Rain fell softly; dripping off of the roof to strike the elephant-ear plant to make an irregular 'thup---thup-thup---thup' sound as Melissa stood with her arms folded and wondered how honest she should be with Alan. The dense fog enclosed the entirety of the east coast of Florida, hanging close and grounding everything at the cape, so Alan found himself with an extra day to spend with her. Now he stood at the far end of Tony Verdeshi's carport, near the laundry room and the entryway into the small concrete-block house Tony currently called home. Tony and Alan had known one another for a long time and she had come along at Alan's request---"to meet an old pal" he'd said. This was not, however, her idea of a good time.

Drinking Tony's homebrew dishwater, the mixed aroma of malt and hops in the air, and shivering in the cool, foggy, November rain while the two of them caught up on old times was not how she wanted to spend her afternoon. Maybe she was spoiled, but she really felt Alan should be paying attention to her. After all, he'd be leaving in a day or two and she had no idea how long it would be before she'd see him again. She had tried pacing, sitting patiently, turning her back on them, but nothing disrupted their conversation for nearly an hour. She could probably bounce a football off their heads and they wouldn't notice.

Finally, her restraint ran out, and she walked up behind Alan, her boots clicking loudly to the time of the swish-swish of her knee-length skirt brushing her shapely stocking-covered legs and tapped him on the shoulder. When he turned, she wrapped one arm around his neck and planted a long hard kiss on him, while running the other red-nailed hand down his back to his tight jean-covered ass. A second or two later he began to respond in kind and they became lost in one another. Finally Alan broke the embrace, and held Melissa at arm's length, his hands on her shoulders as he looked over his own shoulder at Tony.

"Looks like I'm reminded we have plans for this afternoon, Cobber." Alan said to Tony, who smiled back knowingly.

"No problem, Pal. Do you guys want some beer to go?" Tony gestured toward the five white canisters, each containing a different variety of beers with a different odor.

"No, thanks." The couple replied in unison, and looked at one another and giggled softly. "We were going to the movies, so we don’t have time or we'll be late." Alan added diplomatically.

Melissa awoke with a start, disoriented and trying desperately to determine where she was. Sitting up on her bunk wearing the coveralls she fell asleep in, she felt along the wall on one side and the sliding door on the other side of the cubicle and everything came cascading back to her. Stealing the Eagle spacecraft, plotting and taking over the probe ship, the nausea and general discomfort of the space warp jumps to catch up with Earth's wayward moon were among the memories that flooded back. The dream memory of that day on Florida's spacecoast was so real she expected to see Alan, and have the taste of Tony's hobby beer and Alan's lips on her tongue. At that moment she felt as she had felt before during this quest; as though a part of her soul had been ripped away from her by Alan's absence. All her life, Melissa had resisted joining or committing to anything seriously. Now she knew it was something she needed. Alan was out there somewhere and she was going to find him.

Her groping hand finally found the toggle that turned on the light. Florescent lights flickered to life, revealing her harsh reality aboard the Meta Probe ship. The gray, unpainted metal walls assured her of what was real, and she sucked in a rapid breath that threatened to become a sob while brushing unkempt blonde hair from her face. Melissa just wanted this mad chase to end. It was her determination that had started this, but she had never been the leader in her family. She'd taken the easier path when it was presented, but now some of this crew looked to her. She hugged her knees to her chest, and leaned her chin on them as a tear ran down her cheek.

Can I really continue to do this without falling apart? Melissa thought.

She sat that way for minutes that seemed hours until the emergency klaxon sounded, and she quickly slid the door open, and hit the deck running, but was still behind Tony Cellini in arriving in the control room. He must have been on his way already, or else he never left the area. Melissa worried about him---that he was overworking himself---but he wouldn't listen to her. His eyes had dark circles under them, and his clothes were a wrinkled mess. I must not look like the cover of Cosmo either, she thought sullenly. Diana Morris sat at one of the stations, wearing her pressed uniform, styled hair, perfect posture, plus her air of superiority---and didn't acknowledge Melissa's arrival.

"Melissa," Tony said in his adorable Italian-accented English as she entered the control room, "we've lost our star track!"

"Lost it?" Melissa asked, puzzled.

"Yes, Damn it! Lost it!" Diana barked from the Nav console. She swore under her breath while expertly working the keyboard controlling the sensor array, trying to find whatever it was she had lost. Melissa looked at Tony again and opened her mouth to spout something biting, then stopped, thinking better of it. She wondered why Diana was already here, and realized she must have been on duty and sounded the alarm.

"What does that mean? Are we lost?" Melissa asked in measured tones.

"No. We are not lost right now, " Tony said, "but we can't see ahead to get a reading on the Moon. Something, " he paused, obviously looking concerned," obscures the distance."

"Is it an object like a planet or star or something? Are we going to hit it?" Melissa was less experienced with space travel than anyone else on the Meta Probe, and as Diana spun her chair around the look on her face showed her disdain.

"No, Melissa." Diana said condescendingly, "we won't hit anything. The chances of us striking anything in deep space are higher than..."

