From dreams of bliss

shall men awake one day

but not to weep:

The dream remains.

They only break

the mirror of the sleep

Crystal’s mood didn’t brighten with the absence of the droid. The difference was more one of paranoia turning to sadness. Finally, Gravity confronted her about this.

What’s the matter with you, Crys? We got rid of the droid easily enough!

I know, Grav she replied. I just feel kind of sad now that she’s gone.

Crystal wiped a tear from her cheek and continued She seemed sweet, in a way. And no one has ever treated me like I was special before. Heck, Grav, most people call me by your name! Or worse yet, they refer to me as Gravity’s sister.

I get that too, Crys Gravity countered. You can understand that, can’t you?

Yeah, I guess… Crystal whispered, choked up with emotion. I hope she’s OK.

Remember, Crystal, it’s only a machine!

MEANWHILE…

P. J. Raygun secretly researched the programming of the X units to find a reversal of the imprinting process. If I can only get this thing to communicate with me, I’ll have it made, he muttered while leafing through a facsimile of the owner’s manual.

Little lady, he directed at the droid, how do I crack your code?

Suddenly, Raygun heard a noise outside and sprang to his window to check it out.

MEANWHILE…

Dock Galaxy kicked Wormhole lightly with no response. What’s wrong with him? Galaxy asked as he reached for his radio.

He had a little too much to drink, Krate said.

Dock nodded, pretending to understand, and informed Alpha Control of Wormhole’s presence on Mars.

Yup, that’d explain the missing ship, too, he said into the handset. I don’t envy him the welcome he’ll receive when he gets home, he said to the other two. Let me just fit him with something a little more secure.

With that, Dock cut the ropes that bound Wormhole and replaced them with restraints that Nomicon provided their employees for use in such situations. Dementia and unprovoked tirades often resulted from extended journeys in space. They usually passed quickly or responded well to calming drugs. Wormhole was a completely different case!

Krate and Ash breathed a sigh of relief with this latest situation resolved. Dock calmly and systematically returned to setting up camp.

MEANWHILE…

Flash calculated his current path and compared it to the route to Earth.

What – ?! He ran the numbers again. There was no mistake. The paths were identical. Leaving the computer, he floated forward to the ship’s controls. Blinking in disbelief, Flash stared into the electro-luminescent globe. There, superimposed on the controls where his own reflection should have been, was the face he had seen in his dream. As he stared, the visage spoke. Flash Meridian.

Am I dreaming? he asked out loud. Nothing else around him looked or felt like a dream.

Only insofar as your life is a dream, it said.

It was that very same evening when Crystal, Gravity and Nebula X met P. J. Raygun at the secondary airlock of the school, being careful not to be seen by anyone else. Gravity instructed Crystal who instructed Nebula X Go with Mr. Raygun.

As you wish, Nebula X replied, and was compelled to do as she requested.

As P. J. and the droid flew away, Crystal watched sadly and waved goodbye.

MEANWHILE…

Flash still had time to conduct experiments before he had to worry too much about asteroids. His first order of business remained contacting Alpha Control. These efforts were in vain, however his spirit was lifted by his dream. The glow and warmth seemed to linger now in his waking hours. The memory of the sweet figure in the light made his time in the TNI more bearable. Not that he didn’t enjoy his life. He treasured the opportunity he had to see things most people never saw. It’s just that space is very big.

MEANWHILE…

Lander and Azimuth walked back into their camp, followed by the Nomicon space rover.

This looks excellent Galaxy said, as he climbed out and scanned the valley. He proceeded to set up camp methodically. Ash Lander interrupted him by saying I really think you ought to take a look at this…

Just a sec… Dock said as he pulled a box from the back of the rover. Whacha got? He asked.

Come and see

Lander and Azimuth led him to where wormhole lay, still unconscious.

MEANWHILE…

P. J. Raygun sped toward his home on asteroid S-120. It was a wild, untamed place, frequented by seedy characters, most likely up to no good. P. J. knew two things: He was in possession of a very valuable piece of equipment, and it was hot.

So what do you do with a stolen droid? You certainly don’t dismantle it for parts. The most frustrating thing was that it refused to communicate with him. He pleaded with the droid to respond until he lost his patience and barked Respond, you infernal machine! P. J. stamped his feet and shouted while the droid gazed calmly, vacantly ahead.

