Sam.

A boy sat across a pond, staring off into empty space. The ripples of the pond were reaching his feet as he sat there, lonely, and thoughtful. He looked down into is hand. He had a three pebbles. The blazing sun was searing down onto his brow. The summer heat bore down on him but he was used to it. He was extremely bored, and started to throw each pebble, one after another into the pond.

Sam walked down to the pond, and he looked into it. The reflection he saw was not of a boy. It was of a man. Sam was 15 years old, but he looked older than the other kids, because of the mustache he had. He walked alongside the shore of the pond, and looked at his reflection as he did. Sam thought about how he was doing in class. Not too good. He had a lot on his mind, it was troubling him. It was a suburban area, and thought about how boring his life was. He didn't have many friends because well, he looked older and far too intimidating to people. Sam looked at his watch. It was eight o clock in the morning.

Sam walked on past the little log that had rolled off the bank into the pond. His thoughts were simply that of class. Should he or shouldn't he go? Sam walked and came across the hole he's been afraid of for many a year.

Sam, of course, being bored, couldn't resist but decide to overcome his fear and climb down the hole. Maybe he was being childish. And being really curious of caves, he thought he should. There was nothing better to do. He didn’t want to go to class. Sam got a little wild look in his eye, looked around, and climbed down the hole. Sam was scared witless but his curiosity got to him. He looked for some grappling and found a root sticking out of the sand. He examined the roots that lead all the way down to the floor of the cave. Easy enough to climb back out, he thought. He started to climb downward into the hole. Sam grunted. Thoughts of boredom crossed his mind.
         
The root suddenly tore from where it was growing, and fell down the hole. A scream slipped through his lips as he did. Sam fell, downward, and in that moment was completely lost to his surroundings, time and what was happening to him. It felt like he fell and fell forever, and time simply kept on going, with him hanging in free space, in a void of darkness, and the entrance to the unseen cave growing smaller and smaller.

He hit the floor hard, with some bushes breaking his fall. Sam got up, and suddenly felt incredibly scared. He was bunking class, nobody knew where he was, and it was eight o’ clock in the morning! He suddenly felt an incredible surge of awareness that he was in serious trouble. Don’t panic, he said to himself. He was used to acting older than he was since he looked like a 20 year old instead of a 15 year old kid. He was incredibly age conscious.

Sam walked around, his thoughts racing, and he thought about how to get out of a situation that he didn’t want to be in. He calmed himself, and looked around for some sort of an exit. There was none, and the light that poured in through the cave was enough to give him an idea of the space around him. Sam looked at the watch and turned on the glow so he could walk around, trying to see how big the cave was. He was slowly calming himself, and was taking command of his senses. The watch he wore said 8:23. He eased his tension by coming up with a little humor: Sam tumbling down the rabbit hole and thought about Alice in wonderland. He smiled to himself. It was a nervous one. He walked around a little; trying to figure out the dimensions of the cave he was in. He walked toward an opening, and was suddenly engulfed by an awkward fear. He looked around. Nothing but absolute darkness. Sam let his education catch up to him, and let his eyes adjust to the darkness that swallowed him. He walked a little more, and saw that there was a strange glow emanating  from the far side of the cave. Sam walked over, and peered over a rock and found a something that looked like a disc, with strange engravings on it, with a strange, silent hum audible, it seemed, only to his ears. Could it be of extraterrestrial origin?  Sam smiled. Excited, he moved forward to touch the disc. His heart was racing incredibly fast, as he thought about the discovery he had just made. Maybe the disc was sitting there for a thousand years and nobody found it. Maybe it was a disc that could open up a parallel dimensional gateway! Sam let his imagination run away with him. Sam walked toward the disc, and the closer he got, the louder it hummed.

Suddenly, from the other side of the cave, another light, this one stronger and brighter, burst forth and filled the cave with an eerie blue glow. It was coming from a person, dressed in robes. That person walked over, and in a very calm and soothing voice, that with which would make an instant friend of someone, said: “do not touch that yet.”

Sam looked at the disc, and looked back. His mind was racing, trying to calculate what was going on, and looked over to the person in the blue glow. Sam looked over, and looked back, utterly confused, and dumbfounded. He carefully stood up, and walked toward the blue figure. Sam used to watch a lot of star trek, and was fond of his farscape collection, so a figure appearing out of nowhere that looked like an alien was absolutely no surprise to him. More of a prayer answered.

