* * *
Jerry leaned over Throttler’s neck. “GO FASTER!”
“I can’t!” shouted the sphinx.
“Use the power to move between sphinx images to get closer!”
“At this speed?! Hold tight. Asia Minor here we come!”
There was a zipping of air.
“We’re ahead,” growled Bes. “If the damned thing doesn’t change direction!”
Jerry just had time to see Liz, with her eyes shut and hair streaming back, when Selene’s mule did just that. She nearly fell. They were losing ground again when the sphinx did her zip trick.
This time the mule saw them and gave an extra spurt of speed. The chase went on.
“I’m tiring,” said Throttler.
“One more jump. Please?” begged Jerry. “Let’s try and get well ahead and above them.”
“That will take us to the delta,” said Throttler. “There is a shortage of sphinx images around here.”
“That seems to be the way the beast is going, anyway. Let’s try it.”
So they did. Below lay the Nile delta. Throttler struggled to gain height. The moon, Liz and Selene’s mule were still coming towards them.
* * *
Lamont pointed to the pyramid on the table. “I want some answers.”
“I am a god, mortal,” snarled Zeus. “Not answerable to you or anyone. You cannot make me do anything!”
Lamont snarled right back. “How would you like to become a mortal, shithead?”
“No one can kill me! Eventually, I will be free, and then you are going to die. Very slowly.”
Typhoeus squeezed. “Mother said to teach you some manners.”
Zeus squealed.
Lamont leaned into the god’s personal space. “How would you like a trip to Egypt, Zeus? Ur-Egypt. Using the sphinx, we transported an Egyptian god here. He isn’t capable of godlike powers here. So we can take you there. And we’ve got quite some skills at Egyptian magic. With that we can even compel their gods. You’ll be a pushover.”
Zeus’ eyes bulged. Then he wilted. The threat obviously cowed him. “What do you want from me?” The voice changed. There was a certain atonal quality to it.
“Some answers about a certain pyramid you were wearing around your neck. Where did it come from? And some answers about how we can get home.”
Zeus tried to shake his head. “Wormhole travel, from thousands of light-years away. A probe—what you call Artificial Intelligence. You are in a collapsing Ur-universe, the remnants of which we have revived. You can travel to other Ur-universes that share elements of common belief, but there is no way of escaping from the Ur-universe, except for a cessation of meme-carrier function. You have to die.”
“I think you’re lying, but I’ll come back to that. So, tell me who you are,” said Lamont, almost conversationally.
“I am Zeus, Lord of the Olympians, mortal. Quail . . . ”
“Bullshit. Egypt, here we come! You’re something to do with that pyramid that appeared in Chicago. Like this one, but bigger.” Lamont held the pyramid pendant from the table in front of Zeus’ face.
Silence.
“Talk, punk. Or it’s trouble time.” The very matter-of-factness of Lamont’s statement made it hard to doubt.
The captive god was red in the face. Almost puce.
Typhoeus nodded. “Mother said something was going on. That the little monster wasn’t himself. Mother is always right.”
The horrible-looking creature gave Zeus a good shake. “What’s gotten into you, anyway? You always were a poisonous little creep, sure, bullying mortals just to prove you were the boss. But Mother says you’ve gone crazy. Killing everything. And hurting everything. Mother says the whole place is full of pain-feelings. She doesn’t like it. You’d better listen. She’s getting mad.”
“Your threats do not cow me!” said Zeus with bravado.
“They’d better,” said Typhoeus grimly. “When Mother gets mad, she’s likely to make your going to Egypt the easy option.”
“I am beyond Gaea’s control. I am Krim. We are the lords of the universe!” yelled Zeus, straining to get free.
Lamont snorted. “You’re about to be the ex-lord. Why are you snatching people, Krim? Talk!”
“My servant collects local gullible sentients with high anger quotients for us. We need them. We need lots of them. It breathes new life into the Ur-universe. We come to take the reins of power once all is prepared. As soon as there is sufficient energy, we come . . . “
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