The pace slowed as the Amazons crested a ridge and started down the other side, allowing Stevie to open her eyes. Her jaw slackened as she took in the city that rose before her, built into the rock face of the cliffs, melding ancient architecture with nature, making it hard to tell when one left off and the other began.

As they passed through the city gates and entered what looked like a market, Stevie looked around in a daze, at the vine covered buildings, the statues and sweeping staircases, the balconies and waterfalls and fountains. It was too much to take in at once, and as they trotted through the streets, Stevie tried to focus on individual structures.

“This is amazing,” she said. “How many live here?”

“Enough,” Antiope said, shortly.

That’s right. She was a general, and hardly likely to give out details that could be used against them. Still, Stevie could tell the city was massive, and had to contain thousands of people.

Thousands of women, Stevie corrected herself. And all adults. There were no kids playing in the streets, or peering from the windows of the houses. No sound of squeals or youthful play.

“So, Your Majesty, do the Amazons not reproduce because you’re immortal or because there’s no men around?” Stevie asked cheerfully as she caught Hippolyta’s glance. The queen rode on Antiope’s right, while Diana rode on the other side of her mother.  “I don’t see any children anywhere,” she added by way of explanation for the question. “Or are they just out of sight?”

“We do not have any children on the island,” Hippolyta said, shortly.

“That’s kind of sad.” Stevie looked at Diana, who was openly watching her, meeting her gaze. “So where did you come from? You’re much younger than anyone else I’ve seen.”

Antiope glanced over her shoulder, frowning. Stevie guessed the general wasn’t happy she had noticed that.

“My mother sculpted me from clay and I was brought to life by Zeus,” Diana responded readily, either oblivious to or ignoring the quelling looks shot her way by her mother and aunt. “I grew up on Themyscira.”

Stevie hesitated, unsure how to respond to that. Why did Diana age when the rest of them didn’t?  “Well, that’s neat,” she said finally.

“Are you a soldier?” Antiope asked sharply, almost as if she were trying to change the subject.

Stevie considered how to answer that. “No,” she said. “I’m an investigator of…well, situations like this.”

She decided she should stop asking questions for the time being, at least until they got to where they were going. The city sounded strange, and she realized that was because the ambient noise was unfamiliar. Instead of the constant, low roar of vehicles, there were the hoofbeats of horses and the rattling of cart wheels on paving stones. And the sound of the crowd was different. Higher. Easier to pick out individual voices. Was that because it was all women speaking? What was the level of art and science here? Not high if they were still riding horses and waving swords around. At the same time, Stevie recognized that everything was clean and ordered, the air fresh and clear, with no hint of unwashed bodies, badly preserved food, or primitive waste disposal. Even the woman she was pressed against smelled nice, of horse and leather and a musky sweat that…Stevie realized she was sniffing rather audibly and stopped it, hoping no one noticed, especially Antiope.

They rode into a vast plaza and Stevie lifted her head, peering over Antiope’s shoulder as they approached what had to be a palace. Statues of women fronted the structure that was built into the cliff, merging with the stone to form a natural meld of form and function. They pulled up in front of a grand stone staircase leading up to the pillared entrance and began to dismount. Antiope glanced over her shoulder and taking the hint, Stevie slid off the horse. When she landed, she staggered, nearly falling, her thighs and groin screaming in protest.

“Arrggg. Oh, God. I won’t be able to walk for a week,” she complained, bending over, hands on her knees. It felt as if every muscle on the inside of her legs had been strained.

A gentle hand came down on her shoulder, and she looked up to see Diana standing next to her.

“Are you in pain?” she asked, dark eyes concerned.

“Little bit,” Stevie hissed between clenched teeth.

“Mother, before we gather, I should take her to the physician,” Diana said.

Hippolyta hesitated, and then nodded. “Bring her to the dining hall once you have finished.”

“This way,” Diana said, taking Stevie by the elbow. She retrieved the carryon bag from the other Amazon and brought it along as she took Stevie down a corridor to the right, breaking off from the rest of the women, who were entering a main hall. Diana and Stevie came into a part of the structure that became rock and descended a staircase leading to a cavern below. Diana had to support Stevie as she limped down each step, stumbling a bit as she saw the shimmering pools of water that glowed electric blue. Along the walls, there were low couches and several tables with bottles containing various liquids. The air smelled of herbs, but not in a musty way. Rather, Stevie felt her nostrils and lungs clear, as if they were being cleansed just from the scent.

A woman waited, tall and beautiful, dressed in a white gown that fell to her sandaled ankles, her dark hair held back by a ribbon. “Epione,” Diana said. “We have a visitor. She is hurt.”

Epione’s eyebrows went up as she saw Stevie, gaze running over her outfit, but she didn’t hesitate, coming forward to look at her. “What’s the problem?”

“First time on a horse,” Stevie said, hobbling over to a nearby table so she could lean against it. “We rode for miles.”

