Paul's face turned red; a burning red driven by the angry emotion of the creature possessing his body. John Koenig, however, knew anger as well.

"You don’t belong! That's not your body. You have no right!" And he waved a firm hand in the creature's direction.

"I will have her!" the thing moving Paul's lips said. "No power in the universe will keep us apart. She is my only love and I will follow her to the ends of eternity!"

Koenig nearly shook with rage but before he could launch his next volley, Professor Bergman rested a hand on his shoulder.

"John!" Then calmer: "John, wait."

Commander Koenig protested, "Victor, that's Paul Morrow in there and I'm not going to abandon him!"

"Listen…John…listen," and Bergman's voice calmed Koenig to the point that the entity inhabiting Morrow's form lost interested and retreated to his view of the ocean.

Helena moved closer and the three held a quiet conversation.

Professor Bergman said, "Look at them, John. Listen to what he says…but look at what the two of them do."

Koenig and Helena glanced around. Morrow admired the view from the rim of the rotunda; Tanya stood statue-like at the other side of the area at the top end of a flight of short stone stairs, admiring the ocean view from another vantage point.

"If we're right then this…this fellow over here," Victor nodded toward Morrow, "came down to this planet and found a young man pursuing his heart's desire."

Helena concluded: "A girl."

"Yes, and I imagine this was the perfect spot for young lovers."

Koenig observed, "He keeps talking about possessing her; chasing after her. Now Victor, maybe his love went unrequited."

"She said she that they had found love," Helena recalled. "That sounds as if it was requited."

"I agree," Koenig nodded after some consideration.

Victor finished his original thought: "Then why are they not acting like lovers?"

Helena and John looked at the two entities once again. The 'young lovers' stood far apart and showed no interest in one another.

Bergman said, "Shouldn't they be acting a little more…well…intimate?"

"If they've been kept apart for so long, you would think they'd jump at the chance to be together," Helena spoke what they all thought. "But they don't appear interested."

"You have a theory, Victor. What is it?"

The Professor replied, "First, Helena, could you do me a favor? Could you go and talk to Tanya."

"Why me?"

"I think you might be able to form a bond with her. A woman to woman type of thing," Bergman admitted and smiled, lightly. "Please."

--

Back at Main Mission, Kano's computer came to life with the sound of a rapidly-moving printer. A small slip of paper rose from a slot. When it completed printing the computer offered a quick beep. Kano ripped the small stub free.

"Good news," he announced, pulling Sandra from her position by a window and Winter's attention from his console readings. "Computer has completed its calculations on the habitability of Opal Four."

"Oh?" Sandra's enthusiasm came across as distant; the promise of Opal Four had been on a different day. Today the Alphans' thoughts focused not on exodus, but on their friends on the surface. "What does computer say?"

"These calculations are based on current conditions and take into consideration--"

"What does computer say?" Winters interrupted.

Kano frowned in disapproval of the interruption. Still, he moved to the point.

"Computer says there is a 98.5 chance that Opal Four can sustain us permanently."

Winters picked up on the first caveat to Kano's news: "Based on current conditions?"

The computer expert nodded.

Sandra asked, "And if the storms return?"

Kano said nothing for a moment; he kept his eyes focused on the slip of paper. Then, with a sigh, he admitted, "In such case computer is less optimistic."

--

"Hello."

Tanya turned from her ocean view and offered Helena a soft smile and a reply: "Hello."

"My name is Doctor Helena Russell. Do you…do you have a name?"
For all purposes, the question might not have been asked at all. Tanya gave her eyes to the ocean again and said nothing for several long seconds. Just before Helena gave up, the woman—the entity—spoke.

"This is a beautiful place. I feel content here."

Dr. Russell took the opening to spur more conversation.

"Is this where you came with your lover?"

"It is the only place we could come. The only place where we could be together. It is also…also…" Tanya bowed her head and closed her eyes. "…it is also the place where I broke his heart."

As had been the case with the entity inside Paul Morrow, Tanya's voice came across as overly dramatic; like dialogue from a cheesy romance novel.

Helena asked, "I don't understand."

The other woman sighed, smiled again—weakly—and said, "It is not your burden to bear. I should not trouble you with this."

"No, please," Helena stepped closer. "I would like to know."

A gust of wind blew Tanya's hair; she brushed it away from her eyes and blinked fast as if staving off tears. Far below waves crashed into the rocky island in a steady, even drone.