"The moon be blasted out of orbit?" Melissa interrupted with a sweet smile that said more than any words could. "Tony, what's our next move?" She ignored the smoldering glare Diana gave her.

"We know the moon came this way. We must follow and hope we can pick up the trail."

"You know I trust your judgement." Melissa said with honesty, to which Tony responded with a slight smile. He doesn't smile enough. She thought, then said, "Let's keep going."

John stood alone in the dark room, close to the viewing window, staring out over the airless moonscape. He came here often to think, and always overrode the automated systems that would have turned on the lights and brought the room temperature up to the 20 degrees that was standard for occupied spaces across all of MoonBase Alpha. The CommSec panel readout said the current temperature was 15 degrees, and John had to stand back from the viewing window so as not steam it up with his breath. He looked out over the Sea of Showers bounded by jagged mountains in the distance and upward to the myriad stars.

Will we ever get home again? He thought. It seemed they lived from one chAlange to another---always on the ragged edge of doom. Helena's love was the only thing that got him through each time, because circumstance and terror had shaken his confidence. It wasn't something he could talk to anyone else about, but he lived in fear that their next obstacle could be their last, and the long night would finally fall upon this tiny band of refugees from Earth. There was a foreboding in him that said something was about to happen, but he was interrupted by a beep from his CommLock.

"Koenig" John said softly, not wanting to disturb perfect darkness with the harshness of speech.

"Commander," Celeste Boullet, Alpha's Communications Chief replied in her Cajun-French accented English. "I think you will want to come down here. We've gotten some anomalous readings."

"Anomalous? You can probably…." Koenig stopped in mid-sentence as the myriad stars above the moonscape winked out as he watched, leaving a sky of matte black. "I'll be right there."

Alan Carter, Moonbase Alpha's Chief Pilot, was alone in Eagle One, forgoing the luxury and safety of a co-pilot on this training mission. His port wingman Lyle MacKenna, piloting Eagle Six, was new to close maneuvers and needed practice. This was his first solo, and only Alan was allowed to certify a new pilot. MacKenna was a maintenance worker who had requested transfer and was willing to be trained---and showing remarkable skill.

"Eagle Six, and Eleven, peal right on my mark." Alan paused three seconds and gave out a sharp "Mark!"

The two Eagle craft executed a perfect bank to come swooping over the Moon's surface still side-by-side about ten meters apart and thirty meters above the plains. The terrain below was flat with crater-edge peaks jutting ahead.

"Well done, Pallie. Next we'll...." Alan's instructions were overridden by Alpha's emergency call.

"Moonbase Alpha to Eagles One, Six, and Eleven. This is Moonbase Alpha to all Eagles. Return to base immediately. We have........with......cloud......loosing......capabil....." The message stuttered and was lost.

"Eagle One to Alpha, we copy and are headed back. You heard them Eagles, back to the nest asap. Pull up and bank...." Alan's command was cut off along with sensors and visuals. One moment the dark Lunar landscape was lit by stars, and the next---nothing. Intense blackness with no sensor readings of any kind, and he could not see the surface that should be only meters below him.

"MacKenna, cut left and raise altitude! I'll take the middle, Eagle Eleven cut right. Everybody gain some distance from the surface and hold a position!" Carter shouted, as he made his move.

"Captain Car.......holding......" Alan heard MacKenna's voice before it was lost to the blackness, but nothing from Eagle Eleven. Raul Martinez was working starboard wing, and Alan was concerned for him but knew he knew his job. Alan proceeded upward away from the Moon's surface what he estimated was half a kilometer before holding position.

He sat wondering what had happened to the other Eagles. The Comm channels were all silent, but he continued to try anyway. For the next quarter-hour Alan Carter tried vainly to contact Moonbase Alpha or his two colleagues who he knew were nearby. There was nothing to receive out there. Not with radio, radar, nor with sensors.

"Like being in a bloody sensory deprivation chamber. 'Course now I'm talking to myself. Not a good sign, old son."

Carter had the Eagle set on station, meaning it would automatically compensate to cancel any movement. Another thirty minutes passed as he tried Comm Lasers, radio, and even searchlights.

"Alpha," Alan said softly to his radio, "I don't think you can hear me, but I've tried everything but smoke signals out here. Now I know how the saber-tooth that fell into La Brea must have felt.

"I'm going to try one last trick. If I turn off the gravity compensators and also let Eagle One drift, I should be pulled toward the Moon's gravitational field. I'll be nearly weightless, and when I can feel which way is down, I'll orient the bird and try to land right here. I can feel the attitude thrusters firing, so I could be only a few meters from the surface. 'Least I'll be down.

"And Alpha, I've got another problem. I'm generating a lot more power than I should need to sit still in near orbit. Whatever the blackness is, it must be a material like a gas or something, because when it's in contact with the ship, it's absorbing heat.

"I'll see you when I see you, Alpha. Here goes."

