Jongin returns to his spacious apartment and starts packing. Although it’s a mostly in-ship journey, he would wear a few pairs of clothes. He quickly dumps in a few tank tops, jackets, sweaters, pants and jeans in a bag. He then grabs another duffel bag for his shoes. He puts in his highly durable shoes, one casual shoe and a pair of sandals. He stares at the socks in the drawers and contemplates on them and reluctantly chucks them in the bag too. They’d protect his feet.

 

He then makes his way to the kitchen and opens the door to his pantry. He quickly sends a text to his officer and requests for a few food items to be included in the food list. It’s a usual procedure for agents sent out for missions. Although provided with staple MRE (the meal ready to eat), they’ll also add in food per request. Jongin requests a bunch of chips, beer and chocolates. 

 

Looking at the clock, he has ten hours to go. And between the hours, there will be the microgravity and for someone like him; he’s used to it. So even if it happens, it’s all too normal for him. He quickly gets into his workroom and makes his own personal planning. He has a pursuit, but the journey is abstruse. Dangers are unknown and spies lurked. The universe is wide, and every part is a mystery. It’s a place where one is constantly learning and even if technology has advanced so much, it’s still lacking somewhere in learning about the universe. The universe always wins; always.

 

There are also layers of undiscovered truth and lies in missions. Experience has taught him that nothing is what it seems. He has to be very vigilant over matters like these. What is considered as the truth can be a lie and what’s a lie can be the truth. Each planet out there has their own nature; if the Earthians are curious then the Mercurians are cunning. Venusians are helpful, Jupiterians are resourceful. The people of Mars are kind and the people of Neptune are vile. The people of Saturn are, however, the neutral ones.

 

His past missions have taught him a lot. He knows where he can get information and who he can trust for help. The first name that came to his mind was Chanyeol. Pushing aside what they had personally, Chanyeol is a typical example of a Venusian. He’s helpful. Jongin puts Chanyeol on his agenda and marks it as his first location. He has to land on Venus and look for Chanyeol. Hopefully, the tall Venusian is there and his mission can officially start.

 

He plans to excavate his strategies once he’s on the ship. With the help of the AI Lisa and all the tracking devices on the ship, he’s sure he’ll be able to narrow down the points of his mission. It’s still too vague for him. He cleans up all the mess on his desk and heads to the bedroom after glancing at the clock. He should get some sleep. The hour before launch is always hasty and tension-filled. He can’t afford to be dizzy and unprepared. So, he hits the lights and gets under the sheets. Silently, he wishes for the mission to go as planned.

 

 

--////--

 

 

At 2am, he is already at the bay, with his carrier bag. Instead of sleep, only excitement flashes through his brown eyes. His mission outfit is a black jumpsuit. He hooks his sunglasses naturally, although he doesn’t need them for now. The spaceship engineer welcomes him and briefs him with quick details of maintaining the ship. “This should be at the back of your hand.” The engineer guides him to the bottom of the ship and shows him the square compartment. “It's like every other ship. Your CAP10 had this too.”

 

“Yes, the spare wheels, rods and stands.” Jongin continues and the engineer prods him to open the compartment. “Maintaining the wheels is very important. Always be sure they’re in a moral condition and check them before boarding.”

 

“I know all these, Minseok. I am not new.” He teases the petite engineer and shuts the compartment, getting out from under the ship. 

 

“It’s my duty to remind you.” The engineer answers and greets Minister Jang, who is walking towards them in his casual clothes. Jongin shakes hands with the man, amused to see him without the three-piece suit.

 

“Are you ready, agent?” The minister asks, gesturing to his personal assistant to pass him a folder. “These are some last-minute research and information I gathered. I hope this could be of some help.”

 

“Thank you so much, sir.” He takes the folder and looks down at his watch. He has half an hour more and he should get the ship ready for launch. “I’ll keep you updated, sir.” Jongin says and turns around after sending his goodbyes. A string of good wishes comes from the minister, his assistant, and Minseok, but all he can think of is getting into space. He scans his palm and listens to Lisa’s robotic voice welcoming him as the spaceship lights up.

 

He sees the small team stepping away from the spaceship and he pushes the buttons to start-up the engine. Lisa gives him instructions, and the display shows up after he presses more buttons. SC-01 is definitely easier to handle than his CAP10 and as the ship takes its time to get its tanks fired up, Jongin walks over to his cabin. He dumps his bag on the bed and strides back when the AI announces the ship is ready to launch.