"I love him, you understand. Our two hearts are like one. But…but—"

"But what?"
"But it is not so simple. It is not about one…or even two. For us to be together, it would cause difficulties for others. There are those who would not approve."

"Others? What others? Who?"
Tanya merely repeated, "They would not approve. It would cause difficulties for me, for him, for others. It seems I cannot have what my heart desires."

She finally turned and faced Helena with an expression as forced as any bad actor doing Hamlet. "Do you understand?"

Helena did not know how to respond. She thought and decided to say, "I am very sorry. It must be quite difficult for you."

"You are a woman," she said to Helena. "You must know how it feels." She held her hands to her heart. "I can feel his desire for me, burning like fire. I do not wish to hurt him. It is my wish for us to be together."

Helena accidentally spoke aloud, "But that would cause difficulties."

"Yes! Yes you do understand," the entity seemed relieved to have found a kindred soul. "But now that I am here," and Helena felt the woman meant 'here' as in Tanya's body, "Perhaps there is hope for us."
That hope—whatever it might be—did not appear as calming to the entity as it might otherwise sound. Indeed, an expression of melancholy—not relief—draped over her face.

Helena said, "Thank you for speaking to me."

"Oh do come back some time. I appreciate your company. I think you may be the only one who understands."

Helena felt unbalanced by the conversation; as if she had just spoken with a romance novel on tape stuck in a loop. She wandered back to the center of the open air rotunda where Victor waited. For his part, Commander Koenig consulted with Alan and the security guards. When he saw Helena's return he joined her and Victor.

Dr. Russell related her conversation to the men. Koenig grew more puzzled. Victor nodded as if the substance of the discussion with Tanya came as no surprise.

"I don't think she really knows what she's feeling," Helena summed things up. "Just like Paul. There is something there—some real emotion—but it's not developed."

"That doesn't do us any good," Koenig paced. "How do we get Paul and Tanya back? I'm not going to just leave them here."

"Well, John, I hesitate to point out the obvious but while these entities are inside the bodies of Paul and Tanya, they are not sweeping across this planet as storms."

Helena's jaw dropped and she spoke in an urgent tone, "You can't be suggesting what I think you're saying, Victor: We can't lose Paul and Tanya just to make this planet safer for us to live on."

Koenig agreed with her: "Victor, Helena is right. Besides, sooner or later they would move out of those bodies and seek new ones. We can't live here as long as those entities or the storms are a threat."

"We have to get Paul and Tanya back," Helena emphasized what she saw as the priority.

"Let's go over this one more time," Koenig took charge of the conversation. "If these two entities absorbed the emotions of two young lovers, why are they staying apart? Why all the trouble to take on these bodies only to stand around here and watch the ocean?"

Victor rubbed his chin and got his theory off his mind.

"We've already surmised that these powerful entities—machines or beings—were responsible for painting the sky of this system. They actually had the power to mold the space of this system all for the benefit of the people who lived here. We will almost certainly never understand why or if they are a natural phenomena or otherwise. Point is, eventually they came here to the surface and encountered two of the inhabitants of this planet, most likely right here on this very romantic spot."

"So we think these were two young lovers," Koenig jabbed the air with a finger. "And these entities merged with them."

"Perhaps even for the briefest of moments, " Victor added.

Helena said, "But long enough to understand love."

"Understand it?" Bergman repeated her words to lead them in his direction.

"Now wait a minute," this time Koenig scratched his chin. "Everything we've seen here suggests they know only a few simple emotions. Paul needs to possess her. She feels guilty for being with him, as if it is a forbidden love."

Bergman made a loose fist and bobbed it as he said, "A snap shot, John. Two adolescents in love. Maybe there is no stronger emotion, but not mature. What young man never felt compelled by such desire?"

"Or a young woman," Helena said, "Conflicted by what she thinks she wants and what others think is best for her. It's melodramatic. It's even cliché. But for a young couple it would feel intense and real."

Bergman nodded his head fast in agreement. "And here, in this romantic place in a society governed by their arts and passions, those feelings would be amplified to a tremendous degree. Enough, John, to make an impression on those entities."

Koenig's voice trailed off as he corrected, "Not an impression…a purpose. A new purpose to replace the old one they had completed."

Victor said, "So they've spent years—maybe hundreds of years or more—tearing apart this planet; chasing each other as storms or inhabiting bodies of those who lived here before."

"And then what? Nothing?" Helena's voice shook. "Look at them. They aren't lovers. They're just standing around doing nothing."

