Harper just stood and stared at the sand for a few minutes, taking in what just happened. Dylan and Beka had seen the whole thing from where they were, and began to run over to him.

"What the hell just happened?" Dylan asked, panting.

"Yeah mega-globes their just disappeared" Beka continued.

"I... She must have been a" Harper replied. He was interrupted by a man, a pretty short man with a lab coat on. He was wearing a pair of strange looking glasses, and had a mad scientist hair-style.

"Its quite simple really" The man said "Meryls holo imaging matrix collapsed under binary stress from the artificial intelligences error cycle, a kind of malfunctioning loop" Dylan and Beka looked confused.

"Yeah, Quite simple" Dylan said.
"I cant believe i fell in love with a hologram" Harper said.

"Fell in love?" Beka butted in "You only knew it for about 10 minutes".

"Yeah, But she... It... was so incredibly perfect" Harper continued.

"That's because she was designed to be, Its actually been a project of mine for the past few years" The mad scientist said. "She is designed to seduce the man depending on what the man wants. She is your greatest desires. She's the perfect mate for every male, and some females too". Beka and Dylan were laughing, even though deep down they felt sorry for Harper. He had a pretty sad looking expression on his face.

"So i was all apart of your experiment, a test subject. You could have at least asked. Why'd you choose me for your stupid experiment anyway?" Harper asked.

"Well, If you must know... Because you were the loneliest, saddest, most pathetic looking guy on the artificial shores." The man laughed.

"When you've finished insulting me i think ill go find trance" Harper said.

"I think she said she was going ice skating" Beka told him, and with that he left, hanging his head low.

"Poor kid" Dylan said as he watched him step into the elevator.

"Yeah, He must have the most unlucky love life in the history of love life's in the history of the universe" Beka said. "Speaking of love life's, im surprised you haven't been off trying to get every girl on the ship" Beka said to a smiling Dylan.

"Lets just say, there's only one girl who i want to hook up with this week" Dylan replied. Beka thought for a while... nope she couldn't think who it was... the thought never crossed her mind that it might be her.

Harper stepped out of the elevator at the ice rinks. As usual, the place was absolutely packed - there was barley room on the ice to do any actual skating. There was a large restaurant section, with tables dotted around the outside of the rinks. He kept his eyes peeled for Trance, he couldn't see her at any of the tables... but then he caught sight of a purple girl on the Ice. She looked like she was having a hard time trying to balance herself. Yeah that must of been Trance. Harper stayed back for a while and watched her. He really liked the idea of Trance in a mini-skirt. He witnessed her falling over about six times in a few minutes, she was not a very accomplished ice-skater. Eventually he donned his ice-skates and went out onto the large rink. Harper had been skating a few times, and was pretty good. He saw this as a chance to show off to Trance, and began to discreetly skate towards Trance, who was facing away from him, trying to regain her balance after falling over. Harper stopped when he was standing a few feet behind her, and then grabbed her tummy at either side with a "BOOO!". Trance fell over in shock, squealing. She turned to see Harper in fits of laughter.

"Harper!" She moaned "You scared me!".

"That was the idea trance!" Harper said, as he skated around her and did a little twirl on the ice. Trance was watching him with her arms folded.

"Hmm, Ive seen better" She said with a smile.

"Oh yeah?" Harper replied as he jumped in the air, with a 180 degree spin and then landed again without loosing his posture. He returned towards trance and took a bow.
"Close harp, But no cigar" Trance said. "Oooh! Dave's back!" She pointed over Dave as he entered the Rink. Harper slapped his forehead. Dave glided gracefully across the ice towards Trance.

This was war.

Dave pulled off the perfect 360 degree spin-jump. Trance clapped.

"I can do better" Harper cried, before doing the same. He added in a little twirl at the end, Trance looked impressed.

"Hey Ammeture" Dave shouted over to Harper "This is how its REALLY done". Dave pulled off a perfect combo of moves, Trance went wild, and even harpers eyebrows were raised. Dave took a bow.

"Hey show off, Be careful your don't float to the ceiling with your ZEPPELIN-SIZED HEAD!" Harper cried.

"Do i detect a hint of jealousy?" Dave cried back, as He watched Harper repeat Dave's impressive combo but with an added twirl.

"Watch this, Newbie" Dave cried as he pulled off a very impressive combo. Trance cheered. Dave noticed that Harper looked pretty worried.

"Whats up Harper!" Dave cried "Afraid of a little... Competition?". Harper shook himself out of it.

"Hey i can do that with my eyes closed!" He cried, doubting if he really could.

"Boy i cant wait to see this" Dave shouted over to Harper "Go on then, Prove it!".

