All of Olo was buzzing with the news that visitors were coming. Messages had been received that a ship was approaching. Flash read about them in the book. He had previously met one of their race in a dream (or was it a dream?), the magenta alien that was licking rocks. They wanted to taste the Ololian jewels. The king and queen planned a welcome ceremony on the plain, followed by a banquet in the castle.
As the ship approached, more and more people gathered at the tables, scanning the night sky for the first glimpse of them.
No one on Olo ate rocks, or even licked them. Instead, they carved the karkkia into the shapes of jewels, and served them on large platters. The treats looked just like gems, until you touched them. They jiggled when they were handled, and the sound of laughter rose up from the already joyful nocturnal gatherings beneath the stars.
At last, the spacecraft came into view, and excitement continued to grow over several days while the speck of light became more brilliant night after night.
It was daytime when they entered Olo’s atmosphere, and everyone gathered on the crimson plain. Everyone looked upward when a white streak appeared in the sky. It circled the planet, and when it reappeared, it was much lower, and clearly visible, glimmering against a clear blue background. The ship turned, in a descending spiral, encircling the plain. The crowd parted, leaving a landing strip in front of the entrance to the museum. The silver ship was so smooth, and so reflective that it was barely visible in the daylight as it touched down. It mirrored the sky on top, and the sparkling, multicolored stones below. It hissed. With a cloud of steam, a ramp lowered, and three occupants descended.
The king and queen greeted them first, welcoming them to Olo. They parted to reveal Flash Meridian standing next in line. Looking into their faces, Flash had a feeling of déjà vu. Besides the drooping eyelid, there was an unmistakable expression on their faces that Flash recognized. Here was a dream standing before him in the flesh. They were familiar, yet definitely alien. He had thought that his mind had pieced the red alien together from his experience, but clearly it had entered his brain by other means, the universal stream that ran through everything. Here were bits of him, or maybe he was bits of them.

Anyway, they were bits of stardust meeting face to face.

The crowd was cheering and waving, but the aliens couldn’t take their eyes off the stones that stretched out as far as they could see. They licked their lips, and wiped their wet mouths. They were so close to the appetizing gems, and obviously distracted.
Pages stepped forward bearing selected jewels. They held velvet pillows which cradled emeralds, rubies, diamonds and other stones of every color.
Help yourself, Flash invited.
The visitors leaned over, sniffing the crystals the way certain human earthlings would look over a box of chocolates or a platter of Christmas cookies.
The first wore a suit of armor. Like the alien in Flash’s dream, he had appendages coming out of his head that looked like dreadlocks. The second wore a blue silk robe, and the third wore a blood red gown. They each selected a stone from the pillow. With closed eyes, they inhaled deeply, taking in whatever aroma the stones gave off. Some Ololian onlookers picked up gems and smelled, them. They shook their heads, smelling nothing, but the three travelers seemed to be in ecstasy, intoxicated by the scents they detected. They licked the crystals they held in their hands, and were overcome with emotion. One after another popped the jewels into their mouths, and swallowed. They gobbled up every stone from the pillow, and after that they were less distracted, more talkative. Flash had already read that the man in the blue robe was their king, and the woman in red, their queen. The third man was their bodyguard and pilot.
The dignitaries boarded whales, which transported them to the castle gate and deposited them onto the amethyst road. I should say gateway, or gate opening. There was no actual gate. They had never had a reason to close people in or out, so it was always open. A procession made its way up the winding paths from the plain to the castle plateau.
Flash and his daughter Mad, along with Luuu and Poikani, took another whale, while Bucket flew along beside them, cradling the sphere inside him. They went directly up to Flash’s balcony, since the royal party were having their portraits made before dinner.
Throughout the castle were bowls of gemstones, set out like candy dishes, which the guests savored, thanking everyone around them, and commenting on their deliciousness.
Skip asked Buffy whether there might be a shortage of gems after their new friends’ visit. She laughed and said Don’t worry, your majesty, we’ll get the stones back. They don’t digest them.
Buffy then approached the alien queen who was about to pose for her portrait. She produced a Ruby necklace and headdress. Leaning in to fasten the clasp, she whispered into her ear A little something for later, your majesty.