"Exactly, Helena," Koenig said. "They don't know any better. They're not lovers; they're prisoners of emotions. Limited, focused emotions specific to one exact moment in the lives of a young couple."

She repeated John's point: "Him…chasing after her and full of desire. Her…torn between what she wants and the need to leave him for the sake of others."

"Exactly," Bergman held a finger aloft. "But now that they've caught up with one another by using Paul and Tanya's bodies, they are stuck on hold. They don't know what to do! As storms they could never be so close, as people they can be. Yet still, there is no relationship and it will not progress or regress. It will not mature. They will not consummate their love in any fashion."

Helena raised a hand to her mouth and gasped, "How horrible."

"Well, I don't know," Bergman consoled. "Those are some very intense emotions. Those are the moments we remember. Certainly Shakespeare wrote a verse or two in the honor of such feelings. To be young and, admittedly, a little foolish but also so full of life. As relationships mature…well, some of the energy dissipates, of course. It's only natural. So perhaps they don't need our pity. Maybe they are experiencing something that many of us have forgotten. Oh, to be young again and to be in the grip of such raw emotion."

John glanced at Helena. She met his eyes and they quickly moved away. Koenig then returned to the more pressing heart of the matter.

"I don't care, Victor. I want Paul and Tanya back."

Helena—a little red in the cheeks—spoke, "I don't see how. We can't force them out; they're too powerful. And they finally have what they want."

"Do they?" Professor Bergman led and looked at Commander Koenig who returned his stare. In the process, the expression on both men's faces grew somber.

Helena spied a silent communication. Her eyes alternated between the two for a moment before she spoke.

"Wait a second. What is it? Is there a way?"
John stood straight and breathed deep.

"There is a way."

Victor nodded his head, slowly, in agreement.

"Well, what is it?" Helena asked.

"It's to give them what they want. To give them their purpose back," Victor explained.

"And it's up to you, Helena," John said.

"Me? I don't understand."

"You've formed a bond with her," Bergman went on. "It's only natural. Paul's controller won't listen because it's not in his character now: he's independent, fierce, obsessed, and full of angry desire. And he has what his purpose dictates: he has her, here, in a matter of fashion. The chase has ceased."

"But not the girl," Koenig spoke softer. "Her state…she wants to speak. She wants a confidant as any young girl would in that position. It's part of what the emotion imparted to her. The angst. The guilt. The feeling of being stuck."

"Are you—are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?" Helena's eyes grew wide. "No, I can't. It would be…it would be too cruel."
Koenig's voice grew harsh: "Helena, it's the only way. And remember, we're not dealing with real people here. Just the echo of an emotion felt maybe thousands of years ago between two young people who probably died because of these energy entities. If we don't act, then Paul and Tanya—maybe more of us—will also die."

"Helena," Bergman drew out each syllable of her name in a tone of familiarity, "it may seem distasteful on the surface, but you'll be giving them back some kind of purpose at the very least. In their current state they're on hold; frozen, unsure what to do."

Her eyes alternated between the two men who kept their attention on her; their stares even more forceful than their words.

"Okay, if it's the only way to save Paul and Tanya, I'll do it," and Helena nodded her head as if forcing acceptance of the idea.

"John, you had better be prepared. If this doesn't work it could get messy. If it does work…"

"If it does," Koenig completed Victor's thought, "it could get even worse."

She gave them one last glance and then walked away from the men en route to Tanya's position at the top of the flight of stone stairs. The creature inhabiting Tanya's body stood at the top of those stairs a few meters away from Eagle One, parked there by the other entity when it—or he—tapped into Paul's knowledge of Eagle flight.

"Hello again," Helena approached her cautiously and she felt a hard pang of guilt when Tanya turned to her with wide, hopeful eyes.

"Hello dear friend," the entity replied as if they had known one another for years. Perhaps the emotion of angst and conflict gripping the being made it more receptive to the potential of friendship. Helena felt a sick pit in her stomach as she realized she would use that vulnerability as a weapon. "Is this not a beautiful view?"

"Yes, yes it is," Dr. Russell agreed, grateful for a delay to allow her to craft her words. "This is a beautiful world."

"That is why we painted their sky. To make something wonderful. It was our purpose. But that purpose seems so shallow now, compared to what I feel in my heart."

Helena smoothly opened the door she wanted to enter the entity's state of emotion. It scared her how easily the deception took shape.

"I envy the love you feel. Your are very fortunate."

