The mighty sea was vast and silent. It was terribly lonely for there were no ships to be seen. Powerful ocean waves rolled slowly to some far distant shore and sunlight sparkled like diamonds on the sea. On its deep blue surface a small bottle bounced up and down. In the bottle was a very tiny stick. It appeared to be an ordinary stick. But strangely, the stick seemed to wiggle and even grew a pointy head as the bottle bobbed up and down. The bottle had drifted many days and nights with the vast ocean currents. Then, one dark night a raging storm blew and the waves crashed on the sea. The waves tossed the little bottle back and forth, and the little stick shivered and quaked.

The storm was angry and showed no mercy on the little bottle. After a while, a very large wave, stirred up by the strong winds in the storm, tossed the bottle on a shore. Now the sun came out, and the winds took a rest. The bottle with the strange stick rested on the beach. Small wavelets broke on the shore, splashing the bottle and rolling it around in the surf. The little stick seemed very sad and a little seasick from all the bouncing around. One day, as chance would have it, a young boy and girl were playing on the beach when they discovered the little bottle with the stick. The children’s names were Paul and Rhana. Rhana was the curious one and ran to pick up the bottle.

"Look, Paul!" she said excitedly, "A bottle with a strange stick in it!"
Paul ran over to see as Rhana said, "Let’s open it."
Paul, the cautious one, said, "Maybe we shouldn’t, Rhana."
With that, Rhana grabbed the bottle and pulled out the cork. The stick fell out. As it hit the sand, the stick started to move, and its head slowly became pointy.

What is a Vector?

The children stared in amazement as the stick wiggled, stretched, and danced around, happy to be free at last. Shyly, it looked at them and said thanks. Well, Rhana and Paul were amazed at what they saw and heard. Paul asked, "What -who- are you?" The stick answered, "I am a vector." The children said, "A vector? What's a vector?" The cheerful little vector said, "I’m always in the shape of an arrow, and my mother told me that I'm drawn on charts by oceanographers to show such things as how ocean currents move, how fast they go and the how cold the water is. Watch this!"

Then the vector began to move around and further explain himself.
"My size depends on how fast the ocean current moves. When it goes very fast, I get very large, and when it goes very slow, I become very small. My head is an arrow to show the direction I’m going. My color changes when the water temperature changes."
Paul and Rhana looked at each other with wonder. Then the vector jumped in front of them and stood very still.
Rhana said, "Look, he is getting so thin! He’s starting to disappear!"
"Right you are," said the vector. "When the currents don’t move, I lose my size and my arrow."
"What else do you do in the ocean?" asked Paul. "Why I just go with the ocean’s flow," he responded with a smile.
"Where does that take you?" chimed Rhana and Paul.
"Wherever the ocean currents go, I drift with them."
"But how did you get in that bottle?" Paul asked.
And the little vector told them his story....

"I was part of a current off the coast of North Africa called the Canary Current. I was slowly drifting when I accidentally bumped against a small boat. There was a fisherman in that boat and when he first saw me, he thought I was a little fishing spear. He scooped me up in a little glass bottle and popped in a cork. He watched me wiggle in the bottle for awhile and then set me on the edge of the boat. Suddenly the boat rocked and I fell into the water. I only know I drifted many days until that terrible storm tossed me here on the beach.

By the way, where am I?"
"You are on Long Key in Florida," said Paul.
"This is where we live."
"I have come a very long way, said the vector. I believe there is a strong current nearby."

"Yes," said Rhana. "The Florida Current." "Oooh, then I can go back to the ocean. You see, I’m searching for my mother. We were floating close to the edge of a current off the coast of Spain, and suddenly the current split. She went in one direction, and I was carried southward to the North Equatorial Current." "What is your name?" asked Rhana. Timidly he answered, "I have no name." "How sad," said Paul. "I will name you, little vector. We will call you Victor - Victor the Vector. For you will be victorious in your travels, and you will meet other vectors who will help you find your mother."

The little vector was delighted. "Oh thank you," he said. And the threesome danced around, while Victor grew big and small with each motion. Soon, the children had to go home. So they said good-bye and then Paul grabbed Victor the Vector and threw him into the ocean.

He landed in the Florida Current with a big splash and was on his way again. He bobbed to the surface and his arrow turned in the direction of the flow. Victor knew he was home again and happy to be a current. He could sense his little stick body growing and knew that he was part of a very fast current. The water was very warm and it made his body turn a bright red. Northward he drifted, quite contented to go with the flow and view the many wondrous sights of the sea.
Victor was humming a little tune his mother had taught him:
"Go with the flow, go with the flow. I know, I go..."

As he drifted to the north, the temperature of the water became a little cooler, and his body began to lose some of its red color and became orange. He also slowed down a little, and his body became slightly smaller. The water was glistening blue.
"I wonder where I am", he wondered out loud.