 

For the first time, he takes his place on the controlling chair. He feels different. His vision is way too wide. From his view, he could see the bay crew pushing away the automated stairs. Another crew clears the way for the ship to make its way to the launch area. He punches in the coordinates; Venus’ coordinates. He then checks the displays and all the switches for one last time and upon instructions from the AI, he hits the pedals.

 

Slowly, the ship moves. The ship moves on its four wheels, making its way to the launch area. Jongin presses the pedals harder, and it goes faster. He has to make a turn and slowly change the course to the right and the lights around the launch pad turn on. His spaceship reaches on the launch pad perfectly, waiting for further instructions from the AI. From his view, he could see Minister Jang from the departure bay, looking optimistic and proud of him. “Launching in 30 seconds.” Lisa announces, and Jongin presses on the buttons as instructed. With all the buttons pressed and one last look at the minister, Jongin focuses on the countdown.

 

15 seconds to go.

 

He takes a deep breath, shutting his eyes.

 

10 seconds.

 

He tightens his safety belt and gets ready for the launch.

 

“5.” Lisa counts, “3”

 

“2” he whispers and,

 

“1” Lisa announces.

 

 

--////--

 

 

 

Launches scare him. It may be thrilling to some but for Jongin it’s a serious matter. Each time his spaceship launches, being hurled to space, he keeps his eyes tightly shut until his nerves calm down. When a ship gets launched into space; all of one's senses are pulled towards the gravity but they must fight against it and try to hold on to their position. Jongin hates when his ears tick off, blocking any sound from his surroundings. He hates when his mouth loses the sense of taste too; not for long but only during take-off. He hates having no taste in his mouth. It’s even useless to put on the ear-plugs. The body reacts against its will and the during-effect keeps Jongin on his toes; rigid and fearful.

 

Jongin knows when the ship hits out of the Earth’s atmosphere. The spaceship purrs like a kitten and Lisa announces a safety check routine for the ship. It’s necessary. He did it with his CAP10 too. Safety checks after hitting the atmosphere will ensure the ship’s capabilities to go further. The atmosphere has certain effects on spaceships. Some ships are not designed to be out of the atmosphere and some, although designed to go far, might not make two lights away from the sky. SC-01 has shown to be compatible and reliable after Lisa announces a safe journey ahead; the course is set to Venus. 

 

As SC-01 launches into space, going on its course. Jongin gets out of his chair and stands by the view-pit to look at the view. Outer space; as some would call it, is almost home for him. A small smile appears on his lips as he stares through the hit proof window. Everything is beautiful in outer space. It’s not completely dark, and it’s not too bright. Being in outer space calms the eyes. The view is beyond words; magnificent , in one word. From where he is, Earth looks like a tiny, fragile ball of life, "hanging in the void", shielded and nourished by a paper-thin atmosphere. Not only Earth, but its moon and every other visible matter or compact gas in space looks like they’re hanging in the void.

 

Interesting. The outer space has always been interesting, and it always pulls his mind to wonder on how it’s created. Whatever is in outer space has their very own living source and those living sources have their own living sources – a never-ending cycle. That’s what he understood. The reality of it is beyond anyone’s comprehension. No one. Thus, it’s best to appreciate its beauty rather than destroy it.

 

He smiles again and turns around. “Lisa, what's our temperature at the current time?” he asks her, getting to his interactive desk. The desk displays multiple information, and he clicks on the temperature bar. 

 

“We’re at our normal temperature. However, on the outside it’s over 100 Celsius.” 

 

“Good.” He answers, 

 

“Arrival time?” he asks, looking at the course map. The blinking dot on the display on the curved line shows SC-01. 

 

“In 23 hours, earth time.” Lisa answers in her sweet robotic voice. Jongin goes back to the cockpit and sits on the chair, taking over the control. From time to time, he checks on the multi-functional display. Everything is going smoothly. 23 hours is considered long although they have set course to the closest landing point on Venus. He bites his lips and multitasks; with his eyes trained on the view, he works on a plan to retrieve the gems.

 

“I almost forgot about the gems,” he mumbles, blinking his eyes a few times. “Lisa,” he clears his throat and leaves the control for some moments. “Let’s go through the chronology of the case together.” He tells her and walks over to the interactive desk once again. The clock on the desk shows only ten minutes have passed and unknowingly he sighs, “These are the data from the ministry.” He taps on a file and pictures pop out, 

 

“The thief,” Lisa starts and Jongin scoffs at the term she used, “Flew in by a spaceship called Xinian.”