"Yes, I am blessed to have found one who desires me so greatly."

The entity returned her view to the ocean and a slight smile tugged at her lips as if bathing in contentment.

Helena said in purposely vague terms, "But are you sure it is the right thing to do?"

The smile on the entities lips wavered.

"I have wondered, of course," her head bowed slightly. "I have wondered if it is selfish of me."

Helena dared a glance over her shoulder. She looked first at John and Victor who stood at a distance, watching. Then she looked in Paul's direction. His back remained turned to her, his own attention gazing out at his own view of the ocean.

"Perhaps…perhaps you need to consider the implications," Helena strummed the emotional cords like a guitarist crafting a sad song on his instrument.

The smile on Tanya's face dissipated completely. Her eyes closed and her voice spoke with a slight tremble vibrating behind the words.

"It is a torture to me. I am pulled in so many directions. Just once I wish I could do what I want, and not feel the pressure of others. They don't know him like I do."

"How could anyone know him like you do? He is your true love. They don't understand."

"You seem to understand," the thing wearing Tanya's body said in an almost hopeful tone. "You seem to understand it so…so well," and she sobbed.

That sick pit in Helena's stomach grew harder. Despite the repetitiveness and vagueness of the entity's words, Helena felt as if she manipulated a child's emotions. It felt cruel. A doctor's job is to heal, not bring pain, no matter how unreal that pain may truly be.

"I do understand," she played her role in the melodrama. "I understand that some times things aren't so simple. I understand that sometimes…sometimes love is not enough."

Tanya placed a hand over her eyes, trying to stifle tears.

"I try to do what is right," she cried softly. "I don't want to be selfish, but I do so love him. I wish they could understand…I wish things were different."

No specifics, of course, because no specifics existed. Only emotion. Only the effect without a cause. A book cover with no story inside. Nonetheless, the symptoms were of a kind Helena had witnessed a thousand times in reality, particularly in those days of her 'normal' life before the moon had left Earth's orbit.

"But they aren't different," Helena pushed with regret. "Is it right for you to cause so much pain for so many others just for your own benefit?"

"No…no it is not. Perhaps I should just end it," and the entity stepped toward the cliff as if a sacrifice might end the suffering.

Helena reached and grabbed her shoulder. She felt Tanya's flesh, and in that moment was renewed with a sense of purpose to complete the task before her. Only then would the true owner of that body be free.

"That's not the answer. That would only bring more pain and make another innocent suffer. The woman whose body you have possessed…she is innocent in all this."

The entity did not acknowledge Helena's words. Perhaps doing so would be like exposing stage props for the falsehoods they were.

Helena tried again: "You have to go. You cannot stay here. To do so would only make it worse."

"You think…you think I should run away again?"

Helena felt as if she betrayed the trust of a friend, but her mind knew she actually tried to help one; the friend imprisoned by the forlorn energy entity. She tried to think of what the villain in a romantic tragedy might say to cause a young heart to break and run.

"It's the only thing you can do. You owe it to the rest."

Helena had no idea who 'the rest' might be. She doubted the entity knew, either. They—the 'rest'—were merely a catalyst for her angst and heart ache.

Helena continued, "You owe it…you owe it to him. You can't let him be hurt any more."

Tears glistened on Tanya's cheeks. She sobbed softly.

"You're right…I know you're right I just don't want to face it."

"Then don't. Run away. Leave. Go as far as you can where you can't…where you can't…" Helena paused, swallowed hard, and summoned her resolve. "Where you can't hurt anyone anymore."

"I must end this agony," and Tanya stepped toward the edge of the cliff, eyeing the turbulent waters so far below.

Helena's eyes widened and she realized her intent. In that same instant she realized that any attempted suicide would mean death for Tanya's body but the entity within would—most certainly—live on.

"No!" Helena cried and grabbed her arm just as a brisk wind carried along the cliff face and blew past the two women. "You would only be hurting another person who does not deserve to be hurt."

"What? I don't understand?" Tanya faced Helena.

"You are in the body of another woman. You have taken her body," she dared address the entity out of character. It felt to Helena as if she broke the fourth wall of a stage play. "She has a life to live. She has love to give. If you jump…if you destroy yourself you will destroy her life, too. Is that what you want?"
As she had hoped, the entity took the bait. The weight of yet another soul caught in this mysterious swirl of love and angst was enough to do the trick.

"Yes…yes you are right," she said to Helena in a voice eerily calm. "I must run away, but I will not hurt someone else."

