Abducted to Oz - Bob Evans and Chris Dulabone
"Oh, that does sound absolutely divine!" cried the Witch. "Quick! Help
me gather the materials together so we can start immediately."
Graham could hardly contain himself with the thought of the true results
of this experiment. And although he was going to use this opportunity to
escape, he almost wished he could stay to see the whole thing through.
He congratulated himself on his ability to create such an
authentic-sounding spell and for having the presence of mind to suggest
the half-hour lead time he would need in order to escape from the
castle. When everything was ready, Graham followed the spell to the
letter. And since he was the only little fellow around, he was the
obvious choice to provide the spittle for the concoction--which he did
with great delight.
As soon as he got to the part where he had to pull the Witch's hat down
over her head, he said, "I'll keep my eye on the clock and let you know
when the half hour is up." With that, he jammed the hat down over her
eyes and down to her shoulders and then made a beeline for the window.
CHAPTER SEVEN:
AN ALIEN PRESENCE
After Graham had escaped from the castle, he thought about the Witch
standing there for a full half-hour and thinking how beautiful she was
going to be when she took the hat off and looked at herself in her
mirror. He laughed out loud as he imagined how she would really look
with that gooey mess all over her hair and face and clothes. But he knew
that once the reality dawned on her that the spell was a fake, that she
was just as ugly as ever, and that he had escaped, she would be
absolutely beside herself with rage. The boy's elation began to change
to fear as he considered the possible repercussions of his actions. Here
he was in a strange yellow land with no idea of where he was going or
where to hide.
He had been traveling through a wooded area which, for now, offered some
measure of security, since he would be hidden from aerial surveillance,
when he came upon a clearing. Actually, it was more than just a
clearing; it was a perfectly round grassy clearing about fifty feet in
diameter, and dome-shaped. As he studied the dome, it began to slowly
rise, exposing a round house with windows and doors and a grass-covered
roof. Graham stood perfectly still, waiting to see if anyone came out.
When it was obvious that no one was coming, he cautiously walked toward
the house to see if he could see through the window. Suddenly, a loud,
mechanical-sounding voice filled the air. "WARNING! YOU ARE APPROACHING
TOO CLOSE TO THE VEHICLE. PLEASE STEP BACK."
At this point, Graham was more than a little confused. He knew that this
sort of proximity alarm system was favored by some motor vehicle owners
back home. But the device seemed very out of place in Oz. Not to mention
the fact that the sound was emanating from a house, not a car. At that
moment, the round roof slowly started to spin and rose about four feet
above the house and hovered there. The outside walls receded back into
the ground to reveal a bright, shiny spaceship shimmering in the
sunlight. A ramp unfolded to reveal two equally shimmering space beings.
They descended (or rather, floated) down the ramp and stopped less than
three feet from the boy. They were not very tall--about four feet in
height--and they were dressed in metallic-looking one-piece spacesuits
that closely followed the contour of their slender bodies. They had
quite large heads, which were somewhat out of proportion to their
overall physique. Their eyes were large and doe-shaped and were the
blackest of black with no pupils visible. He sensed an intelligence
emanating from their eyes that was far in excess of ordinary people.
Their skin was of a dull grayish hue; no color at all.
[Illustration]
Graham waited for them to speak (for some reason he was totally
unafraid). One of them raised his right hand in greeting. He spoke
without moving his lips. At least, Graham heard the words clearly inside
his head but could sense no outside sound.
"Greetings, young friend. You stumbled upon our location, but it is of
no consequence. We know that you bear us no ill will."
"Indeed not," replied Graham. "In fact, I am honored to make your
acquaintance. I've always wanted to meet a space person."
"Well," replied the other being, "you are a space person, too."
"I am?" said Graham incredulously. "I'm afraid you're mistaken ... I am
from earth."
