BY DR. JOSE PALU-AY DACUDAO
THE PASS OF THERMOPYLAE
On a planet named Gaea, in the Local State of Thesalocris of the Grecian Confederation in south-east Europa, there once upon a time appeared in the here and now a mystic Pass between a mountain and a sea.
It was discovered by a handful of Grecian ecologists out to study the ecosystem of Mount Oeta.
They started climbing up the northern slope and ended back in the northern slope in no time at all. They brought with them incredible tales of imaginary worlds, some of them differing from Gaea only in small details (one world called Earth was so similar to Gaea that for a moment the ecologists thought that they had come back) and some so totally alien as to be incomprehensible; and a meeting with a goddess of ancient Grecia, who commended them for doing their jobs as ecologists.
The Pass was a narrow 15 meter passage that ran for about 5 kilometers, and then disappeared into a multidimensional fog, which appeared to exist only if approached from the correct side of the mountain.
No one knew exactly where the Pass led, for if one approached it on the other side of the mountain, or from the air or sea, it did not exist. A traveler would only see a normal mountain with a sea by its side. However, it was said by many learned people, both Scientists who studied the accounts of travelers who had gone into the Pass, and Spiritualists who sensed it in their astral travels, that brave new worlds lay awaiting the lion hearted who would undertake the crossing.
Both the Scientists and the Spiritualists, and also the Religionists and the most powerful Governments of the world, agreed to name this strange phenomenon the Pass of Thermopylae, because it was superimposed on the ancient path by the same name where 300 Spartans and 1100 other Grecians from other city states led by King Leonidas I had died defending Grecia from invading Ersians 1500 years ago.
All vehicles and unmanned probes trying to cross the Pass were destroyed by what scientists deduced to be an intensely heated sharp cutting tool, after which the remains were dropped into the Gulf of Malia, from where they were retrieved by boats full of scientists, who studied them thoroughly.
There was then a lot of media hype about a guardian goddess armed with a light saber, who blocked the Pass much more proficiently than King Leonidas’ Spartans ever did.
In spite of, or because of the weird rumors about the Pass, the public was officially informed that in the one year since the Pass came into existence, approximately half a million people had tried to make the crossing. Many had succeeded and were now colonizing wonderful new worlds. A few of these had decided to return to Gaea. The rest had been turned back by some unknown mechanism inherent in the Pass. (To be continued)/PN
