Sometime around three in the morning, Leon sounded the emergency alarm, waking everyone.

“What is it?” Miranda complained.

“This had better be important,” James growled.

Leon pointed towards the windows silently, but no one needed more explanation than that. Before them was a massive vortex that looked like it could swallow planets whole. Inside the swirling vortex of purple clouds was a dark storm with constantly flashing lightning. The golden rimmed edges only made the center seem all the darker.

They were clearly no longer in orbit around Earth, but being dragged in slowly by the massive existence before them.

“We are going to die,” Selina whispered.

“We were still in orbit when I came out, and I was shocked when I first saw this thing but it was still so far away. I didn’t even notice when we were pulled out because it was so gradual,” Leon explained, “Then I may have dozed off a bit and we were suddenly here. But Sanders was supposed to take over at three.”

“Where is he?” Natalie asked, looking around.

Sanders stumbled into the room. “Sorry!” he apologized instantly, “I… Oh dear.”

While they had been talking they had gotten even closer and could see that inside the center of swirling darkness there were bright blue wisps surrounding a pinprick of pure light.

“Is there a way to get away from it?” Leon asked Sanders desperately.

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Sanders stared at it for a moment. “At this point, fighting the gravitational pull might tear our ship to pieces before we even get the chance to break away.”

“We’re going to die,” Selina repeated, hysteria slipping into her voice.

“I won’t let anyone die,” Sanders promised.

“How do you intend to do that?!” James demanded, “This whole ship is barely a pebble compared to that thing! Maybe not even that! What could you possibly do to keep it from crushing us or tearing us to pieces so small even the dust won’t be able to find us?!”

“Just trust me,” Sanders replied.

Natalie sunk to her knees. “You don’t have to fill our minds with empty promises,” she said, “It looks like they outwitted you, Sanders. We are going to die here just like they wanted.”

Miranda was staring into the vortex as if hypnotized. “At least we get to be killed by something beautiful.”

“Now now,” Jonathan said, “There is still a chance this is a wormhole or something else survivable. We should strap into our seats just in case. I would say to secure the food and water but I don’t think we have time for that.”

Jonathan had a wild excitement on his face as he stared into the heart of the vortex. He reached out a hand as if to capture it after following his own advice.

Since it was something they could actually do, everyone followed suit. It was a slim chance but they all took it.

Howard stared into the vortex after he was seated and found he agreed with Miranda. The closer they got, the more details they could see and it was beautiful. They were headed for the center, the eye of the storm and the deep purple clouds surrounding them flashed with fierce lightning in their depths while the pinprick of light grew larger.

Despite the current situation, Howard felt strangely at peace.

Selina suddenly grasped his hand with trembling fingers and tears streaming down her face. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, “I am so sorry, Howard. If I hadn’t dragged you into this you wouldn’t have to die now.”

Off to the side, Natalie was focusing on her breathing, Jonathan was muttering things under his breath at a pace where no one could hope to understand them, Leon was triple checking his seat straps, Miranda still looked hypnotized by the ever-closer vortex, James has his eyes closed off to reality, and Sanders seemed to be focusing on something with intense determination.

That was when the rumbling started. It began as just a sound, then the craft began shaking. As the rumbling grew louder, the shaking turned to a vibration that reached down to their bones. Howard began to lose consciousness as a slow pulsing headache formed. Of all the deaths he had imagined, death by vibration was not on the list.

Then, just as Howard was about to lose the battle of consciousness he could have sworn the vibration stopped and everything became smooth and silent.

“I promised I would protect you,” a voice that sounded like Sanders said.

That was the last thing Howard was aware of before he lost consciousness completely.