“From the western meadow, only two leagues,” Diana said. She looked at Stevie. “Was that really your first time?”

“Hey, horses haven’t been used as a primary source of transportation for over a century,” Stevie explained. “We use machines now.”

“Like your ‘helicopter’?”

“Well, to be honest, that’s an extreme version,” Stevie admitted as she took Epione’s arm and walked with her over to the pools. “We mostly use four wheeled self-propelled ground vehicles. Like your carts, but without the need for the horses. We call them cars. Automobiles.”

“Automobiles,” Diana repeated, seeming to taste the word.

“Disrobe,” Epione instructed.

Surprised, Stevie glanced at her, but then shrugged. It was a doctor’s office, after all, and having served in the military, she didn’t have that much of a nudity taboo, especially around other women. She carefully undid her belt with its holster and tucked it into the carry-on bag Diana had put on a nearby table, pushing the gun to the bottom, even as she tried not to be obvious she was concealing it. After stripping off the shirt, trousers and boots, she saw Diana regarding her underwear with a perplexed expression. Since they were bright orange boy shorts with matching sports bra, Stevie couldn’t blame her, but she felt a little self-conscious for the first time as she peeled them off.

“What’s that?”

Stevie, who had been unstrapping the band of her watch, hesitated, looking down at the Timex Ironman sports watch with a facing that, coincidently, matched her underwear. “It’s a watch. It keeps track of time.”

“What for?”

“So I know when to eat, when to sleep, when to work, that sort of thing.”

“You let that little thing tell you what to do?” Diana smirked.

“No, I have things I need to do and this reminds me when it’s time to do them,” Stevie corrected, a little piqued at the hint of superiority in Diana’s tone. “We all can’t laze around a tropical island being immortal. I have a life to live and only so much time in which to live it.”

Diana blinked at the response, looking a little surprised and that’s when Stevie realized there was no subterfuge in her face, no attempt to disguise what she was feeling whenever she was feeling it. Clearly, these women had raised her without ever teaching her how to hide her emotions. What was that like?

Epione, who had been taking this all in without speaking, motioned for Stevie to get into the pool which she did, gingerly stepping over the stone rim. She groaned in pleasure as she lowered herself into the glowing blue water that was heated from some unknown source, feeling better almost immediately. It flowed like silk over her skin, and the warmth seemed to penetrate right to the bone, easing the pain of her distressed muscles.

“Oh, this is lovely,” she said. “Why is it blue?”

“The waters have healing properties,” Epione explained. “They have been treated with various minerals, salts and herbs. Soak for a time. You will know when to get out.”

She nodded briefly at Diana and left, disappearing up the stairs. Diana came over and perched on the rim of the pool, trailing her hand lazily in the water.

“How is it that you speak English?” Stevie asked after a moment.

“We speak hundreds of languages.”

“Oh, I’m sure you do, but shouldn’t they be ancient languages from thousands of years ago? Greek, and Egyptian and possibly Latin? English didn’t develop as a language until the Norman soldiers started chatting up the Saxon barmaids behind the taverns. Two thousand years after your people left our world. How would you even know about it, let alone learn it?”

Diana hesitated. “There is a crystal within the library. When it’s time to learn a new language, it teaches us.”

Stevie absorbed that. “When does it teach you? And why?”

“When it’s time, and because we need to know.”

Stevie wasn’t sure how to respond to that. She thought about it for a moment. “What was the last language you needed to learn? And the one before that?”

Diana said a few words in what Stevie recognized as French, then a few more in Spanish and before that, in Italian. When she told her how many years it had been between lessons, Stevie did the math and realized the Amazons were taught the languages around the same time that the respective civilization speaking it had risen to dominance in the outside world. That was more than interesting. That was significant. It was as if they were being prepared to return to society at any given time, at least as far as the language was concerned. Weapons were another thing. They were in for a bad surprise if they thought they were ready for modern armaments.

“We are the bridge to a greater understanding between all men,” Diana said.

Stevie looked at her. “Right,” she said, doubtfully. She stretched beneath the water, pleased to realize all her aches and pains from the horseback ride and the unconventional landing had completely faded, leaving her energized and renewed. “This is fantastic stuff,” she said as she rose and waded to the edge of the pool. “You should bottle this. You’d make a fortune.”

“A fortune? Is material wealth so important to your people?”

“You have no idea.” Stevie crawled out and went over to the table with her carryon.

“You are very thin,” Diana noted. The comment was without any sense of qualification, merely an observational assessment.

Stevie glanced down at herself, lanky and long, a swimmer’s body. “Compared to your people, yeah, I am. I haven’t seen that many extreme bodies in one place ever. Especially women’s bodies, and I work in a job that demands a certain level of fitness. Your people are built.” Stevie’s tone was pure admiration as she pulled out some fresh underwear, a jazzy blue this time, a pair of blue linen shorts and a patterned blue and white t-shirt, the clothes she had intended to change into before boarding the plane in Athens. She dug out her sneakers and pulled them on, then used the laces of her combat boots to tie them to each other and to the carryall so that they would all stay together. She hooked a ball cap onto a belt loop for later, and then retrieved her keys, phone, wallet, and sunglasses, stashing the items away in her pockets.

