47 The Chromatic Sea
The solutes in Olo’s atmosphere began to settle, and the entire planet was rearranged. Flash orbited Olo high above the settling dust.  

Below him, just above the highest layer of atmosphere, the whales and their mysterious riders glided on a different orbital path so that Flash saw them intermittently. 

It was too much of a coincidence to think that Flash was not only drawn to this particular planet, but at such a pivotal moment as this. 

Gravity did it’s work, pulling solids back to the surface. On Olo, it seemed the finer particles had more intense hues, for the last layers to fall formed a thick carpet of iridescent dust in every color of the spectrum. These minerals must have been attracted to like particles because they landed in distinct areas rather than mixing to a uniform shade. 

Flash took great pleasure in watching this immense painting come together as though by the hand of an artist. 

The whales did not propel themselves, but slowly slid in formation along the edge of space. 

The riders looked like they were sleeping, though for all Flash knew, they were dead, within feet of the air. He was tired, too, and so he went to sleep. 

Although he was only a bystander, he had a feeling that he was somehow to play a role in this. 

Flash woke to a dream of Earth. His grandfather was standing by the kitchen window, bathed in morning sunlight, sipping a cup of tea and clutching a paintbrush. “Good morning!” Grampa called, “Did you sleep well?”

“But I’m…” Flash faltered. Now which was it?  “I… I had the most intense dream. Or at least I thought…  What are you working on?” 

Grampa had turned back to his easel, and Flash crossed the room to see what was on the canvas. Patches of jewel tones filled the painting. As Flash watched, he splattered chrome yellow across a field of indigo. 

“I love you, Grampa,” Flash said.  Grampa didn’t respond, but continued painting while humming a tune. Once again, Flash was transfixed and felt connected to his grandfather as he never had before.

Flash’s field of vision narrowed so that the painting was all he could see. The room, his grandfather, and even the paintbrush disappeared from sight, and Flash watched the brushstrokes appear on their own. A shadow entered the right edge of the painting, and moved toward the left. Next a huge white brushstroke in the shape of a whale lumbered into view. The colors were rich and alive.

The white shape turned and swam toward Flash. He felt small yet unafraid. A great mouth opened and swallowed him up. 

From within the belly of the whale, Flash could hear the slow, steady heartbeat. The smell was briny with a hint of turpentine.  It was dark.  Warm and soft, like a bed. He lay on a rubbery surface that tightened and relaxed around him. These contractions gradually intensified, and then the song began. 

It started with a low tone, so low, in fact, that Flash couldn’t say for sure when it first became audible.  As the tones rose to a register he could hear, he felt as though he were inside the bellows of a great pipe organ, and could discern a myriad of notes and textures within the chord. 

Higher notes pierced the throbbing wall of sound, and then dropped out of Flash’s range. In the darkness, the music took on colors and danced like a chromatic sea around him.  The message was both alien and familiar at the same time. It was the same message that was painted in the dust of Olo… a message that fell way beyond words. Way beyond familiarity. It was as though a ladle was dipped into the collective unconscious, and Flash’s own essence was one of the ingredients.  Flash had never felt so comfortable or at home. 

46 Kaleidoscope

As the mothership approached Olo, the sonic pulses became louder. It was not the proximity that made the difference. They were growing in intensity, and Flash realized that some major seismic activity was taking place. 

Flash’s major concern was for the inhabitants of the planet, so he fine-tuned the high frequency sounds in order to hear what the voices were actually saying. 

He could hear it clearly now…  “Happy!  Happy!  We are happy and blessed” the voices bellowed. 

Flash was confused by the message and tried to think of a way to intervene. 

The dingy surface of Olo loomed. Flash looked out over the small planet’s craters and ridges which now trembled and quaked.  He feared the inhabitants were doomed. Still, their melancholy refrain continued…  “Happy… Happy…” they cried. 

The surface of Olo began to show cracks that were visible even from orbit. Clouds of dust rose like smoke and Flash could only watch, stunned. 

