"Undiscovered Country"

[Cptn Elias Moore 0]

While Sergio retrieved the climbing equipment from his shuttle pod, Elias looked up at the mountain towering overhead. He'd never met the challenge of climbing a mountain before, never experienced the thrill of standing atop a peak that once seemed insurmountable and surveying the surrounding land. He'd told Sergio that he was interested in trying something new... roughly the same explanation he'd once given to his family about his desire to explore deep space rather than stay home building starships.

 

In truth, there was more to it. There was a deep compulsion tugging at him, the same compulsion felt by that teenager who wanted to explore deep space. It was the compulsion to cross a boundary, whether it be the outskirts of the Solar system or a mountain range's foothills, that many would deem dangerous to cross. There was nothing suicidal about it... it was more inquisitory. He wasn't entirely sure what he expected to find on the other side of that boundary. Danger was a certainty. But amidst the danger... something else... something worth braving the danger for. For all the thrills space exploration had brought him thus far, it provided none of the answers he seemed to be seeking.

 

He'd been having those dreams lately, the ones he remembered having as a teenager. Back then, they were always set on the Martian surface. He'd find himself inside a dome with a torrent of red dust devils swirling all around outside, obscuring the horizon. They would crack the dome and threaten to shatter it, but he would feel safe inside. Suddenly, a compulsion would arise to leave the dome and see what lay beyond the whirlwinds, on the concealed horizon. A lone door would show the way out, but the moment he would move toward it, he would be held back. Sometimes a pit would open beneath his feet and swallow him up. Sometimes a contingent of Martian law enforcers would arrive to block his way. Sometimes he would find himself chained... often to one of those same law enforcers... often to his father. Despite his desire to leave the dome, he would feel relieved at being restrained... but, at the same time, frustrated. He never managed to reach that lone door.

 

The more recent dreams differed only in their setting. He was finding himself on nondescript stations and starships, rather than inside Martian domes. The doors leading out were taking the form of airlocks. He could not even see outside. But the common factors were there--the knowledge that danger lay beyond the door, the desire to discover where that dangerous path would lead, the forces restraining him... for his own good, of course... and the frustration at beind held back mingled with the feeling of familiarity and safety.

 

He couldn't even be sure how much the dreams had to do with his desire to climb the mountain. Would scaling a mountain bring him any closer to the answers that space exploration was failing to provide? Likely not, but the compulsion to cross a boundary was becoming stronger in recent months, and this was the only way he knew how to follow it. No pits or chains or Martian police would keep him from passing through this door.