Pagan Passions

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  [Cover Illustration]

  PAGAN PASSIONS

  Adult Science Fiction, with the supernatural making complete sense.

  The Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Greece and Rome had returned toEarth--with all their awesome powers intact, and Earth was transformedalmost overnight. War on any scale was outlawed, along withboom-and-bust economic cycles, and prudery--no change was more startlingthan the face of New York, where, for instance, the Empire StateBuilding became the Tower of Zeus!

  In this totally altered world, William Forrester was an acolyte ofAthena, Goddess of Wisdom, and therefore a teacher, in this case of atotally altered history--and Maya Wilson, girl student, evidently had atotally altered way of grading in mind--but what else would a worshipperof Venus, Goddess of Love, have in mind?

  This was just the first of the many Trials of Forrester, every bit asmighty and perilous as the Labors of Hercules. In love with Gerda Symes,like him a devotee of Athena, like him a frequenter of the great Templeof Pallas Athena (formerly known as the 42nd Street Library)--dedicated,in short, to the pleasures of the mind--Forrester was under the soft,compelling pressure of soft, compelling devotees of Venus, Bacchus andthe like, and in need of all the strength that he and his Goddess, thebeautiful and intellectual Athena, could muster to save him from theendless temptations of this new Earth.

  And into this sensuous strife strode Temple Myrmidons--religious copssworn to obey orders without question or hesitation--with a pickup orderfor William Forrester.

  Where he was taken, what happened to him, the truly fantasticdiscoveries he made about himself and the Gods and Goddesses--here arethe ingredients that make up this science fiction novel of suspense,intrigue, mystery and danger. For science fiction it is, with thesupernatural making complete sense, and fun too, despite the Sword ofDamocles hanging by a thread over Forrester's head!

  _by Randall Garrett and Larry M. Harris_

  P a g a n

  P a s s i o n s

  A GALAXY Selected Novel For BEACON BOOKS

  P a g a n

  P a s s i o n s

  _By Randall Garrett and Larry M. Harris_

  _Published by Galaxy Publishing Corp. New York 14, New York_

  ALL CHARACTERS IN THIS WORK ARE WHOLLY FICTITIOUS AND ANY RESEMBLANCE TO PERSONS LIVING OR DEAD IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL

  Copyright 1959 by Galaxy Publishing Corp.

  _Galaxy Novels_ are sturdy, inexpensive editions of choice works of imaginative suspense, both original and reprint, selected by the editors of _Galaxy Magazine_ for Beacon Books.

  THIS IS BEACON BOOK NO. 263

  _Cover by Robert Stanley_

  Printed in the U.S.A. by THE GUINN COMPANY INC. New York 14, N. Y.

  Transcriber's Note

  Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyrighton this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errorshave been corrected without note.

  CHAPTER ONE

  The girl came toward him across the silent room. She was young. She wasbeautiful. Her red hair curled like a flame round her eager,heart-shaped face. Her arms reached for him. Her hands touched him. Hereyes were alive with the light of pure love. I am yours, the eyes keptsaying. Do with me as you will.

  Forrester watched the eyes with a kind of fascination.

  Now the girl's mouth opened, the lips parted slightly, and her huskyvoice murmured softly: "Take me. Take me."

  Forrester blinked and stepped back.

  "My God," he said. "This is ridiculous."

  The girl pressed herself against him. The sensation was, Forresterthought with a kind of awe, undeniably pleasant. He tried to rememberthe girl's name, and couldn't. She wriggled slightly and her arms wentup around him. Her hands clasped at the back of his neck and her mouthmoved, close to his ear.

  "Please," she whispered. "I want you...."

  Forrester felt his head swimming. He opened his mouth but nothingwhatever came out. He shut his mouth and tried to think what to do withhis hands. They were hanging foolishly at his sides. The girl came evencloser, something Forrester would have thought impossible.

  Time stopped. Forrester swam in a pink haze of sensations. Only onesmall corner of his brain refused to lose itself in the magnificence ofthe moment. In that corner, Forrester felt feverishly uncomfortable. Hetried again to remember the girl's name, and failed again. Of course,there was really no reason why he should have known the name. It was,after all, only the first day of class.

  "Please," he said valiantly. "Miss--"

  He stopped.

  "I'm Maya Wilson," the girl said in his ear. "I'm in your class, Mr.Forrester. Introductory World History." She bit his ear gently.Forrester jumped.

  None of the textbooks of propriety he had ever seen seemed to cover thesituation he found himself in. What did one do when assaulted(pleasantly, to be sure, but assault was assault) by a lovely girl whohappened to be one of your freshman students? She had called him Mr.Forrester. That was right and proper, even if it was a little silly. Butwhat should he call her? Miss Wilson?

