The Last Odyssey (Sigma Force #15) - James Rollins Page 0,64

but where it left off, he admits to reaching what he calls the Forge of Hephaestus.” She looked over to Nehir. “Which must be this island.”

“As our Mūsā had also devised.”

“And I must be here to help you pick up the trail that vanished into history, to find out where Hunayn went next.”

“Precisely.” She waved across the stacked books and scribbled notepads. “So, what have you determined?”

Joe scoffed loudly. “Really? You expect her to solve a mystery in five hours that you all couldn’t figure out after five centuries.”

“Eleven centuries, actually.” Nehir seemed unfazed by his outburst and kept her focus on Elena. “But I do expect Dr. Cargill to have figured out why the traitorous Hunayn chose to come here. Why did he seek out the Forge of Hephaestus?”

Elena did her best to answer. She shifted her hand over to the thick volume of Strabo’s Geographica. “According to what the captain wrote, he put great faith in Strabo. The historian not only admired Homer for his poetry, but he also believed—like Hunayn—that the Iliad and the Odyssey were based on real events. Strabo vehemently advocated his position and sought proof, which he gathered and put into this book. Knowing this, the captain picked apart Strabo’s work, looking for clues on where to go next.”

“And what specifically drew Hunayn to these shores?”

Elena moved her palm again, this time coming to rest on the Arabic copy of Homer’s Odyssey. “Hunayn marked up his volume of Homer’s epic. Underlining sections and making notes. But he seemed especially intrigued by the creations of Hephaestus.” She turned to pages she had dog-eared. She translated one of those sections aloud. “‘On either side there stood gold and silver mastiffs which Hephaestus, with his consummate skill, had fashioned expressly to keep watch over the palace of King Alcinous; so they were immortal and could never grow old.’”

“Immortal dogs?” Joe asked.

“Made of precious metals,” Elena added. “Gold and silver. Homer is describing metal dogs that could move on their own. Plainly it was a topic that caught Hunayn’s imagination and interest. Especially as he and his three brothers—the Banū Mūsā —had written multiple books about crafting mechanical tools.”

Nehir nodded. “Like The Book of Ingenious Devices.”

“Exactly. So, of course, Hunayn’s attention focused on what Hephaestus had crafted. In the margin of that section I just read, Hunayn also copied passages from Homer’s Iliad, where it states that Hephaestus’s forge had little wheeled tripods that ran about on their own, doing his bidding, while the god was also served by ‘golden handmaids who bustled about their master like living women.’ Again, Homer is describing automatons, including mechanical women who did whatever he asked.”

“Gotta admit it,” Joe said. “I wouldn’t mind a couple of those.”

Elena ignored him. “It’s clear that Hunayn was obsessed with this subject. He made a few more notes in the margins about other references to such wonders. Bronze horses that could pull chariots. A metal-winged eagle that Zeus sent to torture Prometheus for stealing fire. And if Hunayn believed, like Strabo, that Homer’s stories were true—then why not these creations of Hephaestus?”

“So, you’re thinking he went looking for them,” Joe said.

She nodded. “While I don’t know where he went to look, I do know who he was searching for.”

Nehir frowned with disbelief. “Truly?”

Elena flipped to another marked section of the captain’s copy of the Odyssey. “Shortly after Odysseus left the Underworld, he ended up in a strange lost kingdom, one that is ‘the farthermost of men, and no other mortals are conversant with them.’ These people—the Phaeacians—were also mysteriously advanced technologically. Their ships are described as fast as ‘falcons, swiftest of birds’ and capable of sailing by themselves. You plug in a course, and the ship takes you there. In fact, it’s how Odysseus finally makes it back home, aboard a Phaeacian ship.”

Nehir dismissed this account with a wave. “I see now. You believe it is these Phaeacians who the traitor Hunayn was trying to find. Why?”

“Remember those gold and silver dogs that Hephaestus created. The Odyssey states the god gave them to a king—King Alcinous. He was the ruler of the Phaeacians.”

Nehir’s brows furrowed.

“Here was a god who gave gifts to an unknown people. Maybe supplied them with a whole lot more. It had to intrigue Hunayn. He and his brothers were always scavenging for knowledge lost by other kingdoms. Hunayn’s whole voyage started because he was tasked with finding more about the people who he names in his journal as the ‘Great Enemy of