54 DepartureFlash Meridian picked up the book and turned without saying another word. He boarded the TNI2 and lifted off the ground.  Hovering above the planet’s surface, he could move three dimensionally in limitless space. 

He flew over the colorful plains and toward the towering forms.  The vertical treelike shapes looked like they were made of glass, and when he was quite close, he could make out spirals that rose the height of the sky scrapers. These spiral features rose in zig zagging increments, a dizzying staircase to the clouds.  There were caves at intervals along the steps.

As much as Flash wanted to stay, something within him said it was time to go. 

The TNI2 rose gradually as Flash took in as much as he could below him. The mountainous forms gave way to a plateau on which stood a soaring castle, identical to the one Buffy and Skip had  constructed, only massive in scale. 

He rose higher and higher until pale blue gave way to black. Like a magnet, the mother ship drew him to it, and he was home. 

The hatch was his welcome mat, and the familiar clicking sound his greeting. 

He set the Ololian rulebook on the control panel, and did a quick radar scan in preparation for leaving orbit. 

Several objects were nearby. They were not asteroids. They were not ships. They were whales.