The Second Randall Garrett Megapack. Randall Garrett

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СКАЧАТЬ are,” Hera said.

      “Very well,” Zeus said. “Then the subject is closed, isn’t it?”

      Hera nodded wearily.

      “In that case, we can proceed with the investiture. Hephae­stus, will you please take charge of the candidate?”

      Hephaestus/Vulcan sighed softly. “I suppose I must.” He swung off the couch and stood half-crouched for a second. Forrester looked at him blankly. “Well,” Vulcan said, “come on.” He jerked his head toward Forrester. “Over here.”

      With one last backward glance at Venus, Forrester walked across the room. Vulcan turned and hobbled ahead of him toward the wall. Forrester followed until, almost at the wall, a Veil of Heaven appeared. Feeling almost used to the thing by now, Forrester followed Vulcan through, and he didn’t even look behind him to see if the Veil had vanished after they’d come through. He knew perfectly well it had. It always did.

      The room they had entered was similar to the others he had seen, but there was no change of colors. The walls glowed evenly and with a subdued light that filled the room evenly. And, for the first time, the walls weren’t simply blanks that became things only when approached. The strangest-looking objects Forrester had ever seen filled benches, tables, chairs and the floor, and some were even tacked to the glowing walls. He stared at them for a long time.

      No two were alike. They seemed to be all sizes, shapes and materials. The only thing they really had in common was that they were unrecognizable. They looked, Forrester thought, as if a truck­load of non-objective twentieth-century sculpture had collided with another truck full of old television-set innards. Then, in some way, the two trucks had fallen in love and had children.

      The scrambled horrors scattered throughout the room were, Forrester told himself bleakly, the children.

      Vulcan sat down on the only empty chair with a sigh. “This is my workshop,” he announced gravely. “It is not arranged for visitors, nor for the curious. I must advise you to touch nothing, if you wish to save your hands, your sanity, and very possibly your life.”

      Forrester nodded dumbly. Vulcan’s tone hadn’t been un­friendly; he had merely been warning a stranger, in the shortest and clearest manner possible, against the dangers of feeling the merchandise. Not, Forrester thought, that the warning was necessary. He would as soon have thought of trying to fly as he would of touching one of the mixed-up looking things.

      “Now,” Vulcan said, “if you’ll—” He stopped. “Pardon me,” he said, and levered himself upright. He went to a chair, swept a few constructions from it and put them carefully on a table. “Sit down,” he said, motioning to the chair.

      Gingerly, Forrester sat down.

      Vulcan returned to his own chair and climbed onto it. “Now let us get to business.”

      “Business?” Forrester said.

      “Oh, yes,” Vulcan said. “I imagine you were pretty well bewildered for a while. No more than natural. But I think you’ve figured it out by now. You know you are going to be given the powers of a demi-God, don’t you?”

      “Yes. But—”

      “Do not worry about it,” Vulcan said. “The powers are—simply powers. They are not burdens. At any rate, they will not be burdensome to you. We know that—we have researched you to a fine point, as you may have gathered from the fol-de-rol back there.” He gestured toward his right, evidently indicating the Court of the Gods.

      “But,” Forrester said, “suppose I’m not what your tests say. I mean, suppose I—”

      “There is no need for supposition. Beyond any shadow of doubt, we know how you, as a mortal, will react to any conceivable set of circumstances.”

      “Oh,” Forrester said. “But—”

      “Precisely. You have realized what yet needs to be done. We know what your abilities and limitations are—as a mortal. The tests you have yet to pass are concerned with your actions and reactions as a demi-God.”

      Forrester swallowed hard. He felt as if he were on a moving roller-coaster. No matter how badly he wanted to get off, it was impossible to do so. He had to remain while the car hurtled on.

      And where was he going?

      The Gods, he told himself with more than ordinary meaning, knew.

      “The power which is to be infused into you,” Vulcan said, “if you don’t mind the loose terminology—”

      “I don’t mind in the least,” Forrester assured him earnestly. “Not in the least.”

      “The power infused into you will make some changes. These will not only be physical changes. Mental changes must be ex­pected.”

      “Oh,” Forrester said. “Mental changes.”

      “Correct. Physically, you see, you will become what no mortal can ever quite be: a perfectly functioning biological engine. Every sinew, nerve and muscle, every organ and gland, every tissue in your body will be in perfect harmonic balance with every other. Metabolically speaking, your catabolism and anabolism will be in such perfect balance that aging will not be possible.”

      Forrester thought that over. “I’ll be immortal,” he said.

      “In that sense of the word,” Vulcan said, “you will. You will be, as a matter of fact, quite a good deal tougher, stronger and harder than any animal now existing on the face of the Earth. I must except, of course, a few of the really big ones, like the elephant and the killer whale.”

      “Oh,” Forrester said. “Sure.”

      “But make no mistake. You can still be killed. A bullet through the heart will not do the job; it will merely incapacitate you for a few hours. But if you were to have your head blown off by a grenade, you would be quite dead. Remember that.”

      “I don’t see how I could forget it.”

      “You will heal with incredible rapidity, but there are limitations. Anything that pushes the balance too far will be fatal. You can lose a hand or even an arm without serious harm; the missing member will be regrown. But if you were to fall into a large meat-grinder—”

      “I get the idea,” Forrester said, feeling pale green.

      “Good,” Vulcan said. “However, there is more.”

      “More?”

      “There are certain other powers to be given you in addition. You will learn of these later.”

      Forrester nodded blankly.

      “Now,” Vulcan said, “all these physical changes will have a definite effect upon your psychological outlook, as I imagine you can plainly see.”

      Forrester thought about it. “Well—”

      “Let us suppose that you are a coward who has avoided fights all his life. Now you are given these powers. What will happen?”

      “I’ll be strong.”

      “Exactly. СКАЧАТЬ