Exploring The Edge

New lands, new adventures, new discoveries with new equipment

Exploring The Edge

Walking into the future is effortless. It is already waiting there and all you have to do is place one foot in front of the other to arrive. There you are. I was fortunate to have certain devices, certain items at my disposal for the arduous trip in front of me. I’ve always enjoyed new inventions and gadgets.

There were aliens from another country. At the moment I can’t remember which one. It does not matter. In any event I stumbled into them purely by chance almost at the very beginning of my adventure. While walking in a thick unexplored forest late at night in middle Europe, equipped only with a cheap flashlight for sight to guide my way. The dim flickering light which was growing even dimmer in the growing dark, struggled to stay alive. As I walked the labyrinthine thick of things, batteries running out, about to die; something came into view.

The aliens gave me some of their technology with no strings attached then departed almost as quickly as they came, or was it I who came upon them in our first encounter of the first kind at their encampment? There was little to no communication between us to begin with as we spoke different languages. It seemed like I had just blinked. They were there and then they were not. I gave it little thought and proceeded onward.

One of the items they gave me was very interesting indeed. It was a light weight pair of tinted sunglasses. You could just as easily call them moon glasses or visors. They were thin silver rimed spectacles with tiny adjuster knobs on both sides of the device. By simply touching them lightly, the path and surrounding landscapes would become enhanced, illuminated in fact. Though it was pitch black outside I was able to adjust the light settings to see perfectly clear. I could continue forward now with much more than adequate light to continue without any visible obstructions in the way to slow my progress.

Years later and over time this one simple device for the eyes became extremely useful. At business conventions, on crowed streets and whenever I would meet strangers, I could walk right up to them, anyone in the world in fact and size them up quite accurately within seconds. The screen on my glasses would capture their image, display that individuals complete and total profile. A small holographic box appears in the inner glass of my visor, discretely printing information, (for my eyes only to read.) The name, occupation, medical records, friends , family, contacts, criminal records and all known facts about that person would be seen in moments. It was most useful at business parties when I was in search of new work and very helpful in screening potential women I wished to date or become friends with in the future.

Some people say that variety is the spice of life. That is an axiom best served to influence old people sitting around on moldy sofas and rocking chairs at home, eating potato chips, watching adventure trips on TV, becoming the potato or the chip after a while. Reality can be scary when dealing with the unknown out there in the really real world with consequences that matter.

My favorite thing in life is discovering new undiscovered lands by walking and exploring them on my own. The best way to discover life is to walk right through it. Being an explorer is not always milk and cookies. Sometimes it is pain, suffering, fear and trepidation sprinkled on top along the way.

The elements alone; ice, storms, savage weather coming down attacking without warning, can be disorienting you before you even know what hit you, which is precisely what is going on right now.

The rain and winds are pounding me. I believe I am lost. There is no doubt I am lost. I think that last fork in the road threw me off. Now I have no idea where I am or how to get back home. According to my wrist step counting monitor, I had walked thirty miles over the past few days in this deep remote wilderness, caught up in the beauty of nature with no concept of time.

It was too late when I realized there were and are absolutely no people, no human encounters in all this time I’m wasting out here, over all these miles lost. I was surrounded now by thousands upon thousands of trees and just as many bushes, with rocks of all shapes and sizes cropping up everywhere as my only company and companions as I push on to somewhere out there yet to be discerned.

Sooner or later the food, water and survival supplies would run out. It happened sooner rather than later to my surprise. After several more days and nights they were depleted completely. Now hunger is on the horizon. With the aid of my nifty visors I could see well in front of me in the dark. I saw starvation and it was not a pretty picture. It illuminated my mind in stark fashion. All directions look pretty much the same. My body, which was suffering the consequences, the futility of it all with the accompanying agony that comes with it wore me down to the lowest common denominator of myself.

I would give anything for fresh batteries for my cell phone and flashlight. I would give even more for a thick charbroiled hamburger and fries. I am becoming delirious and weak. I fear I might forget my name and who I am as my mind seems to be going dim. It would be a shame to lose all that before I lose my life. A person should know who and what they are before they die so they can make peace with themselves, with God and nature.

Is that an illusion before me, an hallucination? Is that a mirage? I am so deep in the woods that nothing seems real in this so remote location from civilization that perhaps this is all just a dream. What is that in front of me? What is a glowing vending machine doing out here in the middle of nowhere? There is no electricity in the forest, no electric outlets, no people to generate profits from a lost machine. How is it working?

Curiosity can wait. Raw hunger pain is clawing at my stomach now requiring my full attention to be focused on the snack machine and sustenance therein.

I have no foreign currency or coins to accommodate the vending machine, its slot, its lust for money. What am I thinking? There are no snack police out here, not a living soul perhaps for hundreds of miles for all I know. Should I worry and fret about being arrested for stealing snacks?

Inside, through the glass protection shield I could see food and drinks. They all had foreign words and symbols written on them. There must have been alien prices printed there as well. I did not care. I would pay any price to get inside. After several minutes I decided to break into it. I tried my ax. It simply bounced back at me with no results. It must be bullet proof or at least tamper proof. If only I had a gun or some dynamite I would teach the thing a lesson. Pounding and screaming did not work. After pushing it over I was able to remove a bottom metallic panel with my knife, which revealed a large lithium like battery inside. That explained why and how the machine was able to generate light out here in open nature.

I fought the vending machine with all my will power and strength for several hours. It did not matter to me if the food was old or ancient or even expired. I would eat anything no matter how old or nasty.

So close and yet so far. I’m sure I spotted something that looked like peanuts and caramel, safe and dry from the storm, coated in chocolate, wrapped in comfort, mocking me from inside the warm encasement, on display only there for my humiliation and discomfort.

Deep in the night, filled with exhaustion, deep in the wilderness, I finally fell asleep on top of the tipped over machine. The vending lights also died out after so many hours. Soon after that the aliens arrived while we were indisposed. They took us far away without warning. In life it is so very important to have an edge, something special to survive. It might be a good idea to have some foreign coins on you when you explore because you never know when they might come in handy. I can’t help but wonder if this might be Japan. I have heard rumors that everywhere you go in Japan a vending machine is sure to follow.