 

“I already know that,” he says, enlarging the individual pictures of the gem. “Any other information on the ship?” he says, enlarging the picture more, focusing on the number on the gem. “Lisa, check these numbers for me. Go through the ministry files for me.” He tells her and enlarges each gem picture. Each of the gems has different numbers. Those numbers could be a lead; whereabouts of the gem.

 

“Nothing on the system, sir.” Lisa replies. “Records show nothing about the numbers.”

 

Jongin sighs and glances at the clock on the interactive display. “21 hours to go.” He presses his fingers over his forehead and stares at the desk, occasionally glancing at the numbers. These numbers could bring more information. Surely, they’re the key to something. Yet, it’s unclear. Jongin hates how frustratingly unclear this mission is. He quartered his journey off Earth’s atmosphere and nothing seems right. “Something doesn’t feel right.” He mumbles, glancing at the mail notification that popped in.

 

“It’s a video message from Minister Jang.” He mumbles, clicking on the play button. The minister is in his office, wiping his sweaty forehead with his usual black handkerchief. He looked nervous. 

 

“Agent Kim,” Minister Jang whispers, leaning closer to the screen. “The Gravity gem was sold off.”

 

Jongin quickly pauses the video and turns around to cuss. He then once again faces the screen and stares blankly. He knew something wasn’t right. He presses play again and continues to listen with his breath held in his throat, “There’s someone here, in the Union.” Jang whispered, “who wants to see Earthians suffer.”

 

Jongin taps his finger against the interactive desk and looks ahead. An inhabitable exoplanet passes by, stars visible to the eye and far ahead, the sun blazes, radiating its heat to the nearest objects. 

 

The video ends with Minister Jang wiping more of his sweat with a trembling hand but towards the end, Jongin catches some notes deliberately highlighted for the video’s angle. He replays the video and pauses at the right frame. “Lisa, can you get this picture for me,” he uses his finger on the paused video, making a square on the note.

 

The picture appears on a larger screen with a clearer view and he’s surprised to see a weird combination of alphabets. “I’m supposed to encode this now?” he mumbles to himself and stares at the alphabets.

 

MVKGFMV. OVV RH RMELOEVW

 

“What is this even supposed to mean?” he mumbles to himself and continues staring. His first instinct was to type the words out on the search, but to his dismay, he found no results. “Minister Jang is superb at this.” He comments and takes a seat on the nearest chair, pulling it closer to the desk. He lifts his legs up and leans back against the chair. The video replays itself in his mind and worries for the older man. Was he targeted?

 

“This mission is compromised if Jang is targeted.” He thinks, falling into a conclusion that his life is at stake too. No one else knows he’s making a stop in Venus. And if someone in the Union is giving information, his mission and location is exposed too. It could be Jang himself – at this point, no one is trustworthy. He might have sent the video to divert the blame, put Jongin’s thoughts away from him as the suspect and keep sending in information. 

 

“This sounds more like a trap now…” he mumbles, looking around inside the spaceship. He could be supervised from inside the ship. Yet, nothing looks suspicious to him. Somehow, he no longer feels comfortable being on the ship.

 

The weird uneasiness rises in his heart, clenching and twisting uncomfortably. It’s said to be the sixth sense alerting, and Jongin trusts his senses. The mission planning can wait. He has to do it outside of the ship and that means he’ll be planning directly with Chanyeol. Quickly, he grabs a pendrive and transfers all the information he had gathered so far; including the ones given by the minister. He then clears his recent searches and calls for Lisa.

 

“Can we possibly go faster than this speed?” he asks her, keeping the pendrive in his pocket.

 

“We’re on the fastest speed. Unless, we’re at the solar’s direct energy point.” She explains, and he glances towards the fire ball. They better not risk lives just to reach Venus. 

 

“Fine. I’ll take a nap.” He tells her and heads to the back, to his small high-5 room. He changes into a simple top but keeps his space-pants on. With an energy bar in hand, he takes the stairs to the first level and releases a deep breath.

 

The view is amazing. 

 

Casually, he walks over to the reclining chair and makes himself comfortable, watching the stars pass by in a blink. Back in CAP10 he felt at home, now in SC-01 he feels out of place. He glances to the side and looks at the pool table. “I should play,” he mumbles, getting up from the chair. He is not sleepy at the moment. He might as well make use of his time and enjoy all the facilities on the ship.