Flash went further and deeper. He knew he was well away from the castle. He had left the catacombs and was now in a natural cave system that was unlike the straight smooth tunnel. While it was still accessible, the subterranean path rose and fell, taking turns to the left and right. No art adorned these walls, and Flash imagined what art he or the child inside him could paint here.
Eventually, he turned and made his winding way back to the castle.
Poikani, Bucket and the sphere greeted him when he arrived back home. Daylight shone through the crystals, flooding his room with light and color, in stark contrast to his hike under ground.
Flash wore a ruby ring. It had been a gift from the king and queen. With just a quick glance, you could tell that the stone was a ruby. If you looked closer, you would see the facets on the surface. Looking deeper into the gem, you could see facets on the back side of the stone, through the cuts on the front. Turning the stone slightly would catch the light in a different way, revealing one flat face of the stone through another, flashing a spark through the rich, red hue. This is how Flash saw Olo. There was always more to discover. As with everything in the universe, the planet held secrets that it would slowly reveal if you only took the time to discover them. His inner child taught him that he could expose more facets of himself if he was open to acknowledging them.

All this to say that every new day on Olo was brimming with possibility.

Every once in a while, Flash thought of the mother ship, which was held in Olo’s orbit. It could be seen in the night sky, a speck of light that looked like a star, but brighter. He had no reason to go back to it, though he could. The yellow pod was stored near the castle. He could fly it to the other side of Olo, or anywhere he liked, but he preferred to travel by foot or by whaleback.

The hands that placed the stones in the castle structure, if they were hands at all, were invisible hands. Perhaps they were the same hands that created Bucket, in the beginning, as a special gift. The crystals dictated the structures based on how they fit together. In the case of the castle, this is how they settled after the whales emerged from beneath the planet’s crust. Everything that was Olo was rearranged. Some described it as the planet being turned inside out. Others thought of the castle growing from the plateau, with its roots reaching deep into Olo’s core. No one argued about it, anyway. There was a castle that towered above the mountain. Everyone could see it, and access it, particularly the courtyard. That was all that mattered. They couldn’t explain it any more than they could explain the glasslike spires, the crimson plain, or even the edifices that their own hands had had a role in assembling.
Within the castle, were private living quarters, where the royal family and others lived. There were more public spaces, too. There were great ballrooms where celebrations occurred. There were concerts and plays. There were feasts and presentations. Everyone was welcome. There were also more private events, because of course the castle was a home.
Whales circled the castle, swimming in the air and casting their shadows on the walls, which brought the holograms inside to life. On the shaded side of the castle, light was reflected off the whales creating similar, but opposite effects. This was all unintentional. The whales and the gems just coexisted in a symbiotic relationship.
Prince Eeli and Princess Aada weren’t hidden away. They could come and go freely. They were recognized, of course, and they were loved. Even the king and queen would be seen walking outside the castle walls. They were there to help.
Flash Meridian also lived in the castle, and he normally exited his apartment off the balcony. One night, he found himself wide awake, and he decided to take a walk indoors. He lifted the wrought iron latch and pulled the heavy door open. The corridor was lit by crystals. They sat in sconces between tapestries that hung on these interior walls. Dark beams arched above him in the vaulted ceiling, and he walked on thick carpet, which was woven with scenes and patterns depicting Ololian events and themes. He treaded silently in the dim but warm light, and couldn’t help thinking of the cave, which was adorned by a different kind of art. He knew his way through the castle, of course, but it looked so different at night. The hallway opened here and there to empty sitting areas, and alcoves that housed statues that seemed to watch him pass. At the end of the passageway, a broad, winding staircase spiraled down the interior of a tower. The circular wall twinkled with gems. Not only did the faceted stones reflect the light, but the crystals themselves glowed softly from within, having spent the day projecting forms into the interior. The stairs, like the corridors, were thickly carpeted, and Flash made no sound as he descended the vast height of the citadel.

Upon reaching the main floor, he entered the portrait gallery, which was dark, but for the pools of light that illuminated the faces in the paintings of the royal family.
Flash stood for a while in front a formal portrait of Buffy and Skip, the queen and king, along with Aada and Eeli.