A new voice shouted from the rotunda below.

"No! What are you doing? Leave her be!"

It was the entity inhabiting Paul Morrow. He had spied the conversation and overheard some of the words. Now the moved to stop the interference. Koenig, Carter and the security team shadowed him but at a distance.

Tanya spoke to him; pleaded: "I don't wish to hurt you! I never wanted that!"

"I desire only you! To hell with what the others say, I love you!"

"It's not that simple…it's never that simple…"

Tanya turned and faced the ocean at the top of the cliff. She spread her arms wide like a bird preparing to take flight. She closed her eyes and let the wind caress her face.

"No! Stop!"

Paul climbed the stairs. He moved too slow.

A field of sparkling blue power radiated from Tanya. Her body shook. Then like a bolt of lighting the energy arced toward the cloudless sky above.

Tanya slumped. Helena braced her fall.

Paul hurried to the ledge with John Koenig a step behind. The Commander worked around to Helena and helped hold Tanya.

Overhead, that blue bolt of power grew and expanded. The atmosphere came to life like water in a pot simmering to a boil. Bands of moisture swirled and formed into dark clouds surrounded by a glowing blue tint. The ocean waters raged; white caps grew from the seas like explosions of water. The wind became one continuous gust.

"What have you done! Come back to me!"

Paul stood at the ledge, his face burning red and one fist held aloft. The sensation of his anger radiated like a reactor going critical.

"John," Helena grabbed his attention.

Koenig saw Tanya's eyes flutter; her mouth work open and shut.

"W-what…what happened?"
"Get her out of here," Koenig ordered and waved to his compatriots at the bottom of the stairs. Alan Carter responded and helped Helena move Tanya awat. The security team waited behind for their Commander's instruction.

The wind gusted down from the heavens carrying a salty mist on its wing. Koenig looked to the sky and saw a great swirl of clouds moving away from the rocky island. As that swirl moved, it grew; it grew into rings of turbulence; an intense storm of energy all tinted blue, from a source he could not identify. As it moved off, he saw a sapphire-hued rope of wind—a waterspout-- droop down and skip across the waters.

Paul stood there, watching the storm as it raced away, expanding as it moved.

Koenig marched over to him and spoke into his ear. He played the counter part to Helena's deception.

"Are you just going to let her go?"

"Come back!"

"She's not coming back. Do you hear me! She's run away again. Don't you want her? Isn't that your purpose?!"

The entity growled, "I MUST possess her!"

"You can't go after her in that body. You have to be the storm again. That's the only way you'll ever have her!"

"Yes! Yes! I WILL BE THE STORM!"

As Tanya had moments before, Paul held his hands aloft and closed his eyes. This time a great jet of red exited the human body which then slumped. Koenig threw his arms under Paul's shoulders as the life energy drained. Two seconds later the pair of security guards came and helped hold the man.

The second storm burst to life with incredible ferocity. The sky turned a shade of crimson red as if the clouds were Martian dust storms. Micro bursts nearly toppled the Alphans and great sheets of rain fell, soaking the ground almost instantly.

"Go! Hurry!" Koenig commanded and eyed Eagle One sitting atop the ledge where the entity had parked it while controlling Paul.

Then the whirlwind came: a red giant spinning over the ocean a half-mile wide. One edge of the monster slammed into the rim of the island. Koenig and the guards stumbled backwards. The crimson wind blasted the empty Eagle and sent it tumbling sideways off the ledge. Pieces peeled off in the gale; one of the landing gear was plucked away and the engine baffles were sucked off the tail end one at a time. Then the vehicle disappeared into the storm.

"This way! Come on!"

Koenig had to shout with every ounce of strength he could find in his lungs in order to be heard over the cacophony of wind. He tried to lead them down the stairs but the rain fell so hard and so strong that he could not find his way.

Then a hand grabbed his shoulder through the rain.

"John!" Came Professor Bergman's voice. He held his COMLINK up. "Follow Eagle Two's beacon! This way!"

Paul struggled free of the security team's grasp.

"What's going on? Where are we?"

"Paul. Move. Now. Do it!"

Koenig's urgent order cut through Paul's confusion and he followed his Commander's direction. The group descended the stairs with Bergman's COMLINK providing a path through near-zero visibility caused by howling winds and pouring rain. The rotunda provided no shelter; the storm blew the rain through horizontally.

