It was a hot, smelly mid-morning when I boarded DigiAir Cubana flight #3.

As I looked out the window I knew there was no turning back.

I was ordered directly from the big cheese on this rescue mission and I wasn't going to let him down. It wasn't a normal rescue mission, like getting a cat out of a tree or an old lady out of a sewer. No, this one was new territory for me. Some professor, who I call the Academic, because of his many aliases, had digitized himself into a Cuba-like world and is living through different narratives created by his students. Was this an academic exercise in digitization, a test in distance education, or was this guy a crackpot? These weren't questions for me to answer.

I just had to get him outta there, which involves entering into the digital world myself. Now, I'm no techy. Sure, I use a bank ATM and I even downloaded a few things off the Internet that would make your hair curl, but nothing has prepared me for this adventure. They tell me the Academic wears a lot of t-shirts, and that he has them on a database. I came equipped with a laptop computer where I can study his shirts so I can spot him. I can also access a book written by the Academic on digital imaging and most importantly, I can access his student's Cuba narratives.

I've been in Old Habana images for three hours now and still no sign of the Academic. All I saw are old streets leading nowhere.

I knew that he must be here somewhere because all of the student Cuba essays are centered here.

I studied the t-shirt database and read more about digital images. It never occurred to me that I don't even know what resolution he is. Will I even recognize him?

I wandered some more and got lost. It was dark, really dark. I suddenly realized where I was. I was warned not to enter the Land of Underexposure! Now, here I am right in the middle of it and don't know how to get out! I can make out bits and pieces, but nothing is really clear.

Suddenly I saw what looked to be a bright light and a tear in the image as if the original image wasn't corrected before being digitized.

I made a run for it and found myself back on the bright street.

I continued reading through the student Cuba narrative essays to get ideas for where the Academic might be.

I decided to hit the streets again. From the Cuba essays, it seems the Academic could be anywhere, doing anything--from frequenting the local brothels, working alongside Che, or searching the area for rum and cigars.

As I walked along I passed a disheveled man who looked very familiar. I approached him and showed him a photo of the Academic, hoping he'd seen him around. The man looked very suprised and said rather abrubtly, "Yea, why is he wanted?" I told him that he was not wanted, but I needed to help him. All the while I couldn't remember where I had seen this old man. "Do I know you?" I asked. The man smiled and proceeded to tell me he was a movie star and comedian in the 1950s. He went on about he once worked with Sinatra and partied with the Rat Pack. He also was good friends with Donald O'Connor, even though he beat him out for the part of Cosmo Brown in Singin' in the Rain. The Movie Star's bar stories were beginning to bore me. I was thinking I may have seen him in Casablanca, but I didn't want to fuel his fire nor look stupid. Anyway, I had a mission to find and resue the Academic. The Movie Star informed me that he ran into the Academic, and they were going to meet that night at a local club where the Move Star was performing.

That night I arrived at the club.

When I walked in I saw that the Academic and the Movie Star were already there sitting, talking and drinking rum.

I sat next to the Acadmic and started talking. He quickly interrupted me, however, and told me that he knew who I was and that he was ready to go back. I said, "What was it, too much booze or the women?" He replied, "Actually, it was the lossy compression and the poor metadata." Just as he said that the Movie Star started choking on his rum, clutched his heart, and fell on the floor dead. The Academic put one of his t-shirts over the dead man's head, said a prayer, and signalled for me to quickly leave with him before the police got arrived.

As we walked away the police and the ambulance arrived.

I was beginning to think the Academic was too smart for his own good, I mean he had it made here. On the walk to the airport I listened to him spin his tales of this digi-Cuba world, and I wondered if I should stay. No, maybe another time. Interesting guy though. As we walked closer to the plane I looked at him, put out my hand and said, "You know, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

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A ficitonal narrative created by Bob Dirig during Spring 2001 for UCLA Information Studies Course 208: Development of Cultural Information Sources Using Digital Multimedia, taught by the infamous Howard Besser.