Sam walked over and carefully asked: “who are you?” Sam carefully worded this question, making sure he pronounced it carefully, and loudly, in an intelligible tone of voice. Sam sat around dreaming of making contact with extra terrestrials all his life. His minded raced, but he was calm at heart. He looked over, and saw the person in the blue glow and saw what looked like a smile. The person looked human but had what appeared to be markings on his face. He didn’t look like a klingon, ferrengi or anything close to a delvian preist. That’s when Sam almost lost it. He was thinking star trek, and farscape, and he saw a person that looked human, and was surrounded by a blue glow, and talked in a very calm and cool voice. Sam walked over, and his eyes were that of a little kid, full of wonder. He slowly approached the person. Sam asked again: “who are you?”

The person just looked at Sam and did nothing but smile. Suddenly, out of nowhere, another figure appeared, from the other side of the cave. That person had the face of a female. With the same markings on her face. Sam was wondering and noticed, for no apparent reason, how his eyes had adjusted to the blue glow. Almost instantaneously as well. Sam was curious, and was totally at awe at what he saw. Sam looked to the right, and to the left, and saw nothing but smiles. Sam asked again: “who are you???” There was a little hint of fear in his voice now, but his heart told him nothing but to be at peace, that there was no danger. Sam walked over to the person, and stood there, face to face. Sam asked “can you speak?” Sam looked for a while, and his eyes, bigger than ever, remembered how that person had said something, but totally forgot what he had said.

“Be at peace. Please, donot touch the disc.” The smile was still there as he said that, as if the person’s lips hadn’t moved at all. Sam walked over, and tried to concentrate on the face.

“Who we are is irrelevant.” The being said. The person behind Sam said almost the same thing. “We are who we are. Who are you?”

Sam told them he fell down the hole, and was looking for a way out.

Both beings, at the same time, said: “We know.”

There was nothing but peace in the air. Sam looked at the other female person as she walked over to him. Sam was surrounded by both people. Sam was smiling... it was like his prayer was answered by some unseen force; like he fell down the rabbit hole on purpose. Sam walked over to the female person and asked her, with wild eyes you could only imagine. “what happened?”
“you fell down a rabbit hole.” She smiled, and looked at Sam. There was such peace and serenity in her voice it was like an ocean wave that splashed gently onto the shore, slow and unwavering in it’s beauty. Sam smiled, and looked on. There was nothing but calm silence, with the gentle hum emanating from the disc. The blue person knelt down, and picked up a pebble that was laying there. He gave it to sam. Sam looked at it and simply asked “why are you giving me that?” The blue stranger smiled. You were throwing pebbles on the little pond, weren’t you? Why?” Sam blinked and looked at the blue warm eyes of the stranger that stood.

The glowing blue man and walked to the other female stranger. There was nothing but silence as the blue man looked at his companion. They looked like they were talking with their eyes. Sam did nothing but look at them in awe. One of them turned around and walked back to Sam.  “Sam… I know why you fell down that rabbit hole.” Sam looked at the blue stranger, and was trying to figure out how he knew Sam’s name. Sam was surprised.

“You were trying to overcome a fear.” Sam looked at the blue man and was trying to come up with another answer or a reason to have climbed down into the hole. Sam gave in, however, and smiled and nodded his head. For some reason Sam wasn’t scared. “It’s the curiosity that drives you, isn’t it?” the woman asked. She walked over to the disc, and looked at it. She motioned Sam to join her by her side. “What do you think this is?”

Sam looked at the disc. The disc was glowing, and had writing over it what seemed like ancient hieroglyphics, but wasn’t. Sam’s mind raced to remember his ancient history lessons, and saw  some symbols that looked like something from class. Sam just stared at it, and finally uttered the totally lost and confused words: “ummmm….”

“we want you to touch the disc now. Go ahead and touch the disc, Sam.” The blue woman looked like she had a raised eyebrow of interest, sam saw.

Sam moved forward and reached over the rock to touch the disc. The disc was warm… and yet, it was cool to the touch at the same time. Sam was incredibly surprised. He was totally confused at the sensation of the disc. Never had he felt anything like it.
“what do you feel sam?” The blue woman asked.

Sam tried to come up with words but failed at it. “I….” He trailed off.

