Babe displayed her unique, feminine sultry look to capture Abe's attention when he vacated the shuttle. Abe had predicted his mate's sensual reactions well. Her doves cooed contentedly, perched lightly atop each of her shoulders. The eagles crisscrossed the lagoon in random patterns. Abe waved them on to explore more of their new domain. Babe's sexy smile quickly faded with her mate's wise thought concerning business before pleasure. Making love would have to wait until she completed the return trip from the New Hope. She would persevere since she knew he had serious work to perform for their mutual benefit.

Abe was puzzled when Babe's provocative grin returned as she boarded the shuttle. She knew he would eat lunch soon. He diligently unloaded the electronic equipment and consciously worked to keep his thoughts focused on the task at hand instead of Babe. She was capable of overriding his decision if she so desired; however, her loving respect for his authority would never allow such a selfish act. He was totally unaware of the secret note stashed in his lunch. Abe was sure to realize exactly how much he really meant to her when he found it. Babe figured he might even blush, and that thought amused her greatly.

Unloading completed, Babe punched in the proper flight code for maximum speed, to slow only for the brief exit through Rainbow Falls. She slyly winked at Abe as the shuttle lifted off, and the computer slightly adjusted its trajectory. In the next instant, she was gone.

Abe carefully measured out the preliminary boundaries for the composite tent beneath two large trees with overlapping, broadleaf branches which formed a living, protective barrier. He methodically erected the tent and meticulously arranged the other pieces of equipment. A remote communicator, spectrograph and the auxiliary portable scanner along with another fusion generator for electricity had been included in the first load. All pieces had been wisely selected as necessities.



Abe was anxious to power up the electronics and begin monitoring the peripheral surroundings of the camp. He also felt an uncontrollable urge to contact Babe on the communicator. An intense vibe of impending danger was beginning to assault his extraordinary senses. Also, his eagles felt uneasy, screeching loudly as they landed on the antenna system for the scanner. Abe quieted them, pointing up toward the big trees, and they flew up to a comfortable perch above.

Abe hastily pulled the activation pin on the fusion generator, and the power indicators reacted simultaneously. After adjusting the amperage and voltage levels, he proceeded to attach the radio and antenna to the power source.

The precise instant Abe activated the system, Babe's urgent tone of voice was desperately pleading for her mate to acknowledge her reception! She had been frantically trying to contact him ever since she had reached the New Hope.

The master computer had already activated the "CODE RED" mode of the ship before her arrival. In less than an hour, Earth's original moon would ultimately collide into their new sun! Engrossed with their exploration of Hydrocryst, they had stupidly allowed the inevitable event to catch them off their guard. The computer had created an enhanced simulation of an uncontrollable chain of events which could possibly trigger disasters of awesome proportions to their present solar system! Violent solar flares would erupt, a potentially deadly wave of radiation lasting up to three days, plus a searing heat and shock wave causing a total communications black-out! Quite possibly, even massive chunks of the impacting moon might be blasted back into space in their direction!

Abe could sense the painful, mental anguish in his beloved mate's voice and knew she was bravely choking back her tears while telling him there was not enough time for his return to the New Hope. She had set the shuttle on autopilot and sent it back to his exact coordinates. Hopefully, it should be arriving any second.

The computer had calculated that Abe and his eagles' only hope for survival would hinge on connecting the base camp's operational generator in series with the main drive of the shuttle to double its ionic propulsion and power output. Next, they must race as deep into Hydrocryst's interior as conditions would permit to escape the intense radiation, heat, and shock wave to come. Timing would prove to be the critical, deciding factor between life and death!

The only logically safe place for the New Hope and all life aboard her was deep inside a large crater on the back side of the Dead Planet. Babe must remove it from its orbit around Hydrocryst immediately, and pray she could safely land the immense spaceship alone. The craft had originally been designed to be flown by tandem pilots aided by the computer as well. She promised Abe she would maintain radio contact until the mass of the Dead Planet blocked the radio beams.

The haunting thought of successfully executing a solo landing on the forboding dark side of the lifeless planet terrified Babe almost as much the horrible reality of possibly never seeing Abe alive again! She mentally excluded the negative synopsis but painfully wished she had overridden her beloved mate back at the base site. They would at least be together to face the trauma of the potential calamity about to befall them both.

Abe refused to disconnect the camp generator until the shuttle arrived and he had established positive contact with Babe on its communicator. He set the controller on the voice activation mode to allow him to continue talking to Babe while he fervently wired the extra power supply into place. He sincerely hoped his mate did not evaluate the element of danger involved with incorporating the extra power into the shuttle's main drive unit. He would be forced to pilot the craft manually by his instincts only, without the aid of the forward scanners or the precise navigatioal computer. Should he even switch them on, a total circuit fusion would occur from the overload, releasing the unrestrained atomic power of both generators simultaneously. The tragic explosion would produce sufficient energy to reduce Hydrocryst back to the cosmic dust from which it originated! The same possibility existed if he should crash the shuttle at the 800 MPH speed he would be flying at, both above and below uncharted terrain!

Abe feared more for Babe than himself, even though he commanded total confidence in her flying abilities. He whistled sharply for his eagles, and back on the New Hope, Babe knew he was about to embark on a chance she calculated to be much slimmer than her mediocre flight across open space. She informed Abe that only thirty-three minutes remained before impact, and the radiation, heat, and shock would follow barely ten minutes later. He mentally noted the waning time.

Babe had already blasted out of orbit around Hydrocryst before the shuttle had even reached Abe. He asked her if she had calculated her flight time in relation to that of the impact. She desperately tried to control the slight quiver in her voice as she lied and relayed back a five minute error margin. Actually, the catastrophic event would occur during her attempt to land, possibly a couple of minutes prior. She did not want Abe to worry about her situation. He faced monumental problems of his own to warrant his utmost mental prowess. He had not mentioned the acute dangers of high-speed, manual navigation for exactly the same reason. The loving couple each protected the other by concealing the seriousness of their individual situations. Before radio contact failed completely, they tearfully expressed their perpetual love for one another, but neither would say, "Good-bye."