Eyes opened, pale blue eyes. The deep dark pupil, like a black hole,sucking in objects of his desire. Tiny dots were scattered across it,tiny light fragments, like Stars. The entire pupil, holding minutelittle stars inside it. All trapped inside an eye ...Blink.

This, this construction of his, this dream given life,given a form, an identity of his own. This creation of his, breathedwith life, electric cables flowed like veins. Support beams protectedit like ribs. Most of all, inside this giant creation, hid itscreator! Its core, its soul ... one Dr. Kaine Ramius.

It is verycold in space, cold like a heartless man. Dr. Ramius was quite cold,indeed even space itself could not compare to his cold heart. Thedeath of his wife and only child had left him a hollow shell. Only hiswork supported his means of survival.

He had done what othersscoffed was impossible. He had created the first, and last ...space-traveling ship. It was a birth he had not conceived until theanniversary of his wife and son's death. It was ... the rebirth of hisson, named after him, young Crono, to whom he had given all his time,all his life.

As the ship slowly crept toward his creation, Dr.Ramius stamped his foot in impatience, turning to the captain on thebridge "My son awaits me. Why must this infernal ship take solong?"

It was no secret that the Earth Alliance, thecaptain, everyone, thought he was crazy. Driven mad by the death ofhis family, driven insane by his desire to join them. "Dr.Ramius, we are taking all necessary pre ..."

The rude doctorinterrupted, waving a slender finger in the man's face, "Don'ttell me what precautions you're taking. That's my son out there! Hedeserves to see his father!"

The captain, as if growingtired of the man, squinted, looking over the crazed doctor. Thescientist, no more than 26 years old, already seemed to be witheringaway like a dying flower, so far past its prime that to go backwardswould be harder than to accept its fate and go forward. His skin was apale pink, his hair was always short and crisp cut. His blue eyespiercing and perhap the only thing that showed any life. He wasgravely thin from days without eating. His whole image had more orless convinced the captain that the rumors were true. Dr. Kaine Ramiuswas insane; he looked it, acted it, and proved it.

The shipfinally began to send tendrils to the creation, slowly hooking intoopen ports, like wires strung out of a cable box. Winding their way tothe ship, they began to create a docking mechanism.

Afterendless hours of frustration, the doctor rushed toward the openinghatch, as both the ship and the creation exchanged air pressures. Witha hiss that sounded like an annoyed child, the hatch opened. Revealinghis son to Dr. Ramius, his first impulse was to drop to his knees, andkiss the steel plank floor. Though he hesitated, feeling rather urgentto proceed to the main bridge of his son, to feel the loving embraceof the steel beams and wires.

With a hiss the door opened,revealing a rather cramped bridge where cables and steel beamsprotruded from the room. A computer screen dotted the far wall,pinpointing locations and specifying points of movement.

As thecaptain entered, he looked at the cramped room. The doctor snugly fitinto the small seat of the main bridge or Mind's Eye as he dubbed it.The image of Dr. Ramius drifted from his mind, seeing for once in hisbrief life ... the man Kaine Ramius appear.

Drifting his slender,pale hand over the main memory storage of the creation's computersystem, Kaine seemed to take in a slow breath. Feeling at the perfectsurface, like the skin of his son, his lower lip trembled, as he triedin vain to maintain some semblance of control over his emotions, asthe words poured over the screen in acknowledgment:

6: 47a.m.

Good Morning, Father. I have missed you.

Kaine'sheart seemed to crumble, the glasses he wore slowly sliding down hispointed nose, as tears began to well in his eyes. He let out a coldbreath, painfully clinging a hand to his chest, feeling his heart beatwith life, like that of his son's.

The tender wail of hisnewborn child, Crono. The gentle smile and soft skin as he held himtenderly to his chest. Here he was again, though no soft skin came tohis touch, only the chilling cold of the steel plating. He lovinglystroked his hand across the console top, relishing the moment ... whenhe heard the captain clear his throat.

As soon as he began,Kaine vanished again, folded back inside that sinister form of Dr.Ramius ... whose brow furrowed in anger at the interruption. "Whatis it, Captain?"

Slowly extending his hand to the man, hespoke, "Good luck, Dr. Ramius ... we're all counting onyou."

Dr. Ramius waved it away, caring little forappraisal, "Leave me be, at 7: 00 a.m., my creation ... my sonCrono and I shall be the first to travel from this point and place intime all the way to the other side of the galaxy, and back again ... allin five minutes." Dr. Ramius grinned, and then waved toward thecaptain, "Take care, good captain sir." The captain slowlyturned away, not caring much, and strode off the ship. Within minutesthe tendrils that had been attached to the creation slowly pulledaway, and ship backed off, clearing away a safe distance.

Dr.Kaine Ramius lifted his hands, slowly tapping into the computer, hisfingers stroking each keypad, designating points and places on a solarmap. His eyes drifted to the clock that displayed the time ... 6:55.

Leaning back in his seat, he placed a key into a pad, andturned. A blue button rose up, and he pressed it. The creation came tolife, computers whirled on, screen flashed to life, and an enginesuddenly began to turn on. An electric hum took flight in the crampedbridge. The rising whirling sound of the engine began to takepresence, slowly turning over and over.

The outside of the shipbegan to generate a light blue glow as electrons charged. A massiveform of rotary near the back turned over and over in a circle,beginning to glow brighter and brighter. There was no sound in space,nothing, but anyone could see the light grow brighter andbrighter.

Inside the bridge Dr. Kaine Ramius tapped a few morekeys, a long projected line appeared over the solar map, formulatingwhere he would next be in less than ... 6: 58. He finally tapped thelast of the calculations, ran it through the computer, then gazingaround the bridge, he leaned back in his chair, watching as his sonbegan to do his work. Slowly he pulled out a small pocket watch, theelectron charge had begun to course through the ship. He pressed theswitch to the old pocket watch, and his dearest wife, Sandra, andtheir small child, Crono, in her arms appeared before him. Lovinglycradling him, as she had always done.

"I'm going to makethings right, my love. I promise it will not be long before I join you ... I promise." 6: 59.

The hum of the charging electronsbecame almost unbearable as the creation slowly tuned itself with eachfrequency, the melody of the hum flowing through both his blood-filledveins, and his son's electric ones.

He gazed at the screen onelast time, reading the words ... "I have missed you, too," hesaid "I have missed you too." As if on cue, all suddenlyflashed, and the clock said ... 7: 00.

The captain watched as theship suddenly flashed in a brilliant blue-white light that all butblinded him, the light seemed brighter than the sun. All of spacemomentarily could see the massive light rising to full height, beforesuddenly going dim and disappearing forever.

The ship rockedheavily as a sharp clapping sound broke through the ship, the sound ofrelease. He held fast to a rail, feeling the last of the effects fade.It was a sudden clap that had attained enough energy to move soundthrough the emptiness of space!

The captain slammed a fistdown in triumph. "That jerk did it!" he yelled, looking outthe view screen. Everyone began to clap at the success. Even on Earthshows began to start portraying the broken, sad man named Kaine, whosetragic loss of his wife and child led to his obsession and triumphwith his creation.

The captain smiled, and asked his officer,"How long has it been?" The man typed a few keys into acomputer and then said "It's 7: 06, sir, six minutes." Thecaptain's smile slowly began to fade as others continued to cheer injoy ... All the way to the other side of the galaxy, and back again -all in five minutes. His smile simply died - and he bowed hishead.

The last embers of the stars crossed my mind, eventuallybeing snuffed out by the white glow until finally, I could see, hear,and feel no more.

- Kaine?