"And where, my little friend, do you think earth is? Is it not suspended
in space like all of the other planets? And does it not make a complete
rotation upon its axis every twenty-three hours, fifty-six minutes and
four point zero-nine seconds, and at a speed of a thousand miles per
hour? And does it not orbit your sun every three hundred and sixty-five
days and six hours and nine minutes and nine point five seconds, and at
a speed of about twenty miles per second? And does it not revolve along
with the moon, around a common center of gravity, and move with the
entire solar system through your local star system at thirteen miles per
second? And does not your local star system move within the Milky Way at
the rate of two hundred miles per second, and does not the Milky Way
drift with respect to the remote external galaxies at the rate of one
hundred miles per second and in all different directions, and does not
your galaxy itself make a complete rotation about an axis every two
hundred million years? And does it not travel through space with over a
hundred billion other suns of its galactic family, not to mention an
untold number of other planets?"
Graham nodded meekly. "I knew our planet was in space. I just didn't
know all the details."
"Well," continued the being, "even if you mortals could travel at the
speed of light, it would still take you a hundred thousand years to
cross your galaxy from edge to edge."
The spaceman motioned toward the craft. "However, our ship could visit
the Andromeda galaxy, which is about two million one hundred thousand
light years from earth, and return before you could say _Stephen
Hawking_. I'd say that is a little bit faster than the speed of light.
We could not afford to waste two million years--actually, over four
million years round trip! We'd never get anything done."
"Now, wait just a minute," said Graham. "You can't go faster than the
speed of light. They told us in school that would be against the laws of
physics!"
"We learned long ago," replied the spaceman, "that the laws of physics
kept us very tightly bound until we found we could gain dominion over
those laws. You see, we earned that right over a long period of time.
Dominion over physical law requires a certain knowledge of science
beyond the physical as well as a working knowledge of the spiritual
laws. The two must work hand in hand. For example, your scientists are
working strictly from a physical perspective. They are totally unaware
that the atoms--the building blocks of matter--have a counterpart of a
higher frequency: one that falls outside of the realm of what you would
term physical. In any event, without that counterpart the physical world
as you know it could not exist.
"Now, I want to demonstrate to you the practical aspects of our
knowledge. Our spaceship is vibrating at the atomic rate of the
collective atoms that comprise the material makeup of said ship. Now, as
we observe the ship, I am going to concentrate on this counterpart of
the atom that your scientists might refer to as antimatter or
antiparticle. These antiparticles are what we would call the pure state
of the atom. You might say they are the inner core of the atom. You
might even say that they are the very soul of the atom, since they
furnish the power that maintains the motion of the atom. In any event,
this is the medium we work with. Incidentally, if you could observe the
motion of this counterpart to the atom, you would see that it is in
constant motion as it conveys its power to the atom. It turns
incessantly upon its own axis, spinning like a top. It is constantly
pulsating, gyrating, and, I might even say, dancing in a most beautiful
manner.... I might tell you at this point that the name we give to this
wonderful animating force, is, quite naturally, the anim. Now I am going
to concentrate on the atomic structure of our ship. I am going to raise
the rate of vibration, or frequency, of the individual atoms to the
higher rate of the anim state. As I do so, the ship will no longer be
detected by your eye-to-brain circuits. To your limited senses it will
be completely invisible to you. It is this little trick that plays havoc
with the minds of your fellow mortals that occasionally catch a glimpse
of our ships in your skies, only to see them disappear in an instant.
Now, as I continue to concentrate, I am projecting the ship to a certain
coordinate: namely, a specific planetary member of the galaxy Andromeda.
This is done at the speed of thought, which is instantaneous. There...."
The starship vanished in less than a blink. "Now it's back again!" the
spaceman announced. And, indeed, it truly was! "Well, what do you
think?"
Of course, Graham was beside himself. He could not speak. "Wow!" he said
eventually. "Wow!"
"Naturally," continued the spaceman, "I had to lower the vibrations
again to re-manifest it into your reality. But it is this manner of
transportation that enables us to come and go as we please and, in doing
so, somewhat confuse your scientists and governmental authorities."
Graham smiled.
[Illustration]
"Speaking of your scientists," added the other alien, "they would
probably be very interested to know that, long before the countless
solar systems were brought into manifestation--in reference to the many
planets, stars, gaseous bodies, and so forth--space was null and void of
all that is now in existence. The theater of infinite space was empty.
