Sandra voiced the thoughts of everyone in Main Mission: "It is beautiful."

Commander Koenig—standing on the short flight of stairs that linked his office with the nerve center of Alpha Moon base—agreed, but with a caveat, "Yes…but dangerous, too."

The main view screen cycled through images starting with the twin red and blue sub giant stars composing the heart of the binary system. Next came a gaseous, crimson cloud littered with sparkling energy. Then a pair of comets streaking through the system side by side, their tails glowing in golden plumes.

Tanya Alexander—from her station at the center of Main Mission—remarked, "It is like some kind of cosmic art gallery."

"Kano?"

Alpha's computer expert finished retrieving data from his console and replied to the Commander: "Computer projects a stable path through the system. No collision concerns and we should not be affected by gravitational forces in this system."

Sandra quipped, "Ask computer if it has ever seen a solar system as beautiful as this."

Kano answered dryly, "Computer is a machine, not an art critic."

"Okay then," Koenig descended the stairs and stood behind Paul Morrow who sat at the head of the ring of consoles that comprised Main Mission. "We're going to make it through. But is there anything more here than pretty pictures?"

Professor Victor Bergman moved away from the bank of computer panels situated beneath the Main Mission balcony and joined the discussion. He held a small slip of paper and read from it as he walked.

"Yes, well, let's see here…four planets in the system, one is a gas giant so that's no good…"

Paul Morrow served as the voice of pessimism as he pointed out, "Professor, a binary star system rarely has any planets suitable for life."

Tanya told Paul to, "Stop putting a damper on things."

"Just don't want to get hopes up. We've had that before."

"Paul is right, John. Binary star systems rarely have planets with stable orbits, let alone ones within the twin suns' habitable zone."

"You see," Paul said. "No sense getting our hopes up."

Bergman repeated, "Rarely would best describe it, yes."

"Okay Victor, let's have it," Koenig ran a hand over his eyes as he listened in expectation of bad news.

"But one has an S-type orbit, John," Victor made a tight fist with his spare hand and emphasized for all to see, "It's stable."

"And in the habitat zone?" Paul stood. Indeed, all the personnel in Main Mission honed in on Professor Bergman.

"Don't take my word for it," the Professor toyed with them. He raised his COM link and pointed it at the main viewer. After a quick beep, the screen went dark. "Listen to what computer has to say."

Block-type words appeared on the screen in unison with the monotone, vaguely female voice of computer.

"PLANET DESIGNATE OPAL FOUR…OXYGEN ATMOSPHERE… TEMPERATE CLIMATE…GRAVITY .98 EARTH…IDEAL FOR HUMAN LIFE."

Main Mission erupted in cheers. John Koenig tried to gain a handle on the enthusiasm at about the same time Helen Russell walked in.

"John? Did I miss something?"

Instead of answering her he addressed the staff with his hands held aloft.

"Wait a second, now everybody calm down. This is good news but I don't want to get too excited until we go down there and check it out."

Helena asked again, "Check what out?"

"This," Paul told her and touched a switch on his control panel.

The view screen flickered and then framed a gorgeous sphere of yellow and orange turning slowly while basking in the light of twin suns.

"Opal Four," Victor said. "We should be in range for the next three days."

"Plenty of time for Operation Exodus," Paul jumped as the wave of enthusiasm overtook even his normally-stoic self. "Eagle flight time is only four hours."

"What are those?" Sandra asked as two twirling circles came in to view on the planet's atmosphere. One red, the other blue.

"Storms, I think," Victor said.

"They remind me of the red spot on Jupiter," Paul noted.

"Yes," Bergman agreed as he scratched his head. "According to computer each storm is approximately one hundred miles in diameter."

Kano corrected, "One hundred and three point seven and ninety-eight point five, to be exact." He smiled at Victor as he added, "Computer never approximates."

"Either way," Paul said, "We're not going to let a little storm spoil a picnic, are we Commander?"

Helena gasped, "It's beautiful."

"Beauty is more than skin deep," Koenig brought them back to reality. "Phase one begins immediately. Victor, Helena, you'll come with me to the planet surface. Paul, I want you and Tanya to come along too and give this place a technical readout from top to bottom."

"My pleasure, commander," Tanya said as she smiled broadly at the thought of joining a landing party.

Koenig went on, "Get Winters up here to run Main Mission while we're gone. Kano, keep checking computer's figures. If this is as good as it looks…well, I want to be sure."

---

Eagle One lifted off from the moon surface. It traveled the void of space for four hours. During the trip, both the onboard computers and Alpha's main computer remained focused on the planet. The news remained good. Several large continents…a pair of oceans and hundreds of smaller bodies of water…mountains and plains…two ice-capped poles and a tropical zone around the equator.

The storms remained the only reason for concern.

John Koenig piloted the Eagle with Paul in the co-pilot's seat. The craft descended on final approach, skirting the upper atmosphere.

"Heat shields on," Paul flipped a switch on his side of the cockpit.

"Now we just need to find a parking space," Koenig mumbled as his eyes alternated between the small command module window and the instruments on the panel before him.

Victor's face appeared on the pilot's console monitor.

"John, that red storm is just about below us moving north by northeast. I'm measuring some big wind speeds down there. Best to avoid it."

"Agreed. Victor, have everyone strap in back there. We're making our final approach," John switched off the communications monitor and turned to his co-pilot: "Paul, we're going to go in about fifty miles south of the storm. That should give us plenty of margin for error."

"Locking in an approach."

The Eagle entered the atmosphere and descended smoothly. From his position in the pilot's seat John watched the glow of heat dance on the nose cone and then the swoosh of icy water vapor followed by silky white clouds.

"It's magnificent," Paul allowed himself a moment to enjoy the view of a beautiful sky.

Victor's face appeared again on the internal communications monitor.

"John! The storm…it's changed direction—"

Before Victor could finish his warning Koenig felt the control sticks of the Eagle yank out of his grasp. A massive force—a gust of immense power—slammed into the craft and knocked it off its controlled descent. The cockpit spun. The outside world became a blur. Koenig felt the g-force pin him into his seat.

---

Back at Main Mission Alan Carter and Sandra Benes flanked Winters, a younger man who had experience running Main Mission just once before when the mysterious and maniacal machine named Gwent terrorized the Alphans. He had handled that situation coolly, thus maintaining his position as Paul's back up.

They listened as calls for help came from Eagle One.

"We're out of control," Koenig's voice confirmed the telemetry data coming in from computer. "We're going down. Alpha! We're going to—"

The transmission turned to static.

Carter paced back and forth. Sandra stood and raised a hand to her mouth to stifle a gasp.

Kano reported, "Computer confirms, Eagle One off-course and out of control."

Winters—as helpless as the rest of them—pushed the transmit button.

"Eagle One, this is Alpha, come in. Eagle One, do you read me? Respond, Eagle One.

The calls met with no response.

The Alphans could only stare at the view screen that remained fixed on the beautiful yellow and orange planet.

"Eagle One! Do you copy?"

MARTIN LANDAU

BARBARA BAIN

SPACE 1999

THIS EPISODE

Rescue Eagle rising up on alpha launch pad…Paul holding his hand up and sending a security guard flying…an Eagle spinning through the air in the midst of a great gust of wind…Tanya yelling for help from the door of an Eagle…Bergman walking through a room filled with beautiful sculptures…Carter firing a stung gun…Dr. Mathias standing in front of a vital signs monitor that is presenting strange readings…Eagle flying toward a blue waterspout amidst a storm over an ocean…rescue teams in space suits running toward a travel tube on alpha… Tanya standing on a cliff overlooking the ocean as if preparing to jump.