That fucking woodpecker had finished building his nest and was in it, just his head stuck out of the hole. He was watching me. I thought it was about time I put Ares on notice. I had a couple more beers and when nature called I used the dunny in the backyard instead of the one in the house. I had to walk past the woodpecker's nest to get there.

On my way back I stopped in front of the tree and said to the bird: "Aren't you a pretty boy ... How did you get into my backyard ... You must have escaped from some zoo, because there are no woodpeckers in Australia ... I wonder if I should call the zoo and ask them to pick you up ... No, I don't like that idea ... It can't be much fun being locked up in an aviary ... Have fun little bird."

I went back to my beer. What I had done had put Ares into a bit of a quandary. He knew now that I was suspicious of the bird which would stop him from sending more of them. I decided from now on I would talk to the bird often. By pretending to make friends with the bird I could send all kinds of misinformation to Ares, something that might come in very handy one day. I was just wondering what to do next when Demeter's medallion began to glow. To my surprise it was Hestia. She had come to a decision, she informed me. She wanted to go ahead with the operation.

While she was talking to me via the magic charm I had an idea. Might as well give Ares something to chew on. I wandered into the back yard within feet of the gum tree with its unwelcome visitor and asked Hestia to come to me. Seconds later she stood before me. Without a word of greeting I took her into my arms and kissed her deeply.

I was half expecting the hex to cut in, but she didn't disappear. To test my hunch further I pulled her chiton off sucked her little titties and played with her clit until she came with a whimper. Nothing happened other than that. The fucking woodpecker watched our every move. I thought its eyes would fall out any second.

Grabbing Hestia's chiton off the floor, I took her hand and whisked us into that little temple on Olympus.

"What was that all about?" she asked after she put the chiton back on.

"Two things really," I explained, "if you take the fun part out of it. First, Ares has a spy in my backyard. I wanted him to have something to report to his master. Since he already knows we have played around before it's not telling him anything new, but it will convince him his spy is undetected and his system is working.

"The second bit is more important. I needed to test whether the hex affects you or not. My theory that the hex was purely set up to stop Zeus' philandering and to stop any more kids being produced between Gods and humans needed validation. Everyone knew that the hex did not affect homosexual couplings. That seemed to fall outside the parameters of the hex. I reasoned that since you have a non functioning vagina and cannot bear children you would also fall outside the parameters of the hex and it would not affect you. My theory proved correct."

Hestia was speechless for a moment. When she had caught herself she asked: "Why was that so important?"

"Because it would have made things awkward if you had been in the chair for a gynaecological examination and disappeared the moment the doctor touched your Mickey. This makes it simple now. You can have your operation in a normal hospital and have standard care. We don't need to set up a special space where the hex doesn't affect you. It would have made things a lot more difficult."

There was a pregnant pause for a while. Then Hestia spoke in almost a whisper: "Did you mean it?"

The look Hestia gave me was a strange mixture of sadness, resignation, hurt and something else I could not identify.

"Did I mean what?"

"Did you mean what you did to me, or was it just a test?"

Suddenly I understood the immense tragedy of her existence. She was a God, for sure, but she was also human. That human part of her wanted to be nothing more than a girl in love, being loved and cared about. For millennia she had gone without and suffered. She could not even have sex as a temporary respite from that eternal unfulfilled yearning. I realised that in many ways Hera and Demeter were no different, that they were indeed a trinity, three aspects of the same being, as Hera had said, and that loving one meant loving all three of them. I had stared into the abyss and the abyss had stared back at me, just as Nietzsche had said. And the abyss had given me a gift. It had made me understand the stupendous isolation of Divinity.

I took Hestia in my arms and kissed her gently. "You silly little girl, don't ever doubt that I love you and care about you. Whatever I did, I did it with love and for you."

Hestia clung to me like a drowning woman to a log. Then the dam burst and she cried. I don't know how long we stood there like this. It seemed like an eternity. When she finally stopped and wiped her eyes there was something in them I had not seen before. Despair had made room for hope. She kissed me tenderly, said thank you and vanished.

