THIS STORY WAS ORIGINALLLY CONCIEVED BY NEIL STEBBINS: THE TWO MEN DUG IN THE TWILIGHT. GRAVE DIGGERS, EXCEPT THEY WER’NT LOOKING FOR GOLD FILLINGS, OR RINGS AND ORNAMENTS. THEY WERE ARCHEAOLOGISTS; AND THEY WERE LOOKING FOR KNOWLEDGE. LIKE OTHERS OF THEIR PROFESSION THROUGHT HISTORY, THEY WERE LOOKING TO UNDERSTAND THEIR OWN WORLD BY UNEARTHING, HOLDING AND APPRECIATING THE VERY ITEMS CRAFTED AND VALUED BY THEIR ANCESTORS. THE DIGGING SITE WAS A BROWN AND DUSTY VALLEY THAT HAD ONCE BEEN THE LEVEL COASTLINE OF A LANDMASS CALLED CALIFORNIA. A LONG TIME AGO. BEFORE THE WARS. BEFORE THE EARTHQUAKES. BEFORE THE GREAT TEMPERATURE CHANGE AND THE RECONSRUCTION. THE YEAR WAS 9760. ‘‘HEY! I’VE GOT SOMETHING HERE! LISTEN.’’ THE MAN CALLED LEADER- AS ALL MEMBERS OF HIS CLASS WERE CALLED- TAPPED HIS DIGGER AGAINST THE UNCOVERED PORTION OF WHAT APPEARED TO BE THE CORNER OF A BOX. ‘‘SOUNDS HOLLW’’, SAID TEAM- ALSO NAMED FOR HIS SOCIAL STATUS. MODERN SOCIETY HAD FOUR CLASSES OF CITIZENS; RULERS, LEADERS, TEAMS, AND SERVANTS. DESPITE THE HUGE DIFFERENCES IN THEIR RANKS AND PRIVELEGES, TEAM AND LEADER SPOKE AS FRIENDS. ‘‘HERE, LET’S HAVE A LOOK AT IT.’’ SAID LEADER, AS HE PROGRAMMED HIS DIGGER TO REMOVE THE BOX INTACT. WITHIN SECONDS THE ARTIFACT LAY IN THE DIRT BEFORE THEM- BATHED IN THE GLOW OF THE LIGHTS THAT SURROUNED THE DIG. THE CRATE WAS LONG AND RECTANGULAR, BUT THIN AND COVERED WITH BLURRED MARKINGS. ‘’ WHAT DOES IT SAY?‘’ ASKED TEAM, WHO COULD ONLY READ A FEW OF THE ANCIENT LANGUAGES. ‘‘I THINK IT’S ENGLISH,’’ SAID LEADER. ‘‘THIS ,’’ HE POINTED TO ONE OF THE MOST DECSERNABLE WORDS, ‘‘REFERS TO A PLACE. A PLACE CALLED HAWAII. IT IS BELIVED TO HAVE BEEN AN ISLAND IN THE PACIFIC.’’ TEAM WHISTLED. HE HAD HEARD OF OF THE PACIFIC, ALTHOUGH HE DIDN’T KNOW WHAT IT WAS, ONLY THAT IT WAS VERY VERY OLD. ‘‘OPEN THE BOX, PLEASE,’’ SAID LEADER TO THE DIGGER. THE MACHINE OBEYED. THE SURROUNDING LIGHTS, HEARING THE COMMAND, AAUTOMATICALLY ASSUMED LEADER WOULD WANT THEM TO FOCUS THEIR BEAMS ON THE CONTENTS. THEY SWIVELED SLIGHTLY AND INCREASED THEIR INTENSITY AS THE OBLECT ITSELF WAS REVEALED. ‘‘CHRIST,’’ SAID TEAM, ALTHOUGH THE TERM HAD NO MEANING TO HIM. IT WAS JUST A SOUND, A WORD FROM THE PAST- ONE OF THOSE ODDMENTS ARCHEAOLOGISTS USE AMONG THEMSELVES BECAUSE IT ONCE HAD VALUE, OR BECAUSE IT PLEASES THEM TO BE FAMILIAR WITH SECRETS. ‘‘WHAT IS IT?’’ THE OBJECT WAS NO BIGGER THAN A MAN: TAPERED TO A POINT AT ONE END , AND DELICATELY ROUNDED AT THE OTHER. IT’S SURFACE WAS SMOOTH, AND GLISTENED IN THE LIGHT. THE COLORS WERE VIBRANT, AS IF CELBRATING THEIR RETURN TO THE AIR AFTER SO LONG. THE DIGGER MADE A NOISE, TO IDICATE IT’S ANALYSIS OF THE OBJECT WAS COMPLETE. LEADER READ THE RESULTS. ‘‘HMM. PETROCHEMICAL CORE. GLASS FIBER. ENTIRELY SYNTHETIC.’’ ‘‘HARMLESS, THEN,’’ SAID TEAM HOPEFULLY. LEADER SMILED. ‘‘YOU MAY TOUCH IT.’’ HONORED, TEAM NODDED HIS THANKS AND GOT DOWN ON HIS KNEES BESIDE THE OBLECT. CAUTIOUSLY, HE REACHED OUT AN RAN HIS FINGERTIPS ALONG IT’S SURFACE. ‘‘IT’S SO SMOOTH,’’ HE SAID QUIETLY, ALMOST TO HIMSELF. ‘‘SEE IF YOU CAN LIFT IT,’’ SAID LEADER. ‘‘SEE IF IT’S ATTACHED TO THE BOX.’’ TEAM HANDLED THE OBLCT BY IT’S SIDES AND LIFTED IT EASILY. ‘‘IT’S LIGHT!’’ HE SMILED. ‘‘WHY, IT’S…’’ ‘‘DON’T MOVE,’’ LEADER WHISPERED SUDDENLY. ‘‘JUST HOLD PERFECTLY STILL.’’ ‘‘WHAT IS IT/’’ ASKED TEAM, FEARFULLY. ‘‘THERE ARE BLADES ON THE BOTTOM,’’ SAID LEADER. THE DIGGER BEEPED AGAIN, TO IDICATE THE BLADES ERE NOT WEAPONS. THEY WERE SECURLY ATTACHED TO THE OBJECT. ‘‘OKAY,’’ SAID LEADER, ‘‘TAKE A LOOK.’’ TEAM TURNED THE OBJECT OVER IN HIS HANDS AND LOOKED AT THE BLADES. ‘‘THREE OF THEM’’, HE SAID. ‘‘HOW ODD.’’ HE HELD THE OBLECT AT ARMS LENGTH, AND STUDIED IT TOP TO BOTTOM. ‘‘WHAT DO YOU SUPPOSE IT IS?’’ LEADER TOOK IT FROM TEAM AND SMILED AT THE FEEL OF IT- ITS LIGHTNESS, THE WAY THE COLORS SHONE IN THE LIGHTS. IT WAS AS IF HE HAD SUDDENLY OPENED A DOOR TO A HIDDEN PART OF THE PAST. A DOOR THAT LED TO ALL THE PLEASURES DENIED IN A LEADER’S WORLD. A DOOR THAT CONFIRMED A FANTACSTIC STORY HE HAD ONCE HEARD FROM SOME OF THE OLDER ARCEAOLOGISTS- ONE OF THE MANY STORIES THE RULERS SUPPRESSED OR KEPT TO THEMSELVES, TO BE TOLD TO THEIR CLASS ONLY. THE OBJECT WAS A LENS TO LEADER, A SLENDER TIME MACHINE THAT PUT THE PRESENT INTO SHARP FOCUS. PERHAPS IT WAS A KEY TO THE RITUAL OF RENEWAL KNOWN ONLY TO THE RULERS. PERHAPS IT WAS PART OF THE REASON THE RULERS WERE SO MUCH HAPPIER THAN ALL THE OTHER CLASSES. MAYBE IT WAS WHY THE RULERS DISSAPEARED FOR DAYS AND WEEKS AT A TIME,UNDER GREAT SECRECY, AND RETURNED WITH THEIR SKIN A DARKER COLOR, THEIR HAIR LIGHTER, THEIR MUSCLES TONED AND EYES SHINING. ‘‘IS IT ART?’’ AKED TEAM CAUTIOUSLY. IF THAT WERE THE CASE, IT WAS ONE OF THE MANY THINGS FORBIDDEN TO TEAM, EVEN DANGEROUS FOR HIM TO LOOK AT. ‘‘OR IS IT A RELIGIOUS SYMBOL, OR A KIND OF SHEILD?’’ ''I DON’T THINK IT’S ANY OF THOSE, NO, SAID LEADER, WITH A FARAWAYLOOK IN HIS EYES. HE PUT THE OBLECT UNDER ONE ARM, AND REMEMBERED MORE OF THE LEGENDS HE HAD HEARD- ‘‘I THINK IT IS SOMETHING VERY PRACTICAL. A KIND OF VEHICLE.’’ HE PAUSED. ‘‘I THINK IT’S A DEVICE FOR RIDING ON WAVES OF WATER.’’ TEAM LOOKED PUZZLED. HE KNEW EVEN LESS ABOUT WATER THAN LEADER DID.NOBODY IN HIS CLASS COULD REALLY IMAGINE THERE WERE ONCE LAKES AND RIVERS AND OCEANS AND WAVES. HOW COULD HE BE EXPECTED TO COMPREHEN RAIN, EVEN WHEN HIS ENLIGHTENED LEADER LIKE HIS COMAPNION HAD DIFFICULTY BELIEVING SUCH AN INCREDIBLE SUPERSTITION? LEADER THOUGHT ABOUT THE SECRET STORIES OF ‘‘THOUNDERCLOUDS’’ AND ‘‘BOLTS OF LIGHTNING’’ AND WATER FALLING FROM THE SKY. AND EVEN IF LEADER COULD EXPLAIN SOME OF THIS TO TEAM, HOW COULD HE EXPLAIN THE FEELING THIS OBJECT AWAKENED IN HIM, OR HIS SUSPICION THAT MAYBE THESE THINGS- THE SEA, THE WIND, THE WAVES- MAYBE THEY STILL EXISTED IN THE FORBIDDEN ZONE, WHEERE ONLY THE RULERS WERE ALLOWED? '‘WAVES? OF WATER?’ ASKED TEAM. ‘‘ON SECOND THOUGHT ,’’ SAID LEDER RELUCTANTLY HANDING THE OBJECT BACK TO TEAM, ‘‘YOU MAY BE RIGHT. PERHAPS THIS WAS USLESS. PERHAPS IT WAS ONLY CEREMONIAL, OR DECORATIVE.’’ RELIVED, TEAM POINTED THE TIP OF THE OBJECT AT ONE STAR AND THEN ANOTHER. HE SMILED AT LEADER LIKE A CHILD. ‘‘THEY WERE STRANGE PEOPLE WER’ENT THEY?’’ ASKED TEAM, ADMIRING HIS REFLECTION IN THE NOW ANCIENT SHINING SURFACE. THEY STILL ARE, THOUGHT LEADER. ‘‘STRANGER THAN WE WILL EVER KNOW.’’