The actors had not yet made their appearance. Everything, every solitary
atom (and that includes the atoms that presently constitute your body
and mine), were back in that great Core of Life. The Oneness. The Source
of All. Some like to call this presence God. It is, however, a presence
that is very real, even to scientists who call themselves agnostics. If
it were possible to become attuned to this presence, this Core of Life,
you would be aware of pulsating with it. You would realize that you are
receiving a great force which enables you to move about in your physical
body. This force is constantly nourishing every atom that is out there
in space, every atom within the earth. It is the great unifying force
that your scientists suspect must exist but have never quite been able
to get a handle on. However, they are getting closer to it with the
discovery of so-called dark matter. But to continue: the Core of Life
may be pictured as a great sun, and yet this would not describe it, for
it is larger than any sun could ever possibly be. And if we were to try
to measure it--and there would be no way to do this--we would find that
it would encircle not only one solar system, but many other solar
systems beyond. However, I am digressing from my story of the creation
of the universe. Gradually or suddenly, depending on your viewpoint in
the great consciousness of time, the animatical forces from the Core of
Life caused the great expansion from the etheric state of matter,
causing gross material to manifest through friction and be slushed off
and begin to solidify. And when it did, the planets began to form. First
one began to form over here, and then another one began to form over
there, and these in turn were followed by still others until gradually,
within the great power that is concentrated at the point where the
planets were revolving, a great solar system came into manifestation.
Then, after their birth, the planets were dormant for what may have been
many millions of years while they were going through the cooling
process. Then, gradually, over perhaps many million more years, the
germinal kingdom brought forth the different forms of matter, bacteria,
et cetera. These in turn brought forth the various bodies, the
animalistic kingdom, and other forms of life that would be needed to
help build and prepare the way and become an assisting force in
eventually bringing forth the human expression. So you see, it was all
carefully orchestrated by that driving presence I mentioned. We are now
living in the seventh group of planets. Yes, the universe as you know it
existed in six previous manifestations, returning each time to its
original state. This seventh manifestation is the last. The time will come
when there will be no physical planets, no physical remnants of this
present universe. But not to worry, my little friend. You and I and,
indeed, all expressions of what you might refer to as life will continue
on, for life is eternal. It has always existed, and it always will exist.
The physical expression is only a temporary condition. By the way, in our
haste we forgot to introduce ourselves. My name is Agasha, and my
brother here is Araskus. Your world will, no doubt, be reading more
about us. As a matter of fact, as we speak, I am receiving a telepathic
message from a William Eisen who now resides in Oz. He reminds me that
while in America he brought forth some of my philosophy in written
documents entitled _Agasha: Master of Wisdom_ and _The Agashan
Discourses_. These works were written for adults, but older children who
have an advanced understanding may appreciate them, too. Mr. Eisen was a
personal friend of Mr. Evans, who at this moment is recording these very
events as they occur."
[Illustration]
The two beings then shook hands with the boy and bid him farewell as
they returned to their ship. Moments later, the craft arose and tilted
in salute as it spun away beyond the horizon. Graham stood for the
longest time, staring at the spot where the spaceship had disappeared
from sight. There were so many more questions he wanted to ask, and he
wondered if he would ever again have the opportunity. One question he
meant to ask was that if it took two million, three hundred thousand
some years for light to reach Earth from the Andromeda galaxy, would
that mean that we would be observing it as it existed two point three
million years ago? And that if it suddenly disappeared at this moment in
our time, would we not know it for another two point three million
years? That seemed like a very good question to ask, for it would mean
that when we look out into space, we are really looking back into time.
Now that he thought of it, his science teacher had said that it takes
eight minutes for light to reach us from the sun, so, if the sun
disappeared three minutes ago, we would not know it for another five
minutes. What a thought! Graham realized that not a solitary soul back
home would ever believe one word of his communication with the space
people, assuming, that is, that he would ever be foolish enough to try
to tell anyone. But the first thing he would try to do would be to find
the books Agasha had mentioned. He would do this the minute he got
home...
HOME! OH MY GOSH! HOW LONG HAD HE BEEN GONE? AND HOW WAS HE GOING TO GET
BACK? WHY, OH WHY HAD HE NOT TRIED TO HITCH A RIDE WITH THE SPACE
PEOPLE?