“At least try.” The blue woman asked. Her voice was gentle and smooth.
Sam tried to explain: “it’s hard to explain. It’s….weird,” Sam uttered, for want for a better response. The blue woman smiled and walked toward Sam. The blue man came and stood by sam’s side. “what do you think that is?”
Sam looked, and smiled. His eyes lit up as he was thinking pure and simple science fiction.  Sam looked, and immediately caught himself. “it’s a disc. But I don’t know what it is.”
The Blue man smiled and shook his head slightly. “you know what it is, Sam.”
Sam tried to explain. ”It’s a disc. And it looks like something from star trek. Like some sort of gateway to a parallel dimension, or replicator to replicate stuff.”

The blue man smiled and said: “on that disc is the secret to life. Do you want to know what it means?”
Sam looked around, and was thinking. “I don’t know.”  The blue man smiled and asked again: “it has keys to diseases and has keys to new worlds you could never even possibly imagine. It is a dreamer’s key.”

The blue man walked back to where the woman was standing. The woman asked “do you dream, sam. Do you imagine?”

Sam was confused. He couldn’t understand what she was talking about. Then it hit his mind. “I day dream, I watch star trek. But that’s about it.”

The woman smiled. and said. “go ahead. Dream.”

Sam thought this was silly for a while, and laughed a little nervously. He went ahead and decided to close his eyes, his heart telling him that there was nothing wrong with doing so. He pictured star trek. He closed his eyes. The blue man and woman were both smiling, with so much calm in the room that it wasn’t possible to measure. Sam opened his eyes and right there, in front of him, was the star ship Enterprise. In full detail, thorough and complete.

“Do you want to know a secret?” The woman asked.

Sam thought for a second, and was taken in by the beauty of the star ship. And said “Yes.”
Sam marveled at the Enterprise, a ship that was designed to take humanity to distant stars, to explore space. Obviously, Sam thought of the star trek slogan “To boldly go where no one has gone before.” And this star ship was designed to do just that.

The woman closed her eyes, and suddenly, the starship became transparent, with all the schematics that went with it. Document after document started to appear in front of his face. Sam was smiling wide. For some odd reason, the document he was reading off of was making sense to him. He had watched star trek all his life. Warp core, intertial dampeners. The very science of everything about the starship, from it’s warp field down to it’s phaser banks, was appearing right in front of his very eyes. And, even though he knew it was science fiction, somewhat believed that this could be made to work in the real world.

The man looked at Sam and saw the wonder in his eyes. He asked: “Picture an ocean.”

Sam did as he was told, and Sam did. Suddenly, the ship disappeared and out came the image of an ocean, and a shore, with gentle waves, and the sand was lit eerily with the blue glow in the cave. Sam smiled, and pictured his family… along with the ocean were people standing there. It was his mother! And Sam was standing right by her!

Sam smiled, and was thinking fast. Imagine if I could take this to a government agency, we can build space ships and such so fast and take progress and evolution to a new level. He decided to be bold and asked the blue man about it.

“Can I tell somebody about this????” he asked. It was a question of urgency.

The blue man and woman both frowned. The woman said “We can’t let you tell who you want to tell Sam. You can’t. They will build weapons.”

Sam, surprised how they knew about who he wanted to tell, but that was the first thought that had entered his head. But, being bold, he went ahead and pushed on. “But I won’t let them!” Sam frowned, but thought it was true. The x-files caught up with him, and all about government cover-ups.
“Nature and technology is in a delicate balance. You cannot allow them to have something like this. Besides… “the blue man laughed a little. “It spoils the fun on what you call curiosity.”
Sam smiled, and his eyes welled up. Thoughts were racing. “But what if I could tell them not to use it for bad purposes. Why can’t I?”

The blue woman smiled and asked Sam to walk away from the disc. Sam joined her by her side.
“You see Sam. Billions of people question why and how everyday. That question you can never have an answer to.
“The question why and how rolls on and on.” The blue man said. If you tell them to build a better boat, they will ask how. But when they don’t get an answer. What do people do? Use something that was given to them from the beginning of time. Their brains.”

