"If that hatch blows, the extraction rig goes with it," Elias muttered. He grabbed his mag-tether and stepped toward the airlock. "What are you doing?" Sarah’s voice spiked with alarm.

He stepped into the dark. The silence of Michelle-020 was absolute—a heavy, suffocating quiet that made the stars above look like cold needles. He crawled along the hull of the Star 3, his boots clanging against the titanium skin.

As the Star 3 engines roared to life, lifting them away from the violet clouds and into the safety of the black, Elias looked back at the receding planet. Michelle-020 was a lonely place, but for a moment, they had survived its cold embrace.