I wrote this very short story in February 1997 for an English assignment my freshman year of high school. The assignment was to write what could have been a missing chapter to Homer's The Odyssey. This story, which fortunately for me did not have to be written in Homer's poetic style, tells of Odysseus' brief encounter with a creature clearly inspired by Odo of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Odysseus sailed alone on his ship. The monsters he had already encountered had taken the lives of the rest of his crew and now he struggled to return home to his wife, Penelope. He had run out of food and he wondered if he would survive.

Odysseus spotted a small island in the distance. He aimed his ship in its direction and headed toward it. As he got nearer to the island, he noticed that it had innumerable fruit trees growing on it.

Odysseus anchored his ship in one of the island's coves and came ashore. He ate some of the fruit and started a small campfire. Then he began to explore the island. The sun was warm and there was a light breeze. He didn't know something was watching him.

Odysseus had explored most of the island and was pretty sure it was uninhabited when he saw a man in the woods. The man was too far away for Odysseus to see what he looked like, so Odysseus moved closer. As he moved closer, Odysseus saw that the man's face was an exact duplicate of his own.

"I am Odysseus, king of Ithaca," Odysseus said.

"No. I am Odysseus, king of Ithaca," said the duplicate.

"No you're not," Odysseus said. "I am."

"Well, if you insist," the duplicate said.

Suddenly, the duplicate's body changed into the shape of a giant monster. Odysseus drew his sword and stabbed the monster. The monster roared but the sword did no damage. As Odysseus ran back to his ship, the monster changed into a bird and followed him.

When Odysseus reached his ship, he grabbed a bow and some arrows. When he saw the bird, he took aim and fired. The arrow went right through the bird, doing nothing. Then Odysseus had an idea. He put one of the arrows in the campfire he had built earlier. When it started burning, he shot it at the bird. As the arrow went through the bird, it set it on fire. The shape-changer couldn't survive being set on fire. It plummeted to the ground and burned to ashes.

Once he was sure the shape-changer was dead, Odysseus rebounded his ship and resumed his journey for home.