The Wonderful World of Om

Chapter 18 Holographic Adventure When Sam arrived home with Susom and Arturo and their family, the children immediately asked to watch their favourite television show. “All right, everybody up to the knowledge room,” said Susom. “One hour, then bed time. Samom, you explain things for Sam.” “Sure thing. Let’s go,” said Samom. The children scooted upstairs, with Samom leading the way. Sam followed along, wondering what was going to happen next. Lights came on in the knowledge room as soon as they entered. It was a bare room with plush cushions spread along all walls, and a strange -looking glass dome on the ceiling. The children spread out among the cushions. Samom flicked a couple of switches on a panel on the wall. The lights dimmed, and Sam was amazed to see several figures suddenly appear in the middle of the room, trudging through rugged countryside. “This is the ‘Explorers’ Club,’ led by Booster the Brave,” Samom explained to Sam. “They’re on an expedition to a faraway part of Om where no one has been before. That’s Booster in the black outfit, and the boys and girls are all part of the Explorers’ Club.” “They look like they’re really here in the room,” said Sam. “They are, sort of,” said Samom. “They’re holographic images. For the most part, we just watch, but we can join in if we want to.” The figures in the story unfolding in the middle of the room had come to the entrance to a deep canyon. Booster, who was a man about the same age as the children’s father, was in front. He put up his hand to halt. “We need to be careful,” he said. “There could be wild animals here. We don’t want to hurt them, but they might attack us if we disturb them.” “Watch, he’ll set up a force field for protection,” Samom whispered to Sam. “Ssssh,” Timom complained. Back in the story, Booster had raised his arms and was waving them around in intricate patterns, while the boys and girls in the Explorers’ Club clustered around behind him. “All right, protection is in place,” said Booster. “Let’s proceed carefully.” “Arrggh! Arrggh!” A mighty roar split the air. Jenom screamed, and Timom grabbed hold of Sam. But the boys and girls in the story did not flinch, and Booster waved them forwards. Suddenly, a huge beast that looked to Sam like a sabre-toothed cat leapt down from some rocks and blocked their path. His long fangs were bared in a vicious snarl as he let out another mighty roar,. “Arrggh! Arrggh!.” Undeterred, Booster led his troupe forward, holding his hands wide in a placating motion to the beast. It backed up for a few steps, then gathered its limbs for a great leap onto the intruders in its territory. “Arrggh! Arrggh!” the beast roared again, as it pounced. Timom was gripping Sam’s arm like a vice. Jenom had buried her head in the cushions. But Sam couldn’t take his eyes off the spectacle before him. To his amazement, as the beast sailed through the air almost on top of Booster, it suddenly bounced backwards, as if it had hit some invisible barrier. Booster and his troupe fell backwards under the force of the impact, but were unhurt. They gathered themselves together and crept cautiously forward. “It’s all right, old fellow,” Booster was saying to the beast. “We don’t want to disturb you, but we need to map this new territory to add to the Knowledge.” He turned to his troupe. “Are you copying all this, boys and girls?” he asked. “Yes, sir,” came back a chorus of replies. “Yeay for the explorers!” shouted Timom. “They’re not afraid of anything.” He suddenly let go of his grip on Sam and sprang into the middle of the room to join the troupe. Booster hesitated for a moment, then smiled. “Looks like we’ve got a new explorer,” he said. “Come on, sonny, make sure you’re inside the force field. What’s your name?” “Timom,” Timom shouted. Then he turned to wave to Sam and Samom still seated on the cushions with Jenom, who had now raised her eyes to see what was going on. “Come on, Sam and Samom,” shouted Timom. “We can all go exploring.” “You go, Sam,” said Samom. “I’ll stay and look after my little sister.” “Yeay, come on, Sam” shouted Timom. “This is my friend, Sam, from another world,” he added for the benefit of Booster and his troupe. Sam got up and tentatively edged his way forward to join Timom. “Arrggh! Arrggh!” There was another mighty roar from the beast, which pounced again, but bounced off the force field, as everyone fell back, tumbling over each other. Sam found himself buried under a pile of intrepid explorers, whom he knew to be holographic images, but who nevertheless seemed real enough. The unflappable Booster was more interested in Sam than anything else. “A visitor from another world, eh? That’s a first for the Explorers’ Club. Let’s welcome Sam, the great explorer.” He flashed a toothy grin and waved to an unseen audience. The boys and girls in the troupe all cheered wildly. Timom proudly stood up beside Sam as Booster came over to talk to them. “What’s the story, son?” Booster asked. “Where do you come from, and why are you here?” “I come from Vancouver,” said Sam. “I’m not sure why I’m here, but OM says it’s for a noble purpose. We’ll all find out tomorrow.” “Tomorrow, eh? Where?” asked Booster. “In Pearl Portal,” shouted Timom. “Did you all here that, boys and girls?” Booster flashed his toothy grin to his unseen audience. “Tomorrow in Pearl Portal for a noble purpose with Sam, the great explorer from—where did you say you came from, Sam?” “Vancouver,” said Sam. “From Vancouver,” repeated Booster. “So, if we all come to Pearl Portal tomorrow, we’ll find out more about it. Maybe we could even go to Vancouver. What do you say, Sam?” “If I can ever figure out how to do it,” said Sam, “you’d be welcome to come.”