"Where is nothing?" That was the one thought that hovered with him wherever he went. It was a wonderful, haunting dream. Would it ever come true?

It started when he was just a boy, sitting in his second grade world history class. He eagerly leaned forward, marveling at every word of the lecture. Europe had kings, kings who decided for the people, kings who ruled, kings the people respected. "I want to be a king," he thought. His teacher described the cruel kings and the kings who conquered without a cause, save greed. "I want to be a peaceful king," he revised. The thought of being a king sent his imagination wild: he would set good laws in place and never attack anyone, and all the people of his kingdom would live prosperously. Besides that, he could play when he wanted and eat what he wanted and do whatever he fancied...

Yes, one day he would be a king.

The next year he learned about the American Indians, which brought a startling realization to his mind. When the settlers came to America looking for a place to rule, they found one. However, it was already being ruled by the various Indian tribes so the settlers attacked them and drove them away. The boy quickly recognized that this was neither peaceful nor right. In order to be a peaceful king he would need to find a place that was not already being ruled to become his kingdom. The more he looked at the world, the more he noticed that everywhere appeared to rest in some other ruler's hands. He would have to search for a kingdom.

In fourth grade, the boy read about fish, camels, and other animals. He learned that all animals fall into a hierarchy based on the food chain or asserted dominance. "Even animals rule each other!" he despaired. "How can I find anything to be king over that doesn't already have a ruler?" The boy was now wise enough to see that anything that was something already had a ruler. He needed something without a ruler, but the opposite of something was nothing. Well, then, he would be king over nothing. The boy immediately started his quest for nothing by searching his house, his neighborhood, and his school, but he couldn't find nothing. When he told his parents, they did not take him seriously because they didn't understand that he was searching for nothing itself. With no rock unturned in his backyard and still no nothing, he decided to broaden his search.

Before long, he graduated and began his career as a travel photographer. But the boy, now a man, had never once forgotten his dream to be a king, nor his search for a bit of nothing. His job gave him the ultimate opportunity to travel, so he began looking in the great places of the world, like Mexico City, London, and Sydney. He longed for the nothing that he had looked so persistently for, though he harbored a fear of being regarded as out of his mind if he ever asked for nothing. Even the most promising comment from a passerby, such as "there's nothing in there," proved a disappointment. As much as possible, the man conveyed the strange situation in his photography: emphasizing the abundance of the crowded world and contrasting it with the near nothingness he happened upon. He often discovered an odd nook or bare space that appeared to be filled with nothing, but when he looked closer, the man always found that it was something, be it dust, insect, or air. Evidently, nothing was not in the great places.

Frustrated and alone, the man faithfully pursued nothing into the wild world. He reasoned that nothing might exist apart from humans and animals. Sadly, he again found no nothing. The man sat down to think.

"Have I wasted my life looking for nothing? Does nothing even exist?"

He lingered on the idea of quitting his adventures, for, though they were enjoyable, he had failed to accomplish what he had set out to do. The man retired in defeat.

But the idea never left him, and in his middle-aged years the man seized one last opportunity to discover nothing. As he had determined the earth empty of nothing, he volunteered for an experimental exploration flight into space even though it was a one way trip because he knew he had nothing to lose, but everything to gain if he found what he had so long been seeking. After a couple of months of training, he was ready to take off, being assured that all scientific tests would be run either by the ship or the scientists on earth; his sole purpose was to play the passenger. The countdown was agonizing, but by the time he passed the moon the man knew he had left all his worries behind. The ride was smooth, and the journey was long. In fact, the ship charged on through the planets for thirty-nine years until it came to rest among the stars.

The man was tired and old when he reached the end of his journey, though the small spark of hope remained that he might find a bit of nothing so far from anything. He yearned for the fulfillment of his lifelong dream to be king, even if he was king of nothing. He donned the appropriate gear and ventured into space. The stars were plentiful and warm to the heart. Such massive beauty astonished him. Then one of the nearer stars spoke to him.

"Hello! Who are you, stranger, and what is your journey?"

"I am nothing more than an old man searching for a bit of nothing so I can be a king," the man replied. "I have traveled far, for I have yearned to be a king since I was very young."

"You are welcome to share our nothing here," offered the star. "We have plenty. We've never had a king, though. What does a king do?"

"A king is a person who unites people and takes care of them and is respected. I want to be a king, a good king, and a peaceful one, but I fear I am too old to care for anyone," he answered.

"Don't worry," said the star, "We will take care of you. Stay and be our king! We respect you very much for your journey and your perseverance."

The old man sighed with relief and pleasure. "Here is the end of my journey. I am king of the stars, for here is nothing!"