They cried and shoved their telescope away. Their partner glanced through the lens and joined them.

Hugging, rocking, and sobbing, the astronomers called everyone they could. Family, reporters, and politicians heard the discovery.

One point six billion kilometers away was a hypervelocity star. Death was in the hour.

She kicked the shuttle. If they went to Luna, then they would've had enough fuel. This satellite's pull was too great on the craft.

The engineer told her captain and asked her if she understood the gravity of the situation. She opted for pressing their helmets together rather than radio so no one else could hear.

Crewmembers had no idea why their leader smacked the engineer, nor any idea they would be the first of their species to die on this new moon.

There was a leak in his suit. He screamed at his captain, but she couldn't hear him. Even as he frantically called other frequencies. She couldn't hear the bones crunching, the sobbing.

After all, radio only worked in an airtight environment. If the tether broke during his spacewalk, that'd be it for her, end of story. She had to make sure he couldn't use his radio to snitch who cut his line.