As she stuffed her uniform back into the bag, she retrieved her Glock from the holster and in one motion, keeping it from Diana’s view, she slipped it into the back of her shorts as she turned around, leaving her t-shirt untucked to conceal it. No one seemed particularly hostile, but on the other hand, no one appeared in a big hurry to show her the way off the island, either. She wanted to be prepared if she had to make an escape. She wished she could grab some extra clips, but there was nowhere she could easily conceal them.

“So,” she said brightly. “I believe your mother mentioned something about breaking bread? Lead on. I’m starving.”

 

Diana kept sneaking looks over at Stevie as they returned to the main floor of the palace. She was not a remarkable woman in size or stature, but what she represented was the grandest thing Diana had ever experienced, more so than picking up her first practice sword. Stevie was different in appearance, as well. Not so much her looks. She had short blonde hair, so light it was almost silver, with narrow features, high cheekbones and a straight nose, attractive but not unduly so. It was how she carried herself, odd in a way that Diana couldn’t really describe. It was a combination of brashness and furtiveness that made it difficult to decipher the meaning behind some of her words. Not to mention the way she spoke was unfamiliar, flat and harsh, using many terms that Diana didn’t recognize. And her clothing was very odd.

They entered the main dining hall and she glanced over to see Stevie’s emerald green eyes widen perceptibly as she looked around. Diana led her to the table where her mother was sitting with Antiope and many of the senators, including Timandra and Acantha. A feast of cheeses, fruit, figs and bread, along with wine, had been laid out for their repast, though it looked as if it had not been touched, other than the wine. The women had clearly been discussing the newcomer since their conversation trailed off as soon as Diana and Stevie approached. Diana was still trying to decide how her mother and aunt felt about Stevie’s arrival. Their demeanor was wary, almost fearful in a way that confused Diana. She had always believed her mother and aunt feared nothing, and to find out differently was disconcerting.

There were two empty chairs pulled up to the table, clearly saved for them. Stevie was motioned to the one on Hippolyta’s right, across from Antiope. Diana took the seat next to her aunt where she could see both Stevie and her mother.

As Stevie sat down, she shot a look at Antiope, one of keen speculation. That look, at least, was one Diana quickly recognized. Her aunt was much sought after on the island, but it was rare for her to welcome a woman to her bed, and of those few, Menalippe was the most frequent and recent. Indeed, it was probably that aloofness that attracted so many, perhaps hoping they would be the one to finally draw Antiope into a committed relationship. Everyone knew Menalippe could never manage it. Diana loved to tease Antiope about it, since it never failed to fluster her, bringing color to her cheeks. There was a little color in them now as she returned Stevie’s look, challenging, but with the slightest hint of interest.

That interest would be shared by many, Diana thought. After so many centuries, someone new would be like the minty herbs the many cats on the island enjoyed so dearly. She wondered why Stevie would return such interest. After all, she came from the world of man. Wouldn’t she be interested in them rather than another woman? A part of Diana wished Stevie had been male, just so she could see what they were like, this mythical gender that provoked such complex feelings in the Amazons. Whenever men were spoken of, it seemed part wistfulness, and part outright disdain.

“Do you know many men?” Diana blurted as soon as they settled in their seats.

Stevie smiled, glancing over at her. “I work with a lot of them in my job. Also, I have a father who helped raise me, along with a little brother.”

“What are they like? Men, I mean.”

Shrugging, Stevie accepted the bread offered by Philippus, but waited for Hippolyta to dip hers in the olive oil first, almost as if she recognized the ceremonial start to their lunch. Or, at least, was trying to take her cues from the people around her.

“Like women, I guess,” Stevie said. “Some are sinners, some are saints. Some are bastards, some you’d trust with your life. Some are fools, some are brilliant. Some are outright filth and some are genuinely decent human beings that it’s a privilege to know. But even the best of them have that little streak of entitlement with women that you just want to slap out of them. Not entirely their fault, it’s how they were raised. It’s a patriarchal society, after all.”

“Still?” Hippolyta did not disguise her disappointment.

“Honestly, real strides for women have only been made in the past hundred years or so,” Stevie told her. “It’s the best time in history to be a woman, at least, in my culture, but every so often, we take that step backward to remind us there’s still a long way to go.” She looked back at Diana and smiled broadly. “But if you’re asking me about the romantic aspect, I’m afraid you’ve got the wrong girl. Seriously, of all the women that could have landed on this island, you get the one who fits right in.” She paused, looking around the table. “That is, assuming there are Sapphic pairings here? All these women, all those centuries? Even if you weren’t so inclined, I would imagine you’d settle for each other after so long, just for the sake of alleviating any pent-up passion.” She shot another glance at Antiope from beneath lowered lashes, and Diana nearly laughed as she saw the color rise in her aunt’s cheeks once more.