The voices were drowned out by the pulsing sound which grew louder and louder and mixed with the sound of tectonic plates creaking and cracking. As the debris clouds continued to rise, they reflected the light of nearby stars, creating a rainbow, visible from Flash’s vantage point high above the thermosphere. 

The voices were lost in the din of an exploding planet, and Flash watched in indescribable sadness. 

“Shepherdess,” he whispered, on behalf of those he was unable to help. After that, words failed him.

He wondered what could cause this destruction… What could possibly be the source of Olo’s unique sonic fingerprint?

As he watched, great sections of the planet split apart and rose, defying gravity, to further fracture and crumble, eventually obliterating his view. 

“If only I had arrived sooner!” Flash lamented. “I could have saved some of them.”

The swirling cloud now enveloped the planet, filling the thin layer of atmosphere completely. The dusty terrestrial orb now looked like a larger, gaseous planet whose swirling vapors undulated now in distinct colors. Magenta, cerulean, emerald, azure and violet patches formed kaleidoscopic patterns, and Flash was transfixed. 

Something was stirring within the colors. From time to time, Flash saw something floating, or swimming within the rainbow. Yes. There it was, surfacing and blowing crystalline spouts into the vacuum of space in low orbit. Another. A tail fluke slapped the churning surface and the sound of that impact reverberated through Flash’s equipment and his ship. 

A whale, or something very much like a whale, breached. Its huge shining body glimmered in mid air, and then fell back, splattering a distinct pattern in chrome yellow across a field of indigo. 

Flash had given up making sense of what he was seeing, and just stared, open mouthed at the glorious display below him.  Time stood still (it has a way of doing that in outer space). 

When it seemed nothing could ever surprise him again, one of the creatures breached, but did not plunge back into the vibrant sea. 

It swam right out of the atmosphere, and Flash could see it clearly for the first time. Its white body scintillated and seemed to glow against the blackness of space. Others followed until a pod of a dozen or more whales swam up, pulsing with the same tones Flash had been hearing all along. The sounds were now much clearer, echoing only through the bodies of the whales, and no longer through the soil in which they had swum for eons. 

The last two whales hung back, orbiting just above the cloud, gliding effortlessly. 

Flash zoomed in on them and saw something… or someone…  on their backs. They were people!  Straddling the backs of the floating animals, two survivors rode.   

One year ago today, I relaunched The Adventures of Flash Meridian, and it’s taken the whole year to get him to the planet Olo. Space travel takes time, even when you go through a black hole to expedite the journey.

During this past year, Flash was faced with obstacles such as broken space ships, personnel changes and tough decisions. But he didn’t have to do it alone. He persevered, and made it to the Griz-Boom region of the Cornerstone constellation right at the perfect time.

The story of Flash Meridian has always been autobiographical, but cloaked in a silver space suit. I’ve had to persevere in my nursing program this year. At times I didn’t believe I could make it, but then one day, I woke up and the semester was over! It’s been a rewarding year. I’ve reconnected with friends, found a church home, made the Dean’s List, and am very grateful for my life and everyone who has been a part of it.

Happy Birthday, David.

‎”Yes, the purpose of earth is not life, it is not man; earth has existed without these, and it will live on without them. They are but the ephemeral sparks of its violent whirling.

Let us unite, let us hold each other tightly, let us merge our hearts, let us create – so long as the warmth of this earth endures, so long as no earthquakes, cataclysms, icebergs or comets come to destroy us – let us create for earth a brain and a heart, let us give a human meaning to the superhuman struggle.” ~ Nikos Kazantzakis

45 Splash

Everything was eerily quiet, as Flash watched and waited for something to happen. At this speed, any impact would surely destroy his ship. But nothing did happen, so Flash ordered up some dinner.

“This could be my last meal,” Flash said to himself.

He ordered up a steamed lobster with drawn butter and fresh lemon, asparagus and garlic mashed potatoes.

“And a ciabatta roll,” he added.

The table of elements assembled all of the necessary molecules, and soon the ship was filled with a delicious aroma.

With the archives of human history at his fingertips, he called up a movie and sat back to enjoy his meal.

