I wrote on the pad again, then held it up and asked, “Can you write your words? My Greek is much different from yours. Many generations have passed.” I hoped he didn’t ask about the stasis chambers, as Simon had called them, because I had no idea how they worked.
Alektryon had watched my finger make the words, but he didn’t reach for the tablet. I didn’t know if it was because he was stunned by the technology or if he didn’t want to release his weapons. Some of both, perhaps.
He uttered a short phrase that I got the gist of: “How long?”
I almost asked him what year it’d been the last time he’d checked, but it’d been a long time since I looked at an Ancient Greek calendar. “What was happening in Sparta when you were... there last? Significant events,” I added, afraid he’d tell me about a friend’s victory at the Olympics or some skirmish with the helots.
His lips flattened. “Thermopylae.”
“Oh.” My random choice hadn’t been so pointless after all. “About twenty-six hundred years then.”
He blinked slowly, looking me up and down. I supposed jeans and a T-shirt didn’t look all that futuristic—I’d certainly expect something more interesting if I were zapped forward a couple thousand years in time. His gaze lingered on the tablet. Yeah, a computer might make the story more believable. Overall, he was surprisingly calm about the revelation. I wondered what he’d seen in that four years he’d been with Eleriss’s people—and what they’d done to him. I supposed it was early to make judgments, but he didn’t strike me as some criminal. Murder, Eleriss had said. But in what context? As a soldier, he would have been expected to fight to the death to defend his homeland.
Alektryon said something else that I struggled with, and I smiled and held up the tablet hopefully.
He shook his head once and said a single word. “Enemies.” He looked at Jakatra and Eleriss, then back to me, a question on his face, one that seemed to ask, “Why are you with them?”
Before I could scribble out an answer, a deep groan sounded in the distance. I remembered the creature pushing over stone columns to destroy the stasis chambers. What might it be up to now?
“The jibtab,” Eleriss said.
“We’re out of time.” Jakatra stepped forward again. “Tell him to try the sword. If it doesn’t respond to him, this has all been a waste of time. I’ll have to kill the jibtab.”
The Spartan’s spear came up again.
“He’s not going to let you near him without a fight,” I said. “Here, why don’t you hand me the sword, and I’ll hand it to him?”
Jakatra glowered thoughtfully at me—what, did he think I intended to steal it? Well, I had been enthused by his gold coins. In the end, he flipped it and approached, the hilt extended toward me.
I wrapped my hand around it, surprised by the cool satiny texture of the overwrap. It sure wasn’t leather. At the same time, it managed to have a porous quality, and I imagined it absorbed sweat efficiently. Before I could further examine the weapon, the glow faded and went out completely.
“Thus an unspoken question is answered,” Eleriss said.
“There is nothing about her to suggest shared blood,” Jakatra said.
“There were far fewer humans on Earth in those days. Some have suggested that all modern people here may share blood.”
“An unappealing thought. Regardless, their generations pass quickly. By this time, it would be too diluted to matter.”
“Uhm,” Simon said, “what are we talking about?”
“I don’t know, but I’m not sure whether it’s better when they’re talking in their language or not,” I said. My curiosity wanted to hear anything they would share, but I couldn’t let go of my earlier thought that if they were letting us hear all this, maybe they didn’t intend for us to leave this cavern.
“Give him the sword,” Jakatra ordered.
I turned it as he’d done, careful not to touch the edge—I didn’t have to peer close to see how sharp it was—, and extended the hilt toward Alektryon. He leaned the spear against the wall—he still hadn’t left his alcove—and grasped it. For a few seconds, nothing happened, then the blade started to glow. It was a faint glow compared to the luminous emission the sword had given off in Jakatra’s hand, but it was more than I’d gotten.
Alektryon wasn’t watching the glow—he was considering Jakatra, or perhaps considering that his “enemy” no longer carried a weapon. Calculation glittered in his dark eyes. I stepped back a couple of paces, not wanting to get in the way if he decided to try something. I wouldn’t be sad to see Jakatra disappear, but I remembered his inhuman speed and didn’t know if the sword by itself would provide enough of an advantage for Alektryon to best him. Jakatra was watching him right back, and his stance seemed to say, “Come on, kid. Try me.”