"All hands, this is Robin speaking. Captain-Emeritus Sasha's shuttle has undocked, and I am honoured to assume the role of Captain for our next transit. We estimate the journey will be seventy-eight years, ship time. To those of you who have decided to join us, I formally give you our warmest welcome. We all look forward to getting to know you.

We will begin our ejection burn in five hours. Let's make this a smooth and enjoyable voyage."

Robin shuts down the ship-wide PA and settles into her chair. It's no different than the chair she had before being elected Captain, actually, but it's still a very nice chair. After a moment, she gets up and starts to pace. She's not nervous, but she is a little apprehensive. Sasha captained the Integrity across four star systems: a two-hundred-and-ten year tenure. Working without him -- leading without him -- will be an adjustment.

Samir walks into the control room and nods to the assembled officers. "Final checks are confirmed. All systems are operating smoothly. Captain, we are ready to depart." His cybernetics are more overt than most. Like many engineers, he enjoys the honesty of bare metal and the utility of extra fingers.

"Excellent." Robin smiles. Everyone knows what needs to be done, but protocol requires that the captain give the orders. "Initiate ejection burn."

They don't start moving just like that, of course. It's another half-hour of checklists and confirmations, all read out loud. But soon enough...

"Fusion reaction is stable." Samir keys his intercom. "All hands, brace for zero-point-one-gee acceleration."

And so they begin to move. The habitat cylinder is mounted along the ship's axis, so everyone feels themselves get pushed back a little bit. The Integrity slips from its orbit and begins the carefully-plotted course to the next star system.

"Samir, take a look at this. Visual sensors see our course deflecting slightly. The inertial systems disagree." Marama presses a few keys on their station, highlighting the logs for Samir.

"That is... not perfect." Samir begins reviewing the logs. "Which sensors do you trust? We're still in-system, should we ask one of the habs to confirm our trajectory?"

"I already have, we'll hear back from them in four-and-a-half minutes. And... neither of the sensors should be failing. Not this early. But it should be obvious if the visual sensors fail, so I guess I trust them. The inertials could just be wrong, somehow."

"I'll run a diagnostic on all our sensors, just in case." Samir stands up to go see to it personally.

The habitat's response is unambiguous: The Integrity is deviating from its intended flight path by 13.1 arcseconds. Furthermore, the deviation seems to be increasing.

The bridge crew has moved their chairs into a circle to discuss.

"...So we're already almost half a degree off-course. There's nothing wrong with our engines. There's nothing wrong with our sensors. There's nothing wrong with our flight computer. There's nothing wrong with anything, except there has to be, because we're not going where we should be going."

"Phoenix, one of my team, suggested it could be a gravitational anomaly. Stable neutronium, a primordial black hole, something massive enough to drag us off-course and cold enough for us not to notice it." Marama projects an image on the central screen. "The massive object would have to be following this trajectory. And moving very quickly -- but it is possible."

Samir speaks up after about ten seconds' silence. "Could we gravity-assist off it? Or should we just avoid it?"

Robin looks at him thoughtfully. "We should probably maneuver assuming it's real. Let's also try to take some readings as we fly by, send them to the habitats. Unfortunately, if I'm reading that trajectory right, we've got nothing with enough acceleration to follow it."

"No, but if we take good readings the colony could probably send something to chase it down. Laser-sail, most likely." Marama types a little more. "If it is just a massive object, it's no threat to us. I'll get the computer to calculate an optimal route, but we can definitely avoid it."

But as the object gets closer, the Integrity's trajectory shifts again...

"Captain, we have a problem." Marama's voice is tight, efficient. "We still can't see the object. But if it exists, its mass just spontaneously quadrupled. We're being pulled in." Even when talking to Robin, they keep glancing at the trajectory map.

Of course. Just a few days in, and everything's already going haywire. Even the laws of physics.

"Right. I would like to get away from that anomaly now, please. Samir, make sure the rear engines are ready: we may need them." Robin's tone has become more upbeat than usual, betraying no existential terror whatsoever. 

Coming up to a full gee of acceleration, the Integrity attempts first to break away from the gravitational anomaly, and then to get into a stable orbit around it. Still, though, the pull grows stronger.

"I have telescope data!" Everyone is now strapped into their seats, braced against the Integrity's acceleration. Marama shares the video feed.

The object is a torus of twisted light. It seems to be brightening as its pull gets stronger. The stars behind it move with gravitational lenisng.

"Begin live transmission of all our data to the local habs, please. And send a summary by laser to all nearby systems." Robin's orders do not improve morale, exactly, but they do solidify it. Panic seems to fade away, replaced by determination. A few whisper prayers, but they keep their eyes on their consoles.

"We're pushing the engines as hard as we can. I've got the rear engines ready to counter tidal forces once they start."

"That won't help", Robin whispers. "Wait. Marama, what's the diameter of the ring?"

"I make it... eight kilometers. And the gravity is coming from the ring, not the point in the centre. The inertial systems are reporting it's pulling us apart."

"Forget trying to escape. It won't work. We're not strong enough." Robin isn't saying anything they didn't already know. There's almost relief as she says it.

"Aim us straight for the middle. I want to plow through it. Maybe it'll give us enough of a boost to escape out the other side."

Unstated: And nothing else is working, so we have nothing to lose.

The Integrity's engines flicker out. It's falling towards the ring now, maneuvering thrusters keeping it on a straight path. Metal creaks as it flies through-