"Just one, sir," said Finn Delaney. "What exactly is our mission?"
"You will cross over into the region known as Mount Pelion," said Forrester, "located near the kingdom of Iolchos in Thessaly. There you will make contact with Jason, son of the deposed King Aeson of Iolchos. Your orders are to gather intelligence and create a historical disruption in the timeline of the congruent universe."
"Sure," Delaney said, wryly. "We'll infiltrate the argonauts and steal the golden fleece."
"Interesting idea," said Forrester. "If, in fact, they do find the golden fleece, see if you can bring it back with you. I'd like to see it."
The mission briefing was unusual, to say the least. According to the legend, Phrixus and Helle were brother and sister, the children of King Athamas of Minua. Their mother was the cloud nymph Nephele, but Athamas also had two children with a concubine named Ino. It was Ino's belief that if the children of King Athamas were dead, she would be able to convince him to adopt her own children as his heirs. When famine came to Minua, Ino's intrigues came to fruition. She convinced Athamas the gods were angry with him and that to regain their favor, he had to make a sacrifice. He had to give them that which he loved best. Ino insisted that if Athamas gave Phrixus and Helle to the gods, their anger would be appeased.
Driven by the effects of the famine on his kingdom and by Ino's ravings, Athamas ordered an altar built and tearfully sent word for Phrixus and Helle to be brought to the high priest. But Nephele learned of the peril to her children and refused to stand by and let them die. The god Hermes had given her a present of a flying ram and Nephele took Phrixus and Helle, set them on the ram's back and had the ram fly them to safety, forever out of reach of Athamas.
When Athamas learned that the ram had flown off with his children, he realized the gods had never intended for them to die and he went mad. In a fury, he killed one of Ino's children and Ino, escaping from him, leaped off a cliff with her other child in her arms. She fell into the sea and turned into a dolphin that would swim the waves forever, crying with its offspring at its breast. The people of Minua drove out their mad king and he was forced to wander miserably until he came to the Oracle of Delphi. The Oracle told Athamas his fate would be to wander in penance for his sins until wild beasts would feast him as their guest. Mad and sorrowful, Athamas wandered starving through the wilderness until one day he encountered a pack of wolves. So fearsome was his appearance, the wolves ran off at the sight of him, leaving their kill. Athamas, desperate with starvation, threw himself upon the carcass of the sheep which they had left behind. In this way, a feast was provided for him by wild animals and the prophecy was fulfilled. Athamas recovered from his madness, founded a new settlement and eventually became a king again.
As to the fate of his two children, the ram flew far from Minua with Phrixus and Helle on its back. Helle became exhausted and lost her grip. She fell into the sea near Thrace and drowned. From that day on, the place where she fell bore the name of Hellespont. The ram flew on with Phrixus over the Euxine Sea to Colchis, on the Circassian coast. There it landed, spent, and promptly died of exhaustion. In recognition of the ram's heroic feat, the gods turned the ram's fleece into gold. Phrixus settled in Colchis and gave the golden fleece to King Aietes of Aea in exchange for his daughter, Chalciope, in marriage. In celebration of the union, Aietes hung the golden fleece upon an ancient beech tree in the sacred grove of Ares. It became the greatest treasure of his kingdom, a relic of the gods.
Phrixus did not have many years to live happily and peacefully in Colchis with his wife. When he died, his spirit had no rest because his body was buried far from his native land. Thereafter, he appeared often to the heroes of Minua in dreams, pleading with them to bring back the golden fleece so that his spirit could return with it and find rest.
Aeson of Iolchos was a cousin of Phrixus. He had a stepbrother named Pelias, who was said to be a nymph's son. When he was an infant, Pelias was abandoned in the mountains where he was meant to die, but a shepherd found him, nursed him back to health and raised him. When he became a man, Pelias returned to Iolchos and drove out King Aeson, who escaped to the mountains with his young son, Jason. At Mount Pelion, the deposed King Aeson encountered Chiron the centaur, a teacher in the arts of music, healing and warfare. Aeson gave his son into Chiron's care so the centaur could prepare him for the day when he would return to Iolchos and reclaim his birthright.
Jason grew up with Chiron and his other young students and remembering the wishes of his father, he learned his lessons well. He became accomplished in all Chiron had to teach him and he lived by the principles which Chiron preached. He vowed never to speak harshly to any soul whom he might meet upon his travels, to give his help to all in need of it and always to stand by his word.
When he grew into a young man, he left Mount Pelion and traveled back to Iolchos to reclaim the throne. On his journey home, he encountered an old woman on the banks of the river Anaurus. Frail and weak, she begged his help to cross the swiftly flowing river. Remembering his vow, Jason did not refuse her. He took her on his back and started to cross the river.
Halfway across, his foot became wedged between two rocks in the riverbed. In freeing his foot, he broke his sandal, which was swiftly carried away by the current. Jason was upset because he would have to enter Iolchos with one foot bare, looking like a beggar, but the old woman whom he had helped across the river was actually the goddess Hera, Queen of the Immortals on Olympus, in disguise and though he lost his sandal, Jason gained her favor.
When Jason came to Iolchos and arrived for an audience with King Pelias, the king was greatly disturbed. The Oracle of Delphi prophesied that he would lose his kingdom to a man who came to him wearing only one sandal. Thinking to rid himself of Jason, Pelias promised to relinquish his throne if Jason would bring back the golden fleece to Iolchos, thereby proving his worth to rule. Pelias knew such a quest would be hazardous and he was convinced Jason would never return from it.
Jason went to the Oracle of Delphi and asked for guidance. Speaking with the voice of Hera, the Oracle told him to seek out Argus, the shipwright, and to have him build a galley with fifty oars, then to send out a call for heroes to accompany him upon his quest. Then the Oracle told him to cut down the Speaking Oak of Dodona and give Argus the trunk to carve into a figurehead which would guide him on his voyage. Jason did as he was told and while the ship was being built, the call went out across the land for heroes to sail with him. When the ship was finished, it was named the Argo in honor of its builder. The crew, calling themselves the Argonauts, set sail from Iolchos on their quest for the golden fleece…
The programming run ended and Finn Delaney sat up, massaging his temples. Cybernetic programming always left him with a slight headache. He glanced over at Steiger, lying back in the contoured chair with his eyes closed. Andre Cross sat up and frowned.
"That was the strangest mission programming session I've ever had," she said. "Gods who walk with mortals, oracles that see into the future, flying rams, monsters, supernatural events…" She shook her head. "If I hadn't seen the centaur for myself, I'd swear someone played a joke and slipped in a fake program."