Harper took a deep breath and a gulp, closed his eyes, and tried to repeat the feat. He made the first jump. Unfortunately, as he landed from the first jump, he landed on top of another skater, an angry neizchien who shoved him with a growl. He opened his eyes and realised what was happening, but it was to late, he smashed into the Rink Barrier with a thud, flipped over it and landed right in the centre of an occupied Table, sending cream cake and coffee flying through the air. The two phans sitting at the table in which he had landed were not to happy about being showered with coffee and cream cake, and began to curse and shout at Harper in their native language. Trance and Dave glided over to the edge of the rink, and laughed at a groaning Harper.

"Nice trick!" Trance said clapping her hands "Can i see that one again?". Harper climbed off the table, and looked down at his now coffee stained clothes.

"Nice try Harper" Dave laughed. Harper growled at him.

"Hey!" The waiter from behind him shouted "Are you going to pay for that?". Harper pulled out a few thrones from his pocket and handed them to the angry looking phans, before quickly hopping back into the ice rink.

"I wont be trying that one again" Harper told a laughing Trance.

Dave glided past, he was performing the same trick that Harper had just screwed-up, with ease. But to rub it in further, he had his eyes close, while standing on one leg and juggling balls at the same time. Trance was going wild with applause, while Harper almost melted the ice with his frustration. Dave decided he would rub it in further by skating upto Trance, twirling her around, catching her in his arms and then snogging her face off. Poor harper just turned around, threw his ice skates on the floor and went to sit on one of the surrounding tables and wallow in a mixture of jealousy and self pity.

"What do'ya think?" Beka asked Dylan as she emerged from the changing area. She was wearing a funky, designer top and a pair of trendy trousers.

"You look... Beautiful" Dylan replied "Really stunning". Beka smiled at him.

"You think?" She said "Hmm, Pretty nifty price-tag... But if i look stunning then i guess its worth it".

"Yeah, But you look stunning whatever you wear" Dylan laughed. Beka smiled at him. "Your on vacation Beks, Treat yourself. I mean come on, when's the last time you bought a new item of clothing". Beka thought about it for a second, Before shouting over to the store clerk.

"Hey, Mr, I... err.. ive chosen" She cried. The clerk ran over.

"Ok, 250?" Beka asked the clerk.

"Yes Madam" He replied. Beka handed him the money.

"Ill wear it out" She said.

"Please do" Dylan said smiling. As they left the store, Dylan turned to Beka.

"Oh ive got something for ya... I err... Picked it up earlier" He handed her a little black box.

"You really shouldn't have" Beka said as she opened the box.

"I couldn't help it! I saw it and i... couldn't help but think how great it would look on you". Dylan continued "I just hope you like it." She opened the box to reveal a necklace, it was Beka's kind of necklace. It was a silver chain with a funky looking design hanging from it. Not a pretty love heart earring, or diamond ring in sight.

"Its great Dylan" Beka cried "It goes well with this new outfit too".

"I was gonna get one with a golden heart on, but i thought it wouldn't really be your kind of thing" Dylan replied. Beka smiled at him. They walked towards the restaurant together, hand in hand.

A depressed looking Harper sat at his table with a beer, overlooking Trance and Dave ice-skating together, Hand in Hand. He watched as Dave lifted Trance into the air above his head and twirled around, and how they giggled and laughed with one another. Deep down he knew he should be Happy for Trance, She had found someone special, but he didn't want to accept the fact that Trance was not interested in him. Harper watched as Dave kissed Trance, before she turned and began to make her way towards the exit. Before getting changed out of her skating clothes, Trance walked over to Harpers table and joined him.

"Hey harp" She said with a smile as she sat down.

"Hi Trance" Harper replied with a sigh "Why don't you go back to kissing Zeppelin head over there". Trance tutted.

"Harper, You really shouldn't be so jealous."

"Huh? You don't know how i feel about you. If you did you'd understand"

"Harper... Dave is an amazing guy... I really like him... I like him-like him... but you'll always be my best friend, and no boyfriend will ever get in the way of that"

"Trance... I..."

"Harper, Your the smartest guy i ever met. I mean, You know so much about so many things. I bet Dave could never build an Android avatar..."

Harper thought about it for a second. Trance had suddenly made him feel much better.

"I Love you Harper" Trance said "I love Dave too, Its just a different kind of love".

"Why cant it be the other way around?" Harper asked, with a whine.

"Its the way the universe works Harper, Live with it". Trance replied smiling. She stood up and walked towards the changing area. Harper watched Dave as he skated around the Ice Rink. He seemed to be hovering around a young human girl, almost as if he was trying to impress her. Harper sat and watched as Dave performed a few tricks, making sure he was in her field of view. In the end he approached the girl and began to talk to her, he watched as they giggled together.

"Hmm" Harper thought to himself "So when trance isn't around, Dave likes to flirt with other girls does he?" He watched as Dave spun the young human female around.

"I wonder what Trance would have to say about that..."