The prince and princess looked so young. They grew quickly, as children do, and Flash sighed, remembering that day when his own daughter suddenly grew too big to hold anymore.
Another image showed the king and queen with baby Eeli before Aada was born.

Individual pictures showed the prince and princess as young adults, and Flash was reminded again of the rapid passage of time, which seemed to stop for a while in the rich solitude of this night.
Flash made his way deep into the castle, to a darkened recess whose back wall was a hidden doorway to another stairway. This was a dark space. He reached out slightly and felt the stone walls on either side as he went down into the mountain to the maze of tunnels below.
He passed through the wine cellars before descending into the catacombs. Racks of wine lined the walls, preserved in the cool darkness. Flash could just make out some of the calligraphic labels in the soft glow of a stone he carried. The dreams of the makers were safe and accessible in these bottles. He passed through room after room filled with bottles, and also stacks of barrels of wine made more recently by the king himself. These young wines would be brought up to the crimson plain on festival days, while the bottles would be served at dinner parties in the castle, or given as gifts.
Flash enjoyed exploring the less visited parts of Olo, inside the castle, in or above the forests, or deep beneath the planet’s surface.

On sleepless nights like this, the whole world took on a different flavor.

On this particular night, he enjoyed the cool air, which grew colder the deeper he went.
Down here beneath Olo’s surface, Flash felt more connected to his inner child, who he had found in the cave. He also felt closer to his grandson Luuu, who had guided him there, and to his ancestors who had been laid to rest beneath the soil back on Earth.

I was going to tell you about the clocks on Olo.
Just kidding.
There are no clocks on Olo.

Ololians tell time by the daylight. They gauge mealtimes by when they feel hungry. They know it’s bedtime when they’re sleepy.
They do have something that looks like a clock tower in the castle. There is no clock, just a chime. The bells ring to announce things, but the main reason it is there is because people like the sound of it. They announce festivals and parties. It’s more of a celebration than an announcement.
As I’ve mentioned before, there are no schools or churches. That means there are no weddings or graduations, either.

One day, Flash went down to the courtyard for no particular reason. He just went down from his room high up in the castle because he enjoyed being there. He never knew who he might see, and if no one was around, he could sit and watch whatever stories the holograms happened to be projecting.
 It was a quiet day, and Flash enjoyed a steaming drink. The story of an artisan creating stone tools was displayed in the cool air. Of course these were Ololian rocks, so the tools were made from topaz, sapphire, chrysoberyl and diopside. The chips of mineral flew off in flashes of colored light. The bells chimed above him, enhancing the colorful scenes. The bells coincided with the striking of the stones, sounding like the ringing of the crystals being built into structures out on the plain.
After a bit, Eeli came out the door at the base of the tower. His eyes met Flash’s, and they smiled at each other.
What are the bells announcing today? Flash asked.

Aada thought she had lost her jukka, Eeli explained, but it only rolled under her bed.


That’s a relief! Flash said, and celebrated with her in his heart.

People came and went through the main castle gate, and the stories depicted in the holograms changed. One scene morphed into another. This was not at all like television or movie screens. Everything was three dimensional, and different characters might appear in opposite ends of the courtyard, populating the entire space. Characters might approach you and interact with you. It took some experience to differentiate the projected figures from the flesh and blood ones. Whenever Flash was in doubt, he would look for the darkest tones, as these areas tended to show the background through them more than the lighter, or more saturated hues.
A story began about the work on the museum. The bells in the tower provided sound effects for the component crystals being built into walls, and Flash thought about the construction of the castle itself, and particularly, the wall in his bedroom. Bucket would have loved to be part of that construction project!
You couldn’t tell what images these new walls might project. Even the builders didn’t know what the gems would show. They just placed them how they fit together.
Orange circles began raining down onto the amethyst floor of the courtyard, bouncing and slowly becoming spherical. They changed from discs into balls, and continued to develop into pumpkins, in celebration, one could assume, of the coming agricultural wing of the museum.
The pumpkins on Olo grow really big. The C. Maxima variety contain the largest pumpkins on earth, but the biggest of them would be dwarfed by an Ololian pumpkin! Several people lived inside pumpkin shells on Olo. One roasted seed would feed a whole table of people. The meat from the seed would be carved, the way a hotel chef might carve a beef roast.
The pumpkins would dream about how their rind would be carved. This was not scary to them at all. Some would get faces, some would get windows and doors.
After they were carved, their shell would dry, becoming hard and durable. They would leave the pumpkin patch to experience a whole new life on Olo.
Mommy and Daddy pumpkins would sing lullabies to their blossoms, and tell them stories about Mr. Pumpkinhead’s adventures. They dreamed big dreams, and I think this contributed to their huge size.