We all need more light about each other. Light creates understanding, understanding creates love, love creates patience, and patience creates unity. – Malcolm X

Flash seemed to float in a sea of light, accepting this experience without fear, and without questioning it, just floating and noticing the sensation in his body. All the while, there was a sound… not an audible sound, but more like a vibration. He felt secure, embraced in a womb of nurturing calmness. The figure that moved in the light became distinct, and Flash realized that the countenance was the source of the light. Without a word being spoken, Flash and the figure in the light conversed in silence.

Flash went back in his mind to his trip around Pluto. I was there. the voice comforted. He went back the moment the TNI first went off course, firing him too far out into the solar system. I was there, came the voice again. Flash went further back to the farm where he was a child. I watched you grow.

In this manner, Flash gradually returned to the moment of his conception. I remember, the voice said.

MEANWHILE…

Lander spoke to the man in white. We can’t be too careful about who we meet here. The man laughed. Who did you expect?

I know you are Lander and Azimuth, your faces are in every newspaper and on every magazine cover on Earth. I see that I am not so recognizable to you. My name is Dock. Dock Galaxy. I work for Nomicon. Dock pointed out the Nomicon logo on his uniform. I thought you were expecting me.

What about Major Wormhole? Krate asked.

We would never send Wormhole on an assignment like this – or any other. He is facing court martial for high treason, but is at large. No one can find him. The sly devil.

Krate and Ash looked at one another, realizing at last what was happening. We have something back at our camp that will interest you, Ash stated as Dock released the latches on the cargo bay door. I’ll look at the samples once I get situated at camp, he said as he drove a Nomicon Space Rover out onto the rocky terrain.

That’s not what I had in mind Lander returned, to which Dock Galaxy responded Don’t worry, this baby will climb anything. I’ve got so much equipment in here, there’s no room for passengers though, sorry, but I’ll follow you.

In four hour shifts, Krate and Ash made it through the night. They bound Wormhole securely hand and foot, in case he should wake. Col. Lander checked his vitals from time to time, having no idea the amount of sedative he had consumed.

Two days passed thusly, with Wormhole unconscious, and the other two keeping their round-the-clock vigil. Late in the second day, Krate noticed something in the sky – a meteorite? A comet? It looks like a ship Ash said, remembering the arrival of Wormhole’s craft a few days earlier.

The men watched over the following hour and soon it was clear that another ship was descending toward them.

MEANWHILE…

Flash fell asleep, still wishing for communication. He had come to cherish his time sleeping. He never knew where his dreams would take him, or who he might meet there, but they always took him somewhere other than where he was. His dreams took him to places the TNI could not.

Flash found himself engulfed in bright light. A white ball of energy. He could see it with his eyes, but more importantly, he felt it surrounding him, filling him. He breathed it in and it tingled from his toes to the top of his head. He inhaled light and exhaled darkness until all he felt was light. Far from the cold darkness of space, he basked in this glow.

Something was moving, indiscernable within the halo, and as he watched it, it slowly began to take form.

Flash Meridian came a voice – a large, comforting voice, a rich, echoing voice. When it spoke his name, it spoke his entire being. All that Flash was, was summed up in that voice. Flash realized that he did not hear the voice with his ears, yet it spoke to him. From within… his entire being reverberated with that powerful, loving voice.

Even as he realized this, the movement formed hands, a face, and it touched his cheek softly. Soft as the petal of a flower. Fragrant and fresh.

MEANWHILE…

Droids? the face on the screen asked. Lady, I’m an exterminator, not a junk yard.

It’s not junk Gravity replied. She then explained the situation as Crystal stood nervously by, glancing at the Nebula X’s face for any sign of understanding.

What kind of joke is this? Raygun asked. I could work my entire life and never afford a state-of-the-art unit like that. No one exterminates them!

OK, OK! Raygun answered, but I’ll treat this as a salvage run.

OK Gravity said, but please hurry.

MEANWHILE…

Ash and Krate made their way to where the ship came down. It was even closer to their camp than Wormhole’s. As the two approached it, they drew their guns, wanting no more unpleasant surprises. This was a larger cargo ship. The door opened, and Ash and Krate approached it tentatively. A lone man in white disembarked and approached Azimuth and Lander.

Some welcome he said, glancing at the guns.

I wish I could talk to somebody.

Talk to it, Crystal. Gravity said. Suddenly Crystal was at a loss for words, she was clearly uncomfortable around the droid.

