vikt_vv
The Hail Mary's radar detects a celestial body. An immense body, unmistakably different from an ordinary asteroid. Its size gives it away. The ship approaches it from the right. Too close. Grace doesn't want to waste fuel escaping its orbit, if they end up trapped. He assumes he is glimpsing the last planet of a solar system.
But it's not.
He feels his heart tighten in his chest, and a lump in his throat. He leans his body forward as far as the restraints allow, while gripping the sides of the chair with all the strength his tired muscles allow him to use.
He gulps.
The faint starlight reflects upon the blood. The thick, red liquid devours its glow with a voracious gaze. The surface of its crimson mantle watches the heavens in expectation, stirring - restless - before the presence of eternity. The void stretches infinite, inexorable, ineffable. It corrodes air, flesh, and iron. The Feast.