"Carter and Helena are back at the ship!" Bergman said. "We have to get out of here, John. These storms—"

"These storms will tear us apart," Koenig finished the thought and they both knew he meant that the storms would not only tear apart the landing party, but any civilization—any home—built on Opal Four.

The gigantic tornado moved away from the island as part of the larger red storm forming overhead. It followed the blue storm out to sea where the chase would continue, perhaps for all eternity. The wind around the island slowed but did not die. The sound of thunder paired with the flash of lightning blanketing the landscape in a violent display of power.

They reached Eagle Two. Helena stood at the open door motioning the rain-soaked, bedraggled landing party onboard.

"Tell Alan to get airborne," Koenig told Bergman as they boarded. The Professor hurried to the forward cockpit while Helena shut the side door. Wind and rain drummed against the Eagle's hull.

"Commander," Tanya sat in one of the rows of passenger seats. "What happened?"

"Do you remember anything?" Helena asked as the engines spooled to life.

"No, nothing," Paul answered for her. "Except…except a feeling. Something…" he slowly sat in a seat and pondered what he had felt.

Tanya echoed with one hand finding her heart: "Just a…a slight pain I think. But not my body, more my…my…"

"Your heart?" Bergman asked as he came forward from the cockpit.

Paul asked again, "What did we go through?"

Helena offered a half-smile as she realized her friends would survive, albeit with many questions.

She said, "This is going to take some explaining. It's very, well, unusual."

"Is it, Helena?" John countered as he took a seat next to her. "Or is it the oldest story in the book?"
Eagle Two's rockets fired. Winds from the storm caused it to rock side to side, but the craft remained stable. Carter steered the ship away from the island, away from the storms, and into the sky of Opal Four…

--

--

The familiar chorus of beeps and buzzes filled Main Mission. Kano worked diligently at his computer console. Tanya sat at her own work station with Sandra hovering over her friend, waiting to see if she needed to talk about her experiences.

Paul strolled into the large room. Winters rose from the center seat to meet him.

"I'll take it from here," Morrow said with smile.

"Good to have you back," Winters patted his shoulder. "You okay?"

Paul glanced across the room at Tanya. She shared his look for a moment, then returned her attention to her own work with Sandra remaining nearby as if waiting to serve as a safety net.

"Dr. Russell says we're okay. I guess I'll just have to take her word for it."
Paul slid easily into his familiar position at the head of Main Mission.

"Let's see what's on the menu for today."

He punched a button and the main viewer displayed the void of space waiting to greet the traveling moon as it finished its path through the Opal system.

"This looks familiar," Sandra noted, dryly. "And dull."

"I could stand a little dull for a while," Paul added.

The staff of Main Mission returned to their routines. As they had so many times before, they let that routine fill their minds and push away the sting of another near miss.

Overhead, on the balcony above, the sight of that near miss stood in the distance still visible to Helena's eyes. She could even see—faintly—the red and blue swirls chasing one another through the atmosphere of Opal Four. Professor Bergman and Commander Koenig stood to her sides, sharing the view.

"It was a beautiful planet," she mumbled.

"Yes it was," Bergman agreed. "If you really think about it, you might say that the entire civilization on that world was destroyed by, well, love."

Helena said, "The universe's most powerful emotion. In this case, an emotion incarnate."

"Love?" Koenig crossed his arms and eyed the planet in Alpha's wake. "Love is known by many other names."

"And in this case?" She asked.

He told them, "Passion. Obsession. That's what destroyed Opal Four, the same way it might destroy a man…or a woman."

"And they are stuck like that," she said, squinting to eye the blue and red spots on the planet. "For all eternity, knowing nothing but desire and pursuit and angst. Whether they are sentient or not, the storms have my pity."

"Oh, I don't know," Bergman offered his take. "Isn't that how young love is? Intense and confused. Sometimes directionless. Then we get older and we come to grips with our feelings. Comfortable, you could say." He scratched his chin. "Often times love and romance can be fleeting; mere moments in a life time to be cherished and remembered fondly. As the saying goes, it is better to have loved and lost…"

"But not for those two," Koenig said and his eyes wandered as he drifted into thought. "Two beings of energy, held captive in the grip of adolescent love that will never fade and will always feel new and urgent. You tell me, Helena. Is that Hell? Or is it Heaven?"

She did not have an answer. None of them did.

The red and blue storms spun across the turbulent atmosphere of Opal Four as the colorful planet hung in space like a beacon bidding farewell to the traveling moon.

series created by

Gerry and Sylvia

Anderson