//------------------------------// // The Spark // Story: The Cost To Know Everything // by Thunder--Dash //------------------------------// Ah yes, high school...the time just before we move on to college...the time where we try to make as many friends as we can and hope to see them again. I was a senior going to Fernandina Heights High School. I had mostly A's, with only one B in this really difficult philosophy class that I was forced to take, for some reason. I had quite a few friends, and we all pretty much shared the same interests...well...except the fact that I was the only fan of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. However, out of all my friends, there was this one who seemed to have...an addiction...to learning. She strived to be the smartest in her class and she was quite the nerd. Her name...was Kayla. The first day I met Kayla, we were already talking about space and thoughts of what lies beyond our solar system. There weren't that many of us nerdy ones around, but when we met other fellow nerds, the conversations became so deep to the point that it was philosophical at some points (and philosophy was the one class I was struggling with). Lunchtime was usually when we would meet. Some of us would bring drawing paper to illustrate our theories about how the various theories of how our world and others could be connected. "...so with these jump points, they say that once every so often, when a number of them line up, it creates a bridge to another world. In short, these connections happen sporadically." Kayla explained. "But what if there was a way we could predict when these jump points are created...perhaps by keeping a sharp watch of the orbit." I replied. "The next issue would be the absolute precision and timing. We would have to catch the jump point right on time, not one minute later. I imagine there's a window of time we've got before the jump point closes." Lenny interjected. "But what if there was a way we could keep the jump points connected...there's gotta be some way we could knock them out of orbit to keep them open all the time. Kayla supposed. "That wouldn't be a good idea Kayla. Who's knows what's beyond those jump points. Who knows what is in those alternate worlds..." I answered, thinking about that one scary movie that Kayla almost made me watch the other night. "Tell you what, we should see if we could make a device that allows us to keep track of when jump points connect. This way, we could then try and read what lies beyond, see if we could capture some imaging." Lenny stated. "Gah, I wish NASA would hire us.." I mused. "Wait a second...if we wanna keep track...we could just use the observatory, perhaps visit there every day to see whether the jump points are lined up." Lenny concluded. "Sounds awesome! We could rotate every day so that way we won't have to take up our valuable time. Oh man, this is gonna be awesome! Wouldn't it be something if something actually travels through the jump points...?" Kayla asked with an excited and eager look on her face. "Careful what you wish for..." I warned, for I knew that there was a chance that it could be something that was extremely dangerous. "Right...then it's settled, I'll head over to the observatory later on. Lenny, you got tomorrow and Ken, you got the next day." Kayla stated with a smile. I nodded in agreement. We mingled for a little while longer, then went our separate ways, until the next day.