Eject clears his vents with a cough. “Well, simply put, it’s the biggest sportin’ event on Earth. The best athletes from around the world come together to compete and see who comes out on top! That’s fun to watch all by itself, but it’s more’n that.”

His enthusiasm mounts as he speaks. “Earth is a world that ain’t never known peace, not real peace. But for about two weeks, all these different countries—and some of these countries don’t get along so well—put aside their differences and celebrate. They celebrate sports, of course, and everythin’ that implies. They celebrate teamwork, they celebrate that invisible connection between the players and their fans, they celebrate a human pushin’ his or her body to beyond what anythin’ thinks is possible in order to be the best. For them two weeks, there ain’t nothin’ more important than that celebration.”

He grins. “And seein’ that, feelin’ that… it’s the best feeling I ever known.”

Oscar Pistorius runs with 5-year-old Ellie May Challis. Images taken from here, photographed by Andy Hooper. Find out more about Ellie May and her run with Oscar here.

“Okay. Gonna do somethin’ real stupid and try to explain how this makes me feel. With words. You see those stands behind the players? The lights and the fireworks are real impressive, but you know what impresses me more?

“All those little black-and-white dots are people. The people in them stands are holdin’ up these cards, see, to make those big letters. They probably mostly don’t know each other, but that don’t matter. They can band together because they’re fans. They didn’t show up because they had to. They showed up because they wanted to. Because they love this sport, this game. Before I came to Earth, I never seen anythin’ like that. I ain’t never seen anythin’ like it since. So much… so much goodness all bound up in one moment.

“These people, who don’t know each other, who only know that they’re there for the sport they love, they managed to come together to make that huge sign. And there ain’t nothin’ holdin’ them all together but that love. It’s just… how can you not like that?”

Eject pauses for a moment. Of all the questions he’s received in his inbox, this one surprises him the most. “Well.” He begins, and then, a bit overwhelmed, he adds, most intelligently, “well.”

He vents deeply. “You’ve been doin’ it since you were five? Sounds like you knew what you wanted a long time ago, pal. Hold onto that, okay? Hold onto that want, buddy, because the road to the Olympics ain’t an easy one. You’re gonna go through some tough times, I’m predictin’, but as long as you can still feel that inside you, that need to do what you know you hafta, you’ll be able to push through.”

His voice is impassioned as he speaks; clearly this message is something that resonates deeply with Eject himself. “There’s gonna be times when everyone else around you doubts you, but you can’t doubt yourself, because you never know when yourself is gonna be all that you’ve got. It might seem hopeless, but hopeless things have happened before.”

“Another thing. I don’t know much about the workin’s of humans, but be sure to listen to your doctor, okay? If your Doc says you’re pushin’ it too hard, ease off. Your doc’s there to look out for you and to help you. Hurtin’ yourself won’t do you no good! Never turn down a teammate, not when you could have one, and your Doc is the best teammate of all.”

He pauses for a moment, gathering his thoughts, before he adds, “Thirdly, just give it your all. Not everyone’s gonna make it to the top. Maybe you will, but maybe you won’t. As long as you did the best you could, then you shouldn’t have no regrets, pal. Michael Jordan once said, ‘I can accept failure. Everyone fails at somethin’. But I can’t accept not tryin’.’ With all due respect to The Man, as long as you try, and you give it your all, no matter what the outcome, I wouldn’t count it as failure. I do agree, though, on tryin’, no matter what.”

There’s a grin in his voice as he speaks, “But what little I heard from you sounds like you got a lot of determination, buddy. I think maybe you’ve got a real good chance, and if you do make it, I’d sure as the Pit like to be there to see it, one way or the other.”

A pause. “Uhh, if I’m in the same dimension, that is.”