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Collaborate with us to create a a new "International Director" of DBRIS character by detailing their upbringing, life story, and association with DBRIS and Disco Ball Theory.
Corbin Ellinson stood outside the DBRIS central office, staring up at the sky with the words of his idol Stephen Hawking echoing through his mind. “Look up to the stars, not down at your feet”. These stars out there were the force behind everything Corbin had done in his life.
When he was just a boy, he would lay out in the open field behind the house with his folks just staring up at the expansive night sky, trying to identify each constellation with them. In his youth he could show you the small and big dipper, maybe pick out a planet. Now, he could tell you which of the stars in the dipper is Alkaid or Phecda or Dubhe. Mom was the one who taught him it all from the start, she was the talked in the family. Dad and Corbin would just sit and listen to her go on and on about the possibilities of what was out in space.
When thinking about his childhood, really the thing that sticks out is his mother’s ideas. She knew there was ore to this existence than we knew and as the years went on, her kitchen table speeches became more and more impassioned. Corbin’s dad, forever the homemaker, would nod along in agreement. Corbin never really knew how much his dad agreed and how much he just enjoyed listening to her speak. Corbin didn’t remember all the things she would say, but there was a day in 7th grade science class they were talking about the stars in the universe. Corbin had been looking forward to the lesson and to show off his extensive knowledge.
When the teacher asked the class what they knew about the galaxy, Corbin’s hand shot up emphatically. But when he was called on, he didn’t tell them about the constellations or names of the stars or about how many moons each planet had. Any of these which would have been wonderful facts to share and would have led to nothing. Instead, Corbin said something his mother had shared the night before.
“There’s more to the universe than we know or will ever know. Right now, there could be aliens or even another universe out there and we just don’t know how to see it yet.”
The class snickered at the word aliens and outright laughed when he said, “another universe”. The teacher, Mr. Jacobson, who was in his last fading years teaching junior high science, simply nodded and said “alight then” and decided to end class parKcipaKon Kme. Corbin was called alien boy for the next five years, regardless of how little he ever spoke the word alien aUer that day. Over the years, Corbin refused to talk about anything unless he knew he could back it up. It drove him to study hard and become a good student, then a great student.
He went to MIT and graduated with a degree in astrophysics, getting an internship with NASA right out of school. His career was on an upward trajectory and he had a few senior people who seemed to be taking him under his wing when the incident happened.
It was early in the morning, 5am at the latest, when Corbin’s phone rang. He was not known for being an easy riser, but there was something about this call that make Corbin shoot up in bed. The name and number were one he had not expected. The caller ID said it was Pamela Gatz, his parent’s longKme neighbor.
“Hello? Mrs. Gatz” said Corbin.
“Hello. Yes, is this Corbin?” she asked, her voice shaking as she spoke.
“Yeah, it’s me. Is everything ok?” he asked.
“I just called the police. I don’t know what happened, but something’s wrong. You need to come home.” She said and hung up the phone. It was like those words were all the strength she had to get out.
The police were still there when Corbin arrived hours later. An officer waved him inside and he could see his father sittng at the kitchen table, a blanket over his shoulders, and a social worker and police officer sat at the table with him. Other officers were looking through the house, opening cupboards and checking anywhere. The social worker had her hand on the table and was speaking calmly to his dad.
“I really need you to tell me anything you can that could help us find her.”
His father sat there, eyes wide, searching the room but not really looking at anything at all. They glanced past Corbin without an ounce of recognition. His mouth trembled to speak, sputtering and spittng and finally he just said, “Two.”
That’s the last and only word his dad has said since that day. The police searched for weeks for Corbin’s mother, but never found anything. There were no clues in the house, no one saw anything at all. Mrs. Gatz said that his mom was gone a lot, working she assumed. She would leave early and not come home unKl very late sometimes. She always seemed in a hurry. The case is still technically unsolved, but it’s been over a decade since anyone has really done any work to find her.
Except Corbin.
Long aUer the police had leU the house, Corbin searched, through every step of the house. He tried to find a clue, anything that could lead him. In the boTom of his mother’s desk drawer were notebooks. Police looked at them but discarded it all as just work. And it was work, but not the kind Corbin had ever seen before. It was scientific theories that were so out of leU field they seemed laughable but then the more he read, the more it started to make sense. The words his mother used to rant at the kitchen table all came flooding into his mind. He read the notebook cover to cover and then on the back of the notebook was a small sticker that said DBRIS.
Corbin went through files and files, simple things like car insurance policies and doctor bills. Then, tucked into a folder that said “recipes” was a single piece of paper, nothing on it but an address and phone number. Corbin steadied his hands and called the number. It rang once and a warm voice picked up.
“Hello Mr. Ellinson. We’ve expected your call. We would love to meet with you.”
Corbin went to an unassuming office in the middle of nowhere expecting to get some answers on where his mother was. What he got was more questions than he could have ever expected coming at him. The two people he first met were Janet and Evan, both running on little sleep and buzzing with caffeine. The question of where his mother had gone was all consuming to them both. Before he could even begin to talk, they started asking about his childhood, about his father, about the house, and then they started to ask about her behavior, was she seeing to be herself, was she talking in other languages, either known or unknown. By the Kme Corbin was ready to ask his quesKons, he knew that there were no actual answers for any of them…yet. But there was one question he needed to know.
“What do you all actually do here?”
It seemed like a simple enough question, but the answer would fill the next decade of his life. By the end of the week, Corbin was working at DBRIS. This started with looking for answers to where his mother was and trying to figure out what happened to his dad. Little did Corbin know this was just the end of the string and the more he would pull and pull, the longer it would get. Each inch of the strand revealed something new, something exciting. As the years went on, Corbin worked his way up in the company and was now sittng in his mother’s chair as director of DBRIS.
But even in this seat, the answers are still just out of reach. So, Corbin did something never done in the history of DBRIS. For a company that has prided itself on secrecy and exploring the unknown without a watchful eye, Corbin’s move seems preposterous. He can hear the complaints of the rest of the staff.
“This is going to get us way too much attention.”
“We’re going to have every bozo in the world calling us up.”
“This is suicide right here. Get ready for the end.”
But standing here now, staring up at the stars, Corbin knows it was needed. To go forward, you have to take risks, you have to open yourself up for new possibilities. If the answers are not where you can see them, look elsewhere. You’ll never get the answers staring at your feet, might as well look to the stars.