I know that you have had little time to get to know me and so probably question everything I say. But as you get to know me, you will know that my life is a search for the truth and this meteorite thing is no different. I have spent much of my life observing physical systems in an effort to determine the essence of what I see. As I look at my meteorite, I see many things that don’t appear to be from Earth. One of the comments that Alan has made to me, is that I seem to have spent a lot of time thinking about this rock. I will tell you that I spend a lot of time thinking about all things and that I don’t say something unless I think it to be the truth.

As I look at the evidence concerning my meteorite, it seems overwhelming that this rock came from space and probably from Mars. There is much more evidence to be collected and analyzed, but all the evidence so far supports my hypothesis that this rock was created early on Mars by volcanic action. As I listen to the NASA news conferences, I have had an opportunity to learn some geology. Apparently, this material was heated over and over under the surface before being expelled as a volcanic "bomb." This constant re-heating would explain why the volcanic portion of this rock is so varied. I have tried to look at the broken places where the rock was torn apart as I took my samples. I thought if I could look in these broken places, I would be seeing "into" the rock, so to speak. Everywhere I look, I see different deposits of different things. I think one would get many varied spectrograph reading of this rock, dependent on where one took the sample. However, the basic composition of the rock may be very similar over much of Mars and so this rock may offer us a good cross representation of the volcanic parts of Mars. Also, as we look at the last billion or so years on Mars, it appears that Mars has been dry and that the sand and soil have become very consistent over the surface of Mars. Therefore, the sand in my rock may represent a good portion of the surface material of Mars. What a lucky find for humanity.

If Mars went through a very long period of volcanic activity, this probably corresponded with the "wet" phase of Mars. As long as these volcanoes were active, they were helping to keep material and water in the atmosphere and this allowed the planet to be warmer, so that liquid water could be present. After this period ended, when the internal energy of the planet was used up, the atmosphere of Mars became drier and drier, as we see it today. Now if life evolved early on the planet, as we have some indications, then generally life would evolve based on the availability of water and other necessities. As the water left, those organisms which were best suited to low water conditions would evolve and some species would probably survive.

So as I examine my rock I see that it is slightly magnetic, just as most Mars rocks are. The rock has a spectrum which is virtually identical to Barnacle Bill. The rock has vesicles, just as many rocks on Mars appear to have. David sat in his office before the Pathfinder landed, and listened to me tell him that I thought my rock was made on Mars and that the vesicles were created when the rock was created. Before Pathfinder, I don’t guess any other human on the planet thought these kind of rocks could be on Mars, except for me. My rock is high in silicon, and again, I thought this was typical of Mars, before the rest of human kind began thinking this.

I know that this rock fell from the sky the night before I found it. It was not there the day before, or a thousand days before, or even ten thousand days before. That is certain. The rock is completely clean on the outside. There is no soil, or other contaminants which might indicate it has been on Earth. The rock shows all the signs of having passed through the atmosphere. Even David said that if the rock had vesicles before it entered the atmosphere, then the vesicles should show "closing" upon heating. These marks are clearly visible.

The only new information that I got when I visited David was that my rock could have fallen from an airplane. I guess that is possible, but it still doesn’t answer the most important fact of all. This rock has never been wet. It has never been rained on. It has never experienced a single freeze-thaw cycle. It has never experienced any Earthly weather. If you don’t believe me, then check my web site or do your own analysis of the actual rock. I have now finally put together the Mars section of my web site. I just haven’t known what to do, until the information came back from Pathfinder. I have done several experiments involving water. My assumption is that if the rock came from Mars through space, that it couldn’t have been wet for a long time and would presumably respond to water in a manner that would be un-terrestrial. I have showed David some of the results, but I think any open and honest human being would admit that the materials of this rock exhibit unique features when exposed to water. The results of my experiments are available on my web site (www.micromike.com). The section titled Water Experiments shows pictures before and after the addition of four drops of water. The sandy material disassociates itself upon contact with water. Very fine particles, float on the surface tension and when the water evaporates, the material then sticks to the petri dishes. Before the experiment, all of the materials are loose in the petri dish. Once I add water, part of the material seems to turn to silicon glue. Is there any substance on Earth, that one can add water to and get silicon gel? I don’t know.

