Once again, Flash Meridian sped into empty space alone. He didn’t look back at the blue planet, but gazed out at the infinite possibilities before him. He tried to overlook the sameness of his ship. He had no plan. No goal. Yet something inside him had changed. He held to the hope, the improbable hope, that there was something or somebody more. The infinite universe held infinite potential. Or so he told himself. What choice did he have? His other option was to give up and die alone in the void. His neck and shoulders stung from sunburn, and the view twinkled with the light of billions of stars. Naturally, Flash Meridian felt insignificant. Like a single celled organism navigating the petri dish of the cosmos. He was part of it all. Oh! but such a tiny part.

Flash didn’t yet realize that he was not alone.

Before long, his eyelids grew heavy and he fell into a restful sleep. How long he slept, he did not know. Nor did it matter. He had no sense of time out here.

He was awakened by a sound. A sound he could only describe as electrical. It buzzed and snapped and popped. Accompanying the sound was a green undulating light. It was a floating sphere of plasma that looked like contained lightning or fire. Its flames danced, and cast an eerie glow throughout the darkened cockpit of the mothership. Sparks appeared within the glow, coinciding with the popping. Flash Meridian just looked on. He did not panic, did not stir. As he watched the enigmatic orb, it began to change. The sparks broke free of the sphere and flew throughout the cabin. The flames condensed and settled to the floor. Flash now leaned forward, watching.

The light was condensing into a shape, but it was so bright he could not look directly at it.

When the popping had ceased, and the light faded, something… Or rather someone… stood in its place.

What it was, he could hardly say. Flash had never seen anything quite like it before.

It was mostly white, but over the white background, black patches moved, changing shape. Sometimes they merged together into a large black area, and at other times they split into small spots that migrated across the creature’s body.

It made no sound, but just sat staring back at Flash.

“Hello,” Flash said at last. Still, it just looked at him. They just sat there for quite a while, looking at each other. Flash began to have that familiar feeling of wondering if he was awake or asleep. Somehow, he knew he was awake. The creature slowly closed its eyes. Deliberately.

It turned its head in slow motion, and when it opened its eyes again, a laser beam shot out of them nearly blinding Flash.

The beam sizzled, creating an arc across the cabin, and Flash could feel the heat of it. When the light ceased, Flash detected a burnt smell in the air, but could see nothing for a few minutes as his eyes readjusted to the dim light of the room.

His first thought was of damage control, but when he scanned the wall for melted wires or charred surfaces, there were none.

His heart raced, but the strange creature just sat calmly as before, and glanced nonchalantly at him.

Even though it was silent, Flash was comforted by the very presence of the mysterious creature. Clearly it was powerful. It was also beautiful. Whether or not it was dangerous, Flash could not say, but it didn’t really matter to him. He felt he had nothing to lose, and already, he enjoyed its company.

Flash looked at the creature with mixed emotions. He wanted to communicate with it, but didn’t know exactly what to do next. As he sat, longing for a connection, something began to happen. A bluish haze appeared in the cockpit of the mothership. By the time he noticed it, he realized that it had been there for a while already, beginning so faintly that it went unnoticed. Now, it hung like a mist. At first, Flash thought it was smoke from the earlier bolt that had cut through the darkness like lightning. Now he could see that this was something else. Something distinct. As with the earlier orb of crackling light, this blue fog condensed into a defined sphere. As it formed, it began pulsing with a blue light. The silent being paid no attention to it, but sat, eyes half closed, next to the forming cloud.

This bubble of smoke congealed, like before, and another creature appeared.

Two creatures now stared at Flash, and Flash just stared back at them. He desperately wanted to communicate with them, but did not know how. Words he wanted to say formed in his mind but remained unspoken. He imagined responses to his questions. After a little while, it dawned on Flash that the answers were not coming from his own imagination, but from the beings themselves! They used some sort of telepathy to converse with him without spoken language. Once this realization hit him, Flash saw the countenances of the beings change. The eyes of the second creature, which had come in the blue cloud, widened and sparkled in eager anticipation, while the first, with its changing spots, remained aloof yet content.

Pictures and feelings danced through Flash’s mind in a jumble. Gradually, he was able to fine tune the signal and begin to understand.

We were lost until you took us in, said the second being, who seemed to speak for the pair.

No, you just arrived. I didn’t even know you were out there, Flash returned.

You were looking for us, you just didn’t know it. We saw that your heart was open, and we took that as an invitation.

I’m happy that you are here, said Flash, knowing that the bright eyed alien was right. He had been longing for companionship.