Planet and Sky: The Deeper Story

The scientists have returned with a bold agenda. The explorers are rescued unharmed but there's been a change in the relationship between the woman and the man who introduced our story.

A colossal project is started to revive the planet's ancient biosphere. Deep holes are dug into the mantle and giant explosions set off, the atmosphere is enriched with the help of comets and asteroids, and the temperature warms significantly.

The travelers stir first and come to life, reviving their eternal three way discussion. Finally, Planet emerges from a deep slumber and finds that Sky is returning as well.

Planet is plunged into deep gloom and sadness upon learning that Sky is leaving. He goes through all of the stages of grief and feels guilty for not being strong enough to hold on to her.

In his lonely time without her he projects his awareness to various parts of his world. He discovers a lifeform that has created a special kind of clay that has some miraculous properties.

Sky has terrible news for Planet. His gravity is failing to hold her. She has accepted the reality that their wondrous path has come to an end. She will drift off into space and leave him and all of their children to be raked by the scorching heat and deadly radiation from their star.

She goes through a range of emotions; deep sadness, anger, denial, fierce resistance to the inevitable, and eventually woeful acceptance.

Sky's concerns for the future of she and Planet become prescient. The weather patterns turn toward longer and colder winters. The three travelers discuss the changes with characteristically different attitudes. The first traveler is optimistic that the warm seasons will return and that they are just experiencing a colder pattern. It reminds the others that its optimism was borne out before.

The second traveler insists that this time there is no reason to look forward to a better future. The world is growing inexorably colder and they will eventually freeze and die.

The third traveler is calm and content as always, and find fascination in the depths into which they must migrate in order to find the last remnants of warmth. It is prepared for another long sleep.

Planet and Sky have created a lush biosphere now and their tumultuous days are far behind. Planet proclaims his love for Sky with an ode to all the ways he loves her.

He sometimes enjoys projecting his awareness into the creatures that inhabit their world and composes his song while enjoying the view from beside a mountain lake from the eyes of an ape-like creature. While singing his song he has a moment of concern for the future, but it passes quickly.

Sky has been witnessing her husband's performance from the eyes of a large bird that perches in a nearby tree. She adds a cautionary note to Planet's song, as she is aware of a larger perspective in space and time.

Planet and Sky are young and full of energy. Planet's mantle is churning and tectonic plates are colliding, creating enormous collisions and spawning powerful volcanoes which are creating powerful storms within Sky. Meteors and comets from the distant reaches of the star system are bombarding their world at a furious rate. Sky intercepts what she can, but Planet is still shaken by the largest intruders.

One of the largest meteors penetrates deep into the subsurface and creates a large crater. Hidden within its depths are the seeds of life; the travelers encountered in the previous episode. These microbes will evolve into the seeds of a rich biosphere.

A rescue party has been sent in to find the missing explorers. The three crewmembers include a team leader, a risk counselor, and a psychologist. Upon entering the strange realm that captured the first expedition, they too become weirdly effected by mysterious forces. Like the woman and the man before them they become transformed into new entities only vaguely related to their original identities.

The party has become three organisms encased in a frozen asteroid in deep space. It has been caught by the gravitational forces of a new star system and begins plummeting toward its star. The organisms are dimly aware of their circumstances and engage in a three way debate regarding their impending fate.

Meanwhile, a planet and its atmosphere await their impactful arrival.

The man and the woman from episode one have been transformed into cosmic entities; he a newly formed planet and she the congealing atmosphere above. Planet, as he shall be now known, believes himself to be isolated and perfect. Sky, his eventual consort, knows better. She understands it is their fate to me joined as one.

Sky enlightens Planet with the knowledge of her presence and gradually convinces him of the value of their union. After a few million years of pondering the problem, Planet sees her point and relents. The two lovers celebrate their union in a joyous chorus. A new world has begun.

Far off in space a separate drama is developing, as three new characters prepare to enter the picture and will produce a profound impact on the life of Planet and Sky.

In this episode, scientists arrive at a small barren planet in search of life. Two explorers enter a cave and encounter an anomaly. In the process of beginning the transmission of sensory data to the base station, they are overtaken by a series of psychological and physical transformations. They feel a strong emotional charge from the anomaly and try to describe to one another the nature of the phenomenon.

Back at the base, the scientists begin analyzing the datastream and are stunned to discover that it appears to be a message from an intelligent entity. The message seems to be telling a story from deep in time about the history of the planet told from the perspective of the planet itself and its atmosphere.