The saga continues…

Somewhere near the Mora Nebula, a major malfunction occurred…

Flash Meridian investigated the situation

His mission and his life were in jeopardy!

Using his ship’s momentum, Flash powered down all of his equipment and had no choice but to rely on his limited battery power to get him to safety. The poisonous gasses of the Mora Nebula were choking him and clouding his thinking.

As Flash guided his crippled ship away from the toxic Mora Nebula, the cold darkness of space enveloped him. The slightest movement created friction and the hint of warmth. The stars, while flung randomly against the black curtain of infinity, took on a pattern, and Flash came to believe that not one could be moved without destroying the effect of the whole. In this manner, his mind wandered while he piloted the TNI2 toward the mother ship for repair.

Flash looked around the cavernous underground landing strip, with its massive lid made of Martian ore, and a feeling of restlessness filled him.

“On second thought, Eva, I really have to be going. It’s obvious that things are going well here. I’ll just send a video feed to Ash and be on my way. You understand… The stars are calling me.”

“I envy you” Eva answered. But in a few months I’ll be heading back to Earth. Where are you going?”

“I’m heading to a little planet called Olo. I’ve been thinking about it for decades.”

“Olo…” Eva repeated with a far away look in her eyes. “It sounds magical.”

“It’s unique, Flash agreed, but isn’t every place?”

“I suppose.” she said, with a sigh. “The magic seems to wear off when you’re trapped under ground.”

Flash could feel it. An agitation. He had to move on.

Tell K.C. I couldn’t stay. He’s doing a great job here. Alpha Control is impressed with the development, and Colonel Lander really wanted to see it.

“You know this area is named after him, don’t you? This landing complex is built on the site of the original Lander Camp.”

With that, she pointed to a large sign overhead. ASH LANDER INTERPLANETARY TERMINAL.

And the mining operation is named for Krate Azimuth.

Flash smiled, happy that their early participation was recognized in this way.

“They’re pretty much rock stars here,” she said.

“They risked their lives to save me,” Flash mused, “they are real heroes.”

With that, Flash Meridian boarded the TNI2, and as the great roof glided open. He took off, a speck against the gaping window to the heavens. A homing device on his control panel sped him on a direct course for the mother ship which returned to full power as he approached it.

The TNI2 slowed and pivoted, then nestled itself into its mooring on the belly of the gleaming spaceship, and Flash was home.

The mothership had a comforting effect on Flash. He knew that everything he needed was right here, and that the Table of Elements stood by ready to supply him with any nourishment he may need. He felt happy as he emerged through the hatch from the TNI2 and heard the familiar clicking of the K.D. Head.

“How about a cup of coffee?” he asked the whirring orb with its ever changing yet static expressions.

“Certainly. There is an app for that.”

Flash noticed an alert message on the screen and opened it. An animated face appeared, and said “I am Chel-C, Barista to the Stars. What can I get for you today?”

“A nonfat Latte, please,” he said, realizing that this was only a piece of software. The human face seemed to suggest using proper protocol, and he enjoyed this new interface with the elements.

As always, the Flash Meridian saga incorporates the details of my real life. This week I am studying Rest and Sleep for an exam on Thursday.

People have asked me how I fly my cars in space. I gave a very rudimentary answer, realizing that the general population was not looking for a scientific explanation of the use of antimatter to launch and propel vehicles into and through space. Besides, in 2011 this technology is not yet feasible. I recently heard a “Stuff You Should Know” podcast that attempted to explain this, but they say a picture is worth a thousand words. My friend Bill managed to capture a video of his 1968 Dodge Polara being taken into space. If I get a copy of the video I’ll post it here, but here is a still from that footage.

Detectives later surmised that the ship that zeroed in on Bill’s car was from the vicinity of Ursa Minor, since the name Polara is a reference to the Polaris star. Chrysler chose the name in a marketing attempt to appeal to the excitement surrounding the Space Race during the early 1960s.
One reporter for the Cook County News Herald claimed that the aliens were confused by the Polara nameplate, but Mopar fans like myself understand that these cars are simply out of this world.

By this time, Mars nearly filled the screen.  Flash tried once again to make contact with Nomicon.

“This is Flash Meridian calling Nomicon,” he said into his handheld radio. “Do you read me?”


“Nomicon 1C3XY56R2LD761947. Loud and clear.  I’m approaching your ship to guide you in. Radio reception at the surface hasn’t been good lately.”

“10-4” Flash responded, “I’m getting a fix on your ship now.” He knew from the serial number that this was one of the Imperial ships. He pulled the visual up on the screen and informed the pilot that he was preparing to jettison his pod in order to follow her to the surface.

The Martian winds had not fully subsided, so Flash was given instructions to utilize the underground landing strip which would open upon his descent.

