A God Called Bruce Pt. 05

I was sitting with Zeus on the veranda of my cabin when the subject came up once more. Again I argued that the Blueys had such a society which had been going for a long time.

"I've been thinking about that," he said. "Has it occurred to you that the Blueys, as you call them, are under orders to be on their best behaviour when they are around you?"

"Why would they do that?"

"To gain access to your technology. This sort of thing has happened before, you know."

"Why don't we go and have a look for ourselves, Chief?"

"What do you have in mind?

"Say we spend a few days on their planet. I take it you can make us invisible to them. If what you say is true, signs of internal strife should show up if they believe themselves unobserved."

"A simple solution to a complex problem. I like that."

We spent the next three days on the Blue Planet. When we arrived I cursed myself for forgetting to bring a translator. Zeus laughed and touched my forehead. A massive jolt went through my system scaring the shit out of me. After that I could understand what the Blueys were saying.

"I have modified your voice box too," he said. "You'll be able to speak their language from now on. It should come in handy."

Still shaky from the experience I stammered my thanks to Zeus.

We had arrived in the temple. Alec worship was in full swing. We watched it for a while.

"Let's get out of here," said Zeus, "it's rather undignified running around with a hard on."

That's when I noticed we were both sporting massive erections. I had to laugh. He was right, we looked silly.

Try as we might, we could not see any signs of unpleasantness all the time we were there. People went around doing their business without arguments and anger. There was good natured banter and a lot of laughing. They were not working in the way we understand work, they were simply doing things that were beneficial to the tribe.

We visited some of the other tribes just to make sure, it was the same there.

When we got back I noticed only a few minutes had passed in this reality. I was happy about that because I didn't have to explain where I had been for that long. I remembered Demeter having done something similar on one of our trysts. Must be a God thing.

"This is not natural," declared Zeus over a beer. "There are always remnants of our primitive and violent past. A civilisation cannot evolve into what we have seen. We all know that this is how we should live, but there is something in all of us that does not allow this to happen. Believe me, I have tried to deal with this problem, without success I must admit."

"You are right, it's not natural. At least that's what we think."

I told Zeus that Panacea had discovered that the Ancients had viewed greed and violence as diseases and had developed a cure. We thought that the Blueys had undergone such treatment and as a result had been able to create the society they lived in. I also told him that so far, in spite of our best efforts we had not been able to find out how it was done.

"Panacea and Iaso need help. I have an idea."

"I'm all ears, Chief. What do you have in mind?"

"When I was forced to deal with Asclepius it was decided to transfer his powers in equal parts to his six daughters. I had no say in this. Panacea and Iaso are only working with one third of the power they could have if all six were working on the same project. I shall allow them to join you, if you wish. Let me warn you though. Panacea and Iaso are a handful at the best of times. To have the six of them together ... need I say more?"

"If the others are anything like the two I've got I think they'll fit in well."

"They might at that," said Zeus with a grin.

"I'll gladly have them. Do you think they want to come? I wouldn't like to see them forced into this."

"They miss their sisters terribly. They'll come."

"When do you want to do it?"

"What's wrong with right now?"

Zeus took my hand and ported us to his grove on Olympus. Seconds later the girls joined us. There was no doubt they were daughters of Asclepius. Like their sisters they were skinny and had the same long blond hair, large blue eyes, pert little titties and long legs. They wore jeans and campus tee shirts like Panacea and Iaso did most of the time.

Zeus introduced them: Hygieia, Meditrina, Aceso, and Aglaea. I knew I would have trouble telling them apart for a while, they were so much alike.

"I'll leave you with them. You can have them if they want to come," said Zeus and disappeared.

"I am Alec," I said.

"We know who you are and what you do," said Hygieia.

"Good, that simplifies matters. Panacea and Iaso could do with your help. Do you know what they are working on?"

"Yes, our sisters told us." I already got confused and didn't know any more who I was talking to.

"Look girls, I'm going to have trouble for a while telling who is who. Please forgive me."

"You'll always be able to tell Meditrina," one of them said. They all started giggling.