Alan uncovered the kill switch for the artificial gravity, and checked his safety harness. You never know. He thought and flipped the switch. He was firmly but gently pushed to his left against the straps and his seat, then turned off station keeping re-orienting the Eagle. Without the automatics, some of the weightlessness returned, but Alan could tell something was up.

The stick felt like time he ventured into the eye of a hurricane in the Caribbean on a research mission. He was testing flight dynamics of the late-stage Eagle prototype under harsh atmospherics, and ventured too close to the eye wall. The constant tearing at the control stick was caused by the tangential acceleration changes, and he was barely able to pull the ship out. That's the feeling he got now as he fought Eagle One's control stick, but the impossibility of the situation tore at him as hard as the ship did.

A maelstrom in space, this close to the Moon? A nascent star? A nebula? He could not afford the time to worry about it now. He was fighting for his life.

"Maybe you'd better remind me why I was the best choice to go with you, Tony." Melissa said as she snapped the wristlock that held her glove to her spacesuit. She and Tony Cellini were about to go EV as Tony called it. Extra Vehicular or EV meant she volunteered to go outside the ship with Tony to find the problem with the sensor/communication array, but the more space gear she got into the more doubts came to her.

"You were the best choice in your words 'because I'm the most expendable'. That was the fastest I have ever heard Diana agree to anything." Tony smiled mischievously before lowering his helmet over his head and snapping the latch in place.

In order to hear or talk to him now, she had to don her own helmet and lock it down. Once the helmet was in place, the suit's computers took over and activated suit systems as needed. Melissa started breathing a little to deeply and Tony's buddy system alert let him know.

"Melissa, you need to stop trying to breathe so hard. You're going to hyper-ventilate." He understood her problem since it was her first time in a space suit.

"This is not as hard to breathe as with scuba gear. All you need to do is inhale and exhale normally." Tony's voice was reassuring and steady, and Melissa began to control her breathing quickly.

"I didn't realize I was that tense. Guess I'm okay now. What's next, Boss?" She said with obvious artificial cheer.

Tony was already situating himself into the Manned Maneuvering Unit. The MMU is a powered flight motor with a platform for the pilot to stand on and controls gloved hands could utilize. Tony explained to her on the way to the EV bay how he trained for weeks to perfect his flight techniques with the MMU.

"Melissa, you need to trudge over here and secure your safety line to the MMU while I secure a line between the MMU and the EV bay. Then we'll go outside for a little walk."

"Right." Melissa assented, and with that Tony keyed controls on the arm of the MMU and lights flashed all around the bay. Melissa's suit computer spoke softly in her ear.

"EV bay atmospheric pressure dropping. Vacuum estimated in one minute. Artificial gravity off." The computer voice said as an image of a rapidly falling pressure meter appeared on her helmet's heads up display. She hooked onto the MMU with her safety line as instructed and Tony told the MMU to attach itself to the bay wall.

"Won't the line be damaged when the doors close?" Melissa asked with concern as her suit system activated her magnetic boots to hold her on the deck. She could visualize the doors closing and cutting the line to set them adrift in space.

"You've seen too many space operas!" Tony chuckled through the comm. "The computer will not let the doors close while we're outside---kind of like an elevator door. Besides we have our own motive power." As if to emphasize his point, he rose silently above the deck and moved toward the EV bay door.

"Zero atmospheric pressure." The clear, calm computer voice said to Melissa, and the bay doors opened to utter blackness so deep it seemed to absorb the light from the EV bay. She realized it wasn't absorbing the light, but the darkness was moving into the lighted bay just as fog rolled off the sea into a port town.

"Tony, what…is it?" She stuttered as the room darkened.

"My Lord. This is phenomenal! This density of material in interstellar space! It's just particulates attracted to one area by microgravity, and eventually it will coalesce into a star or other body." Tony spoke with awe.

"Well right now it looks like smoke from an oil fire I saw in Louisiana a couple of years ago. I prefer my tar smoke with nicotine. Melissa quipped as she switched on her helmet light and pulled the flashlight from her belt. If she looked straight ahead she could see perhaps two meters to where the shadowy orange figure hung in the MMU. "I can see you, Tony. Let's move out before I loose my nerve along with my lunch."

"We will have to go slow. I can only see obstacles ahead of me when they are very close." Tony's transmission was filled with static, but Melissa could hear well enough as she moved forward to keep up with the MMU.

"There seems to be a lot of static on the comm, Melissa." Tony said as he moved slowly out of the airlock to the outside of the ship with Melissa following close behind.

"It started as soon as this stuff entered the EV bay. Maybe its magnetic or something, Tony."

"We should run a diagnostic on a sample when we return. The only reading I can get with the MMU is that the material is not radioactive. Beyond that I can tell nothing."

"Getting a sample shouldn’t be difficult, since it sticks to everything like soot." She swiped her hand across her faceplate to clear the thin film of the stuff that had already accumulated, leaving streaks across her field of vision, such as it was. "That could be the reason the sensors stopped working. They’re covered in this stuff." A crackle in her radio interrupted her thoughts.

