The Marble Steps

Archie Clockhound pressed his nose against the cool marble steps of the Parthenon, his high-tech collar humming softly in the morning light. The glowing dials and buttons flickered with strange symbols he'd never seen before.

"By Zeus's beard, what manner of creature are you?"

Archie spun around to see a boy about ten years old staring at him with wide brown eyes. The child wore a simple white tunic and leather sandals, his dark hair curling around his ears.

"I'm Archie," the golden retriever said, his tail wagging cautiously. "And I think I'm very far from home."

The boy stumbled backward. "You... you can speak! Are you sent by the gods?"

"Not exactly." Archie studied his collar's display. The symbols were shifting constantly, but one button pulsed red. "I was chasing a squirrel in my backyard when this thing started sparking. Next thing I knew, I was here."

"Here is Athens," the boy whispered. "The greatest city in all of Greece."

Archie's collar beeped urgently, and several dials began spinning wildly.

The Spinning Dials

"My name is Nikos," the boy said, stepping closer. "What do those strange markings mean?"

Archie looked down at his collar. The red button had stopped pulsing, but now three silver dials were spinning so fast they made a soft whirring sound.

"I'm not sure," Archie admitted. "But I think it's trying to tell me something important."

"Perhaps the Oracle at the market could help," Nikos suggested. "She reads signs and symbols for merchants who come from distant lands."

Before Archie could respond, his collar let out three sharp beeps. The spinning dials suddenly locked into place, showing symbols that looked like a sun, a ship, and something that might have been a scroll.

"It stopped!" Archie barked excitedly.

But then the collar began to smoke. A thin gray wisp curled up from the device, and Archie felt a tingling sensation around his neck.

"That doesn't look good," Nikos said, backing away slightly.

The tingling grew stronger, and Archie realized with growing alarm that his collar might be breaking completely. Without it working properly, he might never find his way home.