“We do have many who have bonded over the centuries, while others honor the discipline of celibacy,” Acantha said. With dark skin and hair shorn close to her skull, she was one of the throne’s most outspoken opponents in the senate. She reached over and wrapped two loops of the lasso around Stevie’s wrist. “Now, we shall ask you questions and you will answer.”

“Wasn’t that what I was doing?’ Stevie regarded the glowing rope with narrowed eyes, and then, glanced back at Hippolyta. “What is this?”

“It's the Lasso of Hestia,” Hippolyta explained. “It compels you speak the truth. It will not cause you harm.” She paused. “Unless you lie.”

“All right,” Stevie said in an even tone. “I suppose if positions were reversed, my world would do the same, only with drugs and possibly torture if required.” She stopped, her eyes widening as she looked down at the rope binding her arm. “Oh. Yes. Now, I understand. This is quite effective. I’m impressed. And a little frightened.” She swallowed. “Damn.”

“Torture?” Hippolyta’s blue eyes grew dark. Diana recognized the anger. “Is that common?”

“In every civilization in the history of mankind,” Stevie said, managing to keep her tone cool and matter-of-fact. She displayed the occasional wince, but for the most part, did not appear to be fighting the lasso’s influence. “My nation, for example, has perfected the water board. Now me, I find torture less than efficient. There are better ways.”

“Such as?”

“Well, if I wanted information from you, I wouldn’t torture you for it.” Stevie paused, her face twisting slightly as she inclined her head toward Diana. “I would threaten to torture her. You'd tell me anything to prevent it. Simple psychology. While you might be willing to die before you’d give up your secrets, rarely are people so intractable when their child is involved, unless you’re a complete sociopath, of course.” She swallowed visibly. “Sorry, but it’s true.”

“It is,” Antiope said, regarding her with a slight and very cold smile. “I thought you were more dangerous than you appeared. It is good to know I was right. You called yourself an agent. What is your mission?”

“No mission currently,” Stevie said. “I was simply flying to Athens. I was on my way to catch a plane.” She glanced at her watch. “Missed it completely, of course.”

“What is NATO?” Hippolyta demanded. "You said you were 'attached' to them?"

“The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, put in place by several nations after World War Two to prevent the events that precipitated that war from occurring again.” Stevie shivered a bit. “And part of my cover story.” She paused, the muscles in her face twitching sporadically. Diana could tell she was actively fighting against revealing this part. “I’m really an agent for the Department of Extra-Normal Operations, a covert organization that investigates any incident involving supernatural, super-powered, or extra-terrestrial events. We deal with meta-humans. I was transferred out of the Southeastern European office to National City at my request because of the lack of extra-normal encounters in this part of the world. My talents were being wasted.” She laughed, though it held no humor. “Look at me now.”

“World War Two?” Diana spoke, aware of her aunt’s sharp look. Apparently, Antiope had wanted to follow up on her question.

“The second of two world wars that took place in the first half of the twentieth century,” Stevie said, relaxing now. “That would be the previous century. We’re just into the third decade of the twenty-first. The first war involved dozens of nations, cost millions of lives and leveled towns and villages. It was so bad, it was referred to as ‘the War to End All Wars’. But only twenty years later, we were at it again, and the next war involving most of the same players was conducted on a more massive scale, both in terms of weapons and wholesale slaughter, concluding with the detonation of two atomic bombs over Japan. That led to the Cold War.”

“Cold War?” Diana wondered if the war was only fought in winter, though she didn’t really know what winter was, outside of scrolls and stories.

“Once nuclear weapons were invented, it became a matter of mutually assured destruction. You use yours, I use mine, and nobody survives. With no one daring to use the full might of their military, tensions between dominant nations were occasionally resolved with diplomacy, but mostly with spying, stealing and buying information, sabotage and the occasional tribal conflict in a smaller, less important area of the world. There’s always people willing to fight for causes that can be appropriated by someone more powerful.”

Stevie looked around at all the Amazons staring at her in horror and she managed a weak shrug. “Hey, E. O. Wilson said, ‘the real problem of humanity is that we have paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions and god-like technology’. That pretty much sums it up.”

Diana was trying to wrap her mind around the concept of a war killing millions. That was the entire population of Themyscira several times over. And it had happened twice! Diana felt righteous indignation rise in her chest.

“We must help,” she blurted. “This has to be the work of Ares!”

“Diana!” Hippolyta was thoroughly displeased by her outburst, frowning mightily.

“Ares?” Stevie frowned, looking confused. “The Greek god of war?”

“Yes,” Diana said urgently. “He is behind all this conflict. Wars that killed millions? Only Ares could do such a thing!”

Hippolyta frowned. “Men are easily corrupted. They do not require Ares to intervene.”