"Melissa, Tony." Diana’s voice came through the static. "We cannot get a reading on you, and we can barely hear you over the comm for all the interference, so I want to give you a report.

"What information we can gather on this soup we’re in tells us it is almost dense enough to qualify as an atmosphere, and the material seems to absorb electromagnetic energy, which accounts for the communications trouble. We still get nothing from the sensor array, but the new information about the absorption qualities seems to hold with that. Maybe a quick check on the array and the two of you should get back inside.

"We are also starting to drift. We have the Probe on automatic station keeping, so we don’t drift away from you. Be careful out there. Diana out."

Short, caring and informative; maybe she’s not such a bitch after all. Melissa thought. Nahhh.

"Thanks for the report, Diana. Tony, did you hear her? We need to check that array fas…ugh!" Melissa was cut off in mid-sentence as she was forced against the hull of the Probe like a kite caught in a gust of wind. "Tony!" She gasped after sucking in a breath of air. Her right ribcage ached horribly, but the suit computer remained silent, giving the impression that all was well. She was glad she decided to not have anything in her stomach for this little jaunt.

"Melissa!? There is turbulence! I am against the ship at the end of the safety line from the bay, and you’re at the end of yours. I will have the MMU begin to pull you in, but I can’t see you." Tony said anxiously, knowing the line was only seven meters long.

"I’m still here. Bruised and battered, but still here." Melissa replied as she drifted slightly away from the Probe hull when whatever pushed her there ceased. The density of the dark material swirling around them gave the impression of drifting in an ocean, and she could feel the light touch of currents pushing her back and forth. She drifted a meter or two further out from the hull and looked at the ship but could hardly see her light reflecting off its surface when the gentle current became a giant wave sweeping her up and forward.

"Tony! I’m moving!" It happened so fast that all she saw of Tony was a flash of orange and white as she was rushing past him, caught up in the grip of the dark sand wave.

"Melissa!" Tony shouted and reached upward to try and grasp her, but she moved so fast and was gone almost before he moved his arm. He heard her shout and then nothing but static as he was toppled by the tether connecting her to the MMU that went taunt and then slack just as suddenly. The MMU reeled in the line quickly and Tony saw why as the end of the line with a bit of orange fabric attached to it reached him. The MMU computer automatically stabilized his end over end spin and he found himself near his destination at the sensor array.

"Melissa? Can you hear me?" He asked, but heard nothing but static.

"Tony, what’s going on?" Diana’s question pierced the static loudly, and he realized it was because he was near the communications array. "Tony?" She said again when he didn’t reply.

"Diana. I’ve lost Melissa." He said flatly; completely drained. "A dark giant carried her off. She’s gone."

"What's the status, Celeste?" John Koenig asked breathlessly as he ran into the Command Center. Even before his communications chief answered him, he performed his own assessment of the situation by scanning the screens and readouts around the center. The view on the main screen was a picture of hell with swirling gray moon dust that reflected Alpha's lights mixed with dark material blowing across the moon's surface. Koenig had heard the sounds from outside and needed more facts as he ran up to the Communications station.

"Commander, we have alerts from all over Alpha. We have increased pressure reported on exterior surfaces distributed evenly on the entire Base."

"This black material building up on top of us?" Koenig asked.

"No Sir. It’s evenly distributed. We have entered something resembling an atmosphere, but much more massive. It’s not air, but made up of a high quantity of silica compounds, some carbon compounds, metallic compounds, and a lot of charged particles."

"How do we know that already?" Koenig asked incredulously. It had only been a couple of minutes since the alerts sounded.

"I performed the spectral analysis from here, and the charged particles I am surmising from the havoc being reeked on our instrumentation." Boullet shrugged. "Science Section will send in the official report detailing what we’re dealing with in a little while. They’ve just started analyzing the materiel from samples."

I was right to put Celeste in charge while Sandra was still recovering from her injuries. She’s got the knack for taking charge. In more ways than one! Koenig thought and smiled to himself remembering their personal encounter four years ago back home.

"Good work. Have we heard from the Eagles yet? Carter has a flight up doesn’t he?"

"Yes, John. But we lost contact with them as soon as we moved into this," she searched for the right term, "this sand sea."

More warning klaxons sounded, and Celeste keyed a display of the problem area at John’s command.

"Depressurization in one of the Eagle bays." She cupped her earpiece, straining to hear through the increasing interference. The dark material was beginning to effect internal systems now, too. "No serious injuries, but bay four is out of commission until maintenance can effect repairs."

"You think the Moon moved into this sea-like area and we’re feeling the effects of it from pressure and interference?" John prompted when the klaxons stopped.

"The pressure is similar to about 50 feet below sea level and some of physical properties are similar as well. Alpha was built to keep pressure in, not hold it out, so we are having some problems with the seals. The Eagles were probably caught in the waves caused by the moon moving through this material. They could have landed, but it will be difficult without visual ability or instrumentation. It would be worse than flying into a hurricane."

