By now I'm sure you all know what happened on the Bridge... it was on pretty much every news station from London to Outer Mongolia.  But in case anyone was somewhere more remote when it happened -- like in outer space -- here's what took place: Ben was on the bridge.  An 18 wheeler was about to run someone over.  Ben saved the guy's life, stood in the way of the truck... AND STOPPED IT DEAD IN ITS TRACKS!!  Twisted metal, broken glass and police everywhere -- trying to stop what they thought was some kind of monster, while he was busy trying to save lives!  Johnny, Sue and I arrived on the scene, and suddenly find new uses for our powers -- helping people! Saving lives! Johnny says "Flame on!" and holds the police at bay while Sue and I try to rescue people.  The witnesses get it.  A local fireman was the first to use the word 'superheroes' -- and I've had almost a week to get used to it.  All of a sudden, there are TV cameras everywhere, and Fox News starts calling us 'The Fantastic Four.'  Before we have a chance to play it down  -- although, come to think of it, that would have been difficult after the spectacle we created -- Johnny is there, on camera, saying that's what we are, and giving us superhero named like 'Invisible Girl' (that's my darling Sue), 'The Human Torch' (Johnny, of course), and... well... Look, I've never been one to draw attention to myself, so I have to admit it's going to be hard to get used to being known as 'Mister Fantastic'.  Then again, if Ben can come to terms with his condition, it can't be that much of a stretch for yours truly...

How do I explain the events of the past week?  Since the... accident?  Seeing Sue there in the hospital, I suddenly realised she was what I cared about most in this world.  And then... she started to disappear.  Turn invisible right before my eyes.  In her panic, she knocked a glass off the table -- and suddenly my arm stretched out twenty feet to catch it!  And we're not the only ones... All of us who passed through that cloud -- me, Sue, Ben, Johnny, even Victor -- something happened to us.  Something fundamentally altered our bodies at a molecular level, giving us... powers.  Like something out of a superhero comic.  Johnny, he... I don't know how else to say it -- he can immolate his whole body at will -- literally, set himself on fire, with no ill effects.  He just says 'Flame on' and he literally bursts into flame!  Sue concentrates hard, and she turns invisible.  And me... I can stretch myself out to seemingly unlimited lengths, as though I don't have a bone in my body.  None of us seem to suffer any ill effects from our... powers?  Except... Ben.  Ben's been hit the hardest of all.  It's like his DNA has been altered, turning his body kind of solid, like cracked sun-baked Earth.  He's the one I'm worried about... He checked himself out of the hospital, and hasn't been seen since.  As a scientist, I know I should embrace this chance to explore, like Marie Curie irradiating herself in the name of science.  But all I can think about is wanting my friends to be okay.

The best laid plans of mice and men...  I almost decided to cancel due to the horrific events in London yesterday, but we all decided that the proper thing to do was continue on. We launched this morning at 2:13 Pacific Time, the perfect operational window.  A perfect launch.  Not a glitch.  Docked with the space station, and Johnny put us right on the marks.  And then... wasn't I saying something about chaos theory?  Well, it happened: the cloud accelerated.  We were supposed to have hours till we passed through the cloud; instead, we had minutes.  I told Victor he had to abort, but he wouldn't hear of it.  And it's all my fault!  The numbers... the calculations... they were off.  My fault.  Ben was... outside.  My best friend... floating in space outside the ship while all my calculations unraveled before my eyes.  A cloud of turbulence hit him.  Thought... we'd lost him.  Victor, he... He ordered the shields up -- before Ben was inside!!  Why... how... how could he do that?  Sue... she stood up to him.  I caved.  I'll never forgive myself.  I thought -- for one fleeting moment, but enough to change my whole life -- "Victor's right, it's him or us" -- and for a moment, I actually considered abandoning him.  Somehow, Johnny got him inside.  Kept a cool head while all about him were losing theirs... ours... But we made it.  Ben is back inside.  Unconscious.  But alive.  God help us... God help me...  I'm a scientist.  A rational, thinking, cognitive machine.  Science can't explain what happened today.  If anything happens to Ben because my calculations were off... I'll never forgive myself.  I wish I'd never agreed to write this blog...

T-minus 7 days.  7 days to launch.  168 hours.  I don't know what to say...  don't know what to write.  Everything I've worked for... everything I've ever dreamed of... Years of research... Years of theorizing... all about to come to a single focal point, like the singularity at the sharp end of a black hole.  (At least, if Stephen Hawking has it right, which no one is sure about any more.)  That's the trouble with theoretical physics -- as scientists like to say, 'Science is not an exact science.'  You can plan, plot, theorize and rationalize as much as you like, but... there's so much chaos in the universe, you can only make contingencies for so much.  It's not that I don't think we're ready -- I do.  It's just that... we think we're at the cutting edge of scientific exploration, when really we're like microbes trying to explain the human race.  The universe is so vast, so empty... Do you know that they call Earth the "Goldilocks planet"?  Because it's really the only heavenly body (other than a certain Head of Research I could mention) capable of evolving life as we know it: it's not too big, not too small, not too cold, not too hot... The Goldilocks planet.  It really blows your mind.  Just thinking about the physics required to get our ship out of the Earth's gravitational pull to rendezvous with a space station six thousand miles up.... it doesn't bear thinking about.  So many variables.  So many unknowables.  Do I sound anxious?  I'm not.  I'm terrified.  This is Reed Richards, signing off... The next time you hear from me, we'll be in space.