Flash often returned to the rainbow arch and cave. He enjoyed looking at the pictures in the cool air and gentle light of glowing crystals. Sometimes, he napped on the cave floor, and the paintings came to life in his dreams.
Something else also drew him back to this place. It was the crystal arch where he had sat with his grandson. Standing under the arch gave Flash a good feeling. Colored light beamed down on him blending not only the hues, but the temperatures. Standing in the intensely colored light, he felt that he were standing in a painting. He thought of the dream where he was swallowed up in his grandfather’s artwork. It was a comfortable place, but there was more to it. Something he couldn’t explain. Not everything needed an explanation, and who would he explain it to anyway?
As he thought this, he saw something move on the ground near his feet. Startled, he looked down. It was just the shifting colorful shapes. No, it moved again. The stones and soil were shifting. A jewel toppled as the ground beneath it pushed up.
Flash took a step back and watched. Perhaps this was something like a mole or groundhog, though Flash had seen other, far more unexpected animals, break out of Olo’s surface.
It dawned upon Flash that he had emerged in this very spot to reunite with his grandson after meeting his child-self in the cave.
A hand appeared, and then another, and soon a person climbed up and crawled out into the light next to Flash. He stood, and dusted himself off. Clouds of dust were illuminated in rainbow colors as they settled back to the ground.
Hello, Flash greeted the man.
There was something oddly familiar about him, and the two men stood looking at each other for several moments, allowing the silence to hang with promise in the dazzling air.
A chill ran up Flash’s spine. Can you know a person you have never met before?
He stared into the young man’s eyes, and the man nodded his head slowly. He smiled, and Flash’s eyes welled up with tears. He didn’t know why.

The man looked down at his rumbled, dusty suit, and said I’m all dirty.

That’s ok, Flash said.
The man chuckled, and hugged Flash. His embrace was comfortable. Flash hugged him, too.
I am Archy, the man said, I come from under the arch. My fingerprints are all over you!
It was true. Dusty handprints covered Flash’s clothes.
Thank you for taking me with you to the stars. He chuckled again. You have carried us all with you on your adventures. You’ve taken us to places we never could have dreamed were possible.
Something else was moving, and caught Flash’s attention. They were flying in and out, over and under the arch. Dark against the sky and the crystal bridge, birds flew. Flash had not seen a bird since leaving Earth. They chased each other in a playful way, and Flash watched them in astonishment. They eventually lighted upon Archy’s shoulders, and Flash could clearly see their bright red breasts.
Archy! Robins! He blurted out.
Archy just chuckled again and said Yes.

For my great-grandfather, Archie Robbins Miner, 1876-1942, and all of my ancestors.

Flash Meridian awoke one day, and watched the rippling light that trickled in around the drapes. His mind wandered back to Earth. He rarely thought about his former life there. The details were hazy and insignificant, like a dream. He didn’t feel any sense of loss or sadness. He just lived in the eternal now with no fear of the future and no regret or attachment to the past. They didn’t exist. The light that lapped against the walls and ceiling held all he needed to know. A new morning had broken, full of wonder and promise.

