Trojan Odyssey

into the sky, crushed by jaws filled with sharp teeth, their arms stretched out to me in mortal agony as they screamed in horror. It was the most horrendous sight I witnessed throughout the awful voyage.

'Escaping out to sea, thunderbolts began shattering the sky. Lightning struck the ship, filling it with the smell of sulfur. The terrible force burst the ship into pieces, throwing the crew into the raging waters, where they quickly drowned.

'I managed to find part of the mast with a large leather thong wrapped around it that I used to tie my waist to a section of the fractured keel. Getting astride my makeshift raft, I was carried out to sea, drifting where the wind and current chose to take me. Many days later, barely still alive, my raft became stranded on the island of Ogygia, home of Calypso, a woman of great seductive beauty and intelligence and the sister of Circe. Four of her subjects found me on the beach and carried me to her palace where she took me in and nursed me back to full health.

'For a while I lived happily on Ogygia, lovingly cared for by Calypso, who slept by my side. We dallied in a fabulous garden with four fountains that sent their waters spraying in opposite directions. Lush forests with flocks of colorful birds flying among the branches abounded on the island. Clear pure springs ran through quiet meadows bordered by flourishing grapevines.'

'I low long did you spend with Calypso?' queried the king.

'Seven long months.'

'Why did you not simply find a boat and sail away?' asked Queen Arete.

Odysseus shrugged. 'Because there was no boat to be found on the island.'

'Then how did you finally leave?'

'Kind, gentle Calypso knew of my sorrow. She woke me one morning and spoke of her wish that I return home. She offered up the tools, took me into the forest and helped me cut the wood to make a seaworthy raft. She sewed sails for me from cowhides and provisioned the raft with food and water. After five days I was ready to depart. I was saddened by her emotional cries of pain in letting me go. She was a woman among women, one all men desire. If I hadn't loved Penelope more, I would have gladly stayed.' Odysseus paused and a tear came to one eye. 'I fear she died of grief in the lonely days that followed my leave.'

'What happened to your raft?' wondered Nausicaa. 'You were cast away when I found you.'

'Seventeen calm days at sea ended when the sea suddenly raged in wrath. A violent storm with driving rain and sweeping gusts tore the sail away. This disaster was followed by great waves that battered my fragile craft until it barely hung together. I drifted for two days before I was finally washed up on your shore, where you, sweet and lovely Nausicaa, found me.' He paused. 'And so ends my tale of hardship and woe.'

Everyone in the palace had sat enthralled by Odysseus' incredible saga. Presently, King Alcinous rose and addressed his guest. 'We are honored to have such a distinguished guest in our midst and owe you a great debt for entertaining us in so wondrous a manner. Therefore, in grateful appreciation, my fastest ship and crew are yours to carry you to your home in Ithaca.'

Odysseus expressed his gratitude, and he felt humble for such generosity. But he was anxious to be on his way. 'Farewell, good King Alcinous and gracious Queen Arete, and to your daughter Nausicaa, for her kindness. Be happy in your house and may you always be graced by the gods.'

Then Odysseus crossed the threshold and was escorted to the ship. With a fair wind and a friendly sea, Odysseus finally arrived in his kingdom on the isle of Ithaca, where he was reunited with son Telemachus. There, too, he found his wife Penelope besieged by suitors, and he slew them all.

And so ends the story of the Odyssey, an epic that has lived on for centuries, inflaming the wonder and imaginations of all who have read it or listened to it. Except that it isn't quite true. Or at least, only some of it is true.

For Homer was not a Greek. Nor did the Iliad and the Odyssey take place where the legends placed them.

The real story of Odysseus' adventures is something else entirely, and it would not be revealed until much, much later…

PART ONE Hell Hath No Wrath Like the Sea

1

August 15, 2006 Key West, Florida

Dr. Heidi Lisherness was about to meet her husband for a night out on the town when she took one last cursory glance at the latest imagery collected by a Super Rapid Scan Operations satellite. A full-figured lady with silver-gray hair pulled back in a bun, Heidi sat at her desk in green shorts and matching top as a measure of comfort against the heat and humidity of Florida in August. She came within a hair of simply shutting down her computer until the following morning. But there was an indiscernible something about the last image that came into her computer from the satellite over the Atlantic Ocean southwest of the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa. She sat down and gazed more intently into the screen of her monitor.

To the untrained eye the picture on the screen simply took on the appearance of a few innocent clouds drifting over an azure blue sea. Heidi saw a view more menacing. She compared the image with one taken only two hours earlier. The mass of cumulus clouds had increased in bulk more rapidly than any spawning storm she could remember in her eighteen years monitoring and forecasting tropical hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean with the National Underwater and Marine Agency Hurricane Center. She began enlarging the two images of the infant storm formation.

Her husband, Harley, a jolly-looking man with a walrus mustache, bald head and wearing rimless glasses, stepped into her office with an impatient look on his face. Harley was also a meteorologist. But he worked for the National Weather Service as an analyst on climatological data that was issued as weather advisories for commercial and private aircraft, boats and ships at sea. 'What's keeping you?' he said, pointing impatiently at his watch. 'I have reservations at the Crab Pot.'

Without looking up, she motioned at the two side-by-side images on her computer. 'These were taken two hours apart. Tell me what you see.'

Harley examined them for a long moment. Then his brow furrowed and he repositioned his glasses before leaning closer for a more in-depth look. Finally, he looked at his wife and nodded. 'One hell of a fast buildup.'

'Too fast,' said Heidi. 'If it continues at the same rate, God only knows how huge a storm it will brew.'

'You never know,' said Harley thoughtfully. 'She might come in like a lion and go out like a lamb. It's happened.'

'True, but most storms take days, sometimes weeks, to build to this strength. This has mushroomed within hours.'

'Too early to predict her direction or where she'll peak and do the most damage.'

'I have a dire feeling this one will be unpredictable.'

Harley smiled. 'You will keep me informed as she builds?'

'The National Weather Service will be the first to know,' she said, lightly slapping him on the arm.

'Thought of a name for your new friend yet?'

'If she becomes as nasty as I think she might, I'll call her Lizzie, after the ax murderess Lizzie Borden.'

'A bit early in the season for a name beginning with L but it sounds fitting.' Harley handed his wife her purse. 'Time enough tomorrow to see what develops. I'm starved. Let's go eat some crab.'

Heidi dutifully followed her husband from her office, switching off the light and closing the door. But the