CHAPTER EIGHT:
A STRANGE ENCOUNTER
Graham mentally kicked himself for not thinking of asking the UFO people
for a ride back to America. He had felt so much in awe of the
magnificent spaceship and its unique occupants, though, that it had
never entered his mind to ask a selfish favor of them. He now regretted
that feeling. After all, the two aliens had made it obvious that they
meant to serve him and help him to learn. Surely they would never have
considered it a selfish request on Graham's part had he simply asked
that they drop him off in America on their way to wherever they might
have been headed. But it was, alas, a little bit too late to cry over
spilled milk. Instead, Graham had far more important matters to attend
to. He had, after all, come into a very strange land where the physical
laws he was used to no longer seemed to apply. Not only that, but his
presence would be missed before too long, and he did not want to cause
undue worry back home. But even more immediate: he had a powerful and
very wicked Witch to deal with who would soon catch on to his lies, and
she was not going to be at all happy with him. Had Graham been a lesser
boy, he might have broken down and cried. But Graham decided instead to
make the most of the grave situation. He continued to walk past the area
where the UFOlanders had been. His main concern now was to get as far
away as possible from the awful old Witch's castle. He was wondering in
which specific direction to go when he heard a noise in the trees. At
first he could not identify the sound, although it was a familiar sound.
Because it was so far out of place in Oz, it did not register at first.
But, yes! Now he was certain. It was the sound of a television set. That
is to say, the sound of human voices that could only be coming from a
radio or TV. It is a sound you simply cannot mistake. Now the sound was
getting louder. It was coming toward him. _What on earth could a
television set be doing here_? Graham thought. And how could it be
moving toward him? The answer immediately became known when out from a
clump of trees walked a robotic looking creature. He had triangular
shaped legs and arms and body. In place of a face he had a portable
television set. Not only that, but the channels kept changing. First
Channel Two with the evening news. Then Channel Four with a basketball
game. Then Channel Seven with _Jeopardy_! Then Channel Eleven with a
program about UFOs. Then Channel Thirteen with a commercial for Head and
Shoulders anti-dandruff shampoo. And so on, and so on. Well, this was
the strangest sight to behold. A walking television set. It walked right
up to Graham and stopped right up against his face. Then the screen went
blank for a moment and a face appeared. That is to say, not a human face
exactly, but sort of a cartoon type of face with large, bushy eyebrows;
big, expressive eyes; a prominent nose; and a mouth in the shape of a
big grin. "Howdy doody," said the mouth as the thing's hand shot out and
grabbed Graham's hand in a vigorous handshake.
"How--How--How--" stammered Graham.
[Illustration]
"HowHowHow?" inquired the voice. "That's a funny word. I never heard it
before."
"Ah ... eh ..." said Graham, his voice still a bit shaky. "I was
actually trying to say, 'How do you do?'"
"Oh, I see," replied the being, "but how do I do what?"
"No. I mean I'm trying to say, er ... 'howdy doody' to you."
"Oh. Now I understand. I'm sorry for being so dumb. But you see, my
entire vocabulary comes from TV shows. I never actually went to school,
so some things I do not know. I beg of you, forgive me!" he shouted as
he bent down on one knee and held Graham's hand.
"There's no need to be so dramatic," said Graham. "I forgive you."
"Oh, thanks a bunch," the creature said. "Is there anything you'd like
to watch? You can watch any television show that's ever been recorded in
television history. Just say the word."
"Well, nothing right now," Graham answered. "But I'm really curious as
to how you came into being."
"HOW! I! CAME! INTO! BEING? Hmmmmm. Oh, you mean how I was manufactured.
Well, originally a tinsmith made me. But then I lost my head over a
girl. Then one day an electrical genius from Mars came to Oz to discuss
a contract to build satellite dishes. They wanted to bounce signals from
Mars to earth in order to relay Martian soap operas in exchange for some
earth programming to Mars. Their favorite earth programs are reruns of
_Mork and Mindy_ and _Star Trek_. They're even more popular than their
prime-time blockbuster, _My Favorite Earthling._ Anyway ... as I was
saying ... Let's see ... I had lost my head, and--"
"Now, wait a minute!" Graham interrupted. "There are no people on Mars.