“I hate to say it, but your mother’s right, Diana,” Stevie said. “Humans require little in the way of provocation to kill each other. Blaming it on some mythological being is simply abdicating our responsibility.” Stevie paused and held up her hand. “Or are you saying the Greek gods were real?”

“Of course, they were real,” Diana said. “Zeus created us, Athena and Artemis taught us, and Aphrodite blessed us all to fight the evil of Ares.”

“Go on,” Stevie invited, leaning forward a little.

Diana ignored the alarmed expression on her mother’s face as she launched into the story she’d been told as a child, speaking quickly before anyone could interrupt. She needed Stevie to know how much the Amazons were needed in the outside world.

“Zeus created beings, over which the Gods would rule, in his image, fair and good, strong and passionate, but his son, Ares, grew envious of man. He corrupted their hearts and minds with jealousy and suspicion, turning them against one another. War ravaged the Earth so the Gods created the Amazons to influence men’s hearts with love and restore peace to the Earth. For a time, there was, but it did not last. My mother led a revolt to free the Amazons from enslavement, but when Zeus led the Gods to defend us, Ares killed them one by one until only Zeus was left. Zeus used the last of his power to stop Ares, striking such a blow that Ares was forced to retreat, but Zeus knew he would be back to bring war in which mankind would finally destroy themselves and the Amazons with them. So, with his dying breath, Zeus left us with a weapon, one powerful enough to kill a God, and created this island to hide the Amazons from the outside world, where Ares could not find us.”

“A weapon?” Stevie asked, in a doubtful tone.

“The God-Killer,” Diana said, proudly. “A sword of immeasurable power. Mother says only the fiercest Amazon can wield it.”

“Diana!” Hippolyta was clearly furious. Antiope seemed more thoughtful, while the rest of the Amazons at the table displayed varying degrees of anger and wariness, watching Stevie closely to see her response.

Stevie was quiet for a moment, lips pressed together so tightly that they were white. Diana wondered if Stevie looked so uncomfortable because she was fighting the lasso, but since no one had asked her any questions, she was not obligated to speak.

“It sounds,” Stevie said finally, in a very careful tone, “like every creationist myth for every religion in history, other than the fact that you claim to have actually been there. I mean no disrespect, but is it possible that the Olympians were merely enhanced beings? Meta-humans? Or possibly aliens, battling over territory with the rest of humanity caught in the middle? It wouldn’t be the first time.” She stopped. “Or maybe it would, but it certainly wouldn’t be the last. It’s not as if we don’t have plenty of beings with godlike powers today.”

There was a murmur that rose around the table, one that died when Hippolyta raised her hand imperiously. “What do you mean?”

“We call such people metas,” Stevie explained as she sliced a piece of cheese for herself. “They possess special abilities that set them apart from the rest of humanity. There’s Superman in Metropolis. He’s super-strong, can fly, has heat vision, and is invulnerable to conventional weapons. His cousin, Supergirl, operates out of National City, which was where I was headed. She’s even stronger than he is. There’s a woman in Gotham who thinks she’s a bat, and another in Central City, the Flash, who's so fast he can shatter the barrier between dimensions. And many more, all of them claiming to be the guardians of humanity while they battle other metas who are less charitably inclined.” Stevie spread out her hands. “All these people are powerful, yes, but they’re not gods, and if I may be so blunt, it’s unlikely the Olympians were either. So even if this Ares did exist once in ancient Greece, it doesn’t necessarily follow that he still does. For that matter, what would make your god of war more dangerous than all the other gods of war? Egypt’s for example. What was his name? Montu? Did he exist? Or the Norse gods. Odin? Ever meet him?”

At the end of the table, Aella made a sound of protest. She was the temple priestess, and leader of their spiritual order. “What are you saying?”

Stevie looked at her a moment, obviously taking in the ceremonial robes and the light of religious devoutness in her face. Her voice gentled. “I’m sorry. Every ancient culture had its own gods, but right now, all the major religions in the world are monotheistic, worshiping one God. Male. Patriarchal society again. No one has worshiped the Olympians for thousands of years. In fact, your gods and stories were eventually appropriated by the Roman Empire, to the point where even their names were changed. Zeus became Jupiter, Hera became Juno, Aphrodite became Venus, Athena became…” She trailed off, looking thoughtful. “Give me a minute. Oh, she became Minerva. And so on and so forth. It’s the Roman incarnation that are better known in my culture.” She glanced back at Diana. “Ares became Mars, and honestly, the greatest cultural influence that name has in the world today is as a type of candy bar.”

Stevie stopped as she became aware of the expressions of her dining companions. Raking her fingers through her hair, she left it standing on end, spiky and disarrayed. “Sorry, my Mom told me there were three things a lady should never discuss over food. Politics, sex and religion. Guess I’ve let her down on all three fronts.”