Flash recalled the last time he viewed the Martian landscape from such close proximity, and questions lingered as to whether this had been in a dream or not. Either way, it was something he could recall, having experienced it in one realm or another. What difference did it make?

The TNI2 silently detached from the mothership, and with just a touch of the booster rockets, began its descent to the surface of Mars. The red terrain loomed, dominating his view, and Flash’s heart raced in anticipation of the drop.

Glancing back, he could see the mothership orbiting, awaiting his return. Ahead of him, superimposed over the rusted red planet, was his envoy, already leaving a vapor trail as she penetrated the envelope of ether.

Shields on the belly of the TNI2 soon insulated him from the friction of Mars’ atmosphere as Flash watched the display of sparks and flames lapping the exterior of his ship.

He couldn’t help thinking of Ash and Krate making this same dive a decade before.

As the TNI2 plummeted toward the surface of Mars, Flash Meridian had mixed feelings. It was a thrill to fall into the atmosphere, to grip the controls of the ship which shook and roared, nearly blinded by the blazing display of friction against metal. The temperature outside the ship was great, but inside, Flash was insulated from the inferno, and oddly, his mind wandered. There was a time, in the early 21st century, that a man traveling to Mars would have been only a dream. Now, while it was admittedly a long trip, it was hardly unique. No, Flash had his mind set on someplace much further away. Soon, Flash imagined, man would cultivate green lawns to be mowed, and instill in the sod-covered red soil pink plastic flamingos and strip malls. It was man’s way. This was not the adventure, but merely a stopping by the neighbors’ as he left town. An off-ramp in the suburbs.

The shaking stopped and the greenhouse of his ship was flooded with even, pink light. It was nearly silent until a voice broke the stillness.

“Bear north 6 degrees and a tracking beam will bring you down.”

“10-4” Flash replied, redirecting the pod.

Below him, Flash could see Martian mountain ranges and canyons that would dwarf any on Earth. He saw one formation that looked remarkably familiar.

As his craft descended, he saw a plain stretching out before him. A section of the plain slid open revealing a long underground corridor. It was Nomicon’s subterranean landing strip. Effortlessly, the TNI2 approached it, and as the pod dipped below the planet’s outer crust, even Flash was impressed by the scale of it. Touchdown was so controlled that Flash barely felt it, and the TNI2 came to a stop behind the Imperial ship that had escorted him here. As the roof slid closed, the hatch opened, and Flash stepped out into what felt like a huge empty warehouse or abandoned train station. While he took this in, he was aware of the hatch opening on the other ship as well. He heard that voice again. “Welcome to Nomicon, sir.”

Flash turned to see a small person approaching. “Nice place you’ve got here,” he said.

“Flash Meridian.” He held out his hand. She shook it and giggled.

“Eva,” she said. “It’s a nickname. My specialty is Extra-Vehicular Activities. Or it was, before I was stationed here.” She sighed.

“I take it you’d rather be out there?” Flash asked, glancing upwards.

“I go up every chance I get,” she answered. “We’ve been underground for months.”

“Take me to your leader?” Flash asked.

A blip appeared on radar, so Flash tried to bring it up on his screen. If it was an asteroid, it was a very small one. It wasn’t moving like an asteroid. It appeared to be a very small ship. And it was approaching.

Flash grabbed his radio. “Identify yourself”, he said.

He only heard static in response. Still, the unidentified object was closing in on his ship.

Flash was not worried about the approaching object even though he didn’t know what it was. All he saw was a blip on the radar screen, and all he heard was static, yet the object felt very familiar and comforting.

“Do you read me?” Flash tried the radio again. “This is Flash Meridian,” he said.

“I know who you are,” a voice said. It was either a weak signal or a very quiet voice. Not quite a human voice. The sound of it filled Flash with a sense of nostalgia.

When Flash was, at last, able to see it on the screen, he could hardly believe his eyes.



“Geronimo and Comanche?” he asked in disbelief. This made no sense to him at all.

“When you were a child, you played with us. We are but two of many come back to see you.”

“Many what?” Flash asked, though he already knew the answer to his question.

“Childhood memories,” Geronimo answered.

“How is it that you are here… In outer space?” he asked.



“We are everywhere you are. Playing with us, you made us a part of you, and thus gave us life. That little corner of your mind… A place you haven’t thought of for a long, long time… A place you may not even remember… That is where we live.”

“But I do remember you. Can you come aboard?”

“We only needed you to ask”



With that, Flash found himself face to face with two of his favorite old toys.

“You’re much bigger than I remember,” Flash observed.

“You are much bigger than we remember.” Geronimo smiled and Flash looked into his eyes. “As you grew, we grew. As you learned, we developed. Being a part of you, we benefitted from everything you saw and experienced. Even subconsciously. We are the parts of you that you aren’t even aware of.”





