Shawn and I met up with some friends at The Tech museum in San Jose to check out the Star Trek exhibit they’ve got going on out there.
“Excuse me, you drove all the way to San Jose to look at Star Trek stuff?”
“The last time, I flew to Vegas to look at Star Trek stuff, so yeah, San Jose, no prob.”
The Star Trek stuff was cool. While it had some small amount of stuff from the new movie, the exhibit was clearly designed before the Star Trek reboot, which I found pleasant actually. Lots of facts and artifacts. I particularly love reading about how science fiction leads science and vice versa. I didn’t know, for example, that Star Fleet issue communicators inspired the first cell phone. We walked down a corridor on the Enterprise D and checked out some crew quarters. I stood on a transporter pad and walked across the bridge complete with important-looking flashing lights. An exhibit employee was leaning against the helm. I approached.
“Um, hi.”
“Hi.”
“Can I sit in the chair?”
I bounced into Picard’s seat in a single bound with more apparent delight than Acting-Ensign Wesley Crusher.
My friend Brian said, “So Shannon, are we at war?”
“No, I come in peace.”
I wanted to try my hand at the Star Trek trivia console but a flock of unruly alien life forms wouldn’t disperse from the interface. Dumb kids didn’t even know what kind of tea Picard drinks. Dude.
The simulator was cool. Not as cool as chasing Klingons over the strip in Vegas, but worth the six bucks anyway. We couldn’t fit the iMax show into our schedule sadly, but Shawn and I caught the first few minutes of the new movie on a TV in the gift shop.
“I’m sorry, I know it’s not his fault, but I still keep expecting Spock to scalp someone and poke at their brains.”
“Save the cheerleader, save the world?”
“Totally.”
Turns out the rest of the museum is pretty cool too. All hands on. I’d call it right on target for nine-year-olds, so of course I was right at home. I programmed a Mr. Potato Head, designed my own roller coaster, and explored outer space. They had some pretty cool mappage lying about as well, and a robotic arm that can spell your name out of toy blocks. (My three-year-old can do that. I’ll bet he was less expensive to make.)
“Check it out,” Shawn says. “They have an earthquake simulator. We can experience the Loma Prieta Quake.”“I felt the Loma Prieta quake.”
“Me too.”
“Isn’t your house just a couple of miles from the epicenter.”
“Yep.”
“So why do it again?”
“Because it’s cool.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
Hooray for science.
