Excerpt from the novel Exploits of the Satyr
“What about Pandora?” said Slater.
Cy roared drunkenly, “What about the pretty damsel? I would have liked to have made her! Ha—I did! She was a gift from Zeus! To punish man for stealing his fire! He—”
CyBorg9 hiccuped, then sputtered into silence.
Slater expressed concern. “Cy, are you okay?”
Slater was ignored.
The cocktail talk resumed.
Ziger licked his lips. “Pandora was a tasty little virgin. The first earthly woman. So goes the myth. A dazzler too, we are told. A divine gift for man. Why? To produce calamity. All those gods and goddesses heaping divine gifts into her surprise package.”
“Pandora’s Box,” said Slater.
Ziger licked his lips. “She was a real knockout.”
“Lies and a perfidious heart,” said Briard. He rubbed his leg. “Isn’t that what Hermes gave her?”
“That was Mercury,” said Slater.
“Roman name,” said Briard.
“Right, you’re right, same god,” said Slater.
Ziger gurgled through his straw, “Hum, it was a vase, actually, not a box. What a lovely hoard of bad stuff to contain.”
Slater swirled his drink. “If this box or vase was to contain only bad things, then why, and who, slipped in Hope?”
“Intriguing.” Briard grabbed his foot, massaging it.
“Satan,” said Ziger. “What a horrible tease. For him to have thrown in Hope.”
Exploits of the Satyr (see more)