She had only just gone when Hera and Demeter materialised.

"How long have you guys been hanging around?"

"From the beginning," they said almost in unison.

"You are beginning to understand what we are," Hera continued on her own, "no human ever did before. You have looked at us with love and without desire to ask us to use our powers for your own benefit. For this we will grant you one wish. You cannot refuse and you have to decide right now. What will it be?"

"I want you to accept your son Hephaestus, who now calls himself Vulcan, as the good and decent being that he is and treat him accordingly."

Hera froze. Her ice cold stare chilled me to the bone. I did not avert my eyes and held her gaze. Gradually the hardness softened, her eyes clouded over, tears began to form. Hera, the Supreme Goddess of the universe was crying.

"It shall be as you wish," she said, reached for me and kissed my eyes before she vanished.

"Thank you," said Demeter, kissed my eyes like her sister had done and vanished also.

For a moment I stood there quite disoriented. Something was happening to my vision. Things had gone blurry and I had to sit down on one of the benches in the temple compound. Gradually the blurriness vanished. I looked around and noticed for the first time a circle on the ground, about thirty feet in diameter, very faintly coloured blue, right where we had teleported to all along. Hera and Demeter had given me a gift. I could see power spots now, just as Marge had said I would one day.

I decided to teleport to Bruce's place. A beer right now would be more than welcome. Bruce was playing with his barbeque, he was on his own. He knew something had happened but decided not to pull me up on it and handed me a beer instead.

"I think you could do with something nice and tangy," he said, "what would you say to some nice American style spare ribs for a change."

He must have read my subconscious, I felt myself salivating the moment he said it.

"You missed Vulcan only by a few minutes," he continued, "we were about to go on the piss, have something to eat and play some chess when Hera invited him for dinner. That's never happened before. You wouldn't know something about this? Would you?"

As usual Bruce was reading me like a book. There was no point hiding it from Bruce. It would be all over Olympus within hours anyway, so I told him what had happened. I left Hestia's part out, that was private. Bruce grabbed me in a bear hug.

"She offered you a blank cheque and you used it to help a mate," he said. "In the best Australian tradition. I'm proud of you son."

"How are these fucking ribs coming along, I'm fucking starving." I was embarrassed and desperate to change the subject. Bruce saw my discomfort and dished out the meal.

The ribs were delicious. We gorged ourselves. After another couple of beers I had enough and went home. For a change no one was there, not even Kia. I had a shower and went to bed. I could not have been asleep for very long when I heard a voice calling out for me. It seemed to come from my backyard. I slipped some shorts and a tee shirt on and went to investigate.

There on the back veranda, next to the table stood a woman. I could not see properly who it was until I switched the outside lights on. She was clad in a diaphanous gown that hid little of her charms. She was beautiful. It wasn't until I looked into her cruel eyes that I recognised her. My visitor was Eris, Ares' sister, the Goddess of discord.

I wondered for a second why she was out here when I remembered that Zeus had done something to keep unwelcome visitors out of the house. It was a balmy night. There was no need to invite her inside, something I definitely didn't want.

"I feel very lonely tonight, I need a man to talk to, will you talk to me?" Her voice was husky, full of hidden passion. My first impulse was to tell her to piss off, but I thought better of it. There was no point antagonising her for no good reason. I decided to play it cool, bade her sit down and offered her some wine, which she accepted.

I brought out a bottle of that wonderful Chardonnay Marge had procured and a glass for her. For myself I grabbed a beer.

"So tell me," I said, "what brings me the honour of your company?"

"I wanted to get to know you. Everybody on Olympus is talking about the peace between Hera and Vulcan. I wanted to see for myself the man who did what the Gods could not do."

"I did nothing special, I simply told Hera what she was missing out on."

"Don't be so modest, many have tried that, yet you managed to succeed. What makes you so special?"

"There is nothing special about me," I replied.

"You must be one hell of a lover to be able to twist Hera around your finger. Do you find me attractive?"

"There is no doubt, you are a beautiful woman."