I almost forgot to tell you about Ololian wine. With so many fruits available, it’s only natural that they would make fermented beverages. Some of them made you happy. Euphoric! Some made you feel relaxed. Sleepy. Their flavors would bring out subtle notes in the fruit, and most people made their own, imbued with their own personality. It wouldn’t make you drunk, no matter how much you drank. It never caused hangovers, and even the children drank it without causing concern.
You could drink as much as you wished with no negative effects. In much the way the jewels weren’t precious, the wine wasn’t forbidden. Nobody cared, any more than if someone on Earth drank the most delicious fresh mountain spring water.
By drinking wine made by a friend, you were welcomed into that friend’s dreams. If your friend was gone, you could meet them in those dreams, and run, hand in hand together through sunny fields. You could sit and talk together under a starry sky. You could ride a whale together to the edge of the Giddings Phenomenon, or anywhere your heart desired. This was further proof that nothing is ever lost. Loved ones live on within us even after they transform, much the way Olo had. They are still there, close by, embedded in the layers of us. An occasional relic might reveal them. Finding the artifact, or digging below the surface only brings the reality to our consciousness. You don’t have to find it, or go. The truth is still the truth, regardless.

Flash stayed in the cave, and looked at the other drawings and paintings that adorned the walls. One panel featured cats in grass skirts, dancing on stage.
“I remember this one,” he said to the child inside him.
“Miss Kitty Islands. It was a beauty pageant.”
The child grew excited at having an interested audience… an adult… that remembered and took an interest in his work.

“This one is the Minnie Mansion,” the little boy said, pointing out a drawing of a stone castle.
Cats and horses were recurring themes throughout the cave, and Minnie herself made several appearances. Flash looked at her black and white fur, drawn by his own hand, long ago. The white blaze that ran from her black nose, up her forehead, looked just like Lem’s. He felt the loss of both of them with a freshness and suddenness that he hadn’t anticipated. They seemed connected, the way he was connected to the artist child. He grieved the loss of all of them. They still traveled with him in his heart, and he felt sure that they would all be reunited again soon in another dimension.
Big Flash and Little Flash both remembered how long it took to meticulously draw all the stones in the mansion wall, and Big Flash thought of Buffy and Skip’s castle with its intricate placement of gems.
This little boy had been nearly forgotten, with nothing but time to create all this. He had slipped away so gradually. So imperceptibly. He was never really gone, it’s just that Big Flash had lost sight of him, and promised him that he would never leave him.
“There is nothing wrong with you,” he reassured.
“I love you. I love you exactly as you are. It is ok to explore. It is ok to ask questions. It is ok if you are angry or afraid. You can make mistakes, and you can have doubts. I will always love you, and I will always be here for you. I will take care of you. You don’t have to take care of me.”
At the same time, he knew that this child had a lot to teach him.
Here in this grand space, was the greatest art gallery Flash had ever seen. Like the Ololian book, it was tailored to him.
Mad’s apartment in the mountains looked a lot like Jewely’s. Her spire was pale blue. Each apartment in the spires took up an entire level, or floor, so her view stretched in every direction. The light inside was bright, but cool. The walls were so transparent that you didn’t notice the color from inside, and details, even far away, were crisp. The floor and ceiling were translucent with opaque veins running through them, and the walls could be darkened.
Whales could be summoned for transportation, but most of the inhabitants took the stairs.
I don’t recall anyone ever being in a hurry on Olo! You see, they lived in the present, and didn’t really worry much. I think I told you about the time Flash dropped from the sky. He felt a thrill, yes, but he wasn’t afraid. Lem often felt concerned, but she took control of her activities. Rather than worry, she just made comfortable decisions for herself, and no one judged her for it, or coaxed her to do anything she didn’t want to do. As the king said, you can go or not go. Going or not going doesn’t change anything but your understanding. You can talk or not talk. No pressure.
All this to say, Mad almost always took the stairs.

I’ve mentioned the rivers that flow like liquid silver. The water on Olo is very different than water on Earth. Certain rainstorms fell in rainbow colored drops. On earth, you could see a rainbow in airborne water, because of the prism effect. On Olo, sometimes individual drops had their own hue. They fell from the sky in intense color, and they didn’t mix with other colors. If a red drop made contact with a yellow drop, for example, they didn’t become a larger orange drop. They would fall as a half red, half yellow drop. The puddles that formed would be polka dotted in every color of the shower.
The water on Olo was less dense than water on earth, and you could breathe beneath its surface. You could spend a whole day deep down at the bottom of a lake without ever needing to surface for air. This was the opposite effect of the fish that swam in the air, finding shelter in the treetops, or the whales that had grown so accustomed to swimming through the soil.
When you emerged from the water, you wouldn’t stay wet for long! The slightest breeze would have you dry in minutes, yet the feeling of refreshment was long lasting.
If a rainstorm were to form while the Ololians were gathered on the plain, you wouldn’t see anyone running for cover. They just thanked the sky for the gift of water and carried on with whatever they were already doing.