It occurred to Flash that movies were made to simulate adventures for earthbound people to watch on their television screens. Yet here he was, careening through a black hole watching an old movie for a sense of nostalgia.

Flash Meridian enjoyed his meal very much, and watched the movie all the way through the closing credits.

The fantasy of life on Earth faded back to his reality of deep space travel, and Flash found his situation rather curious and upside down. He felt fortunate to be here… wherever he was.

Checking in with the computer, he could see that his ship was decelerating. Matter that had appeared stationary was now moving away from his ship… fanning out away from him on every side. Whatever force had held them as traveling partners seemed to be loosening it’s grip.

Analyzing his flight path, he determined that he must be exiting the back side of the black hole… he and the other debris making a huge splash into another sector of the universe.

He called upon the K.D. head to analyze nearby star systems and determine just where he might be.

Images flashed onto the computer screen. The Franklin System… The Giddings Phenomenon…. The Gaslight Nebula… There was no doubt. Flash was in the Cornerstone constellation. More specifically, the Griz-Boom region.

Not that he was completely surprised. He knew he couldn’t take credit for the accuracy of his course. All he did was sit back and let someone else take the wheel.

He zoomed in on a tiny greenish gray speck in the distance… Olo!

Flash aimed his communications disk at it and set up his equipment to record the sonic pulses. The sounds seemed to be coming from the planet itself, rather than from someone living on the surface. The tones were more like a heartbeat than music. As he recorded the pulses, he ran them through a series of filters, isolating the low and high tones. In the high end of the spectrum, Flash could hear another sound. It was the sound of voices. They seemed to be repeating a word that he couldn’t quite understand. It was a forlorn cry, and while Flash could not decipher the exact words, he picked up an undeniable sense of sadness. Flash didn’t know what language the Ololians spoke, but their cries sounded like the English words “Help me!”

The leftover momentum from the black hole sped him toward the tiny planet.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

Flash looked again at the stars on the screen, and thought again about the Shepherdess’ words.  

“This one is you,” she had said. 

Flash wondered what she could have meant by that.  As he stared at the dark area on his screen, his mind wandered back to his dream, and to the strange and beautiful meeting with the star Shepherdess. This was not the first time Flash had encountered a messenger in deep space who had offered guidance.

Although K.D. had plotted a course for Olo, Flash decided to act on a hunch. Perhaps he was responding to a subliminal message he had received in his dream, but it suddenly seemed clear. He changed his course and headed directly for the black hole. 

Maybe he would be lost forever in space… but then again, the Shepherdess said she would keep an eye on him. If he had misunderstood her meaning, surely she would intervene. Maybe he would be crushed… He and his ship compressed to microscopic proportions.  Or maybe this was indeed his path.  There was only one way to find out.  Faith doesn’t always appear to make sense until afterwards when you can see the whole picture. We move backwards through time, in a rear facing seat on the train. We only see where we’ve already been, and not what lies ahead down the tracks.

The K.D. head whirred and clicked, and an alarm sounded, accompanied by a flashing red light to warn of impending danger. 

“It’s alright,” Flash said as he reset the system with the new course.  Everything he did was unprecedented. 

His experience near the Mora Nebula had taught him that things can go wrong even when you are on course. So this was not really such a big gamble. 

His ship gradually accelerated as he approached the incalculable g-forces of the black hole.  Faster and faster, the mothership sped toward the blackness.  Flash was not afraid of the dark. He knew it was darkness that defines the light, and so he hurtled himself headlong into it, and was at peace. 

Anything and everything near the mothership was also caught in this pull, so any objects Flash saw appeared to be standing still. He had learned that the gravity in a black hole was so great that nothing, not even light, could escape it. He had never heard of a person entering one, so this proved to be interesting. As he sat, waiting to see what would happen next, he had an uncanny feeling of Deja vu. A great force that holds light inside…  Could this black hole truly have something beautiful at its center?  

There was no noise other than the usual sounds of his ship. No shaking. Nothing to indicate his speed except for the steadily growing number on the navigational computer. In a single glance, the number doubled… tripled, and showed no signs of slowing down. 