"Alan’s out there," John said, "and if anyone can make it, it will be him. Keep trying to raise him, though. I won’t abandon him to this dark hurricane."

Alan slapped his faceplate down to put his suit on self-containment with one hand while gripping the control stick with the other. The Nav screen confirmed what Alan's senses told him---Eagle One was tumbling out of control. The structural stresses were beyond the limits of an Eagle and Alan could find no way to bring the ship out the disastrous spin. The inertial dampers were out, and Alan was near to blackout as he heard the engines and aft portion of his craft buckling. He knew he was about lose consciousness, and in a last act of desperation, reached beneath both sides of his seat and pulled the levers found there at the same time. The command module seal slammed home, and explosives jolted him as the module disconnected from the faltering Eagle.

"Fate, Melissa love. Guess we were never meant to be in this life. I’ll wait for you on the other side." Alan said; his voice waning. The mad twirling continued as the command module spun without control but there was no time for the tears Alan felt before the darkness claimed him.

Melissa’s tenuous grip on self-control was lost as she got dry heaves to go with the overwhelming dizziness as the black wave carried her away from the Probe ship. Her suit quickly took in the small quantity of acidic fluid she expelled so she would not accidentally inhale some of it, but Melissa felt cold. Not the kind of cold when you walk outside without a coat on, but the kind of internal cold you feel from a fever when you can’t get warm enough. Involuntary shivers wracked her body and she no sense of time. Had she just been swept away from the ship, or was that a long time ago? The suit computer told her the suit had been breached, so maybe this is how it felt when you ran out of air. She couldn’t tell, so she closed her eyes. Melissa wanted to fight, but something had a grip on her mind stronger than the force of the wave that carried her away from the Meta Probe.

The sun felt warm on her face as Melissa opened her eyes and she had to shield them from the brightness as she listened to gentle surf splashed the beach somewhere to her right. She could only raise her right hand because something had hold of the left hand, so she raised herself from the beach sand to see Alan lying next to her, holding her hand tightly. There were two bottles of beer stuck into the sand, covered with condensation. She was wearing her favorite bright pink bikini---her favorite because it was Alan’s favorite---and Alan wore the Speedo suit she’d bought him because it covered but hid nothing. He looked like Alan, but a little older, more worn.

"Alan?" Melissa said tremulously. Am I dreaming? Were the months on the Probe a dream-mare? Am I dead? Maybe I’ve made it to heaven.

Alan’s eyelids fluttered, as he awoke and sat up with a startled look on his face. He looked around and saw Melissa. Without hesitation, he took her into his arms, kissing her passionately. Their tongues probed gently, then more enthusiastically as they rolled across the sandy beach. Melissa’s hands rubbed gritty sand across Alan’s muscular back as she felt every inch of his body. She could feel her own growing ardor as her bikini bottoms dampened, and she could feel his stiffened member indicate his feelings as well. Alan pulled his face away and looked into her eyes.

"Melissa! What are we doing here?" Alan asked, his lips red from Melissa’s lipstick, his face red from their exertions.

"I thought you could already tell that." Melissa smiled at him, but in the back of her mind, she knew what bothered him. She was sure she could not be here with him, but he felt right. It was really Alan.

"My Eagle broke up in some sort of huge sand storm in space. I had to eject the command module from the rest of the ship, then I blacked out." He rolled from on top of her, and looked up at the sun in the sky, and around at the beach. "This is down near Key West. We came here right after we met over four years ago, and I always meant to bring you back."

Melissa was disappointed that the moment was lost, but admitted to herself that it was a puzzle how she could one minute be freezing to death in space and the next be on a beach in Florida.

"Four years ago? Alan it’s only been a few months since the moon left and we took the Meta Probe to come look for you!"

"The Meta Probe? You could never reach us with that. Maya says---she’s an alien we met who joined us---we’ve been going through space warps that are dilating time as well as warping space. Please, Melissa. Go back home and be safe. I love you and don’t want you hurt, no matter how I’ve missed you over the years." Alan’s sincerity pleased Melissa, but she’d come far both in distance and personal growth and would have her way.

"Alan, we have a new kind of space drive that’s allowing us to follow you. When we get there, we can build more drives and go home together! I won’t stop until we’re there, and that may be only days away." She paused, thinking. "Days. Alan, how can we be here? The Probe was stuck in this black cloud-thing, and I went outside to try to fix the sensor array and…."

"Black cloud, yeah. Me too, but I was in an Eagle when we ran into it, and the wind or whatever torn me up. What happened to us? I…." Alan paused as motion attracted his attention.

Just meters from their feet, the white sand beach had darkened, and the darkness rose from the sand surface. As the startled lovers looked on, the black sand took shape to resemble humanoid form, but without face or other specifically human features. It grew until it reached a height of nearly three meters, and began moving toward them one step at a time. With each step the sand around it turned black and dark sand clouds swirled upward from its feet into the sky above it. Alan grabbed Melissa’s hand, and pulled her to her feet.

