The S.S. Olympus -under refurbishment

Chapter IX: Matres Dolore

" First he cleared the grove of Zeus of a lion, and put its skin upon his back, hiding his yellow hair in its fearful tawny gaping jaws"-- Euripides, Hercules, 359

Hours had passed with Cornelia lost in her foraging expedition. Nothing brought her more joy than when her nails were full of dirt, her knees were red with the patterns of plants, and her back warmed by the late summer sun.  Apollo's salve and hands had worked their magic and she was able to easily move around the forest without so much as a grunt from a stiff muscle. Arms full of medicinal herbs for Apollo, and some wildflower sprouts for her quarters,  she got to work. She planted each of her treasures in areas around the ship with just enough light for their individual preferences. 

Hades no longer lingered at the entrance of the ship, and she took a surreptitious look around before she sniffed the single red rose he had been tending, and then made her way up the gangplank into the ship. 

Cornelia did enjoy that, even with the vast majority of the ship being out of order from the crash,  things were easier here than they ever had been in her past life. From what she had gathered these beings had been living near Rome for several months, and as much as she did not like to admit it, Hades was quite the dedicated engineer. Every day she stepped out of her quarters she would find him somewhere on the ship working on a repair and talking to 'Hebe". Sometimes she would even stop and watch fascinated by his work.

Almost as if on cue, she found Hades in the hallway outside of her quarters. He motioned to the still healing bruises on her legs "got your butt whipped, Corny?" He wrinkled his nose, "and you forgot to shower." 

"Lesson four. Sweat is proof you worked hard." She smiled and gave him an unscrupulous and pointed once over, "I can see you have accomplished nothing for the day."

"The stronger you are the less you sweat in the face of adversity, so I guess you are a weakling and I am still as always your better, Corny."  His words were accompanied by a gratuitous roll of his eyes and a slight tilt to his lips. Then he casually strode down the hallway, laughing at her.  

"Why were you in my room?" She called after him, but he had either gone out of earshot to had chosen to ignore her again.

 Cornelia opened her door and nearly fell over in shock. On her bed was an exact replica of the scroll she had lost in the woods. The very same one that the Chimera had incinerated. Next to it was a small square metallic object, she believed she had heard the crew call it a 'tablet'. On top of it was a note that read, since you are such a nerd.

She ran out of her door and looked up and down the hallway, even the king of sarcasm deserves a thank you. However, Hades was nowhere to be found.  flip over was scrawled at the bottom of the note so she obliged. The back of the note even had instructions for operating the device. 

Corny,

Step 1: See the funny shaped button on the side.
Step 2: Press it.
Step 3: Press on the symbols to see what they have. I labeled them in your native tongue so even you could use it. 

See even a barbarian can handle it. --H

"Is this a gift or a creative insult." She groaned as she sought out the 'funny button on the side' Just when I think he has some redeeming qualities!" Her strong urge to slam a door in hopes he would hear it remained unquenched as the doors on the S.S. Olympus were un-slammable. Her anger simmered as the 'tablet' flickered to life. "Petaq!" She cursed using the adaptive alien insult. It was as close as she could get to a physical demonstration of her conflicted emotional state.