Nathaniel hurried across the hallways. At a sharp turn, he nearly tripped over his robes. “Goddamned robes! Fucking ridiculous…” Two passing cowled brothers raised their heads at the expletive. “The Maker be praised, brothers! All for the Grand Design!” he chanted theatrically. “All for the Grand Design!” they replied in unison, resuming their steady march.

As he reached the bridge’s massive door, two hooded, armored guards crossed ceremonial-looking halberds to block Nathaniel’s path. “Fuck off! Immediately!” He slapped the weapons away like swatting flies. “Get those fucking things out of my face, you morons!” The expletives revealed his identity, and the guards quickly withdrew their halberds. “Apologies, Head-Engineer-Priest Nathaniel,” they chorused briskly.

-”Fucking idiots…” – Nathaniel mumbled as the 15 cm thick vaulted doors hissed and slid open, revealing the command bridge.

“Hey Sebastian, what’s all this commotion with the ship’s telemetry? Alarms are going haywire!”

He entered distractedly, checking data on his wrist terminal, then froze when he noticed the blaring alarm klaxons going off at the bridge. “What the fuck?!”

An eerie sight confronted him. The bridge was bathed in emergency red lighting, and a massive black hole filled the main viewport, looming like a cosmic executioner—silent, unfeeling, eternal. A monstrous eye in the void, its event horizon swirling with cold, merciless light bent by its own gravitational tyranny.

Most of the bridge crew knelt in prayerful trance, while Sebastian stood at an improvised pulpit chanting litanies of the Great Maker. The crimson glow of the emergency lights danced across his robes and face, casting shadows that lent him a distinctly demonic air. A glance at the navigation screen confirmed Nathaniel’s worst fears: the ship was hurtling toward the black hole.

He charged toward Sebastian, stomping on feet and pushing aside devout crew members and cursing at a rate no one thought humanly possible. “Sebastian! You insane fuck! What are you doing?! What madness is this?”

”Brother Nathaniel! So happy you can join us for the moment of the utmost and purest communion with our Lord the Great Maker!” Sebastian theatrically opened his arms wide.

”Fuck you! What the hell is going on here? Why are we flying toward that monstrosity?!” Nathaniel shouted, still forcing his way through the crowd.

”The Great Maker sent us a sign of his magnificence! We are taking heed to respond and to embrace his greatness. Behold how matter itself screams in spirals of incandescent agony before vanishing into the dark abyss! No echo, no return, only the purest annihilation of The Unfaithful!” Sebastian’s words elicited ecstatic cries from the crew.

“We will be tested in our faith! The sinners and the weak will be punished, and we, the righteous, will bask in the light of our virtues! Isn’t it glorious?” He raises his arms, and the crowd goes into a frenzy at his words. 

“We will face a hunger that predates stars and will outlive gods! And we will be embraced by the One, True Maker as we watch the sinners burn!” At this climax, some people start tearing at their clothes, others scream uncontrollably. It’s absolute bedlam.

Nathaniel finally reaches Sebastian. He grabs him by the shoulder with a sharp jerk and twists him around until they’re face to face. His hands reach for the collar of his cloak and pull, so that he can talk into his ear.

-”Listen up you deluded fuck, I don’t know what kind of stunt you are pulling here!” —Nathaniel was whispering in Sebastian’s ear —“But we both know that you are no prophet! You are a cargo hauler captain that is good with words and found a captive audience in these desperate assholes!” he looked around to check if anyone could hear him  “We have a good thing going on here —whats your fucking problem man??”

“We’re trapped in a slow march to death, Nathaniel! Have you seen the fleet? Everything’s falling apart, surrounded by mindless puppets that can’t or won’t think for themselves! ” 

“Well, genius, maybe you shouldn’t have murdered everyone who could actually think! I warned you, but you were too paranoid and high to listen!”

Sebastian rested his head on Nathaniel’s shoulder, whimpering. “It’s exhausting deciding every meaningless aspect of their miserable lives…so very taxing.”

”Look, I get it! I spend my days hitting, prodding and yelling at these morons in order to get anything done! It’s a full plate of shit soup! But we will work it out, ok buddy?” Nathaniel stroked Sebastian’s hair reassuringly.