Do you have communications? Crystal asked, remembering her sister’s earlier question. Nebula X raised her hand to Crystal and a microphone extended from her finger. At the same time, a video screen opened on the droid’s chest and the screen flickered on. Um… Crystal said into the droid’s finger. she glanced at Gravity, then back at the droid. My sister wants to make a call.

As you wish. said the droid.

Gravity stepped up to the droid and said Directory. A list appeared on the screen. Exterminators. A list of names. She chose one at random.

MEANWHILE…

Wormhole drank the water. Ash looked at Krate, and Krate only smiled. Lander had not given up after all! It was a trick!

In a matter of seconds, Wormhole fell in a heap on the ground, completely sedated. That was a large dose, Ash said, it may kill him

He may wish it had, Krate replied.

The men took turns sleeping so one could keep an eye on Wormhole.

MEANWHILE…

Flash noticed a bright star in the view from the tube. He hadn’t noticed it before. It was so bright he wondered what it could be. Next time I’m on the computer, he thought, I’ll crunch it’s numbers. The heavens are so vast, and seeing them from a different vantage point can be disorienting. Flash was sure this was a major star, familiar to even amateur star-gazers back on Earth. As Flash’s eyes began to close, he said again I wish I could talk to somebody. For the time being, this was Flash’s wishing star.

MEANWHILE…

The girls were connected to an extermination service via an untapped private frequency. P. J. Raygun came the crackling voice as the picture faded in. Within seconds, the picture and sound were crystal clear.

We need help Gravity said into the Nebula X’s finger.

I guess that’s why you called, P. J. replied.

Yeah… Gravity stammered… Do you remove droids?

Sly Wormhole fought Krate to the ground and held his sabre close to his neck. Krate’s eyes closed in acceptance of his fate. He could see it all clearly in his mind. Wormhole would kill him on this remote outcropping of red rock. It seemed so pointless… His life so anticlimactic, but it was now over, and that was that. He said nothing, just waited for the beam to slice into his neck. At least there would be no blood. Sabre wounds never bled.

Ash helplessly looked on in silence, not daring to provoke Wormhole now that Krate’s life was on the line. Then he spoke. I give up.

Even Wormhole was taken aback by this. Lander beaten? Wormhole switched his sabre off and faced Lander glibly. What? Wormhole asked in disbelief.

There is nothing I can do now. If you kill Azimuth, I will never get off this planet. There is no one here to help me. We have to sleep sometime.

No, Ash! Krate whispered hoarsely. Don’t let him win!

Your friend is wise Wormhole addressed Krate. I’ll kill you anyway… eventually.

Ash Lander scooped a cup of water from a pool nearby and raised it to his lips.

Oh no you don’t, Lander, the winner takes the spoils, give that drink to me.

MEANWHILE…

Hurry, Crystal, I want to see this thing. Gravity said. Are you crazy? Crystal asked in reply, but she entered her code anyway. The door slid open and the girls peered in from the corridor.

The droid stood exactly as Crystal had left it. When the door opened, Nebula X re-activated and greeted her as before. You have returned.

Gravity stepped into Crystal’s chamber and stared at the droid. It’s beautiful! Gravity remarked. Does it have communications?

I don’t know! Crystal squealed, Let’s just get it out of here!

Do you have broadcast capabilities? Gravity asked the droid. Nebula X only stared, and did not acknowledge her question. So she tried again. Do you have the ability to send messages? There was still no response. Crystal watched impatiently, and stepped into the room. Are you asleep again? she asked sarcastically. I am not asleep again, Crystal Weightless the droid answered. The twins looked at each other for a moment and then Gravity spoke. It has imprinted on you, Crystal.

It will only respond to you

MEANWHILE…

Flash Meridian prepared to re-enter the kryo-tube. The incoming messages had ceased and he was feeling discouraged. He looked out at the stars and felt a deep longing. An emptiness within, mirroring his view from the ship. At least there was light out there. The stars burned brightly in the distance.

He thought again of his childhood on that Michigan farm, and how he used to make wishes on the stars before going to sleep.

I wish I could talk to somebody he said, and then felt silly for having said it aloud. Then he switched the radio off and lay down in the tube to sleep.

Crystal burst into the galley panting. The other girls just kept eating. They were used to Crystal’s dramatic late entrances to meals.

Grav, she whispered desperately, Come outside with me! Gravity rolled her eyes at the invitation, and gruffly announced Hello! I’m eating.