Those experiments were all done on just the sandy material, but I tried adding water to the living things also and I got a very remarkable result. The things seem to "melt" when liquid water is applied. Under the Mars menu, select Water experiment to see the results. What appeared to be a rock before the water, now appears to be silicon glue. The whole thing is now stuck to my petri dish and I am afraid I have harmed these things. If they have evolved for a billion years without liquid water, one might expect them to act strangely in the presence of liquid water.

As of this date, I have contacted numerous people who claim expertise in the area of meteorites. All have been skeptical of my claims. But no one has offered any evidence to the contrary. Everyone speaks of probability and how what I claim seems impossible, but I speak only of what has already happened and what we can interpret from those results. The only argument I had with David was when he talked of what is possible coming through the air while I was saying that I don’t know what the limits are, I only think that my rock shows the proper results, for its composition and structure, of falling through the atmosphere. As the result of contacting so many people, I have come to believe that you three represent some of the best that science has to offer since you have shown me an open mind and an open heart. If this rock turns out to be from Mars, then my hope is that you three will be greatly rewarded for your open mind and open heart, but that has yet to be determined for sure.

The reason that I am writing you is simple. I am a philosopher and my job is to look at the overview of all things. I am not qualified to research this rock. In all areas of science there are people better suited to study this rock than me. I have never even taken a course in geology, yet I find myself arguing with geologist about this rock. All I want is for the truth to be known. If this rock is what I suspect, then human kind will have to take a different view of itself. I believe that life is the purpose of the cosmos and is therefore prevalent. If life evolved on Mars and then was transported to Earth, we would have good evidence of how pervasive life actually is in the cosmos.

What I believe is that this rock is a gift to humankind. It is bigger than me or you, in some ways. I want every scientist who has an interest to be allowed to study parts of this rock for the betterment of mankind. This rock has always represented my faith in God. I asked for a "piece of space" as a child and that prayer was answered. But the piece of space that I got is far more a miracle than I ever asked for. I have kept it all these years because of what it represented to me and because I was afraid that science would take the rock from me. I now realize that I have been selfish to keep it to myself and that the rock is meant as present from God or from Mars or however you want to look at it. But it is a present and it is for all of mankind, not just me or you. Therefore, I want it to be a gift from me to mankind, since I am the one who found it and recognized from the first where it came from and what it was.

So I am asking you, in the name of God or whatever is important to you, that you three help me and help mankind by bringing this rock to humanities awareness. As I have pointed out to Alan, I have not approached the press or in any way have I tried to take advantage of this rock. I have tried for eight months to get reputable people to look at this thing and examine it in an honest manner. All I ask is that you help me determine the truth of this rock.

David has said that he would do the oxygen isotope ration experiment. He said it would take about a month. I’m not very good at time, but it seems like it has been about a month. He asked me not to rush him and I agreed to honor that request. I am not trying to hurry him now, but it seems to me that with the results from Pathfinder, so many people need to study this rock. If I am right, then this rock is a sister rock to Barnacle Bill and offers an extensive look into both the volcanic activity on Mars and the subsequent dry period which extends to this day. So I am asking for help because I am not competent to study this rock alone. My feeble water experiments are valid, but certainly not state of the art. Each of you has much to offer and I encourage you to become involved and do what you can. The people of the Pathfinder mission certainly "need" this rock in order to make better decisions about what to look at on Mars and the people after Pathfinder certainly need this rock to make the proper decisions about which rocks to bring back from Mars.

I’m sorry that my web site has been such a mess, but I just haven’t know what to do with it until I saw the results of the Pathfinder. Every type of material they describe, I can see within the sandy material. I am particularly interested in the bright red material. I have some photos of this material on the web site under sand and soil. Also, from the overview section, you can see file names of html documents which are not listed in the menu options, such as Things.html.

I don’t know why none of you have answered my e-mail or my phone calls. Maybe you think that I am crazy, and there are probably a number of people who might agree with you. But I am not the important part of this present equation. The rock is what is important. I don’t ask any of you to agree with me on anything, except that this rock needs to be tested and if it represents what I think, it will be the most important rock on this planet.

Please consider my request and be assured that I will help you in any way that I can and I will stand by you until the end. This thing is so much larger than me and I feel so inadequate to handle this situation. This is my plea from one human being to another. Help!