Besides, the environment there is too hostile to support life."
"Oh. You mean that they have too many harsh TV critics?"
"No. I mean that--For one thing, the temperature would be too harsh.
It's way too cold on Mars to support life. Not to mention the
atmosphere, which is mostly carbon dioxide."
"Oh, my dear boy," smiled the face. "You don't know anything, do you?
Oh, you know your scientific facts all right but, according to my memory
banks, there is life all over the universe that your scientists' crude
observation methods cannot even detect."
"You're beginning to sound like the UFO people I talked to," Graham
answered with a tone of disapproval in his voice.
"Well, nevertheless, life exists simultaneously on many different
frequency levels that are undetectable from one to the other--an analogy
would be the many TV channels that are in the air simultaneously, but
you can only tune in to the one frequency that your tuning device is
locked into."
"Well, I've heard that before," answered Graham.
"Yes. And people are tuning devices in themselves. That's why some
people are sensitive to the vibrations from Oz and can see what is going
on there. Mr. Baum was the first person in America who was able to tune
into Oz, and he wrote many history books on this land. Well, that is to
say, they were recordings of current events at the time he wrote them,
but they are now history. And as much as he wrote, he was only able to
record a tiny fraction of our history. Since then, many people have
contributed. Some more than others."
"I wonder why no one in America was able to tune into Oz before L. Frank
Baum," Graham said.
"Because there are millions of frequencies, but he happened to hit the
right one one day when he was telling stories to the children. He was
very lucky to hit it because of the tremendous odds against him. But
once he did, it was easy after that. And it was easy for other people to
follow him because they knew it could be done and kept persevering until
they were able to tune in themselves. The secret is not to give up if
you are truly interested, because once you lock into it, you become
better attuned as time goes by. I heard a good example of this sort of
thing on my sports channel just the other day. They were discussing
Roger Bannister and how he broke the four minute mile in 1954 and that
no one in earth's history up until that time believed it could be done,
so no one did it. But once Mr. Bannister ran the mile in three minutes
and fifty-nine point four seconds, other people broke the record because
now they knew it was possible after all. They had never really tried
hard enough before that, because they simply did not believe. This just
shows that you can do anything you set your mind to do as long as you
believe it's possible. Let me recite a poem I heard once on my Public
Television channel. This poem, if my memory banks serve me right, is by
a gentleman by the name of C.W. Longenecker:
_The Victor_
_If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you like to win but think you can't,
Its almost a cinch you won't
If you think you'll lose, you're lost.
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow's will.
It's all in the state of wind.
If you think you are outclassed, you are.
You've got to think high to rise.
You can ever win a prize.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man.
But sooner or later, the man who wins.
Is the one who thinks he can._"
[Illustration]
"That's very inspirational," said Graham. "I must remember that. But
doesn't it apply equally to girls?"
"Oh, of course!" the TV responded. "But the poem was written a long time
ago, before non-specific gender language was in vogue."
"You seem rather wise for a manufactured person," said Graham. "Where
did your brain come from?"
"Oh, I haven't really got a brain in the traditional sense of the word.
My brain is largely electronic and preprogrammed from a lot of things
I've seen and heard on TV. There are lessons to be learned, even from
the poorest of shows."
"Do you have a name?" asked Graham.
"Well, most of my friends call me Telle. My full name is Telle
Visionary. But you can just call me Telly."
[Illustration]
CHAPTER NINE:
CAPTURED AGAIN!
"Well, Telly, you are a most fascinating person. Would you like to
accompany me on my mission? You see, I am a stranger in a strange land,
and I'd feel a lot better with someone like yourself who is familiar
with the way things work here. Also, I haven't the slightest idea where
I am or where I'm going. Not only that, but I escaped from a Wicked
Witch and she's probably mad as heck right now and looking for me."
"I'd be delighted to accompany you, my little friend. Although I must
tell you, I don't know how much protection I could give you from the
Wicked Witch because, if it's the one I think it is, she's bullied me
from time to time. Whenever she sees me, she zooms right in and makes me
run all the soap operas she's missed. Sometimes I have to sit for hours
and hours while she catches up. By the way, what is the mission you
mentioned?"