Crystal had no time to explain. She pushed Gravity’s dinner tray away from her and said Grav, I need you NOW” motioning toward the exit door.

Since you’re not going to let me eat, I might as well cooperate…

MEANWHILE…

Back on Mars, Sly Wormhole and Ash Lander dueled while Krate Azimuth punched codes into the radio. What good will it do? he wondered. They won’t be able to help us anyway.

Then he remembered he had his own saber in his duffle.

Wormhole and Lander were evenly matched. Both men fought deftly and employed sophisticated maneuvers, each surprising the other. Both men began to doubt their own abilities. Ash looked worried.

Wormhole stumbled. Krate saw his opportunity, grabbed up his saber and took Ash Lander’s place in the conflict. Wormhole was strong, driven by his rage. He fought like a madman, but Krate held his own against the monster.

MEANWHILE…

Flash Meridian passed through Saturn’s vacant orbital path, heading toward the sun – more or less. Over the past months of warp travel, he had spent the majority of his time sleeping in a cryo-tube. Because of this, he was well rested to navigate the asteriod field which would be his next expected event in space. Besides making his progress calculations on the computer, he was now in sporadic contact with Earth… At least he was receiving messages. As far as he could tell, his messages were not being received on the other end. Two way communication with Alpha Control is what he needed. His ship was slightly off-course, and he needed to rectify this situation. Firing his right booster rockets might correct his path, or it might send him hurtling uncontrolled in a different direction at this speed. So he continued to send radio signals, video feeds and computer messages, hoping they would be received.

Come in, Alpha Control…

Come in, Alpha Control…

At least it gave him something to do. But when Flash was in the tube, his dreams became more and more vivid until he began to feel that his space journey was the dream, and his experiences while sleeping were his true and real life.

MEANWHILE…

Crystal told Gravity that the Nebula X was in her chamber. Her body trembled as she explained to her sister. Gravity was concerned, but being level-headed and practical, she quickly devised a plan… Call an exterminator.

How? Crystal begged, almost sobbing by this time. The communication lines are all tapped. I’ll be found out for sure. Everyone would hear if I sent out a blanket request by radio!

An idea flashed across Gravity’s mind so that Crystal could see it in her face. What? Grav!

Tell me! What?

Gravity was already hurrying down the corridor, Crystal in tow. We’re going to your Chamber.

But the droid is in there! And the lines are tapped, and I’m scared. The girls arrived at Crystal’s door. Open it. Gravity commanded.

Crystal’s jaw dropped, and the hairs on her neck stood on end. No way… she muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. This is not happening to me But it clearly was. How did you find me? she addressed the droid.

Your prints were left on the box, Crystal Weightless. Crystal backed out of the doorway and braced herself against the corridor wall. The droid knew her name. She was good at getting herself into binds, but she always turned to the same person to get her out. Gravity she thought out loud. Hitting the red button by the door, she hid the Nebula X from view and raced wide eyed to the galley where the other girls had already started eating.

MEANWHILE…

Tension continued to build at the Lander camp on Mars. What few comments Wormhole made were laced with innuendo. Ash’s anger grew until he could no longer contain it. The sun was setting when Ash finally turned to Wormhole and said You’ll never get away with this, Sly.

I already have, you fool! came his scathing reply. With those words, Wormhole rose to his feet and reached for his saber. Instinctively, Lander did the same.

Don’t do this, please! Ash tried to reason. Wormhole only chuckled and removed the safety bolt from the butt of his weapon. A blaze of green energy, a contained beam, shot from the handle, illuminating the campsite which had quickly grown dark. The blinding flash of light burned into Ash and Krate’s eyes, and Sly Wormhole stood, powerful, with his own huge black shadow spilling over the valley behind him like ink.

Ash activated his saber as well, intending only to call Wormhole’s bluff, but both men knew that Wormhole was capable of killing without remorse.

Why are you doing this? Ash asked, but Wormhole only came back with a hideous laugh.

MEANWHILE…

Flash keyed his coordinates into the computer. Uranus sparkled off behind the TNI, but Saturn’s orbit placed it on the other side of the sun, and only empty space lay between him and Jupiter’s path. the screen flickered and Flash adjusted the communications disc toward the Earth.

His gamble at Pluto had paid off by sending him only a few degrees off from his desired course. Still, with the distance he had to travel, those few degrees would place him millions of miles from his target.

