All's Discovered

Chapter 1

A light breeze swept over the grassland on a dry but cloudy day. The tops of the long slender stands of earth toned straws bent right, then sprung back into place as if praying to Mecca. Rhythmic back and forth motions, enough to put a Buffalo to sleep, were violently interrupted with chaos from above, a brown business shoe came crashing down.

Will stepped on the grass getting out of his car as he ran late to work. Since he was late, he couldn't find space in the parking lot and had to park on the grass field next to his office building.

"Dang it," Will said, "when will the landscaper get out here to mow this field?" As he made is way to the front door, cursing the lawn man and getting his loafers covered in grass seeds and stains. Will blamed everyone but himself for his tardiness, actually for everything that went on in his life, someone else was at fault.

Ding. Buzz. Hummm. The gentle breeze which moved the grass outside gave way to the synthetic sounds of Will's office space.

"Good morning Bill," Janet at the front desk exclaimed with a hint of sarcasm.

"My name is Will," Will thought to himself as he gave a fake smile and down-low wave to the receptionist.

"Will! Running a little late again are we?" asked Mr. Thompson, Will's first line manager who had appeared out of nowhere with the contentious and frustrated smile of someone working in the same position for far too long.

"Mr. Thompson," Will began to explain, "There was an accident on the route I usually take to come in, I had a hard time trying to figure out a different way to come..."

Will was cut off with a violent wave of Mr. Thompson's hand. "There's a new proposal on your desk that I need your comments on by noon. And Will, if you don't learn to be more flexible and intentional, prepare to be out of a job."

Mr. Thompson was right, but Will didn't see it. The same routine for the past seven years. Throw one wrench in the gears and Will is thrown out of wack. "Seriously?" Will grumbled as he sulked away, "How can you be intentional and flexible." It just doesn't make sense," was the thought which was about to follow when Elle came walking down the hall. A shorter woman in her early 30's, brown hair, light skin, perfect and sharp business clothes. Elle was one of the most confident, outspoken, and dare Will to think it, beautiful women, er associates, in the company.

"Morning Willy!" Elle said with a genuine enthusiasm not found in today's world, much less a dead office building and the bland corporate culture of now-year.

"Ugh" Will thought, anyone else who would call him that would receive the full eye roll. But not Elle. Will overlooked her many flaws. The extra heavy peach fuzz about her upper lip, the chip on her shoulder attitude, the way she floats over the floor, the way she was so attractive. Oops, Will's mind began to wonder.

"Morning Elle," Will said.

Elle not missing a beat, "Going upstairs?"

"Yep,"groaned WIll, "got a lot work on my desk apparently." Will sighed thinking about the noon deadline from Mr. Thompson. Entering the elevator, both Will and Elle give way to an awkward silence.

"I bless the rains down in Africa," sang the cheery elevator song of yesteryear.

"A wonderful song relegated to elevator music," Elle slumps in disappointment. "Ironic how a song about adventure is now listened to inside a box, inside of bigger box, with no windows, taking us in one direction," Elle paused, "Don't you think Will?"

"Hurry boy, its waiting there for you," Will exclaimed under his voice.

"Excuse me?" asked Elle.

"It's not there anymore Elle, it was taken already" Will stated as the elevator door opened. "This is my floor."

Elle was intrigued, "Wait, what do you mean?" She decided to get off on Will's floor even though she was two floors up. "What do you mean it was taken?"

Will was already feeling low because his alarm went off late and the traffic delayed him even more. His boss didn't understand him and gives crappy advice, and now Elle wanted to pry. Will started to fume, "It's just not, nothing is. And you should know, we designed the software, we put it on the web, we have uncovered everything!" His last sentence echoed in his head and caused an anger that outpoured into volume. "There is nothing left to explore! We have seen Africa, all of it! Damn it, we've seen Mars! People live there now, Where else can we go!? We can't go anywhere anyway, who has the money for adventure!"

Elle was taken aback, as was the rest of the floor. Will's voice boomed off the walls and filled the voids of the cubicles. Permeated the raised flooring where internet cables lay and into the ceiling which held volumes of water waiting for the heat to open the flood gates, causing damage, but keeping the floors occupants safe. Heads began to pop up like groundhogs in a prairie field, wondering if there was a threat. Most people in the now-year kept their heads down, minded their business. Lessons learned from yesteryear, never get involved. Let the authorities handle distractions. Loud noise on the train, authorities stepped in. Car broken down on the side of the road. Authorities already knew and were on the way. They might be on the way already, coming for Will. Heads began to slowly lower back to their respective desks. You don't want to be the one caught gawking.