Diana did not know where to start. There were so many questions, and from what she could tell of the other faces at the table, the feeling was universally shared. There was a long pause, and when someone finally spoke, it came from an unexpected quarter. Antiope tended to keep her own council during debates with the senate. When she did speak, it was to the point, and usually about something others had missed, something important.

“God-like technology? You mean the construct in which you arrived?”

Stevie looked at her. “Among other things,” she said, and suddenly, her voice was very serious. “Look, from what I’ve seen, you have an amazing civilization, but certain aspects of it haven't progressed very much.” She reached behind her and drew out a rectangular object that reflected the light of the lamps above them. “May I take a picture?”

“A picture? You mean a portrait?” Diana was intrigued. “You wish to paint?”

“Not exactly,” Stevie said. “I want to capture an image.”

“Show us,” Hippolyta demanded.

They watched as Stevie stood up, still attached by the lasso around her wrist to Acantha, who let out some slack to allow her to move. Holding the rectangle out in front of her, Stevie peered at it intently as she swept it slowly around the table. After several seconds, she laid it on the table in front of Hippolyta. “Have a look.”

Diana and Antiope crowded around the queen, peering over her shoulder as Stevie swiped her finger over the surface, so smooth and flat it was like a mirror. Only it reflected several perfect reproductions of the women around the table, image after image, some of which weren’t particularly flattering.

“That is amazing. Does everyone have a rectangle to take ‘pictures’?” Diana marveled.

“This is called a phone, and yeah, most people have them. It’s an electronic device and its primary purpose is for communication. In my world, I could dial in a sequence of numbers, and speak directly to any person who has the phone assigned those numbers, no matter how far away they might be.” Stevie paused. “Or I could if I had a signal, which doesn’t exist on this island.”

Antiope stared at her, immediately seizing on the military advantage. “You can communicate with others when they are far away?”

“I can also send texts, which is what we call short messages in letter form. We can also connect to what we call the internet, which is like a gigantic library. But again, only if I had a signal.”

“Yet, without this ‘signal’, you can still take pictures?” Diana was fascinated.

“Yes, and listen to music and keep track of my day.” Stevie shot an amused look at Diana. “It tells me the time, too. Hey, come here.” Stevie put her arm around Diana’s shoulders, pulling her close as she held the phone above them. “Smile. This is called a selfie.”

Diana was too bemused to smile, but when Stevie released her and showed her the image, Diana had moved beyond amazed. She’d had her portrait painted, of course, but that had taken hours and hours of sitting in place. And at the end, she didn’t think it necessarily looked like her. But this was like capturing a piece of reality.

For the first time, Diana glimpsed the true immensity of Stevie’s world in this little device, in a way that the huge, clunky helicopter had not conveyed. It made her knees weak and she had to sit down as Stevie showed the rest of the senate this most marvelous ‘technology’.

Rectangles that captured reality and gods that weren’t really gods. It was the sacred duty of the Amazons to defend the world but now it seemed the world did not require such defense. And perhaps all Diana had striven for…had fought for…her entire life was irrelevant.

What did that say about her?

 

Stevie spent the rest of the afternoon speaking with the queen and her senate, discussing a wide range of topics, from all the historical events she could remember to what it was like to live with technology. She answered as truthfully as she could, mindful of the lasso around her wrist. It made her want to say whatever was in her head, and if she tried to resist responding to any direct question, it burnt with increasing intensity. Fortunately, they didn’t ask her too many questions that she didn’t want to answer, mostly because they didn’t know enough to ask the right ones. Like what the object tucked into the small of her back was. She spoke of weapons, but she didn’t go into detail or describe what they looked like.

Finally, Hippolyta held up her hand. “Enough,” she said. “There will be time for us to receive all our answers in the coming days.”

Apparently, she would be staying for a while, Stevie thought. Although a part of her was dismayed at the possibility of becoming a prisoner on the island, another part was thrilled she would be allowed to stay and investigate this encounter fully. Still, she did intend to return home eventually. “You’re not allowing me to leave?”

Hippolyta regarded her evenly. “We are protected, partially because no one knows we exist. That would change once you returned to the outside world. It’s possible that Zeus’s barrier would not withstand your ‘technology’.”

“What if I promised not to say anything to anyone?”

“Trust the security of our entire civilization on the word of one individual?” Hippolyta exhaled audibly. “It is not entirely my decision. Your fate will be debated in the Senate, and a vote will be taken.”

“Will I be allowed to speak on my own behalf?”

“Of course. In the meantime, rooms will be made ready for you.”

Stevie glanced out the window at the sun, hanging low in the sky. “I’ll need some things from my helicopter in that case. Clothes and such.”

Hippolyta hesitated and Antiope stood up. “I will escort her.”

Stevie regarded her with interest. Antiope hadn’t spoken much during the afternoon, but when she did, everyone else stopped pursuing their own agendas to listen. Hippolyta exchanged a look with her general, and then the queen nodded, making a small gesture with her hand, indicating permission.

“I’ll come, too,” Diana said. She reached out and unwrapped the lasso from Stevie’s wrist.