When black hole theorists depicted this on film or in animations, they showed everything as a blur, or all action in slow motion. Flash sighed and looked around the room. It was nothing like that at all. 


Or was it?  

This weekend I ran into Sarah Vaughn, who portrayed twin sisters Crystal Weightless and Gravity in the original adventures of Flash Meridian when she was 15 years old. She is now working on a comic called Sparkshooter. http://www.sparkshooter.com/

Flash Meridian found himself in that state between sleeping and waking. He knew he’d been asleep because he could sense a beautiful dream fading and the tangible details of his ship making themselves known. In this hypnogogic state, the two worlds merged for a bit. The lovely figure from his dream was superimposed over the control panel of the mothership. With his eyes closed, he could see her vibrant form unobstructed by physical objects. If he allowed his eyes to open ever so slightly, he could still see her layered over objects.

He dared not open his eyes further for fear of losing her completely, and he longed to return to that dream, leaving his body to lay, unconscious forever.  Consciousness returned, however, as it always had, but still, Flash lay still and thought of her. He held on to the image of starlight reflecting off of her silver gown. Of her long dark hair against the infinite blackness.  She had kind, soulful eyes that were both beautiful and sad. 

Flash dozed again and she was still there. Stars clung to the hem of her gown like children clamoring for her attention. Or like baby chicks running under a hen for protection. They swirled and played beneath her and Flash wanted desperately to join them. 

“Come,” she said softly and beckoned to Flash. The gentle word hung in the vacuum and grew. It reverberated as it advanced, becoming thunderous, and sweeping over and through Flash. He felt paralyzed, unable to move or speak. “Come,” she said again and the vibrations subsided. 

With a sigh, Flash realized he was waking now.  It couldn’t be stopped. 

“I’ve been searching for you,” Flash heard distinctly, and opened his eyes.  There in his ship, stood the figure from his dream. 

“I don’t understand,” Flash said. 

“I am a shepherdess of the stars,” she said. “They represent those that are lost.”

“Why were you looking for me?” Flash asked.  “I seek the lost, and bring back the strayed. I bind up the injured and strengthen the weak.”


Flash looked up at the stars displayed on the screen and asked “Does one of those stars represent me?”

“These ninety and nine are safe in my care,” she said. Pointing to a dark spot in the heavens, she said “This one is you.”

Flash looked closely at the screen and saw nothing there.

“A black hole?” he asked. “Yes, you are my little black sheep that wandered away. It took me a while to find you again. You have so much light inside you,” the Shepherdess said. 

“Then why am I a black sheep?” Flash asked. 

“First of all, that is a label you put on yourself a long time ago, so you might be the best person to answer that question.  Secondly, it’s not a bad thing to be!  You have a great force inside you that draws light and holds it inside making for a beautiful soul. Some people wear all of their light on the outside, and that expends a lot of energy.  Every day is made of equal parts of light and darkness. Darkness tells us what light is. It defines and delineates it. You can not have one without the other.  Black sheep…  White sheep…  Do you know what I call them?” the Shepherdess asked. 

Flash just looked at her and waited for the answer. 

“Sheep.  I must go now, but I will be watching over you.”

As Flash watched, she faded from his view, and her words echoed in his mind. It’s not a bad thing at all. 

Cook County News Herald, Saturday November 19, 2011

Jane Howard

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Flash Meridian, traveler through space and time, is back! He has awakened from a 10 year cryogenic deep freeze during his flight back to Planet Earth, and his new adventures are being chronicled by alter ego Tim Young of Grand Marais. His experiences have remarkable similarities to the issues faced by 21st Century Earthlings and can be followed at http://flashmeridian.blogspot.com.

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Flash Meridian, space traveler, moves in and out of time. He wanders the universe, pondering its mysteries. He picks up friends along the way and they float along together sharing what they are not certain is reality or dream.

As a boy, Flash Meridian lived with his parents on a Michigan farm. A contemplative and creative child, Flash always felt a longing for something he could not find in this world. Something he could not even name.