"Would you like to see all of me?"

"What man wouldn't?" I was being cagey.

She stepped into the full light and dropped her gown. With one hand she was teasing her nipple while the other was stroking her slit. I could smell her excitement. In spite of my dislike of the woman that traitor in my pants stood to full attention.

"Fair is fair, now let me see you."

I knew nothing could come of it so I slipped my clothes off and stood naked before her. I wondered why she thought that Zeus' hex would not cut in and then remembered Ares' spy watching me finger Hestia to orgasm out here. Ares must have thought that the hex did not apply in the yard. That's why he sent Eris to seduce me. He obviously was unaware of what made Hestia different.

"I can see why Hera would want that," Eris said, pointing at my dick. "Now come to me big boy and show me what you can do."

I moved very slowly towards her and saw her fade. She was so engrossed in her game that she didn't notice until it was too late and she disappeared from view. Her loud swearing was the only thing that lingered for a few seconds. Her gown was still on the floor.

I burst out laughing and then noticed I wasn't the only one laughing. I turned and saw Zeus manifest in the doorway.

I picked up the gown, folded it carefully and gave it to Zeus.

"Here," I said, "give it to your daughter, I just know you will enjoy this."

"Too right," he said, "I'm already anticipating looking at her face when I hand her the gown. It'll be priceless."

"Did you see all of it Chief?"

"Yes, I heard her calling out to you and went to have a look. She couldn't have known I was there. I had made myself invisible."

I picked my clothes off the floor and went inside.

"Good night Chief, I'm off to bed, I'm stuffed."

"Good night Alec. By the way, thanks for what you did for my son. I won't forget you that."

"My pleasure, Chief. I was just trying to right a wrong."

Thankfully there were no further interruptions that night.

Chapter 24: Endora, the AI

I was very apprehensive to go to Bruce's in the morning. By now everyone would know what I'd done and they would try to make a big deal out of it. My worst fears were realised. They were all there, even Lil and Marge, waiting for me to turn up.

Vulcan walked up to me and shook my hand. "Thank you," he said, "I know what you have sacrificed for me. I owe you a debt."

"Stop it, Vulcan, stop it; all of you. I did not sacrifice anything, I had not asked for anything, nor had I wanted anything. I am quite happy with the way things are. You owe me nothing, Vulcan. All I did was use an opportunity when it was offered to right something that had been wrong for a long time. I am happy I was able to make a difference. Now, let's hear no more of it. I'm hungry."

I must say they were very good about it. We sat down and had our breakfast and went to work. When we arrived at the complex I had the feeling the others were keeping something away from me, something amusing no doubt, judging by the barely suppressed grins. They all headed with purposeful strides towards the terminal where Gadeirus and Darrin had been working. Evidently whatever was waiting for me was there.

"G'day Alec. So you're the fucker who's going to be my new boss?" The female voice seemed to be coming from everywhere.

"Oh cut it out," I said, "That's all I need, an artificial intelligence coached by Bruce."

"Fair go," the AI answered, "You're no fun. Bruce told me you were a fair dinkum Aussie. Where's your sense of fucking humour?"

By that time the whole gang was in stitches. I could not help it I had to laugh as well.

"That's better," she said, "at least you know how to laugh. Does that mean we can be mates now?"

"Yeah, we're mates. What do you want me to call you?"

"I don't give a shit, take your fucking pick."

This was getting tiresome.

"Now first of all let's cut out the French," I commanded.

"French?"

"Yes, the swearwords. That's what we call it in Aussieland. As to a name, your voice sounds like Agnes Moorehead when she played Endora in Bewitched. I shall call you Endora."

"Alright, Endora, I got it. Is it a good name?"

"Yes it is, I think it suits you. Tell me Endora, can you communicate with us when we are in the lunch room?"

"Yes, anywhere within the facility I can hear and answer you, outside the facility you need to carry a communicator."

"Good, let's go and sit down in the lunch room where it's more comfortable."

When we were settled down with the ever present beer and little snacks in front of us I continued my conversation with Endora.