"Excuse me," Will announced in a soft voice. He made is way to his cube, sitting down with a sense of dread hoping that the authorities wouldn't come to collect him.

Chapter 2:

Will was 41. Not quite middle aged in the now-year. But he wasn't old enough to remember the yesteryear either. He was however, raised by his grandparents after his mom and dad were killed in a car crash. His grandpa in particular was a voracious story teller. Brian M., Will's grandfather lived through the yesteryear as a youth, but he adapted rapidly to the current era when it set in during his late 30's. Didn't mean he forgot the yesteryear though, and as he aged, he reminisced fondly of a time when neighbors helped each other. When the mission to reach Mars was heating up. When there were a few places left on Earth where man had not yet set foot. And he should know, he reach one of those places. Brian M. worked for an oil exploration crew and when he was 24, Brian M. was granted a permit by the independent tribe of Sentinelese to explore a remote part of their island which their legend stated that no man had ever visited. As oil and gas reserves were running short in those days, the company Brian M. worked for found evidence via satellite geography that oil could be found on that remote part of that remote island. The company put pressure on the Indian government to drill there, they in turn put pressure on the Sentinelese, staging mock invasions, dropping trash and overfishing the surrounding island. The Sentinelese caved and signed a long term treaty with the Indian government to allow drilling in tun for protection and a long term, non-intervention policy once the drilling was complete.

Will didn't know the shady underpinnings of the story his grandfather told, his grandfather may not have even know the full details of the deal. However, Will did know that his grandpa set foot where no other man had been. "Barefoot at that," as his grandpa always told the story.

"Ah, the good old days of yesteryear," Brian M would reminisce, "I can still hear the rain beating down on the forest canopy."

Will finished up his day and made his way to the lobby. Through the large glass door, Will witnessed the dark clouds that had given birth to a shower of epic proportions.

"Great," Will groaned, "parked on the far side of the lot." He knew it was going to be a wet car ride home. A wet and long car ride home. Even though person-kind had made it across the solar system, rain still backed up traffic.

"Why do they still mandate that business close at 5pm?" Will thought as he dodged large puddles on his way to his car, "Everyone leaves at the same time and jams up traffic."

Innovation of new technologies had come a long way. Maybe too far. There was a saying towards the end of the yesteryear era that basically said. "It used to be amazing that something could be "seen from space", but with Google Maps I'm not that impressed anymore." Yes, the whole world was mapped and anyone could jump online and see what time the satellite flew overhead because the watch of the man who had his picture captured could be seen. 11am, best time for overhead picture taking. And that when the courts would allow overhead surveillance as well. Maybe it was the angle of the shadow of the subject, showed their height in a mathematically accurate way. Latitude plus time divided by length of shadow equals height.

"Address confirmed," chirped Will GPS after he punched in the address.

Ziiip, ziiiiipp, zipppp. Wills car tires spun wildly in the mud slowly inching the car forward.

"Going to be late for my appointment," Will mumbled. But his car finally gained traction and Will was on his predetermined route.

Chapter 4

"...and tune in later for more on the raising belief in the Flying Spaghetti Monster and what that means for teens today. In another story, new land? On Earth? Stay tuned to find out why scientists believe they may have found unexplored land."

Will was sitting in the doctor's office, soaking wet when the new blurb flashed across the screen in the waiting room. He couldn't breathe, the Flying Spaghetti Monster went in one ear and out another. The parody god was an old story, not even worth mentioning, but new land? This got Will blood pumping. In shortness of breath Will leaned over to the gentleman sitting next to him, "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" the man weezed.

"The, the news. Weren't you listening?" Will asked in shock that it wasn't heard by the whole waiting room.

"The spaghetti god? Old news," the man replied.

"No!" Will began to get his breath back, his adrenaline pumping ,"the story of a an undiscovered place right here on Earth."

"Oh, yea I..." The man began.

"Wait,shoosh, shoosh they are back from commercial," Will interrupted.

"Welcome back, and now to our top story," The newscaster began.

