A gift from the Enlightenment

The outside world was unknown to her, but she could see a glimpse of it through a window in his room. This is how I felt many years ago when Dad called home every day when working at the base building because their weren’t any windows to see the day. He asked if it were raining or snowing, or if the Sun was shining until one day he encountered a mysterious being. He said a small childlike creature walked in one day and handed him a gift. He saw that the entity was indeed alien, and when asking his coworkers about it, he was told not to speak a word. Rumors had it that the base was helping them adjust to humans, and were living at the Dolce underground facility. The creatures eyes were big and glaring. He thought of the moon as he grasped the obstacle made of glass that the alien handed him. It seemed like a paperweight at first until he sat it down upon his grey military desk. When setting it down, a light shot out of the glass causing a projected window image on the wall. Shutting off the lights allowed the projection to show pictures of what looked like outside the complex. He could see the day as it acted like a window making it enjoyable to have even in gloomy weather. He kept it a secret and didn’t tell anyone of it, except when I visited one day to see the war room. He had the device sitting on his desk that I wasn’t aware what it did until some years later. Showing me the War room, I saw a large screen on the auditorium wall that he said projected images of a simulated war, with a big chair for the General. I wanted to see the whole thing in action, but I wasn’t allowed. I knew about flight simulators for learning to navigate planes, but this seemed like something out of a movie. I didn’t know I was living during the Cold War era, everything just seemed the way it was. When moving overseas there wasn’t a base without windows, so the device wasn’t needed. I discovered it shelved away in the spare room. I had forgotten about it until I saw it, reminding me of that winter day at the base. This time, I examined it and found it had a tiny switch underneath that activated it to change the scenery. Standing in the dimly lit room, I projected a new window image of what looked like a moon. Then, I got the sudden feeling that if I touch the window of light, I could feel the projection. Running my hand through the lighted particles, it felt like magnetic space dust. My hand was able to touch the moon surface, yet the window was too small for me to fit through. I felt zero gravity as my weight felt lighter. I found I could move the scene around by rotating the glass, where I could see what appeared to be a city made of iridescent glass. It fascinated me as I took photos of it with my camera. Then, I saw small silhouettes of beings that must live in the glass city walls. I wanted to reach out and experience the total experience of walking on a moon, yet I wasn’t physically able to do so. Then I thought if I could enlarge the window somehow, I could get through. I went out into the night, walking to the nearest building and set down the device. Beaming it upon the wall, it worked! I was then able to move through the window and walk upon its surface. I bounced as I took each step and floated high, finding it strange that I could breathe the air. I thought it must be a different moon. Having a atmosphere and a tangerine sky. Dusty craters with grey sparkling rocks stood among the glass city as I approached the structures. I could see the alien beings closer. They smiled at me with tiny hand gestures and communicated with telepathy. The tallest one who must have been their leader led me through the palace of Crystalline glass. He communicated that his name was Ebon. He floated a distance to a craft that was buried in the sand. Going through a copper door hatch, I found to my amazement a sarcophagus that held a humanoid girl. Ebon said she was a preserved ancient from a unknown world whom had crashed with the craft. She had a small breathing tube that sustained her life within the candlelit craft. In a surreal way it resembled a submarine holding a sleeping beauty. Ebon told that she might be the real Cleopatra that had walked the Earth thousands of Millenniums ago. I was Awe struck as the whole cabin seemed like a nativity scene, and yet it was Summer. Another alien being floated into the hatch. This one must have been a female as she portrayed long spun glass hair, white & radiant. She too reminded me of Christmas with her fluffy Angels hair. She asked how I got to their world without a ship. I showed her the device. To her amusement she telecommuted that it must have been invented by a Supreme Commander. Ebon added, it could be the first of its kind. Or the last, I said. I wish I could have stayed longer but my stomach hungered and I didn’t care for the diet of dehydrated lizards, Ebon liked to eat. He shook his head No when I asked why they couldn’t grow crops on the sand. He said it just evaporates and holds no substance. He told of a tree they once grew, but it too evaporated where they had to keep replacing it. He told that it led to problems such as disfigurement. He stretched out his hand showing two fingers instead of three. He and his tribe ate the moon lizard that fed on the sand that he seemed content with. I drank the water from the backpacks they carried, having drinking tubes, yet it tasted dry from little rain. I wanted to visit more, but needed to return to eat and drink. I took notice of the foreign Sun & world that I wanted to learn more about. I shook Ebon’s fragile palm and wished him well. “Until we meet again” I said as I stepped back through the projection and closed the window into darkness. And today I carry with me a little light of hope for the future within my handheld device.