Odysseus blinked away the impression of the lightning bolt, strangely dark against the clear blue sky he was now looking into. There wasn't a cloud in sight, and the sun was high and warm. The waves were calm, and there was a stiff breeze blowing across the deck, though the sail flapped limply, as it did not blow directly astern as it had a moment ago.
"Where are we?" Cassandra asked, coming on deck with Asterion. Polites stepped up behind her, looking around, with his good hand protectively on the child's back.
"Is it...?" He began, looking around at the islands that now surrounded them, where no land had been before.
Odysseus looked around too, but his eyes quickly found the one just ahead of them. He could never forget the shape of its hills and beaches. He opened his mouth to say it, but Eurylochus beat him to it.
"Home!" Eurylochus cried out. "We made it!"
They approached it from the north, near to what Odysseus remembered to be the main port. But, there were far more buildings than he remembered, and some of the most iconic ones—like his own palace—were missing. He couldn't quite make it out, but there was something odd about their construction.
"Something's off here," he said. "I—"
An unbelievably loud horn sounded behind them, and everyone aboard jumped.
"Now what?!" Someone exclaimed, and was shushed by the men around him.
The source of the noise was a small-ish boat, with no mast and no oars, powered by something that roared loudly, making its way toward them at an impressive speed.
"Attention, unknown vessel," called a powerful, if somewhat distorted, voice from the boat. "Please set your radio to frequency 10-6-1." It was impossible to tell if the voice was male or female.
"A god?" Eurylochus whispered. "What's a radio?"
"I don't think its a god," Odysseus replied. "It doesn't have the same feeling as one."
"Please set your radio to frequency 10-6-1." The voice commanded again.
"I'm sorry," Odysseus shouted back. "I don't understand, our ship isn't equipped with a... radio."
"Please bring the ship to a stop and prepare to be boarded."