Chapter 14

Ten more years have passed and things are quieting down after the termoil of Troy. Helen has shown her faithfulness to her husband by bearing him two more fine sons before the way of women departed from her. But her profound beauty still astonishes everyone! And noblewomen make long journies to visit her and learn her secrets. I wish we could say our own efforts have been as successful. I had six fine children with Pandora, two sets of twins, who are a delight to everyone! But they have none of our abilities, and will only life one extended lifetime. We are at a loss to understand. But Creos and his associates believe they have they answer. Only a thousand souls came with us. At least half of those must remain in The Afterlife to sustain us, or our circle of life would not function. We have produced so many children that there are none of our souls left that can enter into the bodies we are producing! Native souls are entering them, the highest developed ones on this world. But even they are not strong enough to operate our Olympian abilities. A few of Creos' people have entered some of our bodies and can use some of our abilities. But even they are not strong enough to use all our powers, and that is why some of us are not regenerating at the full extent we are capable.
2 Creos' people seem to have knowledge of these things far beyond those in The Confederation, perhaps because we have not paid much attention to such things, they have not been of importance to us. But we are coming to believe what they are telling us is true! Without the numbers used to establish a thriving colony it is impossible for a few to do so. It takes thousands to overcome the problems that a native world presents, and less than four hundred simply cannot accomplish it. It is information I wish I could send back to my people. They were considering attempting smaller colonies. If what Creos has taught us is true, they would be doomed as we are, to failure. But we will continue as long as any of us exist, to put our genetic inheritance in this race. It may be of benefit to them. Creos says our great diversity may be what is needed to help them save these people. We pray that he is right!
3 Unfortunately in other ways, Pandora was a great disappointment to us. Her tendency to appropriate things caused a disaster that we were barely able to deal with, and would not have been able to without the assistance of our allies. Pandora took a box from my wife's lab that contained specimines of plagues and blights that had been effecting these people. My wife was trying to develop antibodies to them, so that we could inocculate the local herds and people, and develop grain that would be immune. Pandora wanted the glass vials that the specimines were in for her perfumes and ointments. She had no idea what the liquids were she was pouring out onto the ground! Fortunately, one of the King's servants came along and found her and stopped her before she opened the last two vials, or most of the population of this world would've been wiped out! As it was, just about all the grain in her region was destroyed, and many of the cattle, goats, and sheep sickened and died. We were able to contain the outbreaks by cremating everything that had been infected. We had to use our ships to tow local vessels to bring in replacement animals and large shipments of grain, or the people would've starved to death. It was a strange site to see each of our ships towing ten native vessels across the sea! But fortunately, we could predict the weather and make the crossings when conditions were perfect. We lost no ships or any cargo! The natives belief in our magic is unquestioned!
4 But something had to be done about Pandora. Her crime could not go unpunished. So with her family's consent we exiled her to a small island where she will live out her days in comfort but out of contact with anyone but her servants, who will all die shortly after she will. Our ability to predict peoples' life spans sometimes frightens the natives. They believe we control them, that there are three goddesses that weave the thread of each person's life, and when one of them cuts it that's as long as the person has. How they come up with these silly things is beyond us! But they have to explain our abilities somehow. That we can simply read someone's genetic profile and know that their body will only function for sixty years, seventy years, or, eighty years is simply beyond their understanding, their comprehension! They have to make up some symbolic story to explain it, and some of them are very amusing! Now they are saying my wife hates all my native companions and causes them all kinds of woe. No matter how much she tells them this isn't so, the native women continue to tell the stories. You just cannot change their beliefs when it is strong, no matter how much you tell them the truth. I believe this could be a serious problem with this race.
5 I must report that Odin has established his colony and is doing quite well! But already there is division between him and some of the leaders he took with him. This tendency of our children to be quarrelsome on this world really disturbs us! But Frigga has had another son and their other members are adding to their numbers. This son is making many contacts among the natives and is a great warrior among them, using an axe from one of the ships as his weapon. Of course, where it is Olympian powered, and delivers much greater blows than the native instruments they consider it a weapon of The Gods! Frigga is about to give birth again, to another son. They have asked Creos what to name him. "I have a feeling," Creos answered, "this one is going to create havoc everywhere he goes. He's going to be like a thunderstorm wherever he appears. Why don't you call him our word for thunder, Thor? It is known by the natives and will be easily recognized.
6 "Thor it is!" Odin cried. "But tell us, they call our other son Clavus. What does that mean?"

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