Stevie exhaled a sigh of relief and examined the skin, though no mark had been left. Perhaps she hadn’t tried hard enough to evade the truth, and she wondered what would have happened if she’d been truly determined to lie. It wasn’t until they were exiting the temple that something else occurred to her.

“We’re not riding back, are we?”

Antiope smirked. “We have carts,” she said. “For hauling vegetables. One has been arranged for you. It should be sufficient for such a delicate physique.”

“Ha, if you ever drove in a Porsche, you’d give up that hay burner in a hot minute,” Stevie shot back as they descended the stairs.

Below, in the plaza, Amazons stood with Antiope’s ebony mount and a white horse for Diana. There was also a cart harnessed to a fat brown pony with an extremely long black mane and tail. Stevie winced when she saw the wooden wheels, suspecting there would be little in the way of suspension, but anything would be better than getting back on a horse. She climbed up onto the seat next to the driver, a stocky woman with graying hair. She didn't appear particularly athletic, with soft flesh around the jaw and chin. It indicated there were more than merely soldiers in this culture, that all walks of life were represented. Stevie wondered if the Amazons had simply stopped aging when they were placed on the island and what it would be like to be old forever. That didn’t seem fair, although the woman seemed to move without any impediment of any kind, no hint of limited mobility or weakness that old age imposed. She snapped the reins over the back of the cart horse and they set off.

If you were completely healthy, Stevie supposed it didn’t matter how old you were when you became immortal.

“I’m Stevie,” she said by way of introduction when the woman didn’t seem inclined to speak.

“Helena,” the woman grunted. And that seemed to be it for conversation from that corner.

Shrugging, Stevie turned her attention to Diana, who was less reserved than anyone else she had met here, and thus, more likely to give her answers. “You mentioned when we first met that you were the one who caused the barrier to fall. How?”

Diana shook her head. “I do not know. It was my Trial of Ascension, where I had to face the most powerful warriors on the island.”

A rite of passage, Stevie thought. Perhaps that was why Diana was still treated like a kid in some respects. Perhaps in their eyes, she really was. On the other side of the cart, Antiope rode in silence, giving no indication she wanted to curtail the conversation, unlike her sister who had been annoyed with Diana, but seemed unable to prevent her from talking. Stevie wondered if it was a matter of the mother/daughter dynamic and the aunt was simply more permissive.

“Go on,” Stevie invited when Diana paused, looking very unhappy. “What happened?”

“I was losing the challenge,” Diana said reluctantly, and Stevie wasn’t sure if the reluctance stemmed from it being a personal and private test, or because she had failed it. “My aunt was beating me back, forcing me to yield. I…I’m not sure what happened. I brought my gauntlets together to block her next blow. I was angry and frustrated, and suddenly, this strange sensation burst within me, causing a great wind that radiated from my body, knocking back Antiope, and bringing down Zeus’s barrier.”

“And knocking out my avionics,” Stevie said. “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, I guess. Did you hurt anyone?”

Regret edged Diana’s gaze as she looked over at her aunt. “Antiope was closest to me and was injured. She was bleeding. Others were knocked down and it forced those farthest away to brace against the power of it.”

That concussive blast nearly flipped over an Apache Longbow from miles away and the Amazons only had to ‘brace’ against it? Stevie turned and looked at Antiope who appeared more than fine now as she rode along. She returned Stevie’s incredulous glance with bland impassivity.

They were all metas, Stevie thought. She glanced at Helena. Or perhaps only those that served in the army were enhanced. That would make more sense. The rest of the women on the island were probably of normal strength and vulnerability.

“This ‘helicopter’,” Antiope said suddenly as they entered the field. The lumpy outline of the aircraft was lit by the dying rays of the sun, looking less like a sleek military machine and more like a slumbering creature, too lazy to move. “It is a machine of war? Or civilian?”

Stevie considered how to answer that, glad she didn’t have that damned rope around her. “It’s military,” she admitted.

“It possesses weapons?”

“It did,” Stevie admitted. “I doubt any of them work now. Whatever your niece did, it was like an electromagnetic pulse. It killed all the electronics and without those, nothing can fire.”

“Show me.”

Stevie really didn’t want to do that. On the other hand, these women really were out of step with the current deployment of the world’s military forces. What if someone else had been flying by when Diana had her little outburst, someone who found the whole idea of an island full of powerful women less delightful than Stevie did? What if it had been someone with actual evil intentions and carried half the armament she did? The Amazons would have been cut down like a scythe through wheat. The thought of any of them being hurt when she could have prevented it made Stevie feel ill inside.

Diana and Antiope dismounted as Stevie climbed down from the cart. “Thank you,” she said as the three walked to the Apache. “That was much better than bouncing around on top of a horse.” Climbing up onto the forward avionics bay, she unlatched the canopy and drew it back. Then she looked down at Antiope. “You wanted to see? Come on up.”

