Ganymede: Abducted by the Gods

I scanned the throngs of people on the checkerboard floor. Some were openly fucking on the couches. Others played music or games. Contentment and boredom went hand in hand. But no one was complaining. Frankly, I was still in some state of awe. But I could not understand what these people did day in and day out other than waste so much time.

Zeus had continued to sleep with me sometimes, but so far had kept his distance. Except for praising my beauty in a daily ritual for all to hear, and for all to admire his impeccable taste in acquisitions of boys, he left me to myself. He demanded little.

But this day started differently. “Did the wind blow you in from some far-off balcony?” Zeus asked.

I realized my hair was still clumped and half-wet. I wore little by way of adornments, only some rings and an arm-cuff.

“Has some wild phantom possessed you?”

I replied, “If none of you ever die, how can there be ghosts?”

I heard him laugh. So what if I amused him. I felt differently today. I was tired of crying. Tired of feeling un-empowered. I wanted attention in this moment. It was heady. Made me feel like I was doing something. I liked it. Instead of hunching into myself as I had done every day up until now, I lounged with my arms and legs out-flung. Let them all look at me. Let them desire me. Let them approve. But most of all, I wanted Zeus to want me. Here and now. Why? Because I decided I was going take great pleasure in my flirting, all for the glorious fun of turning him down.

Today Eros wore a silvery robe of near-transparent cloth. It draped him in such resplendence it was difficult to look away. There was a space in the back where his wings poked through, the cool-blond feathers looking freshly oiled. His equally pale hair was pulled tightly back from his head, the ends tangling with his wings. A thin, silver-leafed semicircle crowned him.

He and Zeus were talking about things I didn’t understand and it annoyed me. Stardrives and sensors and components. And something I’d heard them talk of before: DNA. Whenever I played knucklebones with Eros I would try to remember the words so I could ask him what they meant, but they vanished from my memory, as if I were blocked from not only remembering, but knowing.

“What is DN-something?” I asked them, interrupting.

Eros looked away from Zeus and turned to me with narrowed brows. “You are eavesdropping.”

“What? I am right here. All Zeus does is have orgies and talk using funny words. What am I supposed to do? Close my eyes and ears?”

Zeus merely laughed, but he did not respond.

“Look beautiful, that’s your job at the moment.” Eros seemed to think his statement was obvious, and that it ended our talk. But I was surrounded by so many new things. If I didn’t ask any questions at all, I would burst. I didn’t care if I was interrupting something important right now. My new boldness had fueled me. Besides, they were no more than glorified criminals. Why should I be polite?

“What is it, though?”

“DNA. It stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. It’s the building block of life.”

“I don’t understand.”

“It’s what makes you you. It forms you. Your program for your body, the color of your hair, your eyes, your skin, your size, your capacity for intelligence, health, even the tone of your voice.” He got a pained look. I was sure it was because I appeared completely bewildered and could not hide that fact. But in my head I kept repeating the weird word, hoping I got it right. Deoxyribonucleic acid.

Eros had leaned forward on the arm of the throne, his elbows propped on the hard marble. “If you have a book with words in it and the words make a story, it’s like that. DNA is your story inside you.”

“It’s inside me? Does it know where I’ll be or where I’ll go in the future?”

“No. Not like that. It’s the story of how your body grows, whether it gets sick a lot, or if it might have a talented singing voice, or a big cock.”

Zeus laughed again but softer, and took a drink.

“Is it the internal spirit maybe?”

He sighed. “I don’t think it’s exactly that. But you have much time to learn all these things. And by the way, your DNA is very special. It’s one reason Zeus chose you.”

“It’s because of how I look…”

“In part.”

Zeus rolled his eyes.

I wanted to know more. “And the other part?”

“Ask Zeus.”

I glanced up at his dark visage. He was breathtaking to look at. A being of pure strength, it seemed. Zeus just gave me a little smile and shrugged. “You don’t know your own greatness. No one does until they try.”

It was cryptic. And a stupid answer to my mind. They were both infuriating.