Hera Strikes Back Ch. 04

Archimedes' face beamed at Hera's words, and he cleared his throat as he stepped forward onto the top step of the temple. Every eye on the Acropolis was trained on him, and every divine ear was listening. He started to sweat, as he was not particularly used to public speaking, and, to have such a talk in front of the entire Pantheon of Gods was intimidating in the extreme.

Hera, standing to his side, mouthed, "Go on, tell them."

"Uh..., you see," Archimedes said in a low voice. "I took the two shattered slivers of Hera's staff of Chronus, and was able to construct this ring. It should in theory allow the wearer to travel back and forth in time. You see, when the two stones of Chronus meet, the polarity of the subatomic matter on the wearer become super-polarized and is subjected to the influence of the....... This matter meeting anti-matter, in a small controlled space, creates a temporary black hole through which....... It really is all related to the relative nature of time....... Now, since the speed of light is constant, one can surmise that....... Now, because the gravitational pull of the subject is relatively low....... This keeps the accretion disk stable enough to...... You now, in my book on string theory I went into further......"

The light coughing and the sound of shuffling feet during his long, highly scientific speech had Archimedes sweating even heavier now. When he glanced over at Hera, she leaned forward, and whispered, "Dumb it down! Remember, we are not technical people!"

"I thought I had dumbed it down, Divinity," Archimedes said.

Hera smiled, stepped forward, and said, "Hey, let me jump in here for a second. Perhaps some Q&A might be appropriate right now." When she saw Hades raise his hand, she pointed, and said, "OK, first question."

"So, how does the actual ring work? I mean, how do you operate it."

"Ah, I tried to match up the polarity of the individual—"

"—Archimedes, sweetie," Hera whispered, "remember KISS."

"KISS?"

"Keep it simple, stupid!"

"Ah, of course," Archimedes said. "Well, Lord Hades, when you turn the ring to the right, you go forward in time. When you turn the ring to the left, you go back in time."

The plaza now was alive with murmurs. This, they could understand.

"But, once you are in another time, how do you get back to this time?" Amphrite said.

"Ah, an excellent question, Goddess. You see, time is like a river—"

"—No, Archimedes, no!" Hera glowered.

"Yes.., uh, well," Archimedes stuttered as he began again. "Because all of the future and past have already happened, once the wearer has been transported to another time plane, the ring will not work until whatever it was that was supposed to happen, happens. Once that is accomplished, the ring will glow blue again, and Demetrius can move in time once more. It is hoped that he will be able to travel in time, find Aphrodite, and once he does, the ring will operate and he can bring her back here."

"Fascinating stuff," Hephaestus said as he stepped forward. "But, a practical question. How do you know where you are going to end up? I mean, time stretches on for billions of years into the past, and who knows how long into the future. How can such a tiny ring be calibrated to—"

"—God Hephaestus," Archimedes said with a broad grin. "I stand in awe of you once again. You immediately recognize one of the problems! Yes, that is an issue. I tried to be as precise as possible with the calibration, but, exactness is a challenge."

Euphrosyne stepped forward, and said, "But what happens if you accidently meet yourself in time. Wouldn't that create a weird paradox?"

"Oh, glorious Goddess," Archimedes said, "You are as smart as you are beautiful. You have uncovered another huge problem."

Euphrosyne grinned as her face beamed in pride at such a high compliment from Archimedes.

"So," Hera said, "I assume if such a thing were to happen, it would be bad."

"Yes, your majesty," Archimedes said. "It would be very bad."

"Just for clarity, and remember, we are not technical people; so keep it simple, but, define bad for me," Hera said.

"Well, if you think that all atoms in the universe, simultaneously exploding into a giant conflagration of super gravity, ending in the creation of a mammoth black hole, that will suck in all matter, energy and light into a void of utter darkness forever, is bad. Then, it is that kind of bad."

"Yikes!" Hera exclaimed. "Hey, that sounds like a good safety tip to remember, Demetrius. Be sure and don't do that?" She turned around to confirm, and then said, "Demetrius? Demetrius? Has anyone seen Demetrius? I thought he was standing right behind us." Spying Dionysus standing closest to the bottom step, she said, "Di-Di, did you see where Demetrius went?"

"Oh," Dionysus said as he stepped forward, and glanced up at Hera. "I am Sorry; I haven't really been paying much attention. The talk got a bit dry there for a bit, and I sort of blacked out for a moment. But, I did notice that right before Archimedes started his speech, Demetrius was playing with his ring and then, he just sort of winked out."

"Winked out?

"Yeah, he just disappeared."

"You mean, before Archimedes explained everything?"

"Yeah, it was right as he started to talk."

Hera looked over at Archimedes and shrugged, but quickly felt her stomach churn as she saw the look of panic on Archimedes face.

Archimedes swallowed hard, and whispered, "Holy fucking shit!"