It was still a few million kilometres away but in the background of the glowing red sun they could see the small black shapes of the two ships through their telescope. It had been a few weeks since they had last heard from them. Under the glare of the red sun, the two ships looked more ominous than ever.

"Are we too late?" Clair asked Janus with an anxious voice.

"I don't know. There is only static in their communication channel. I don't know what to make of it." Janus sounded troubled.

"What do you think of the last message of the captain?"

"I don't know what to think of it either."

Janus had been trying to communicate with the ship for days. He looked exhausted. He had adopted the habit of sleeping on the control room floor and Clair was worried about his health. She tried her best to keep him healthy by forcing him to take his meals and get sufficient sleep.

But she knew there was no way she could keep him away from the control room. He was constantly adjusting communication channels and listening to every wavelength. Even though he did not speak of his fears, she could tell that he has started to expect the worst.

It wasn't a surprise for her. She knew his whole family was on board Enliven. He would have been with them if he was not engaged in the evacuation of the mineral mines of Callisto. There wasn't much Clair could do as she lacked experience in the communication field.

The ship Enliven's mission was to transport a group of scientists to the planet Xnex, a planet that revolved around a red sun. Xnes was primarily used as a space station for ships to fuel themselves and restock their cargo in the beginning. But as time passed by Xnex climate and local vegetation picked up the interest of scientists and now there were few hundreds of scientists conducting different researches and more were moving in. On the way to Xnex, suddenly Enliven dropped out of its communication with both Earth and Xnex. When it failed to send its daily routine reports, it started to worry the people at both ends.

When Janus heard the news about Enliven, his ship, Tristar, had ended its last trip of evacuation. At once, Janus requested his immediate commander to let him go for the search of Enliven but his request was declined as it would take a few weeks for Tristar to get there.

One man scout ship was sent from Xnex to look for Enliven. It spotted Enliven a few thousand kilometres away from the red sun and it was orbiting the sun. After reporting the location of Enliven, the scouting ship was ordered to dock with Enliven if it seemed safe and report back the findings. The scout marshal reported a successful docking and was given permission to board Enliven. Once aboard Enliven the scout marshal had reported that he was heading for the control room and that had been the last thing that they heard from him and ISC (interplanetary space council) was at a loss as to what to do next.

Against his commander's orders Janus took his ship and headed for the red sun and they had been travelling for five weeks, and still they were two weeks away from Enliven. Clair watched Janus grow impatient and worried day by day. But she was afraid of consoling him about his family, fearing it would worsen his condition. So, she decided to keep their communication neutral and professional.

Janus had asked her to leave the ship when they docked at Europa Shuttle Station to fuel the ship. But she decided to stay on board and she was the only one who could reject his orders as she held equal power about decision making on the ship except in some areas. Janus had ordered everyone else to leave the ship before they left Europa.

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During last two weeks she watched Janus grow more haggard. He was becoming more and more like a ghost of his previous self, talking very little and moving hardly away from the control room. He had been staring at the two ships through the control room's viewing panel since the two ships came into their vicinity.

Both ships were revolving around the red sun. They were dangerously close to the sun but ships' solar shields had the ability to filter almost all harmful radiation. But the real danger was that the ships were gradually getting closer and closer to the sun. The increasing heat would definitely damage the ships if they were to stay on their current path for few more weeks.

"Clair, I can see the lights working."

Janus' voice was hollowed. It was the first time he spoke after two days.

"It means their life support work, right?"

"Yes, but it doesn't mean much. I don't see anything moving"

Janus turned around and looked at Clair, in the eyes. Clair looked at his face. His eyes were sunken in their sockets and he had dark circles under his eyes.

"Clair, you can still go to Xnex. You don't have to come with me."

She studied his face for a while. She could tell that he had come to terms with what he would find onboard Enliven.

"I know. I'm coming because I want to, Janus. So stop worrying about me. Let us get there quickly."

Janus waited a few more seconds looking at her face and reached out and took her hand in his, held it for a few seconds before turning back to the controls.

He entered the final commands to the controls to bring Tristar in line with Enliven. Clair stood behind Janus's chair keeping her hand on Janus's shoulder and watched Tristar fall into the orbit of Enliven.

It only took them few hours to reach Enliven. Even though the situation was dire, it did not stop Janus from acting as a cautious captain. Once they were within the reach of the Enliven, they got into their heavy duty space suits as they had decided not to dock with Enliven. When they reached Enliven they manually opened an air lock from outside and reported to both Earth and Xnex before they entered Enliven.

Janus was standing near the inner door of the airlock hesitating. Clair could understand his feelings. She slowly took his hand in her's and pushed the open button.

The door opened to show an empty corridor. Still holding Janus's hand Clair walked down the corridors heading for the control room. They saw no sign of life whatsoever but the ship appeared to be in good condition. It took them some time to reach control room as they were checking the rooms they passed by. Janus was reaching for the opening button when he felt Clair's hand tremble in his and he looked at her face. She looked like she was going to faint. Her lips trembled. For the first time since entering the ship, Clair looked frightened.

"Janus, I don't want to know. I don't want to know what happened."

She let go of his hand and took a few steps back. Janus watched her face for a few seconds.

"You stay here."

Janus opened the door and walked right in. Clair looked inside and saw people walking towards Janus and Janus walking towards them with a relieved smile. Clair took a few steps towards the door with great relief to find that Janus staring back at the door and starting to walk towards Clair.

"Janus they are okay. Why are you...."

Her words were lost in mid-sentence as she saw Janus disappear at the threshold of the door. Clair started to run back screaming.

Few days later a second rescue ship was able to bring Tristar and Clair back to Xnex. But the only words they could get out of Clair was "He disappeared."