"Run, Melissa." Alan shouted and pulled her along. He risked a glance behind them to see the form begin to run after them, and the sky begin to darken with the evaporating black sand. Soon the sun began to fade, and a twilight gloom fell upon them as they ran for the shelter of the beach bar. The sign over the front of the building read "Kokomo’s" and they had been there four years before from Alan's perspective and just months from Melissa's point of view.

Cold began to seep into them, and when they reached the building Alan threw the door of the bar open and as Melissa stumbled through it, he slammed it closed and took deep breathes of air. At the far end of the room was a blazing fire in the cook stove, and the pair ran to it to warm their hands.

"Alan, should be we stopping?" Melissa asked, rubbing her hands together before flames.

"I don’t think it makes any difference, Love. I’d rather stand and face the danger than be taken down like a wild animal. We don’t even know what’s chasin’ us. As long as we’re together, it will be okay."

"Alan, whatever happens I want you to know I love you. I will never stop loving you or trying to get to you if it takes the rest of my life. I’d face the devil himself for you." A tear escaped from Melissa’s eye as she leaned forward to give Alan what she felt might be their final kiss.

"And I for you, Love." Alan said.

Melissa’s eyes closed, and she brushed his lips with her own just as vertigo overwhelmed her once again as the dark sand caught both of them up in a tornado-like swirl that lifted and pulled them apart from one another. When she was able to open her eyes again, there was nothing but blackness.

"Alan?" Melissa called out as she floated buoyant upon the soft, dark waves. "Alan, are you there?"

The answering silence was awesome in its depth. It was not the silent quality of there not being any noises, but the complete absence of vibrations or sound waves being carried through the air. Melissa seemed to still be functioning normally, but she did not appear to even breathe.

Melissa’s heart seemed to raced at the non-sound she heard. It was the voice of the Darkness come to life.

"Elsewhere? But he was just here. Where am I?" She asked. Melissa thought she should feel terror, but she could feel almost nothing.

"Will always be? What are you? Are you God?"

"Can you bring me back to Alan? I’ve been trying so hard to reach him."

"How can you know this if you’re not God?" Melissa asked.

"I think that’s more than I want to know."

Melissa’s mind cocooned, and she drew into herself leaving the voice and conscious thought behind.

"We’ve got a signal, Commander. It’s Alan Carter’s emergency beacon! He’s down about four klicks out from the Base. I’ve got MacKenna and Martinez, too. They are on their way back and will divert to Carter’s position." Celeste Boullet told Koenig through his ComLock,

"That’s great, let me know if there is anything further. Koenig out."

John brushed a stray lock of hair from his face, and turned back to Helena Russell who was ministering to a wounded Eagle bay maintenance worker.

"How many, Helena?" Koenig asked referring to personnel injured combating the damage inflicted by the black sandstorm.

"Just three. Daniel m’Tamba here," she nodded to her patient who smiled back at her, "is the worst case. Sprained wrist, and some bruises." She finished wrapping his wrist with a bit of a flourish. "You can go, Daniel, but try to stay out of the way of falling equipment next time." Helena smiled warmly, and Daniel smiled back at her.

"Thank you, Doctor Russell. Commander." Daniel nodded to the Commander as he left.

"He doesn’t realize it, but he’s going to have to work on Carter’s Eagle. It may be coming back in pieces since all we got was an emergency beacon." Koenig said, smiling.

"Have him brought straight here when they retrieve him. I’ll give him the once-over." Helena said. "I’m glad the whole thing is over, though. It could have been a lot worse."

"You said it, Helena. We apparently brushed by the edge of this area of dark material. Things could have gotten really bad if we had happened to go through the center. It probably would have meant the end for us. I thought we might have lost Alan as it was."

"I’ve always thought that there are forces greater than we are watching out for us."

"You may be right, Helena. You may be right."

Dr. Shaw looked Tony Cellini over thoroughly and found nothing amiss, but Tony still stared at the wall, not wanting to talk about Melissa’s disappearance further.

"Tony, no one is blaming you for any of this. It was an accident, and nothing more." Diana tried to get through one more time, and succeeded to her dismay.

"An ACCIDENT!" Tony screamed finally losing control. "I’ve told you what happened. I’ve told all of you several times. She was taken. It was a giant hand that scooped her up and carried her off. It was the hand of a black giant bigger than this ship and stronger than a force of nature.

"You all believe I am mad, but I tell you I saw it! It was real." Peter Stone and Guido Verdeschi looked at Dr. Shaw, who simply stared back at them, not knowing what to say next.

Diana turned away, not willing to face Tony, because she knew she really did think it was his old problem---his old ghosts coming back to haunt him. She was sorry Melissa was gone, even if she did think of her as a walking, talking, dermatological problem on the ass of the universe. But Diana decided to take her usual direct approach and turned to face Tony to tell him exactly what she thought.

"You’re right, Tony. We do think this is crazy. After all, we weren’t out there to see what you saw, whatever it was. We don’t know what could be out there, and this dark area could have supported some sort of life, but listen to yourself Tony. Your story does sound improbable. Would you believe it if one of us told you we saw what you say you saw?"