The screen went white and then scrolled text from top to bottom. Not his own calculations or database, but transmissions from home! I’m here! he shouted. I’m alive!

Flash Meridian sped through space like a bullet with nothing to mark the time. No day, no night, the sun imperceptibly brightening. He slept, waking to eat, to calculate, to sleep again.

As he slept, he dreamed. His mind took him back, it seemed, through every memory of his life. In sleep, he mentally returned to his parents’ home, where insignificant details presented themselves to him, begging to be noticed… explored… appreciated.

He reached out to touch the painted window sill, flooded by the full afternoon sun, beyond it was the view of the blue sky and green fields outside. What was common to him then had now become a distant and foreign planet. Domestic details, so unlike the clean, efficient, practical features of his ship, held a significance greater than themselves. Almost microscopically, Flash studied the simple function of a door hinge, the weave of carpet threads, the glazed pattern on china plates.

Time passed quickly while he dreamed. He returned to the day, as a child, that he buried a bird he found dead on the gravel driveway. He thought of the relationship between the decomposing body of the bird to the grass, the grass to the air, and how everything on Earth created an interdependent system.

Out here in space, his surroundings were so clinical, so sterile, so unnatural. Out here in space, he was completely alone, and he longed for that soft, rich world he once knew.

MEANWHILE…

Tension was building at the Lander camp. Krate was fully recovered from the sedative, and Wormhole never left the two men alone, though Krate and Ash tried to get time away from him to devise a plan.

For the most part, the camp was silent with suspicion.

MEANWHILE…

Back at the Space School, Crystal attended most of her classes, but she was clearly distracted. She lived in fear that a Federation officer would come looking for her in regard to her stealing. Never before had anyone at the school seen Crystal so subdued.

After a day of staring into space, of fiddling with things on her desk and doodling with pencil in her notebook, Crystal made her way back to her chamber to sleep. No dinner, she just wanted to go to bed. She punched in her access code, and the door slid silently open. Crystal only stared, shocked by what she saw.

The Nebula X was standing motionless in her chamber. A light flickered in its right eye sensor and the droid spoke. You have returned…

Ash simultaneously monitored the descent of the incoming ship and Krate’s condition. A sample of Krate’s blood revealed a strong sedative in his system. Further testing revealed the source: algae. Inadvertent discoveries like this could revolutionize the use of anesthetics back on earth. Sleep it off, Krate, Ash said quietly as he disembarked to find the Nomicon ship. Compass in hand, Ash set out over a nearby ridge, and found the craft about a half hour later. It would be good to see some other people from Earth. Ash imagined this monumental meeting as he approached the ship. The initial handshakes and welcome, the catching up of Earth news later over dinner. The Nomicon ship gleamed in the Martian afternoon and Ash’s heart pounded with the thrill of it all. There had been many times already that the mission’s setbacks could have cost them their lives. Who was the mysterious space girl who had saved them? Where was Flash? The door of the ship began to lower. Ash was anxious to bring an in depth investigation against…

…SLY WORMHOLE!

Wormhole stood smugly in the open door of his ship. Ash felt suddenly nauseous, but was careful not to allow his shock to show.

Lander… said Wormhole slyly. He knew he had the upper hand. Major, Ash responded with a salute. Welcome to Mars, sir. Thanks, Lander. How is Azimuth feeling? Ash detected a knowing chuckle in Wormhole’s question, and did not respond.

MEANWHILE…

Flash could see Uranus far, far to the right of his path toward the sun. He scanned his route for any potential collisions. Though he wouldn’t be in the main asteriod belt until he passed Jupiter, there was always a chance that he would encounter them in the entire Jovian range. Then after a meal, it was back to the cryo tube and uneventful space.

MEANWHILE…

Crystal Weightless confined herself to the school and lived in fear that her plundering would be discovered. While her classmates and teacher noticed a change in her behavior, the only person she confided in regarding the Nebula X was her twin sister, Gravity. Her classmates assumed she was up to something. Her teacher preferred to believe Crystal had finally settled down and was taking more of an interest in her studies. Paranoia raged in Crystal’s thoughts and dreams.

MEANWHILE…

Ash led Wormhole back to the ship, where Krate was awake and still feeling groggy. When he saw Wormhole, he was consumed with fear and rage. Both men secretly wished they could kill Wormhole before he had a chance to further sabotage their expedition and lives. Outwardly, they maintained a facade of comraderie and respect. They weren’t fooling anyone.