Pumpkin season was coming to an end, and the director of the museum had an idea for a new exhibit. When he saw Flash in the cafe one day, he asked him if he had any interesting items from his travels that the Ololian public hadn’t seen yet. Flash thought for a minute, and said Yes, I have a few things in the mother ship. A black furry hide that I picked up on a frozen planet, and a cup that I chiseled out of the ice.
Anything else?
Flash thought hard. He closed his eyes and visualized the interior of the ship.
I could unplug the K.D. Head, he said. No one is using it up there.
And so Flash planned a trip up. He was excited to visit it again. He didn’t miss flying through space with no known destination. He’d done that already. He found his destination on Olo. Still, he had a lot of memories connected to the mother ship.
I’ll look around while I’m up there, and see what else I might have.
Flash told his family about his plans to revisit the mother ship, and asked if anyone would like to join him. Mad and Luuu were busy. Bucket had developed a fear of going back into space. Poikani wasn’t really interested in going, and so once again, Flash was going to go alone. He readied the pod and took off without making a big deal about it. He lifted off and rose high above the crimson plain and the cobalt plateau. The reef like mountain spires towered above him for a moment, but he zoomed past them, rising to a vertical ascent. In no time, the blue sky went black, and he felt the familiar silence and slow motion effect of weightlessness. The homing device on the pod did all the work, drawing him to the mother ship, which awoke after her long slumber, to welcome him.
Flash was flooded with memories of other times he had looked down on the glistening planet he had come to love so much. He understood the images so much better now. When he looked at the fish head, or the woman hanging clothes on the line, he now thought of the friends he had there.
Flash knew he was not leaving like he had twice before, and yet he already missed Olo. He would be right back.
The pod was attracted to the mother ship, and docking happened automatically. He felt a soft thud, and then heard the clicking and slight jostling of the locking mechanism which secured the pod and sealed the hatch.
He floated up into the larger ship, which was down from the pod, as the pod was nestled into the underside of the mother ship.

Upon entry, he immediately saw the black hide, which was draped over his chair. He laughed to himself when he saw the Wizzzer, View Master and Etch-A-Sketch, which he had forgotten about. When he lifted the hide, the Olo ball rolled out, and bounced on the floor.
I might as well have a coffee, he said, and that old friendly voice responded, Certainly.
A cup dropped from somewhere, and the aroma of fresh coffee filled the cabin.
An alarm beeped softly, and turning to the computer screen, he saw that the table of elements was still missing the molecules it took to produce the sphere, the toys and the ruby.

The ruby…. Where is that ruby?

He found it between the cushions near where the toys had been.
For all the familiarity of this spacecraft, Flash felt a little uneasy. He just wanted to get back to Olo.
He finished his coffee, cancelled the alarm and disconnected the K.D. Head.
Come on, sweetheart, he said to the now dormant head like orb, and moved everything into the pod, securing it for the brief trip back.

He did one last scan of the cockpit, partly to see if there was anything he had missed for the museum, and in part because he wasn’t sure if he would see the interior of this ship again. He did see something on the floor under the control panel. He picked it up. It was the joke book prize from the Cracker Jack.
When is clay no longer clay?
He put it in his pocket and floated down into the pod head first, like a slow motion dive, and swam into position in the pilot’s seat. The K.D. Head was strapped into the copilot’s chair. It was strangely quiet, and had no face, being powered down. He remembered the time when this object had been his only companion. It had informed and warned him. It had entertained and comforted him. He simply plugged it into a port on the instrument cluster. It flickered and sprang to life. Simulated life, but you know what I mean.
Flash released the locking mechanism, and the pod tumbled gently from its docking bay.
He had a clear view of the mother ship now. Its lights twinkled against a dark background, and on the underside, it reflected a distorted yet vibrant reverse view of Olo’s surface.
Flash didn’t linger. The pod dropped, and swooped into position to re-enter the atmosphere. Soon he was enveloped by blue light, and sailed high above Olo’s ocean, losing altitude quickly. The speeding pod left a vapor trail in the thickening air as the ground seemed to rise toward him in his descent.
He slowed, and circled the plains, and touched down near the hangar where the pod was kept.
Bucket hovered outside the pod to greet Flash as he stepped onto the sparkling crystal tarmac. He was happy to hold those familiar objects again, and helped Flash deliver them to the museum.