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. 

After checking the air pressure gauge, Flash opened the hatch between the TNI2 and the Mother Ship.  Flash could immediately make out controls, tubing, and everywhere the glint of silver.  

Upon seeing the ship for the first time, he realized that this would be his home for the foreseeable future.  K. D. Bazinga had instructed him, so he knew and understood all of the equipment aboard the ship.  Still, he was entranced by the sheer beauty of it.  Floating through the hatch, Flash had a palpable sense of hatching or being reborn into a new phase of his life.





The one thing he knew for sure was that adventure awaited him.  The details of that adventure would just have to wait to be seen.  Once again, Flash sped through the void of space, yet had no sensation of that speed.  While machines buzzed and clicked softly, the effect was calming to Flash who felt more at home here than he ever did on the Earth.

MEANWHILE:



Ash Lander had been called to a relations campaign in Viet Nam, and with the setbacks due to problems with the original, renovated TNI, he had decided to go.





K.D. would remain in close contact with Flash by means of an automaton fashioned in her image, and linked to the vast archives of human knowledge.  Her face became Flash’s interface with all that was known and his adventures would  certainly add to that wealth of information.

Flying a space ship is very different than driving a car. Not confined to roads, Flash set his sights on the distant Cornerstone region, and more specifically, on the tiny planet Olo.  Space travel reminded Flash of rowing a small boat on a lake at night. Heading toward a distant star was like coming around a peninsula and seeing the light of your own cabin on the shore. As a child in Michigan, Flash had noticed the stars reflected on the surface of the dark lake and had felt as though he were floating through the heavens. Now that feeling was reversed. The heartbeat of his space ship became the lapping of warm lake water as he fell asleep. 

Uninhabited, the mothership orbited the earth while plans back at Alpha Control were thwarted and reset. The renovated TNI continued to display electrical problems which could not be easily diagnosed. The modern components were fraught with incompatibilities and faulty workmanship. Flash missed the old TNI, and longed for the simple beauty and functionality of the craft which had taken him so far, and with such consistency. 

“This is all wrong”, he said, and abandoned the state of the art technology. Instead, he chose the sister ship to the original TNI, which had been in storage for decades. Refusing assistance from the experts in the aerospace industry, Flash went over the entire ship himself, and christened it the TNI2. 











On the anniversary of man’s first step onto the surface of the moon, Flash took off alone to rendezvous with the mothership which silently encircled the Earth. He couldn’t rely on anyone else.  No one seemed to share his vision, though his crew could be beamed aboard if they chose to join him. Flash felt compelled to go on alone for now, heeding the still, small voice within. After all, it was his birthday. 

Flash carefully approached the Mothership and prepared to dock the TNI2.

Fully docked, Flash opened the hatch and entered the Mothership. Soon, he was underway, and Earth grew smaller behind him.

Eleven years ago (before some of these students were born!) I worked with some of Mrs. Larson’s students to turn this suitcase into a TV. The image on the front depicts the Apollo 11 Lunar landing on July 20, 1969 (when I was about the age of these students – it was my 9th birthday!). Today I was back to talk about inventions (see the video in the next post). I thoroughly enjoyed being with these students today. They are so confident and talented, and they are friendly and respectful as well. Thank you Mrs. Larson and students! I had so much fun in your class today!

After weeks of preparation and speaking in school classrooms, the crew was ready to leave the pull of Earth’s gravity to join the mothership, which was fully assembled except for the refurbished TNI which would dock with it in the vacuum of space. It was only left to pack their personal belongings, and after a good night’s rest, take off for Olo and destinations unknown.  

“Speaking of packing, did I mention the state-of-the-art laundry facilities aboard the ship?” K. D. asked in passing, “An efficient dishwasher, too.  Our limited water supply will be continuously filtered and reused,” she said. “All moisture within the confines of the ship”.

“And drinking water?” Flash asked.

“Yes, drinking water, too.” she replied.

“What about leaks or spills?” Ash wondered aloud.

“All moisture. If it’s in the ship, it will be recaptured, refiltered and reused. It will water the plants, and all plant material will be composted and reclaimed. Everything must be recycled and reused, including what our bodies consume. As vital as this is on Earth, it is even more important aboard the ship.” K. D. continued,  “There is no other option.”


“Can you imagine what the Earth would be like if we as a race had learned that lesson a couple hundred years earlier?” Flash mused. His dream in the cryo-tube came back to him. So many questions lingered regarding his 10 year journey in the TNI. Questions that didn’t really need answers. Everyone needs a little mystery.  At the end of the day, what are all the answered questions anyway?  They are just over.  Finished.

Flash couldn’t plan the details of his life any more than he could plan his dreams, so it seemed best to just enjoy the journey as it unfolded.



That night Flash didn’t sleep much. He rarely slept on the night before a trip. He’d have plenty of time to sleep along the way. The schedule of day and night, and breaking life up into 24-hour time periods would lose their relevance soon anyway. His mind raced on ahead of him into the unknown, but no earthbound human being could predict the future any easier. Every life is fraught with change.