Alan had just four things to his name.

One, a beat-up old sedan. The item in question bounced through a pothole with a worrisome groan, making Alan wonder how much longer his loyal steed would agree to carry him. Two, a wallet with his last fifty dollars. Alan took a hand off the wheel to make sure item two was still safe and snug in his back pocket. He was never really sure whether to count item two as a single item or as fifty-one additional items to his name, but he wasn't one to inflate his own worth. Three, a recent doctoral degree in theoretical high-energy particle physics. He couldn't quite pat his pants and make sure that was still with him, but he was pretty sure it was still his. He had only gotten it last month.

Which leads us to item four. Now, Alan hadn't quite reconciled with himself whether item four truly deserved to be an 'item to his name.' Indeed, the criteria for granting such designations were nebulous enough to Alan without edge cases like item four complicating the matter with undue precedent.

Alan sighed. Debating the matter with himself- again- would probably be annoying. He reached for the car radio, but was met with the predictably random hiss of static that comes with having a mode of transportation as faulty as item one.

Alan sighed louder. Debating the matter with himself- again- was currently his only form of entertainment. Item four held a considerable amount of influence over him; it was the reason he was now traveling an empty stretch of coastline highway in the wee hours of the morning with nothing but items one, two, and three. It was also a matter of consequence for his aspirations as a researcher. Many of his colleagues were content to leave Delmarva University in pursuit of minor contributions to the field of particle physics; redundant validations of previously tested theories or incremental additions to existing bodies of work. Bah!

Alan was searching for something much grander. If left to his colleagues, humanity's collective knowledge would crawl along at a snail's pace, unable to manage a single breakthrough at a rate faster than once in a lifetime. He was certain that the key to progress was not in taking timid steps towards the unknown, but in jumping headlong into it with little more than a vision of where you were landing and... something like item three to ground yourself.

That is what drew Alan's attention to a certain sleepy little town by the seaside. It was at least an hour's drive from any other form of civilization, and it was little more than a collection of shops and small houses by a pier. However, everyone in Delmarva knew about it. Growing up in the area, you always heard about the 'odd things' happening in Beach City; strange sightings and reports of anomalous activity and leaked images of preposterously large figures in the sky. But that's all they ever were to anyone. Odd things. Things you give a short 'huh' to after hearing about them third-hand from your neighbor. Things that pass into your head for validation but are hastily rejected as 'unlikely' or 'impossible.'

However, in every strange sighting, in every report of anomalous activity, in every leaked image of preposterously large figures in the sky, Alan got a brief glimpse into the fantastic domain of the unknown. And he knew that somewhere there was firm footing for him to land.

Nodding to himself in approval, the young physicist re-affirmed his stance. Alan had just four things to his name. One, a beat-up old sedan. Two, a wallet with his last fifty dollars. Three, a recent doctoral degree in theoretical high-energy particle physics. Four, an opportunity in Beach City to research something fantastic.