The story is a waking dream, in which the main protagonist, Thomas (Tom) Herman will be carried away in a whirlpool of events that will reveal his true identity...

The arrival Then the heat hit him like an inescapable steamy landslide. Thick, heavy and sweltering. He had to gasp. 'Oh my! Oh my!' he exclaimed, choking, as it dawned on him that this would be his world from then on. The smell of hot humid air, as if he were stepping into a sauna bath, suffocated him. He could feel the film of moisture spreading over his back snake-like, soaking his shirt, enfolding his body. Feeling dizzy after eighteen hours in the cold air-conditioned atmosphere of the cabin he walked out of the plane into that shockingly new reality. That peculiar smell wouldn't leave thenceforth. In time he would get used to it. He had to steady himself. The first people he saw were soldiers, armed to the teeth and edgy in the gangway, swarming all over the airport in fact. It was just a few days after the assassination. The opposition leader back from his political exile shot point blank on the tarmac. Martial law, unrest, arrests and curfew. Not the best of times to come. But then he hadn't really had a choice. Or had he? Anyway there was no turning back now. The in-flight film: Apocalypse Now, didn't help to cheer him up....

Contents 1. The arrival 2. The old fort, Tom meets Ishmael 3. At the harbor 4. At the pawnshop 5. Upstream in the mangal 6. Mangal 7. Tom meets his father 8. They sail out to Palawasi. 9. The attack 10. The blast 11. The storm 12 Muddy waters 13. Tom's musings 14. Free-diving 15. Jun's story 16. Yellow Sony walkman 17. Dream of sperm whales 18. The rescue 19. Jun leaves on the Ymob Kid 20. Maya 21. The blue hole 22. Blind cigarette vendor 23. They are married 24 Mohal Bohal 25. About the author ...