"Yes? And how is that?"

"Meditrina is the only one of us who keeps the hair on her kitty."

Amongst giggles they all pulled their jeans down and lifted their shirts. Sure enough, one of them had a light blonde fuzz on her twat all the others were neatly shaved.

"How am I to know? Am I supposed to stick my hands down your pants every time to find out if I'm talking to Meditrina?"

"That would be nice."

Oh bother! But then, Zeus had warned me.

"Alright. You can pull your pants up again for now. Would you like to come with me and join your sisters?"

The girls huddled for a minute, whispering and giggling.

"What are you on about now?"

"Aglaea wants to know if we can have parties with you like our sisters."

"You can have your parties. It's the way we do things back home."

"Then we'll come." They were hopping around like kids, giggling and giving each other high fives.

"I'm glad we got this sorted out. Let's make tracks."

We linked hands and I ported us into the conference room at the medical centre.

"Quiet now girls," I said. "I'm going to get your sisters. I want it to be a surprise."

Iaso and Panacea were working on computers when I got there.

"Enough for today kids," I said. "Close off for now. You've got visitors."

"Visitors? Who?"

"Never mind that now. Let's go."

They closed their applications and followed me. When we entered the conference room there was stunned silence for a moment, then the screeching, hugging and kissing began. When things had quietened down a little I said:

"You've got a lot to tell each other. I'll be off. I'll come back before dinner and take you to the pub where you'll meet the others."

***

Instead of going straight to the pub I ported us on top of the hill just outside Bruce's back gate. From here you could see all of Catsville below.

"Have a good look, this is your new home," I said.

One of the girls hugged my arm and put her head on my shoulder.

"This is beautiful," she said, "I'm going to love it here."

I couldn't help myself. I stuck my hand down the front of her pants and found a naked twat. Pulling my hand back I said: "You're not Meditrina."

"No," she said, "I'm Aceso and you could have kept your hand down there a little longer."

"That's for later."

"I'll hold you to that," she said with a wicked smile.

We strolled downhill to the Horny Tom. It was busy. They all stopped what they were doing and looked at the newcomers. I climbed on a table and asked the girls to follow me. I waved the crowd to silence.

"You all know Panacea and Iaso. Today we have the honour of being joined by their sisters. We now have all the daughters of Asclepius amongst us. Let me introduce Hygieia, Meditrina, Aceso, and Aglaea. I can't tell them apart yet, all I know is Meditrina is the only one amongst them with hair on her pussy."

When I said that Meditrina stepped forward and showed them. The crowd went nuts. I thought for a moment the applause would lift the roof off the pub. With that simple gesture all four had become accepted as part of us. I caught a knowing smile on Meditrina's lips. The little bitch knew exactly what she was doing.

There was no more to be said, we climbed off the table and were quickly surrounded. Everybody wanted to make them feel welcome.

Eventually we had our meal. Aceso never let me out of her sight and when it was time to go to the nookie room she and one of her sisters grabbed me and wouldn't let go. It turned out to be Meditrina who had tagged along. The two were just like Panacea and Iaso, playing with each other as much as they were playing with me. It was nice. Eventually I staggered home with empty balls and a skin full of booze.

***

I went to see Bruce for some of his antidote before breakfast. I needed it. When I was sober again I asked if he could gather our original group including Marge and Vulcan and serve our meal here in his backyard like in the old days. Bruce was delighted with the idea so were the others when they arrived. After the meal I addressed the group.

"First I'd like to say we should have meetings such as this on a regular basis from now on. We have been very busy in recent months and our little get-togethers have fallen by the wayside. I'd like to correct this."

There was assent right around the table.

"We have been very careful," I continued, "to avoid having a formal hierarchy. In spite of our efforts to keep things informal, a hierarchy of sorts exists. There is no denying that the seven of us are the core group who is guiding this project. In the past we have always talked things over amongst ourselves before making any major changes ... until yesterday it seems.

"Yesterday I introduced a major new element without prior consultation. I would like to explain what happened."