Antiope and Diana exchanged a glance, and then the general stepped up on the brace by the wheel, accepting Stevie’s hand in assistance to ascend the rest of the way until they were both crouching on the forward avionics bay.

“Those are the controls that fly this bird,” Stevie explained. “It’s designed to provide air support for ground troops in battle, but the DEO doesn’t use it for that. It’s meant to go up against enemy metas and is outfitted accordingly. It’s normally a two-man crew, so the pilot can concentrate on flying while the gunner controls the weapons and any tactical information in the front seat, but it’s interchangeable. The gunner can pilot the bird and the pilot can fire the weapons.”

“Why are you alone, then?” Antiope had not changed expression when she saw the complex array of dials, screens and switches required to operate the machine, and Stevie wondered what it would take to fluster her.

“I was just ferrying it back to Athens, where my replacement would pick it up. I didn’t need a gunner for that. When I do, Major Hendricks takes care of reconnaissance.”

Antiope thought for a moment. “You’re saying this is a God-killer.”

“Depends on the meta,” Stevie said. “For someone like Supergirl, all it would do is piss her off, but for a lot of them, yeah, it would make their day go very badly.”

“How?” Diana had climbed up beside them and was peering curiously into the cockpit. “What are those lights?”

“What lights?” Excited, Stevie nudged her aside and looked. “Oh. Okay. That’s promising.”

“Why?”

“Well, assuming your queen allows me to leave, I’ll be able to fly out of here. That’s the multipurpose display unit and it’s letting me know the systems are ready to be rebooted.” She smiled and without looking at the general, added, “Don’t worry, Antiope, I won’t make a break for it. You can put away the knife.”

Startled, Diana turned and looked at her aunt, her eyebrows raising when she saw that Antiope did indeed have her hand around the hilt of the dagger stuck in her belt. Antiope didn’t look the slightest bit embarrassed about it, either. She just looked at Stevie steadily.

“You will not attempt to escape,” she said.

“I promise, I’ll wait to see how it goes with the senate,” Stevie said with a wry grin. “But if it doesn’t work out, all bets are off.”

That did garner a bit of a smile from Antiope, a small upturn at the corner of her mouth. “Agreed.”

They stared at each other a moment more, until finally Diana apparently had enough and cleared her throat. “Did you say you had more clothing you wished to retrieve, Stevie?”

Stevie, feeling a bit warm, shifted and smiled. “Those bags on the gunner seat, Diana.”

“I have them.” Without any effort whatsoever, Diana reached down and pulled out the two large duffel bags, lifting them as easily as if they were coin purses. Open mouthed, Stevie watched as Diana, a duffel in either hand, stepped off the edge of the copter and dropped to the meadow, landing as lightly as a feather.

Stevie and Antiope followed less gracefully. Stevie went first, and then turned to extend her hand. At first, she thought Antiope would wave it off, but instead, she accepted the offer of assistance, gripping lightly as she stepped down. She even held on for a few seconds once she was on the ground, and Stevie felt her breath catch as they looked at each other.

But then Antiope released her grip and strode to her horse. Stevie watched her go, appreciating the view from behind, before returning to the cart where Helena sat waiting, displaying not the slightest bit of interest in what had been going on. Diana had deposited the bags in the back of the cart, and had mounted her horse, waiting a bit impatiently.

“You spoke of weapons,” Antiope said, after they had begun the journey back to the city. In the west, a fiery ball sank into the ocean, pinks and golds lighting the mist. It was spectacular. “I saw none.”

“I know,” Stevie told her, letting out an inadvertent grunt as the cart rattled over a rut in the road. “That’s why you should be worried, Antiope. They weren’t hidden. They were in plain sight, hanging all over that bird.” She hesitated, and then decided that if she had gone this far, she might as well go all the way. “You recognized my knife and that’s why you took it. You didn’t even see what I really use to protect myself.” She reached behind her and drew out her Glock, holding it up.

Alarmed, Diana and Antiope pulled back on the reins, stopping their horses. Helena did not and the cart rolled on, leaving them behind for a single startled moment.

“Uh, I think they’d like you to stop,” Stevie suggested, looking back.

But apparently, it was up to the riders to catch up and Stevie tried not to smile as Antiope trotted up beside her, an exasperated expression on her face. “What is that?”

“It’s called a gun,” Stevie said, and pulled back the slide, retrieving a bullet from the chamber. She leaned over and offered it to Antiope, dropping it into her palm where she examined it with a frown. “That’s called a bullet. It’s the arrow to this bow, and it’s not even the most powerful of its kind. It’s used in close work and defensive combat. In one of those duffel bags, there is another more powerful version, a semi-automatic rifle. Both weapons are standard issue for the average soldier in my world. They are also standard issue for DEO agents.”

“How do they work?”

“I’ll show you tomorrow,” Stevie promised. She held up her hand when Antiope held out the bullet to return it. “Keep it.”

“I have plenty more where that came from.”