Halfway between Neptune and Pluto, the full realization of his situation hit Flash Meridian. He was nearing the edge of our solar system. All transmissions from the rescue party had ceased, and he knew he had to take charge of his own destiny.

Pluto had been visible for some time, and was now looming larger in vast, empty space. It was his last chance. To approach close enough to be held by Pluto’s gravitational pull long enough to slingshot back toward the sun. The sun now appeared as a distant star. It would take precise calculations to aim himself at it, and he would be relying on pure, dumb luck. Still, it was his only hope. There was a good chance that he would impact Pluto. There was a chance that his ship, the Trans-Neptunian Interloper, would be torn to bits in the attempt. There was a possibility that the human body would not survive the tremendous g-forces involved in the semi-orbit. None of this mattered. His demise would be guaranteed if he stayed with his current course.

Flash sat, hurtling through the void at previously unimagined speed, yet feeling no sensation of speed whatever.

MEANWHILE…

Ash stared, bewildered, at Crystal, unable to move or speak. Her movements were deliberate and efficient.

Ash’s panic subsided. Whether she was a dream or not, he was comforted by her presence.

Now I’ll take care of your friend, she said

Krate’s affliction was no accident. Someone had sabotaged the mission by planting a chip in Krate’s brainstem. By this time, Krate actually posed no threat to Ash. His own torment was so great he writhed in violent spasms.

When Crystal cut the chip loose, he fell, still, unconscious.

Ash surmised correctly, that this was the doing of Major Sly Wormhole. Once in deep space, Krate was supposed to kill Ash before self-destructing. The mission was unsuccessful, but the chip was removed before any permanent damage was done to either man.

MEANWHILE…

Flash looked up to see a sky dominated by the frozen surface of Pluto. Never had he seen a more inhospitable place. He looked away, wishing that he would not become a part of that landscape.

Stress on the TNI was building as Pluto’s pull increased. It was all Flash could do to remain conscious under the strain.

Soon it was over. The shaking. The Noise. The sickening force. The computer indicated that he was now traveling away from Pluto much faster than he had approached it. The sun was barely visible, but it lay in the general direction he had hoped to find it. He paused only for a moment to celebrate this victory. He had to prepare once again for warp. It would take decades off his return trip.

Though he had had no signal from Earth for some time, he continued to broadcast reports from his tiny cocoon in space. The thought that someone might hear made him feel less alone.

MEANWHILE…

Krate and Ash awoke in the safety of their camp on J-IV. All was back to normal – as it was when they landed to retrieve core samples. Sorry, said Krate. It’s all good, Ash responded.

Crystal Weightless: Intergalactic socialite.
Jet setter for the space age or cosmic bimbo? You be the judge.

We last left Ash Lander on one of Jupiter’s remote moons with no food, no water and no shelter, hunted by his comrade, Krate Azimuth.

In fitful sleep, he imagined what would happen when he was found.

The hand that eventually woke him was not that of his deranged friend-turned-nemesis, but more the touch of an angel.

Her gentle touch and beatific smile made Ash wonder whether he was dreaming… hallucinating… or already dead.

He would soon learn, however, that Crystal Weightless was an ordinary space girl out to have a good time. She happened upon Ash Lander while looting unmanned slave ships. By jamming their radio controls, she could intercept them and plunder their cargo. Her confidence and working understanding of inertia stood in stark contrast to the panic raging within Ash. Every task performed by our astronauts was based on complicated and difficult mathematics, while Crystal instinctively scaled walls and manipulated enormous freight laden pods in zero gravity. This was the only life she had ever known, and it was a life she loved.

U.S. Astronauts Ash Lander and Krate Azimuth, each celebrated and undisputed American heroes, were selected for what had been referred to as THE MOST CHALLENGING MISSION IN THE HISTORY OF EARTH’S SPACE PROGRAM. Their mission: to find Flash Meridian, whose ship, the Trans-Neptunian Interloper, had been swept offcourse by an unseen gravitational presence and was hurtling toward the outer reaches of our solar system.

Advances in the field of warp travel had made interplanetary travel possible if not common. With these greater distances came greater danger, and the greatest enemy, our space pioneers were about to learn, lay within. The unfathomable reaches of the human mind challenged even those of deep, mysterious SPACE.

Here on earth, Alpha Control tracked the astronaut’s course, and kept the anxious public updated on the progress of the mission. Families across America gathered around their radio sets each evening to vicariously share in the excitement of space travel.

Our heroes enjoyed the novelty of weightlessness, and the new challenges that space travel offered.

Seen from Amalthea, its closest moon, Jupiter covers 1/4 of the sky. While Col. Lander would weigh close to 300 pounds on the surface of Jupiter, he finds that a single step on Amalthea sends him bounding several yards.

strapping on his vector boots, Col. Ash Lander is able to explore the moons of Jupiter without the confines of a ship.

While taking core samples on Callisto – also known as J-IV, strange and frightening transmissions were received at Alpha Control. Astronaut Krate Azimuth had been acting in a strangely threatening manner toward Col. Lander. Perhaps it was the solitude of space getting the best of him. Perhaps it was a chemical imbalance caused by warp speed…

… but when he turned his ray gun on his comrade, the fate of the mission and indeed the life of Ash Lander came into question.

…Most Americans imagined the frightening events set in the context of their own world.

Having fled the initial confrontation on Callisto, Col. Lander found himself hunted on a remote moon with no food, no water and no shelter, only his gun, which never left his grip, even when he fell from exhaustion into restless sleep,

and nightmares about what would come next.

Returning to Earth, a Vanguard begins to vaporize from friction with the air.

The Space Age began on October 4, 1957, when the first artificial satellite – Sputnik I – was successfully launched. That proved that men could actually put something into space. Later satellites – the Explorers, the tiny Vanguard, and other Sputniks – proved it many times over.

It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years since the birth of The Adventures of Flash Meridian, a science fiction story created in Grand Marais, MN. Written by Timothy Young (aka Timouth or Flash), It featured a cast of model/actors in a series of digital photographs to form a sort of comic book story on the internet. The original episodes will be featured here, interspersed with trivia, behind the scenes interviews, photographs, appearances, activities and education, all in an interactive format here at blogspot.com. There are also the original soundtrack recordings, Flash Meridian songs and bonus tracks, as well as the first 31 episodes read by the author with the musical score. Do you remember seeing the series online? Did you happen to see it on television or on stage, hear it on the radio, read about it in a newspaper or magazine? Well, IT’S BACK! Feel free to share your comments here as I gradually upload the fun!