"Look mate, you owe us no explanation," said Bruce. "You must have had your reasons."

"Be that as it may, I'd still like to explain. As you know I have been unhappy with the lack of progress with Panacea's and Iaso's research. Their success is crucial if we want to introduce the kind of society we envisage. We have all agreed on that.

"I took my problem to Zeus. He sees things from a different vantage point to us. I had gone to him in the past when I got stuck and his counsel was always spot on. He believes that what we are doing is meant to be, otherwise the Fates would not support us. That's why he has never tried to interfere.

"I told him about the Ancient's technology and what Panacea and Iaso were doing and that they had struck a major roadblock. He suggested that the combined power of all of Asclepius' daughters might well turn the tables and offered to release the girls to us, no strings attached. I took him up on his offer before he could have second thoughts about it and here we are. Four new additions to our flock."

"You did good," said Vulcan. "The girls might be a bit silly and mischievous at times but when they work together on something they pack one hell of a punch. My father is right, together they might just pull it off."

I was about to call the meeting off when Marge wanted the floor.

"I want to put immigration on halt for the moment except for some skilled workers. The pub is getting too small, the next lot of farms are too far away for a comfortable walk into town, the first farm produce will be ready shortly, we need vehicles to transport the produce into town, things like that. We need to extend our infrastructure. Vulcan, Betty and myself have worked out what we need and where. Once we have caught up we can bring some more people in."

"Do what you think is best Marge. If it's alright with everyone else it's alright with me."

There didn't seem to be any objections so we closed the meeting and had a couple of beers, just socialising. Things were under control.

Chapter 49: Meditrina has an idea

Almost as soon as I met Meditrina I sensed there was something different about her and I don't mean her kitty-whiskers. Outwardly she was as playful and mischievous as her sisters, but underneath that shallow exterior I sensed a methodical, deep thinker. As I watched her over the next four weeks I was convinced I was right.

While her sisters spent most of their time combing computer libraries for clues about the medical technology of the Ancients Meditrina went around talking to everyone. She spent hours with Algenon and Frank, talked a lot to Betty and the Blueys and hung around with Marge and Suki. When I found her studying Gadeirus' Xonnian tablet and carrying it with her everywhere she went my curiosity got aroused.

I had taken to having a couple of beers with Didi late in the afternoon before I went for my dinner. Meditrina would visit me at that time most days for an hour or so. She always had me check who she was and wouldn't sit down until I had given her bush a tickle. I had long learned to tell them apart, but I wasn't going to admit it. It would have spoiled the game.

Didi was utterly besotted with Meditrina. He would finish his beer and then hop into her lap, curl up and go to sleep after an effusive greeting. He did that with no one else. Normally she would ask me a lot of questions, about how I had discovered the technology of the Ancients and what I had been my thinking that led to the major discoveries. On the day in question Meditrina had Gadeirus' tablet under her arm. After I had given her a beer I asked what she was doing with it.

"I am trying for the big picture. I need to get into the heads of the Ancients, to understand why they did what they did and why they did it in specific ways. Frank tells me you have been a student of engineering, philosophy and anthropology. You will understand then that it is philosophy that leads to discovery and that discovery leads to technology. Today this is difficult to see, but if you study Archimedes and Heron for instance the connections are far more obvious.

"To answer your question, this tablet is unique. The Ancients left us little more than their technology and much of that is still inaccessible to us. We know nothing of their civilisation, culture and philosophy. This tablet however tells us much. Not only does it describe the Xonnian technology, it also gives an insight into their history, their culture and their philosophical approach. Even the language of the Xonnians is related to the language of the Ancients. Bearing in mind that philosophy leads to technology and that the technologies are related one would perhaps be correct in postulating that their philosophical approaches are similar. The similarity of language seems to validate this theorem rather neatly.

"I believe the more I understand the Xonnians, the better I will be able to understand the Ancients. Incidentally, Gadeirus agrees with me."

"This is wonderful stuff, Meditrina. But enough of this for now, let's have some dinner."

Meditrina picked Didi up. He gave her a lick across the cheek, hopped down and disappeared amongst the trees.