Sebastian raises his head, takes a step back, and observes Nathaniel with misty eyes. Nathaniel spoke calmly: “Let’s turn this ship around, grab a stiff drink, and sort this out.” As Nathaniel turned away to issue orders, Sebastian’s hand caught his shoulder.

”I am sorry…I am so, so very sorry.” —Sebastian whimpered — “It’s really for the best! I can’t take it anymore and these poor souls…they will be lost without me!” —He raised his arms and his voice — “ WE WILL BE JUDGED TOGETHER!” The crowd wails with agreement and approval. 

-”Like fuck we are! You wanna go on your little emo trip? Fine, fuck you! There’s more ships in this fleet and I doubt the rest of the captains agree with this shitshow!” Nathaniel moved swiftly toward the door, but Sebastian signaled, and two guards blocked his path.

”You are right, not all captains agreed,” Sebastian pushed a control on his wrist terminal, and CCTV feeds from across the fleet fill the screens. It was terrifying. Images of desperation as people tried to force open bridge vaulted doors to enter or escape, in some ships, there was complete panic as everyone was trying to reach shuttles and escape pods with the hope of safety in another ship.—pure chaos.

”What the fuck did you do Sebastian??”

”Remember the All-Mighty protocol? You never agreed to it, said it was dangerous…Well, I, with the help of my flock across the fleet, managed to implement it anyway!” His face shone with triumph.

”You bucket of moldy shit! You goat-fucking, horse cock sucking, inbred, imbecile, son of a pox-ridden whore!… You went ahead with it!? You rigged remote control overrides in all the ships of the fleet?!”

”Well, it wasn’t as ambitious as your vision of complete and absolute control. Without your talent and help, we had to make due with locking the bridge doors and taking over navigation control—adequate measures for an emergency…Guess I was right.” Sebastian smiled placidly.

Nathaniel stared furiously, realizing the game was lost. The other man was staring back, but with a sardonic smile on his lips.

Suddenly, with a flash of inspiration, he leaped over a console with unexpected agility and bolted towards the reactor controls. “Stop him! All of you, STOP HIM!” Sebastian cried and pointed desperately.

”Ah! You fucking asshole! I always knew you were stupid!” —Nathaniel was frantically operating the reactor controls — “I am going to send this bitch to critical! When we blow, the All-Mighty transmission ends, and those people might just get a chance…”

And then he stopped. His hands refused the controls, his fingers numb, distant. The room spun violently around him. He hit the floor at an awkward angle, blinking up just in time to see the gaping wound in his chest. Breathing came in shallow, ragged pulls.

A guard approached, gun still smoking, and leveled it at his face—but Sebastian raised a hand.

“Leave him.”

The guard withdrew.

Nathaniel barely registered the arms lifting him, placing him gently in a chair with a clear view of the black hole. Sebastian’s voice drifted over from behind:

 “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t let you interfere. Try to enjoy these last moments of peace before the real turmoil begins.”  Then he was gone, retreating to his makeshift pulpit.

It didn’t take long. Through the viewport, Nathaniel watched the smaller, faster ships spiral toward the abyss. Gravitational forces seized them like a child’s toy circling a drain—only this drain ripped metal like paper. The ships spun, buckled, and burst apart before his eyes.

He closed them. And waited.

First, the ship shuddered—subtly at first, then with increasing violence. Without warning, it was yanked sideways by an unimaginable force. On the bridge, people were flung like ragdolls, crashing into walls, consoles, and even the reinforced windows. Nathaniel was hurled headfirst into the main viewport. The ship was spinning now—wildly—centrifugal forces pinning him in place.

As the spin intensified, the ship began to tear itself apart. Consoles wrenched from the floor became battering rams; wall panels peeled away and sliced through the air like guillotines. The sheer gravitational pressure crushed bodies into pulp, compressing flesh and bone like ripe fruit.

Mercifully, Nathaniel was already dead before the ship fully disintegrated. Sebastian, however, remained conscious long enough to feel his body slowly implode under the weight. He was still alive when his facial bones collapsed inward and his arms tore free from their sockets.

Outside, other ships spiraled into the abyss, shredded by the black hole’s vortex. And soon, what remained of mankind followed—obliterated at last, a species undone, finally finding oblivion… and peace.

END