  That didn't sound right at all. But, for other reasons, Maya soundedeven worse.

  The girl said: "Please," and added to the force of the word with anotherlittle wriggle against Forrester. It solved his problems. There was nowonly one thing to do, and he did it.

  He broke away, found himself on the other side of his desk, lookingacross at an eager, wet-lipped freshman student.

  "Well," he said. There was a lone little bead of sweat trickling downhis forehead, across his frontal ridge and down one cheek. He ignored itbravely, trying to think what to do next. "Well," he repeated at last,in what he hoped was a gentle and fatherly tone. "Well, well, well,well, well." It didn't seem to have any effect. Perhaps, he thought, anattempt to put things back on the teacher-student level might havebetter results. "You wanted me to see you?" he said in a grave,scholarly tone. Then, gulping briefly, he amended it in a voice that hadsuddenly grown an octave: "You wanted to see me? I mean, you--"

  "Oh," Maya Wilson said. "Oh, my goodness, _yes_, Mr. Forrester!"

  She made a sudden sensuous motion that looked to Forrester as if she hadsuddenly abolished bones. But it wasn't unpleasant. Far from it. Quitethe contrary.

  Forrester licked his lips, which were suddenly very dry. "Well," hesaid. "What about, Miss--uh--Miss Wilson?"

  "Please call me Maya, Mr. Forrester. And I'll call you--" There was asecond of hesitation. "Mr. Forrester," Maya said plaintively, "what isyour first name?"

  "First name?" Forrester tried to think of his first name. "You want toknow my first name?"

  "Well," Maya said, "I want to call you something. Because after all--"She looked as if she were going to leap over the desk.

  "You may call me," Forrester said, grasping at his sanity, "Mr.Forrester."

  Maya sidled around the desk quietly. "Mr. Forrester," she said, reachingfor him, "I wanted to talk to you about the Introductory World Historycourse."

  Forrester shivered as if someone had thrown cold water on his risingaspirations.

  "Oh," he said.

  "That's right," Maya whispered. Her mouth was close to his ear again.Other parts of her were close to other parts of him once more. Forresterfound it difficult to concentrate.

  "I've _got_ to pass the course, Mr. Forrester," Maya whispered. "I'vejust _got_ to."

  Somehow, Forrester retained just enough control of his faculties toremember the standard answer to protestations like that one. "Well, I'msure you will,
" he said in what he hoped was a calm, hearty, hopefulvoice. He was reasonably sure it wasn't any of those, and even surerthat it wasn't all three. "You seem like a--like a fairly intelligentyoung lady," he finished lamely.

  "Oh, no," she said. "I'm sure I won't be able to remember all thoseold-fashioned dates and things. Never. Never." Suddenly she pressedherself wildly against him, throwing him slightly off balance. Lockedtogether, the couple reeled against the desk. Forrester felt it digginginto the small of his back. "I'll do anything to pass the course, Mr.Forrester!" she vowed. "Anything!"

  The insistent pressure of the desk top robbed the moment of some of itsnatural splendor. Forrester disengaged himself gently and slid a littleout of the way. "Now, now," he said, moving rapidly across the roomtoward a blank wall. "This sort of thing isn't usually done, Maya. Imean, Miss Wilson. I mean--"

  "But--"

  "People just don't do such things," Forrester said sternly. He thoughtof escaping through the door, but the picture that arose immediately inhis mind dissuaded him. He saw Maya pursuing him passionately throughthe halls while admiring students and faculty stared after them."Anyhow," he added as an afterthought, "not at the _beginning_ of thesemester."

  "Oh," Maya said. She was advancing on him slowly. "You mean, I ought tosee if I can pass the course on my own first, and _then_--"

  "Not at all," Forrester cut in.

  Maya sniffed sadly. "Oh, you just don't understand," she said. "You'rean Athenian, aren't you?"

  "Athenan," Forrester said automatically. It was a correction he foundhimself called upon to make ten or twelve times a week. "An Athenian isa resident of Athens, while an Athenan is a worshipper of the GoddessAthena. We--"

  "I understand," Maya said. "I suppose it's like us. We don't like to becalled Aphrodisiacs, you know. We prefer Venerans."

  She was leaning across the desk. Forrester, though he supposed somepeople might be fussy about it, could see no objection whatever to theterm Aphrodisiacs. A wild thought dealing with Spheres of Influencestrayed into his mind, and he suppressed it firmly.

  The girl was a Veneran. A worshipper of Venus, Goddess of Love.

  Her choice of religion, he thought, was unusually appropriate.

  And as for his....