* * *
Athena stood on the roof of a shop overlooking the town square, watching the community gather for the festival. She was totally invisible to the crowd below, still wrapped in her Doppler shroud. She pointed her sensor at one person and then another, catching a snatch of a conversation as she scanned, but paying little attention to what was being said. She saw the shadows of men behind the leaded windows of the city hall across the square, and knew it was the city fathers getting ready to make the Ascension announcement. Curious, she pointed her sensor at the window and immediately heard their conversation as if she had been standing in the same room.
“Are you sure?” said one voice. “Are you absolutely sure? I mean, it’s been close to a century since….”
“I’ve checked and rechecked the measurements and compared them to the ancient charts,” said another. “There’s no doubt in my mind. Achilles is in ascension.”
“But the people,” said the first. “Achilles means famine, floods, earthquakes. It’s the reason why the countryside is filled with ruins instead of a civilization. It’s the reason why we were able to settle here to begin with. But it will be the end of us all. What do we tell the people?”
“We tell them nothing,” hissed the second. “They can’t really prepare for it, and all telling will accomplish is panic.” There was a pause. “No, we tell them that Paris is in ascension again. They will plant and harvest, then store their grain and their meats, ready for another cold winter season.”
Athena listened to the city fathers, raising an eyebrow. She wondered why the scientists hadn’t told her that Achilles was in ascension, but then it wasn’t part of her job. Her job was merely to recruit. Maybe these city fathers knew something that the scientists didn’t know. But she dismissed that thought as quickly as it struck her. The scientists knew all about it, or the city fathers were wrong.
She turned her attention back toward the gathering crowd below her. A young couple just arriving caught her attention. The young girl—woman in this society—looked to be about 14; the boy about 8. She scanned them with the sensor. The girl was remarkably intelligent, scoring 144 IQ on the register, with a high quotient for problem solving. Athena smiled; she would have made a good specter. After all, that’s how Athena had became one.
She turned to the second one, the boy. The register shot up to 160 IQ. Her mouth became a thin line. This was the one she wanted. He was even young enough to adapt to the transition of living in a scientist’s compound.
She put her sensor away and jumped from the rooftop into an alleyway below.