Sam was thinking. “Do people know you exist?”
“Why?” She asked. And there was a glint in her eye.
Sam said “To show people that you’re there and you could help.”
“curiousity Sam. Why?”
Sam answered: “To show them a greater way!!”
“Why Sam?”
“So we can evolve?” Sam wasn’t sure, but he was pressing on and on about this.
She sighed. “Sam… the question why. It is but a question. Many things happen and nobody knows the reason to it. Nobody does. It is but a question. The question why, can go on and on forever. If you can not know the answer to something, then the question why is asked. You ask and you ask, and the question why keeps going. Doesn’t it?”
Sam smiled, but failed to get the point.
“The question why… we can’t help with that disc is that, it simply spoils the fun. The curiosity that drives you. Why did you climb down the rabbit hole?”
Sam smiled.
“Some people ask why, and why things are happening the way they are. Sam. Things in the world happen, but nobody knows the reason. It is simply curiosity and heart. Bad things happen, and nobody knows why. But trust me, there are bigger things in play.”
Sam smiled, and thought of a nice little song he saw in a movie once. The smallest thread, cannot see it’s purpose in the pattern of the grand design. Sam waited for her to say something else.
The blue man walked up and said “Sam. You cannot know the reason to everything. You must understand. Wars and such. We cannot give you the disc, only and only because humanity would use it to build weapons. Do you know the saying ‘Just because I can?’”
Sam laughed. He had.
“That is why.”
The blue woman and the blue man looked at each other and said nothing for a few minutes.
The blue woman then said: “You must look at this disc as something of great danger. We can’t give it to you. But have you ever dreamed of the stars, Sam?”
Sam smiled and said: “I have, since I was nine years old. Star trek is my favorite show.”
The blue man laughed. “Gene Roddenberry was indeed one of the greatest dreamers that have ever lived.”
“Sam.” The woman looked at him with a stare. “have you ever dreamed of being on another planet?”
“Yes.”
“Sam…. Look at it this way. Have you ever thought of going to the stars? Why don’t you go out and spread a message of peace. And tell everybody that there is no place for the human race to go except to the stars? Why don’t you tell them, instead of using their curiosity day to day you should tell them to just look up and dream?”
Sam scratched his head. He was confused. “Doesn’t everybody think like this?”
“Sam. Some people are just concerned about their own lives. Why don’t you ask an older person about the stars and see what happens.”
Sam recalled and this had already happened. “They just don’t care.”
Its because they don’t dream, Sam! A person’s greatest gift is that of dream. They can dream up wonderful landscapes! A beautiful storyline can make a beautiful movie!”
Sam grinned. “something like a a picture being worth a thousand words.”
“exactly,” The blue woman said.
Sam. You should tell everybody. You have the star light. You have light that has reached Earth, and that light is millions of years older than Earth. If you pick a direction to go to, if you go to a star and find that the star isn’t there any more, will you ask why?”
Sam smiled. “no. we’ll just go somewhere else.”
“That’s the lesson Sam. If you have nothing to do, if you’re looking at the stars, if you don’t know where to go, go someplace else. But don’t be disheartened. It’s the question. The very basis of curiosity that drives you, Sam. It drives all of us. Curiosity. Knowledge. Reading. All of it drives us to one goal. Why?”
Sam was smiling. “But what about people that don’t ask why.”
“Sam. Eventually, they’ll ask why as well. Some are not concerned, some don’t know. But everybody asks why and how. The question of course, being ‘why haven’t they landed yet.’”
“I understand.”
“it’s the question. Sam. If the stars’ light touched you… shouldn’t you be trying to touch them?”
Sam’s heart was racing. “If only I could.”
“That’s the lesson you have to learn. Keep talking about the message, and they will. Keep asking why and how, and they will answer. Keep walking, and they will follow. Keep telling people, and they will know. It’s the question of curiosity Sam. Why are we all here?”
Sam was thinking. To him, it made sense. It was humanity’s greatest purpose. If you have no where to go, it’s time to go up. He was thinking. We’ve been to the bottom of the ocean, we’ve climbed the highest mountain. What’s left?
“Sam. Up there, where the stars are, it’s the question why. It’s curiosity. Humanity has been staring at the stars for centuries. They have been dreaming of space since they were young. I think if you tell enough people of the stars they will follow.”
The man walked up to sam. “sam, please don’t tell them about us.”
The man stared into the boy’s eyes and something made sense.
“I understand.”
“It’s time for you to go. Close your eyes.”
Sam did as he was asked. He closed them and when he opened them he was standing right beside the hole. Sam smiled. It reminded him of Dorothy and how she clicked her heels to be somewhere else. Sam started to walk home. He looked at his watch, and it was 8:24. Like nothing had ever happened. He scratched his head and went to class. He clearly remembered the words
“The Stars have touched us. It’s time to touch them.”




MSACLF09192003