***

It was about two weeks later when Meditrina came to see me early. Marge was preparing breakfast in the kitchen when she arrived. We invited her to have breakfast with us. Marge left after the meal.

"You are early today, " I said to Meditrina. "Anything the matter?"

"Yes. I have just discovered that the project we are working on can not progress until you do something first."

"Do what?"

"That's what we need to find out."

"You speak in riddles, Dear. What are you on about?"

"As you know, I have been looking at this project in its totality. On the surface it is like any other project, though bigger than most. A group of people trying to create a society. Nothing new here. A leader with a vision, nothing new there either. But, that vision developed later. In reality this project started with a series of unusual events which normally don't happen. Far too many of them. And the key ingredient in all these events was you. It didn't make sense."

"Give me some examples."

"It starts with Lil. A muse trying to get a writer to write. Does she? No. Instead, she turns up in a transparent nightie, strips it off and gets the writer to flash his dick. Enter mum and dad. Mum redecorates house using Olympus space to make it bigger inside. Never been done before in history, but, never mind, it gets weirder. Dad gives writer magic medal and shows how to flip from Earth space to Olympus space in spite of writer having been in and out of house across spaces before, without help of medal. Writer is taken to Olympus. On way back writer uses magic medal to activate power spots. Uses power spot to enter and leave Olympus, without God powers, on his own. Writer finds out magic medal is a dud and not needed. Is that in rough and ready terms what happened?"

"I admit it's a bit weird, but why do you think it's so significant?"

"Because it smacks of orchestration. that's why. I asked Bruce why he gave you the medal with those two colours. He said he was just having a bit of fun. I asked Marge why she put Olympus space into your house, she said it was a fun thing to do. I won't even ask Zeus why he picked the two power spots to get you into Olympus, he could have done it anywhere. No, some outside power wanted you to activate the system after it had lain dormant for millennia and made sure you had the tools to do it with. It manipulated all the players including Zeus. Why you and why now I have no idea."

Kia immediately came to mind. She had already admitted to me that she plants ideas into Zeus' head. I didn't want to tell Meditrina about Kia and her powers.

"I have felt for a while that I was being guided somehow," I said instead.

"Be that as it may, coming back to the reason why I came here. My analysis of the project shows that it was you who broke new ground every time in the past. Like when you found the lift or gained entry into the substation. My feeling is you need to do the same thing here. Endora has my sisters running around in circles. You need to break that cycle before they can get to the information they want."

"Easier said than done."

"Perhaps not. What do we have so far. A few references in the medical literature that greed and violence are diseases and that they had developed a cure. Then we have the Blue Planet, where we believe the Ancients eradicated these diseases. Perhaps they did the same on the planet of the deer. That's about it."

"Not much you can do with that."

"I disagree. The Ancients did everything with machines. From what I can gather they did not use drugs or vaccines. It would take some formidable machines to clean up an entire planet. Maybe they are still there. They've kept all the other stuff, why not that?"

"Assuming this is right, where would you start to look?"

"I've been listening to the Bluey storytellers. Some of their stories tell of a taboo land where the Blues are not allowed to go. It didn't sound like mythology, but the translators aren't very good, I've missed much."

"Assuming you are right, Meditrina, do you think anyone knows where the forbidden lands are."

"What is the point in telling people of a taboo area without telling them where it is? They wouldn't know what to avoid."

"True."

"We still have the problem with the translators not picking up everything."

"I speak Bluetongue. Zeus gave it to me as a gift."

"Bluetongue?"

"That's what Betty called their language. Tongue of the Blueys, get it? It's also the name of an Australian lizard. Betty's sense of humour."

"And Zeus gave you command of the language? I wonder what power prompted him to do that."

"Yes, it is strange. Just when we need it."

"What will you do now?"

"I'll talk to Suki and take it from there."

"Why don't we make tracks? Suki and Marge will be at the Horny Tom for lunch. I want to see Marge anyway. If we leave now we'll have time for a couple of drinks before they arrive. I would like that."