“I thought you were lost,” Flash said, stroking Comanche’s face.



“Nothing is really ever lost. Every detail is still here,” Geronimo said, touching Flash’s forehead. “Every face you’ve ever seen in a crowd. Every word you’ve heard. Every detail. We come back from time to time. When you are ready. When you least expect it, we might appear.”

“I’m glad,” Flash said. He felt so happy and fulfilled. “Wait. You said two of many…”

“I did,” Geronimo agreed and pointed to the screen. Flash only caught a glimpse before everything began to disappear. He felt as though he were being pulled, or sucked out of the room. The next thing he knew, he was waking up, with an overwhelming feeling of longing to return to that dream. It wasn’t the toys he longed for. It was the innocence of youth. The security of being cared for by loving parents. The wonder of discovering the world for the first time.



This was Flash’s experience, not a fantasy. The passage of time had changed him, but those life changes only built upon his formative years.

Meanwhile:

The K. D. Head looked on, clicking away. Flash glanced over at her and said “I wish they were still here.”



“Certainly,” she said.

Timouth and Comanche, 1970

After eating the cookie, Galaxy Girl launched into her favorite topic, which was Dogs In Space.





“From earliest civilization,” she began, “dogs have had a special relationship with humans. It was the inherent intelligence and curiosity of both species that drew us together. But until man was able to understand the nuance of our speech, we were not given proper credit for our abilities. Laica was a pioneer, being the first dog in space. Had she been given proper training and control over her ship, she would have been able to return to earth.”







“She was a hero,” Flash agreed.

The friends talked for quite a long time before Galaxy Girl had to return to the Procyon. They shared a hug and Flash closed the door on the transporter. She was dematerialized and transmitted back to her own ship as a coded message or energy pattern to be reconfigured as flesh upon arrival.

The black hair she left on the chair would replace some of the molecules she and her crew had consumed. Her visit had left Flash with a warm, fuzzy feeling.

MEANWHILE:



Reception from the Nomicon party was terrible. Other than a few seconds of garbled video and sound, the feed from the sub-Martian tunnel was lost.

Flash decided to continue to send messages that Nomicon might pick up later, while he monitored the windstorm, which was still raging.

It dawned on Flash that he hadn’t eaten anything for a long time. This thought suddenly made him feel very hungry. Checking the pantry, he only found two boxes of cereal. These, he had brought aboard himself because it was one of his favorite snacks.

“What do I do about food?” he asked the K.D. Head.

“Just tell me what you’d like to eat, or input it into the table of elements yourself.”

“What are the choices?” he asked.



“Anything known to man.”

“No kidding?” Flash said the first thing that came to his mind. “How about Szechuan-Style Stir Fry with Shrimp and Asian Style Potstickers?”



“Certainly.”

As Earth shrunk away behind him, Mars grew ahead of Flash, who monitored the speed and distance from the helm of the mothership. With the setbacks and crew changes, Flash thought it would be a good idea to radio ahead to Nomicon.

He dialed their frequency into his radio and said, “Flash Meridian calling Nomicon. Come in, Nomicon.”

“Do you read me? Come in, Nomicon,” he repeated. There was no response.

“Not again…” Flash muttered to himself.

With a visual fix on Mars displayed on his main screen, he called up satellite images on his computer terminal. Zeroing in on the Nomicon camp, Flash could see that a windstorm was raging, pelleting Nomicon’s equipment with dust and debris. This was not uncommon for Mars, and he knew that when the Martian winds kicked up, the inhabitants took refuge in underground tunnels. Because of the high iron content in Mars’ crust, radio signals were ineffective in reaching them, so he switched to the video phone.

His call was answered by Kid Corvair, foreman of the Nomicon crew.

MEANWHILE:

A ship was returning from the vicinity of Sirius, in Canis Major. Their pilot was barking orders to other crew members, which Flash picked up on the radio he had just set down on the control panel. It was not uncommon to hear signals from other ships if your radio happened to be set to their same frequency. In this case, Flash was well acquainted with some of the crew members, and so he made himself known.



“Flash Meridian to Procyon… Come in, Procyon,” he called to the other ship.

“This is Procyon Star Cruiser,” a voice growled over the radio. “An old friend wants to speak to you.” There was a click, followed by a different voice.

“Flash Meridian! This is Galaxy Girl. We’ve been sniffing out the dogs of Orion, and are heading back to Earth. Permission to come aboard?”

“Of course!” Flash answered and powered up the transporter. Galaxy Girl had been his best friend back on Earth. Flash monitored the progress as she was converted to an energy pattern, beamed to the mothership and rematerialized. When the process was complete, he opened the door on the front of the transporter.