After being cryogenically frozen for the last 10 years, Flash Meridian has reappeared on earth. His alter ego is Tim Young, Grand Marais artist, college student, justice of the peace, caregiver for the elderly, community volunteer, father. Young discovered Flash when a daydream transported him into outer space in his 1962 Chrysler New Yorker wagon, known in the year 2014 as the Trans-Neptunian Interloper (TNI).

Flash is making his reappearance on the web at http://flashmeridian.blogspot.com and on Facebook. Some might describe his saga as an online sci-fi comic strip illustrated by creatively enhanced photos.

Making it into outer space

Tim was born on July 20, which, in 1969, was the day the first man walked on the moon. He grew up with dreams of being an astronaut, which came true when his journey merged with that of Flash Meridian:

Our story begins in the year 2104 when Flash Meridian, a pioneer in the field of warp travel, is lost in the outer reaches of our solar system. With greater distances traveled at greater speeds than ever before, it soon becomes apparent that the margin of error is also much greater than it had been previously. As Flash hurtles ever outward from the sun to deep space beyond our solar system, a search and rescue party is formed to bring him home.

How does Flash feel about being out in space, uncertain of whether he will make it home? “He really doesn’t feel at home here on this planet,” Tim says of Flash. In his cryogenic chamber, however, he falls asleep to the sound of human voices on the radio.

He treasured the opportunity he had to see things most people never saw. It’s just that space is very big.

Flash has a guardian angel who meets him in a dream and guides him through his darkest hours. “Who are you?” Flash asked the face, not yet sure whether she was real or whether she could hear him. “My name is HollyGram,” she answered.

“I am the one who has watched over you. You are my charge. When you were alone, I accompanied you. When you were weary, I brought rest. When you were happy, I celebrated.”

“Flash wasn’t sure what to think of all this. “Were you here in the TNI before?” Flash asked.

“I have always been here,” she replied.

“You put my ship on course. You brought me safely around Pluto… What about when I first went off course?”

“You needed the journey,” she said simply.

…Flash switched off his radio and computer, putting his life in the protective hands of his guardian angel. A sense of peace filled him while all the questions and fears fell away into nothingness.

The constellations Flash now saw fell from her gown, showering his dreams with diamonds.

The new adventures

The new adventures of Flash Meridian contain real life messages – about environmental responsibility, caring for animals, encountering the Divine – that apply to all of us, swirling together through the universe on Spaceship Earth.

Earth hung like a glimmering blue ornament against a backdrop of spangled infinity.

The computer screen read the current date, 1-14-2114. Could it be? Had he slept ten years?

“Welcome back, Flash Meridian,” came the voice through his headset again. “Relax,” it continued. “you are on auto-pilot, and we will bring you in.”

…Like a dream, or the dream of a dream, details eluded him, leaving him to wonder whether he was even now waking or sleeping. In this way, his dream continued to dream him while crews on earth worked around the clock to bring him back.

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.

His mind raced on ahead of him into the unknown, but no earthbound human being could predict the future any easier.

…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.

The goal

“This is not work for me,” says Tim. “…This is play. It’s like breathing or dreaming. …It comes out naturally. I call it gripping the moving pen.”

What message does Flash Meridian bring? “Dream your dreams,” Tim answers. “We’re all poorer if you don’t.”

Tim believes that reality can often be portrayed most “real-ly” through art. “I believe we all have untold stories within us that no one else can tell,” Tim says, “and for me, that is what makes the universe infinite. The power of our thoughts and imagination give us an endless source of things to say. Things that are uniquely ours to tell. …What you have inside you is different than what I have inside me, and we need to hear it just as much as you need to tell it.

…You will be criticized along the way. Not everyone likes what I do. Not everyone will like what you do. Not everyone will get what we’re trying to say. So does that mean we shouldn’t say it or do it? No!”

While paying Flash Meridian a visit aboard the Mother Ship, the Procyon pilot was irradiated by a radioactive beam from space…

Instantly, he was transformed to a giant, 20 times his original size!