Mercury Begins (Mercury Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF

pin the failure of the Greek attack on Mercury, explain that his inadequate personnel budget had forced him to hire subpar agents, and get approval for a new round of expenditures aimed at coaxing the Greeks into destroying Troy. Mercury sat for hours, going over every possibility, but there was no good solution.
    At midnight he got up and unlatched the door in the horse’s belly. A horrendous stench like the stale body odor of a hundred Greek soldiers poured out of the hatch, followed by the soldiers themselves. “Ugh,” Mercury muttered, waving his hand in front of his face. “And I thought it smelled bad on the outside .”
    The men spread out to set fires and wreak other sorts of havoc. “Where do you think you’re going?” Mercury demande d of one man, who seemed to be running toward the city gates rather than into the city proper.
    “I’m supposed to le t the rest of the Greeks inside,” the man replied.
    “The rest of the Greeks?” Mercury asked, confused. “I thought we were it.”
    “ Nope . There’s a whole bunch more guys waiting outside.”
    Mercury’s brow furrowed. “But if we’re letting people in, why didn’t we just put one guy in the horse, rather than risking the lives of a hundred? Hell, I could have opened the gate. What did we even need the horse for?”
    The man shrugged. “Theatrics?” he offered. Mercury waved him away, shaking his head. This had to be the most insanely convoluted attack plan in the history of warfare. Even if the sack succeeded, this “Trojan Horse” was going to go down in history as the perfect example of bureaucratic idiocy run amok. Mercury had seen this sort of thing before, on a smaller scale: one dimwit comes up with a terrible idea, and everybody is so eager to get on board with it that nobody bothers to work out whether it makes any damn ed sense. Mercury would be lucky if he didn’t get transferred to Transport and Communications – or worse – after this debacle. Serves me right, he thought, caressing the caduceus. A man ran past him screaming, holding his severed left hand in his right.
    “Hey, Mercury,” said a voice behind him. He turned to see Venus – now adorned in a simple white dress – standing next to a brawny, tanned man wearing a Trojan soldier’s uniform. A sword hung at his side.
    “Oh, hi, Venus, ” said Mercury glumly. He nodded at the muscular man. “You must be Anus.”
    “ Aeneis ,” corrected the man. He stared daggers at Mercury. “So I have you to thank for the destruction of my city?” Much of the city was now in flames, and screams of agony and terror blended into a hellish cacophony. Nearby, a group of Trojan guardsmen was being beaten back by a contingent of oily Greeks.
    “Easy, my son,” said Venus gently, causing Mercury to raise an eyebrow. “The gods themselves have decreed the doom of Troy. Don’t shoot the messenger. ”
    “Whatever,” grumbled Aeneis . “Nice shoes.” Mercury had changed into his winged rubbers in order to sneak quietly to the horse. The wings fluttered in the night breeze. Mercury shifted uneasily.
    “You go on ahead, Aeneis ,” said Venus. “ You’ve got a city to found.”
    “OK, Mom,” said Aeneis . He walked off, glaring at Mercury. “See you around, jerkface .”
    “He’s a keeper,” said Mercury to Venus, watching Aeneis trudge off into the night. “What’s with the ‘mom’ stuff?”
    “I may have misled him slightly,” Venus said. “He thinks I’m his dead mother. Nice job on the horse, by the way. I had my doubts, but you pulled it off with style.”
    “Really?” asked Mercury doubtfully. “You think the horse was a good idea?”
    “Heavens no , ” said Venus. “One of the worst ideas I’ve ever heard. As far as I can tell, the horse was a completely unnecessary complication that could very well have resulted in a catastrophic loss for the Greeks. But as I said, you pulled it off with style.”
    “Um, thanks?”
    Venus smiled and shook her head