 

He wakes up feeling well rested after taking a nap. He walks over to the viewer after washing his face and takes over the controls for a few hours. It is a straight course. He interacts with the AI, asking her random questions until he tires of talking. He should keep talking. Otherwise, it’d be bad for his mind. 

 

“A comet is approaching,” Lisa warns, and he turns around to the interactive desk to calculate their distance. 

 

“We’ll avoid it.” He says, after a few minutes of estimating. “With our speed, we’ll miss the comet by ten minutes.” He shares his findings with the AI and Lisa projects her exact calculation onto the display. 

 

“8 minutes and 45 seconds.” She says, and Jongin rolls his eyes.

 

“We’re fine.” He concludes and goes back to the controls. A day feels a lot longer when you’re travelling in an open void; it may be beautiful but everything looks the same as if you are not moving or time has stopped for you. Jongin keeps staring ahead. He looks, he watches and gazes. How he wished time would move faster and how he wished; Venus was nearer.

 

Five hours before landing; Jongin freshens up and changes into proper clothes. He aims to impress. Thus, he makes sure to look good. He wants to see that look on Chanyeol’s face when he sees him. The thought itself excites him. The excitement drags Jongin to the food storage, and he fills his stomach with a plate full of healthy meals. Food doesn’t taste much different in space but the lack of salt in the cream sauce forces him to swallow; his body needs the energy.

 

In his space pants, a black top and a jacket, Jongin goes back to his controller. He has another two hours of the journey. Venus is already in sight, but to reach her isn’t easy. The beautiful, glowing yellow ball is the hottest among all the others. For him, she isn’t only hot. She’s beautiful. Beauty reflects because of the planet’s luminous jewel-like appearance and for its beauty and appearance, the Light Gem resides in Venus. 

 

Venus is visible from Earth, but not all the time. Earthians can only witness Venus in the sky as the second brightest object after the moon in the evening or early morning. The Earthians would make up a story saying how Venusians use their light gem to illuminate the sky and cast a spell on the other creatures. Jongin remembers staring at it once; after he returned to Earth from his Mars mission. He used to stare at it to reminisce about the moments he shared with Chanyeol. Now, it’s before his eyes, in all its glory and beauty, waiting for Jongin to step foot on its blessed land.

 

“The comet is in view.” Lisa announces and Jongin glances at the display to locate the comet. Then he turns to see it. The cosmic snowball looks bigger than the Earth up close. He has never seen one and to treasure the experience, he quickly grabs his phone and snaps a few pictures of it. Even though his phone has no use in the cosmic realm, it’s useful to take pictures. 

 

Lisa tells him the speed of the comet and in exact time they’d be out of the comet’s way. He listens to the AI, but his focus is solely on the snowball. He rushes to the viewer above and records. For the eyes, the comet is slowly approaching but its speed is faster than a spaceship’s. As SC-01 slews out of the comet’s way, it passes by. The comet’s tail is long and Lisa deduces it to be 1km long.

 

Jongin heads back to the controller as Venus gets closer. “What’s the status like, Lisa?” he asks the AI and starts hitting some buttons above the controller. “20 minutes to Venus’ thick atmosphere.” She says,

 

“Get ready for impact at 10,” he says to her, and she reads the manual aloud, going through the procedure with him. With Venus’ thick and extremely hot atmosphere, there are several procedures; speed control, heat & system cooling control, and air pressure inside the ship. 

 

“Approaching in 15 minutes,” Lisa warns and quickly, he gets to his seat, “Ready for impact.” He tells her, at the same time preparing for the commands.

 

Venus’ thick gassy atmosphere is imperceptible but visible on the radar and displays. However, there’s blinding light. Going through the atmosphere will be a challenge and as the radar beeps, Jongin grabs the controller tightly. He has to stabilize the ship throughout the pressure. “Atmosphere Level 1” Lisa announces, and Jongin feels the pressure on his controllers. They start to shake harder and stronger. Quickly, he adds pressure with his other hand to control but the pressure from outside is too strong. He glances at the display to look at the indicators. “Entering Atmosphere Level 2,” Lisa announces as the controller in his hands gains pressure. The indicators on display change too. It’s not a good sign.

 

The heat system is overheating and the cooling system is unresponsive. “Lisa, shut down the supply engines.” He tells her, thinking of the only solution to prevent the overheating burst. He stares ahead into the striking light, hoping to see the end of the atmosphere – land. “Supply engines, shut down.” She says and the lights inside the ship turn off, leaving only the radar and c