Many colonies have prepared for numerous cataclysmic events. There are mystical barriers and cannons that are me to protect from incoming asteroids, debris, or invasion. If an armada comes, a signal is sent to the neighboring colony for assistance. If a radiation wave hits a colony, they have scanners that are able to predict when it will hit. They have backup generators to shelter them.

  For the event of a Cosmic Swaler, there is one plan. Make peace with death.

  Emanuel trembles at the monster’s sight. Fiend jumps to Emanuel’s shoulder to comfort him. This is a natural reaction. This isn’t my first instance facing one, though I barely made it out alive the first time, and even then, that cost the lives of every crewmate I had. I fear this is our end, I fear death is here.

  Stop that thought now, Cid. You need to be a god right now. Emanuel and many others are hoping for something to save them. I need to be that something. I don’t have time to devise a plan, so I have to go by instinct.

  “The ship ready for take-off?” I ask Emanuel. He looks up, terrified and confused.

  “Yes, but we can’t escape that thing.” His words rattle his arms as he speaks.

  “How good of a pilot are you?”

  He stares, uncertain of what to say.

  “I need the best,” I continue to say. “I need someone with a steady hand and skill if my plan's going to work.”

  “You have a plan?” He asks with a glimmer of hope.

  “Nope, but I’m cooking one up.”

  Emanuel laughs as, for a split second, he lets himself forget who I was.

  “That’s so dumb!”

  Never mind, he can go back to being scared.

  “Okay, you need a pilot,” Emanuel says, taking the center seat. He holds his hands out, and the bracket glows. The stearing wheel flies through the air and right to his hand. The ship gradually rises higher off the ground. “I’ll be your pilot. Let’s get out of here.”

  “We're not leaving,” I say. Emanuel gives a pleading look. Both fearing and knowing what I’m going to say. “We can’t let the people of this rock die as we run. We’re going to save them. Somehow, I’ll figure it out once we're up there. “

  Emanuel looks forward with a crooked smile. “W e're going to die today.

  The ship rises out of the hangar. Our shield activates as bullets fire from below. Crane still has his men focus on us instead of the ship. I notice they made a crack in our barrier a few meters wide with their saw before we took off. For a small ship, this would be devastating, but for a ship this size, it will repair itself soon enough.

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  The ship flies into the hangar runway.

  “Alright,” I say to Emanuel. “Hit it!”

  Emanuel pushes the wheel forward, and the thruster on the back spews radiated flames. My slime spreads thin as I'm squished to the chair. Fiend grips Emanuel’s shoulder for dear life as we blast forward.

  “The inertia shield, the inertia shield!” I scream. Emanuel clicks a button while pulling up on the wheel. The force of the take-off is gone as a wave of yellow light travels through our barrier. With the inertia shields on, we don’t feel the pressure of how fast we travel. The next problem is we are flying right up to the Cosmic Swaller.

  I need to test myself, even though I fear the answer. “Emanuel, fly to it, but we need to get to its side, right to its eye. You think the ship can handle the gravitational pull from its eye?”

  “We’ll find out.” The thrusters burn bright as Emmanuel pushes forward.

  “We just need enough space for it to see me, so don’t get too close,” I say, staring at the cosmic horror.

  “Wow, any other requests? Need me to make a coffee as I fly this?”

  “Only if we’re alive later,” I say before a laser blast explodes to the ship's side. The colony below lights up as a cascade of lasers fire from below, aimed at the Cosmic Swaller.

  Emanuel swerves, avoiding the incoming fire, but it's impossible to do it all. I watch the laser bend in space as our ship starts to move faster. It opened its mouth. The bristle sway as the Swaler begins to suck in the cosmic breeze, and the lasers shift toward its mouth, with our ship following suit.

  “Emanuel, I’ll reroute all power to the right thrusters,” I yell as I run to my console. "When I say now, make a hard turn right.”

  He stares at me, confused, but he nods. I form four arms and begin transferring all the ship's powers except for life support features. Lights explode in my peripheral as lasers crash into each other as they are pulled in. The ship shakes violently, and the interim shield can barely keep us sitting straight.

  I see the gauge full, and I move my eyes to the side of my head, focused on the lasers. My finger presses the button, and the engine shuts off.

  “Cid, we have a problem!” Emanuel shouts.

  “No, we don’t. Just get ready,” I yell back. My eyes focus on the lasers as we slow down, but the Cosmic Swaller is still pulling us in. I stare and wait as lasers slam into our barrier. I can hear Emanuel’s heart beating as his eyes are focused forward. Then, a gap appears.

  “NOW!” I shout as I hit the button. A blast rivaling any volcano erupts from the right engine as Emanuel makes a hard turn. The ship battles the gravity force, but we hit the gap out of the laser. I hit another button, and the left thrusters turned on. Using the push forward and the Swaller’s gravity field, our ship slingshot free. A feat no other ship I know of has achieved.

  We make it to the side of the Cosmic Swaller. Our ship is enormous, but still nothing to this behemoth we face. Its eyes have always been focused on the colony, staring at its next meal, we all assumed. We shouldn’t even register for it when faced with a buffet.

  Yet we make it to its eye, to all three of our horror. We see its eye move and looks at our ship. Starring into its pupil is staring into the void of space itself; you should feel like nothing. Emanuel grips the wheel tight as Fiend's fur spikes up. They are not seen as they face a grand emptiness, unaware of their existence.

  I, on the other hand, feel a familiar feeling. I thought it was because Crimson was alive in the hangar, and I felt this way. The horrific, familiar feeling of being hunted down. These eyes, I’ve seen them before. They crushed the ship Solace and the crew. It was never after the snack.

  This Cosmic Swaler is hunting me down.