With her tail wagging, Galaxy Girl greeted Flash. “Do you have any cookies?” She asked. All we have left on our ship is some dry kibble.



Flash ordered up a treat on the table of elements, and handed it to Galaxy Girl, who danced with excitement. After she ate it, she said “You’ll be missing a few molecules after I’m gone. Do you want me to leave some for you?”

“No, thanks,” Flash answered. “That was really thoughtful. You really are a man’s best friend.”

The face of Galaxy Girl’s pilot appeared on the screen. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help over hearing.” His mouth was watering. Flash realized that his radio was still on. Can you send me one of those cookies?”





“Oh, sure,” Flash said. For inanimate objects, he could use the Particle Beam Separator. “Here it comes.”

Flash Meridian urges you to support Animal Allies Humane Society. Over the last 50 years, Animal Allies Humane Society has earned the reputation as the leading protector of companion animals in the region. Today, Animal Allies places more stray and abandoned animals in adoptive homes, provides more and better services to those animals prior to adoption, spays and neuters more animals, and educates more schoolchildren than any other humane organization in northern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin. The result: Duluth is a dramatically kinder community for vulnerable cats and dogs than it was just 25 years ago. Fueled by Animal Allies’ leadership, the number of homeless animals has declined by 40%, adoptions have increased more than 400%, and the number of animals euthanized has decreased by 80%.

Flash eased very gradually back to consciousness. His eyes were open long before he moved a muscle. He had no idea how long he had slept, and unlike on earth, time didn’t really matter here. He had no schedule to keep. No morning or evening. He would sleep when he felt tired, wake when he felt rested, eat when he felt hungry. Because of the unlimited imagination potential of the human mind, he was never bored. 

Mars’ orbit would make it convenient for Flash to check in with the Nomicon community there, and report their progress back to Ash Lander. But Mars was still a long ways off. 

Flash already felt at home aboard the ship. He had so much more room than he had in the TNI, but even that had been sufficient for him. The advanced communication system would be a great asset, since the radio had proven problematic on his previous voyage. 

Here in his own native solar system, especially amongst the innermost planets, one side of his ship was always in the day, and one side in continual night. As he travelled away from the sun, the light at his stern would decrease. For now, however, the contrast was intense. Out here, away from Earth’s atmosphere, there was a clarity to space that would be difficult to imagine without actually seeing it for yourself. Flash was certainly accustomed to it, but never tired of seeing it. 



Though there were windows on every side of the ship, the best way for Flash to see what lay outside was by way of the screen above the cockpit.

For all his love of space travel and contentment with being alone, Flash was not, by nature, an antisocial person. He treasured his friends and family members, and enjoyed making new acquaintances… Be they human or not. 

He was keenly aware of the K. D. head on the dashboard. Now that he thought of it, he couldn’t get it out of his mind. It seemed to be staring at him. He flipped the control switch to raise his seat back and thus get a better view of the face on the orb. The expression was changing, but not the way a natural human face would change. It was more like a series of old Kodak slides flashing still images of variations on the face. This accounted for the clicking sound he noticed as he first boarded the ship. This mechanical clicking added to the illusion of a slide projector. 

“I wonder if I can find some coffee,” Flash said aloud. 





“Certainly,” came a voice from the orb. With that, a cup dropped from somewhere and instantly began filling with fresh, steaming coffee. 



“How long before we run out of coffee?” Flash asked. 

“Never,” came the reply. “Your food is served on the table of elements.”

“What does that mean, exactly?”



“Your coffee wasn’t grown on a coffee plant, harvested, roasted, ground and brewed. We have a supply of each of the elements on board the ship, and your food is created by joining various molecules. It is real coffee, achieved in a slightly different manner than on earth. And it is more pure. Later, all these molecules will be used again for something else. Matter is neither formed or destroyed, just rearranged.”

“What a great idea,” Flash mused. 



“Thank you,” the voice said. 

It occurred to Flash that this was not a new idea at all. This is how it used to work. Before the invention of plastic and styrofoam. Before nuclear waste and chemical intervention. K. D.’s words came back to him about how everything must be recycled. 



The coffee tasted better than any he had ever had, and it revived him. His flight to the mothership hadn’t been particularly stressful, but the weeks leading up to it had been tedious and disappointing. From his new vantage point, the process seemed clear, and the results inevitable. Everyone must make their own way through this life.  Flash’s life and his space ship were on course. Various people share that path with us for a while, and we enrich each other. When our paths diverge it only ends one sentence so that a new experience can begin. Flash’s soul bore the fingerprints of all those who had touched him, and in this way he would forever carry them all with him for the rest of his life. 



By this time, Earth was nearly indistinguishable to the naked eye. It was just a dot set against the infinite curtain of the universe, and difficult to see for the glare of the sun, here where there was no atmosphere to diffuse it.