Tony, who had been looking at his feet, looked up at Diana.

"If I was really your friend, and you told me you saw it I would believe you." Tony said to her softly before he returned to looking at the floor. Diana turned on her heel and walked away at Tony’s quiet rebuke.

"Hmmff." Diana exhaled loudly. "We need to decide what we do next. Do we blunder forward blindly or blunder back the way we came just as blind?"

"Without a star track we don’t even know if the ship has remained in the same orientation relative to our following the Moon’s path," Guido pointed out. "The forces outside the ship are much stronger than anyone could have predicted, so we can’t even tell where ‘back the way we came’ is located."

"Besides, the Probe would be torn to shreds if we try a jump in this dense an environment," Peter Stone added. "We are going to have to use normal space engines to get out of here before we can jump."

"I’ll plot a course away from here to try to get a star track and get back on the trail of the Moon." Diana spoke, ignoring the looks she got from the other travelers who silently accused her of deserting Melissa.

"Attention. Attention." The computer interrupted their discussion with its calm, unperturbed voice. "Structural stresses exceeding limits in central pod. Extreme structural stress in central pod.

"Computer," Guido called out, "what is causing the stress?"

"External pressure on EV bay lock exceeds structural limitations." The computer replied without emotion.

"The phenomenon should not be able to do this," Guido said to his comrades. "Except for minor fluctuations, the pressure should be fairly constant."

"And Melissa should not have been taken from us," Tony said acidly. "We are dealing with a mind, not just a meteorological oddity."

"What makes you draw that conclusion? There are many examples of pinpoint damage in earthly storms." Diana spoke absently, as she worked the controls to get them away from their current location.

"Is it then coincidence that the pressure is being applied to the lock Melissa and I used?" Tony asked intently. "The same lock that would not seal properly when I came back inside.

"Attention. Attention." The computer said again. "Unauthorized access to EV bay. Unauthorized access to EV bay."

"An intrusion? An alien life form?" Dr. Shaw inquired with a mixture of distress and fascination.

"There is only one way to find out. I am going down there to meet the beast that took Melissa."

With that, Tony got up and stalked from the control room with Guido, Peter, and Dr. Shaw close behind. Diana remained behind at the Navigation console.

"I'll monitor your status from here. All you have to do is call if you need me." She said as the door closed.

Koenig met Dr. Russell and her emergency team at the Medical Center doorway as they brought Alan Carter in from the crash. He squinted with worry as the injured pilot and friend was wheeled to a stop at the entry. Carter was conscious---but only just.

"You look a little battered and bruised, Alan." John said with his usual disarming humor, but Helena knew him well enough to see the real concern in John’s eyes.

"Yeah. Better’n battered and, "Alan winced momentarily in pain and was nearly inaudible, "deep fired. That’s my motto."

The medical techs pushed Alan’s gurney through to Medical Center as the Aussie smiled weakly up at Koenig’s slight grin. John looked at Helena and the question of Alan’s condition was silently passed between the two.

"It looks as though he’s had some minor injuries, so I’ll let you know how he’s doing in a little while." Helena said, and then was gone to follow her patient. Koenig pulled his Commlock from his belt and keyed in Command Center. The small screen displayed Celeste Boullet’s face with some small static across it, and John smiled slightly. She had been on duty continuously since the emergency had first been identified, and he admired her diligence. He himself had just been going off shift when her first call had come in, but he expected to drive himself to exhaustion and was constantly surprised when others did it as well.

"Commander, we are entirely in the clear. Everything should return to normal shortly. We still have a small amount of interference on communications and sensors, and repair teams are working on it. Are you going off-duty for a few hours?" Celeste asked him that before he’d left to see Alan as well.

"I’m going by Science Section to check on the results of their analysis on the material they collected, and then I’ll swing by my office before I get a break. Keep me posted. Koenig out." He cut her off before she could respond because he knew she was going to give him a hard time, and headed for the Science Section.

By the time he reached Command Center again, two hours had passed and John himself knew he was probably not doing anyone any good anymore. Nineteen hours on his feet was probably enough, and he already said his thanks and goodnight to Celeste and her shift out in the corridor as they left Command Center. He was leaving to go to his quarters when his Commlock chimed.

"John, can you come down to Medical? I think you should see Alan."

"Is he…?" Koenig thought the worst when called.

"No, he’s going to be fine, John, but I think you should hear what happened to him. I think…well, you should come hear for yourself."

"Okay, I’ll be right there."

Koenig wondered what could be going on, and as he walked he thought through several possibilities. Before he knew it he was entering Medical Center.

"Alan, Helena tells me you’re going to live." Koenig said with a genuine smile.

"Probably only live to be ninety or ninety-five, John. But what happened out there was fantastic!" Alan was effusive.

"We passed through some kind of cloud of really dense material. I have Science Section’s data right here," John held up a computer disk, "and it looks like we’ve discovered several compounds not present in nature as we know it. They absorb and appear to hold all kinds of different energy---some we can’t even identify!"

