"And I was scheduled to take his place."
"That's right."
"As a full God," Forrester said.
Diana nodded.
There was a little silence.
"Diana," Forrester said, "what are the Gods?"
She got up and crossed to the window. Looking out, she said: "Before I
answer that, I want you to tell me what you think we are."
"Men and women," he said. "More or less human, like myself. Except
you've somehow managed to get so far ahead of any kind of science Earth
knows that, even today, your effects can only be explained as 'magic' or
'miracle.'"
"How could we get that far ahead of you?"
Forrester took a leap in the dark to the only conclusion he could see.
"You're not from Earth," he said. "You're from another planet." The
words sounded strange in his own ears--but Diana didn't even act
surprised.
"That's right," she said. "We're from another planet--or, rather, from
several other planets."
"_Several?_" Forrester exclaimed. "But--oh. I see. Pan, for instance--"
Diana nodded. "Pan isn't even really humanoid. His home is a planet
where his type of goatlike life evolved. Neither Pluto nor Neptune is
humanoid, either; they're a little closer than Pan, but not really very
close when you get a good look. The rest of the Gods are humanoid--but
not human."
"Wait a minute," Forrester said. "Venus is human. Or, anyhow, she's a
replacement, just the way I was slated to be a replacement for
Dionysus."
Diana drained her cup and clapped her hands together on it. The cup
vanished. Forrester did the same to his own. "Correct," she said. "Venus
just--just disappeared once. They got an Etruscan girl to replace her.
She's not the only replacement, either."