"But--"
"It's all because of the orgies," Venus said.
Everything, he told himself, was getting just a little too much for him.
"Orgies?" he said.
Venus nodded. "You see, there are all those orgies held in his honor.
You know about those, of course."
"Sure I do," Forrester said, watching everything narrowly. In just a few
seconds, he told himself hopefully, the whole room would vanish and he
would be in a nice, peaceful insane asylum.
"Well, it isn't impossible for a God to be at all the orgies held in his
honor," Venus said. "Naturally not. But, at the same time, they are all
rather boring--for a God, I mean. And that's why you're here," she
finished.
Forrester said: "Oh." And then he said: "Oh?" The room hadn't
disappeared yet, but he was willing to give it time.
"Dionysus," Venus said patiently, as if she were explaining the matter
to a small and rather ugly child, "gets tired of appearing at the
orgies. He wants someone to take his place."
The silence after that sentence was a very long one. Forrester could
think of nothing to say but: "_Me?_"
"You will be raised to the status of Godling," Venus said. "You remember
Hercules and Achilles, don't you?"
"Never met them," Forrester said vacantly.
"Naturally," Venus said. "They were, however, ancient heroes, raised to
the status of Godling, just as you yourself will be. However, you will
not be honored or worshipped under your own name."
Forrester nodded. "Naturally," he said, wondering what he was talking
about. There was, he realized, the possibility that he was not insane
after all, but he didn't want to think about that. It was much too
painful.
"You will receive instructions in the use of certain powers," Venus
said. "These will enable you to perform your new duties."
Duties.
The word carried a strange connotation. Dionysus/Bacchus was the God of
wine, among other things, and women and song had been thrown in as an
afterthought. The duties of a stand-in for a God like that sounded just
a little bit overwhelming.
"These--duties," he said. "Will they be temporary or permanent?"
"Well," Venus said, "that depends." She smiled at him sweetly.
"Depends?"
"So far," Venus said, "our testing shows that you are capable of
handling certain of the duties to be entrusted to you. But, for the
rest, everything depends on your own talents and devotion."
"Ah," Forrester said, and then: "Testing?"
"You don't suppose that we would pick a mortal for an important job like
this without making certain that he was capable of doing the job, do
you?"
"Frankly," Forrester said, "I haven't got around to supposing anything
yet."
Venus smiled again. "We have tested you," she said, "and so far you
appear perfectly capable of exercising your powers."