"That’s not all, John! There was an alien out there, and I found out there’s a rescue ship coming for us!" Alan was jubilant, but Koenig raised his eyebrows and looked at Helena.

"There’s nothing wrong with him mentally or organically that would cause delusions. He believes what he’s saying and I have no reason to doubt him for medical reasons." Helena’s somewhat cold analysis disheartened Alan only a little.

"Hey, Helena I thought you’d be thrilled that Melissa and the others are coming to get us." Alan said feigning a hurt expression.

"Melissa?" John asked. "Helena’s sister? I know you two really hit it off, but she’s no pilot. I suppose over four years she could have…."

"But it’s only been weeks for them. They’ve got a new kind of drive that they installed on the Meta Probe and Diana Morris worked out a navigation scheme that’s allowing them to catch up with us." Alan seemed sure of what he said, and it was certainly something everyone would want to believe.

"Alan, I wasn’t out there, and we’ve seen enough strange things to convince me that anything is possible, but we can’t tell everyone we’re about to be rescued without some kind of evidence." John was emphatic, and concerned how this news might effect everyone on the base.

"The alien was a kind of sand man who could manipulate that dark material, but there was more to him than that. He touched our minds and we ended up in some other reality." Alan rubbed his temple. "It gets kind of fuzzy after that, but he seemed be trying to help us."

"You mean you think the Meta Probe ship is that close behind us in that cloud?" John asked.

"Well, the sand man seemed to exist in several times or places at once. I think the Probe hasn’t gotten here yet, but it will."

Tony Cellini punched in the override code to open the EV bay door over the objection of the ship’s computer, and the door opened smoothly when the pressure equalized. The dark dust coated the walls in a thin film, and a thick coating of it covered the outer lock, but the air was clear but for a musty smell. A quick scan of the room showed no aliens, just a crumpled figure lying against one wall in an orange space suit.

"Melissa!" Tony and the others shouted as they dashed to her. Cellini unlatched her helmet and gently pulled it off of her while the others undid the gloves and the rest of the suit. Tony noted the hard clump of what must have been the black sand covering the spot where the tether should have torn a chunk out of Melissa’s suit. Something caused it to form a seal over the open tear.

Dr. Shaw lifted Melissa’s eyelid then pulled a white cloth from his pocket, and wiped the semi-congealed blood from Melissa’s upper lip and nose.

"She depressurized suddenly, but appears to be okay." Dr. Shaw pronounced.

"Yes, she is already coming around." Tony added. Melissa squeezed her eyes shut tightly, then opened one just enough for the glare of the bay lights to shoot rivets of pain through her head before she closed it again.

Peter, Guido, and Dr. Shaw clutched at her and carefully and pulled her through the hatchway to the corridor, while Tony examined the exterior EV lock. The computer determined that the hatch would not seal which is why it refused to open the bay, but a perfect seal was maintained with the same hardened black sand material that sealed Melissa’s space suit. Tony ran his fingers over the black material bonded to the hull on the inside of the ship in amazement. The black monster had stolen Melissa and then apparently brought her back to them and protected her from harm.

"Melissa? Can you hear me?" Dr. Shaw said softly.

"I hear you." Melissa said through badly chapped lips. "Mommy, are we there yet?"

Everyone smiled broadly, glad to have Melissa home again. Tony came back to her side, a quizzical expression on his face.

"Melissa, I thought we'd never see you again." Tony said and Melissa opened her eyes enough to smile at her friends.

"Good to be seen. You won't believe it, but I saw Alan. They know we're coming." Melissa said with a strained voice.

"Good to have you back, Melissa." Diana's voice came crackling through the speaker in the corridor. "And we have good news. This storm or whatever is breaking and space is clearing. We can get out of here almost any time. Sensor array is back on line, but we have a lot of interference. I should have a star track in a few minutes and I can determine our position."

"Thank you, Diana." Tony replied to her. "Guido, if you go help Diana get started moving the ship on the course she plotted earlier, we’ll get Melissa to sick bay."

"Right. We’ll move the Probe under normal engines until Diana can get a fix on the Moon. If Melissa really did see Alan Carter, we must be close."

Guido bounded up the corridor to the nearest ladder tubeway, and ascended toward the bridge while Peter and Tony carried Melissa to the sick bay. On the way she explained what happened to her.

"The Sandman alien touched my mind and I was with Alan. I think I made Alan understand we were coming. He may have understood without me, but it was so much like a dream." She closed her eyes again. "We weren’t in the same time, though---I was there, and he was here. He was older, from the future. The years went by so fast, but then I’ve always liked older men." She smiled with her eyes still closed and fell soundly asleep.

"Do you think any of it really happened?" Peter asked in a whisper as they carried the now slumbering Melissa.

"I have seen my own demons in space, so there is no reason for Melissa not to be visited by one of her own," Tony said quietly. "We can hope only hope Melissa’s Sandman brings her sleep with dreams rather than nightmares.