July 11th, 2107

‘Hello, I’m looking for GSFC representative.'
‘Yes, it is GSFC. Any problem?'
’Seems like I’ve found something. I don’t know what it is exactly, but it’s fairly apparently the thing is on a collision course with Earth.'
‘Can you, please, describe the object?'
‘It is black, and light from background stars gets distorted when it does pass over. I’m not sure if I’m describing it right. You ought to understand me, I only bought a telescope on the day before.'
‘Uh, you ought to get something wrong...'
‘Why?'
‘Because what you’ve described is a black hole.'

July 12th, 2107
NASA

‘…so, basically, you’re telling us we’ve got a black hole on a collision course?'
‘Yes.'
‘And how it has came to an amateur with a scope bought from Wal-Mart's discovering it sooner than we did?'
’The hole is very small, you see. Only 3 solar masses and at a distance of a light year and a half. God knows, him finding the hole is the luckiest chance out there. I know, it’s ridiculous, but… Also, it’ll be right here in two years.'
‘What? You said a light year and a half! Our Lunar junkers need half of a dozen hundred years to get there.'
‘It’s fast, like, lightning fast. Almost 40% of c. Supposedly, it’s got some gravity assist from Sgr A* itself.'
’So what to do now?..'

July 14th, 2107
NASA

…It should be clear. You’re our best engineers. The goal is to save us all.

July 21st, 2107

‘What the fuck with these sails? You bonkers?'
‘Light sails were invented a century and a half ago and in the following 50 years they have been through many a trial.'
’So… You plan to use light as wind to save us all?'
‘Yes. Regrettably, we dismissed the idea of interstellar travel as hopeless and there was no further research on the subject. The only technology we can replicate in time is light sails.'
‘And how would you do that?'
‘We would use the biggest artificial satellites we’ve made so far. There’re 5 of them: the SMDC base, Russian Space Forces HQ, the Chinese NSA base (we’ve already got international agreement signed), the ISS Mu, and that glistering dildo of a space hotel, Gagarin’s. They can house some 5 million people together. It’s enough to prevent any chance of genetic degeneration. We have to make a fully autonomous life support system, though it’s covered.'
‘Okay. Got it. What’s with those light sails?'
’They’re going to be enormous, we have to undertake a flight to an another star, after all. It has to have a planet suitable for colonization. Luckily, we have one. It’s called Gliese 581. Nearly 20 light years away. Our Ark would go on sailburn until the cruising speed of 0.3c is achieved. All in all, it’d take 60 years to reach the destination.'
‘Yes, yes, I know that much. Tell me about sails’ dimensions.'
‘It’s going to be a 1000km x 1000km square...'
‘Bullshit! That shit should weigh, like, several million tons!'
‘And that’s the issue. We have to persuade corporations into helping us.'
‘Well, I’d like to begin with a public statement...'

July 24th, 2107

Every single channel in the world was broadcasting a speech given by the chief executive of NASA. The man explained there’s an imminent threat of a collision with a black hole. He then addressed every single living person, urging to condemn any strife and discord and to cooperate for the sake of the humanity itself. The most distinguished would receive a pass to the Ark’s flight.
Of course, chaos ensued. It was a gruesome day. Maradeurs went rabid. People butchered each other. Many committed suicide. Total death toll was 18 million people that day. Half the number—suicide cases.
Nearly every factory on the planet switched swiftly to begin production of goods necessary for the Ark’s operation. Materials, engines and high-precision equipment.
There were food shortages. Entertainment facilities were forbidden. Schools spewed children out after six year education—to work on factories.
After all, it took an Apocalypse becoming for the humanity to loose the hold on nuclear weaponry. Carrier rockets ewre remade into transport boats. Wars stopped in an unseen scurry of cooperative advances. The US and Russia voluntarily put an end to the Brest Republic crisis and discontinued their respective Departments of Defence.

May 30th, 2108

‘…after the start we’d have two months to get out of the Solar System. Though, Earth is going to leave it’s orbit in March, 2109.'
‘How much time do we need to get out of the well?'
‘Four days.'

May 2nd, 2109

‘…roger that! Sails are ready, everything is triple-cheched. We’re safe to proceed!'
‘One hour till setting!'
’30 minutes'
’Ten'
‘Five'
’Two'
‘One'
’Ten seconds'
‘5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Set sail!'

A moment of silence… and nothing happened. Sails gathered immense electrical charge and it wasn’t enough—even with massive overload the flinger engines didn’t quite make it and exploded.

People begun to panic.

July 1st, 2109

The massive Ark managed to struggle against the terrifying gravitational pull of the black hole using its secondary engines. Earth had no engines so it was dying slowly. Tidal forces ground the crust, causing chain magnitude 20 earthquakes. Twenty billion people destinied to stay down the well were slaughtered by the blind force of nature.
The Ark had everything necessary to repair the flinger engines.

July 3rd, 2109

‘We have set sail! Repeating, we have set sail! Three hours until the burn.'
Two hours passed.
’Sir, we’ve got the burn! It’s only 0.02g but it’s there!'
July 7th, 2109

‘We’re getting close to the escape velocity. A little more and we...'
’That means we’re still too deep down the well, aight?'
‘Yeah. We need to reach certain speed to get out. Theoretically speaking, we need a month more of increasing burn. Now it’s up to the Ark. Strain is huge and if it cracks...'

‘ATTENTION! THE HULL IS AT CRITICAL! THE SHIP IS 5% LONGER NOW. IT IS RECOMMENDED STRONGLY THAT YOU DROP THE GEES. OR ELSE THIS SHIP IS GOING TO BREAK!'
‘Oh, jeez, this AI. Also, we’ve got an eighth case of pressure loss in the dildo module.'
’That’s all?'
’God forbid, no. Overall it’s twenty of them. Also we’ve got three huge holes on our sails. We’re working on those, though.'

June 2nd, 2109

‘Congratulations, ladies and gentlemen. We’ve reached the scram velocity and currently are fleeing very, very fast from that monster.'

Year 2171

After 60 years of flight and two generations passed the Ark couldn’t boast about its flourishing populace. Actually, it has got notably smaller—the “at Gagarin’s” hotel, which was the most populated module, got destroyed in a collision with an asteroid. No one said the D-word anymore. Ever. Humanity was at it’s nearest to the total extinction. Situation was at its gravest—not even Third World War of 2054 had managed to bring mankind to this brink of only 2 millions remaining alive.

October 13th, 2171

‘…we’ve got 5 planets. Three in the habitable zone and may have liquid water!'
‘Well, only hope remains. We can’t make an another journey...'

December 21st, 2171

Of those three candidates, the first one, the nearest to its host star, turned out to be a sister planet of Venus. Runaway greenhouse effect caused by the thick atmosphere heated the surface to five hundred degrees.

February 2nd, 2171

Using gravity assist from the central star, the Ark traversed to the third candidate. It was a snowball planet, frozen to death.

April 24th, 2171

The last hope of mankind was already visible in telescopes. The Ark approached it from the night side so it was impossible to determine conditions on its surface.

April 28th, 2171

‘We’ve got into orbit. 30 minutes until we cross the terminator.'

Two million people stood breathless in front of huge screens. At first no one could believe their eyes. The planet was just like the first, just like Venus. A sulfurous Gehenna, marches of hell covered with boiling lava and dense, murky, venomous atmosphere.
And there was a sound of two million shattered hopes—a silence to remain forever.