Will was on the edge of his seat, listening intently on every word that poured out of the TV, like honey out of a plastic bear shaped squeeze bottle. The sweet taste of this news to Will's ears was refreshing, despite the medium. Television was the opiate of the masses as they say. With nothing left to explore, all eyes were on the flashing big box that took up whole rooms in people's houses. Drama, action (also known as history genre), and the biggest time suck of all, sports. Yes, all the categories in the world could be found on a court or field. And people ate it up. They would invest hours on time into watching people hit a ball, then hours more invested in the management decision around those people hitting a ball, then hours more arguing about who hits the ball better. All the while government agencies were tightening their hold on their entire existence. And it's ok for now. People trust their government. The now-year was designed for strong democracy. But democracy can't survive without participation. And with nothing left to discover, nothing left to explore. The only excitement, the only outlet people have are sports. Sports are on the TV, and thus, the TV commands attention. TV causes laziness and laziness breeds laziness. There, 6 degrees from sports to the downfall of now-year era politics and freedoms.

Well, perhaps it's not that bad, humanity overcame the shortcomings of yesteryear once already.

The newscaster continued, "A patch of Earth deep in the Brazilian People's Federation rainforest has scientists excited in that it has never been scientifically explored. In fact, scientists believe that it may have never been explored at all based on local beliefs of the sanctity of the site. The site is being kept under tight confidentiality as researchers are worried about possibility of looting or contamination of the site by pre-explorers. It's believed that the area covers approximately 1.2 square miles. Local tribes..."

Will's imagination began to overpower the television. He pictured himself in the deep Amazon, machete in hand, sweat on his brow, hacking his way to a virgin place. A true pre-explorer, a man like Christopher Columbus in the New World or Maximus Claritan the first man on Mars.

Chapter 3

A dark ominous sky poured over Spring Valley at the very moment the sun began to sink below the horizon. The rain was not yet finished for the day of Will's excitement. As Will listened to the drops bounce off his metal roof, he closed his eyes and drifted off to a tent in the Amazon. Strong rains soaking everything but the 10 square feet of security and comfort in a forest of jaguars and killer monkeys.

Boom crash, Will was knocked out of his imagination and violently back into the real world. A nearby lightning strike hit close, too close. Will curiosity got the best of him and he ran to the front of his house, threw the door opened just in to to see the large oak in front of his house on fire. The blaze of a half dead tree in his front yard lit up his face in a dark red glow, illuminated against the dark silhouette of his chubby frame which was outlined by the lights on in his house. Flickering, then darkness.

"Great," Will exclaimed under his breath in defeat, "tree's on fire, power out," his mumbling faded out in full acceptance of the luck he ALWAYS has.

As he turned to head back inside, a southerly wind wiped down from the sky, hitting the with the force of Thor's full vengeance and knocking it's roots loose from the grip of the soil and causing it to fall directly onto Will roof.

Will wiped into action, running away from his house and toward the safety of the street. The fire seemed to bypass the metal and somehow leak down onto the joists. The old dry pine holding Will's roof in place accepted the fire like an old friend. It didn't take long until Will was sitting on the curb being soaked in the rain, watching the flames kiss the clouds.

"Dang it!" Will's mind sprang into action. "My grandpa's pictures!" Making a beeline for the front door , Will dove head first onto the floor, doing an army crawl to the basement door. Reaching up to the knob, Will burned his hand upon touching the knob. He ripped his shirt and wrapped what tore off around his hand. Second try, and success. The door opened a crack, but Will didn't have time to gently open in the rest of the way. He swung around giving it a hard two footed kick. The door slammed open displaying the dark stairs which led to the basement.

The fire was also grateful that Will opened the door. It helped itself in as Will slide down the stairs, the fire slid down the ceiling. It was a race to grandpa's memorabilia. As they both reached the bottom, Will was on his own, in the dark fumbling for the small chest that contained historical treasures. But the fire brought a friend and smoke began piling in, choking the air and pushing Will to the ground. He made his way to the chest and hugged it with both arms, Will was pinned.

"Why?" Will began to sob, but not out of fear, but self pity. "Why does this always happen to me?" Will wondered, even though he had never been in a fire before. Perhaps it was his belief of always being the victim. The fire closed in and Will eyes became droopy. Smoke hugged him in a warm embrace. Will looked up and saw the sky, a whole opened in the roof and rain started hitting his face. Will passed out and darkness was his new apartment.