The child sees everything in a state of newness; he is always drunk. Nothing more resembles what we call inspiration than the delight with which a small child absorbs form and colour. – Baudelaire

Meanwhile, Flash returned to the cave opening near the rainbow arch, not sure of what he would find there. The little boy version of him had been freed from the dark cavern, and lived in his heart. That child looked out through Flash’s eyes now. Flash could see him in his own reflection, the last one to be liberated from the dull gray-green dust.
Traveling by whaleback, Flash was deposited in a small clearing near the mouth of the cave. He walked a narrow path through dense woods, and then he saw a dancing glow between the branches. Light was hitting the arch, shooting a hologram into the silent air. In the gently shifting light, one whale after another emerged from the cave opening. They faded as they rose, dissipating into the sky beyond the treetops. White whales emerged like a train, happy to soar out from the darkness.
Flash got lost for a moment, in their joyful exit. He turned his back to the blue crystal at the base of the arch, and walked straight toward the opening.
The blackness no longer obliterated the entrance. No more than any cave would, anyway. He stepped inside. The air was cool. He picked up a glowing jewel and went further in. The walls were adorned with drawings that he could not see on his previous visit. He turned back, and could see everything clearly. The darkness had left, and in the light of the gem, he recognized the drawings as his own. The child inside him interpreted the art his tiny hand had made. They were beautiful. They were simple, uncomplicated images that just fell, without pretense, onto the rock face.
A swath of yellow enveloped one rock face. Looking closer at it, Flash could see the brushstrokes beneath dust and crystals forming on its surface. Next to it was a second rock, also painted yellow. Flash held the crystal lantern up to it, and he heard the child within him giggle.
What’s so funny? He asked aloud.
The childlike giggle became a full laugh, which echoed through the cave.
They are two different yellows! The innocent voice finally blurted out.
And Flash remembered.
Here was Flash’s past, inscribed on stone. It was preserved and protected in the shelter of the cave. He thought of his dream, where he saw the hologram still projected from the ruins of the castle.
The yellow panels shimmered in the light of the glowing jewel. They were two similar yet distinct shades of a happy hue. Something melancholy lurked within the color as Flash recalled that day when he was a little boy.
You’re doing it wrong! a little girl blamed, You’re supposed to use two different colors!
But they are diff… his voice trailed off, as the girl had run off to tattle. Her accusation confused him. Could she not see the variation?
Flash smiled, happy that he didn’t need her approval. He was happy that the simplest of paintings could hold so much meaning. He was satisfied that whatever hurt he had felt in Miss Barnes’ kindergarten class only added flavor to his creation. He was glad that most people would not see, or take time to understand, and that the only validation he needed came from himself.
There were more obvious pictures adorning the cave walls. Hundreds… no, thousands of them, fading into the darkness beyond the reach of the gem’s glow. There were pictures that told you what they were. They spelled it out for you. His mother’s blue skirt, depicted by a crude trapezoid below her white blouse. Her form stretched up the wall, with her face on the ceiling of the tunnel, looking down on him. These were easy.
The yellow fields were pure emotion. Defining them was unnecessary.
They reminded him that he didn’t need anyone else. A day was coming when he would leave everyone behind anyway, so this was good practice. He could love without needing. He could share without draining. He could be. After that, he could transition without fear.

Flash had taken up residence in the castle. He looked into the mirror one day and saw that what had happened with his daughter, had also happened to him. An old man looked back at him, and he realized that he was not immune to the rapid passage of time. Naturally, his body grew older with each passing moment, it’s just that he thought it would take longer.
Well that’s interesting, he said, turning to Lem. And then he remembered that she was gone already. He knew he would join her soon, when he cast off these now necessary cells. He would rise like a bubble, free at last, to surface, unencumbered by flesh.
Soon, but probably not today. He headed out onto the crimson plain. There was still time for a few more adventures.