Just then an old porpoise swam by and saw the vector. The porpoise was old and knew the sea well. He had seen many vectors flow by him in his life. He recognized a young vector when he saw one. "Why, you have become part of the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean, young one. It flows like a river in the sea." Victor said, "But where exactly will this current take me?" And the porpoise responded, Well, as you are part of the Gulf Stream current, you have to go wherever it takes you." "I want to find my mother," said Victor "We were separated off the coast of Spain". The porpoise told him if he would stay with the Gulf stream and keep turning to

the right, he would eventually go back to where he started on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Victor had to be careful not to go to the left, because he would enter the cold dark waters of the North Atlantic, a terrible place for a little vector...

The Eddy

Victor drifted on. His body curved slightly and his direction began to change. His arrow now pointed toward the rising sun, the east. His body continued to shrink and his color kept changing, but he felt comfortable with these events and knew everything was all right. However, he didn't notice how close he was to the north edge of the current, and all of a sudden he went spinning off. Oh, no! Victor was spinning around madly. 'Round and 'round he went! Something was terribly wrong! Victor was frightened. Then, he heard wild laughter!

"GOTCHA!"

A big voice boomed, then laughed and laughed. "I have you, little vector! You cannot escape!" "Who----what---are you?" Victor gulped. "Ha ha!" the deep voice cackled. "You can call me Jerry the Gyre! I am a giant eddy. I'm like a whirlpool and I flow in circles. And I've caught you, little vector - forever!" Victor kept going round and round. Though he struggled, there was no hope, and so he began to cry. "You are a big bully," cried Victor. "Where do you come from? And why did you trap me?" "Ha ha! I broke away from the Gulf Stream", replied Jerry the Gyre. "It couldn't hold me, for I am very powerful." Jerry laughed wickedly,

"and I trap everything that comes near my wide, strong circling bands of water. Everything!"
"No, not everything," a voice rang through the waters.
Victor's eyes popped open wide; he recognized that voice! It was the old porpoise. He saw Victor's situation and took it upon himself to look after the little vector.
"Relax, little one. Go with the flow. This eddy will not last forever. It will eventually slow down, mix with the ocean water around it, and then you will be free."
When he heard and saw the old porpoise, Victor felt reassured, and he relaxed a little.
He could feel the giant eddy moving through the ocean water, and after awhile, he asked the eddy, "Why did you do this?"
"I broke away from the Gulf Stream to be on my own. I go verrrrrrrry deep."
This frightened Victor a little, but he remembered what the old porpoise had told him - to go with the flow. He noticed that the water was still very blue and very warm, and he was very tired of going in circles. Then he slowed down and the water cooled off and became less blue. Victor was so happy,

because he realized that the eddy was about to dissolve. Jerry the Gyre became upset and tried to keep going and keep hold of Victor, because he realized he was losing his energy. The old porpoise was watching from nearby. "Your energy came from the power of the Gulf Stream," he said to the eddy. "When you broke away, you cut off that power. You will soon be no longer, and you will become part of this vast ocean." And that is just what happened. The eddy finally mixed with the surrounding water, and Victor floated free. He heard the fading voice of Jerry the Gyre, "I will be powerful another time and I will meet you again..................!"

Back in the Gulf Stream

But what has happened to Victor now!? His body became very small. He was hardly moving at all, and the sun rose at his tail end. He was completely turned around! The porpoise watched Victor and saw that the little vector was slowly drifting into the Gulf Stream. Victor continued going with the flow and a few slow moving days later.....

WHAMMO!!

Victor felt like he had hit a wall. He flipped around, became very fat and very orange. He was dazed. "Oh, what has happened?" he wondered. The Gulf Stream, sensing his despair, said in her most soothing voice, "You have rejoined me, young vector. You broke through my front. See, I flow like a river through the ocean and move very fast. My edges are like wall where you can hardly move on one side and speed along on the other. These edges are called a front or a boundary. The temperature is different on either side. Notice how your own color has changed!" Victor checked himself and saw that he was once again going towards the rising sun. The Gulf Stream reminded him to stay with him and lean to the right.

He did just that, and once again Victor was on his way.
The old porpoise swam by to check on Victor.
"Hi, little vector. I see you are back in the Gulf Stream."
"Yep," said Victor cheerfully.
"I am off to find my mother. I will try to go with the flow, just as you have said."
"Good," replied the old porpoise.
"Be careful that a storm doesn't blow you off course and stay out of the whale's way, because they filter water with their huge wide mouths to feed themselves. But most of all, beware of the Iron Fish!" he cautioned.
"It travels underwater, has one eye, and carries humans from land to land. Good luck, little Vector. I will be on my way and hope that we meet again."
With a wave of his fin, the old porpoise swam off, leaving brave the Victor to the next leg of his journey.

ON TO EPISODE 2