For @daily.prompt/25-march-2025-mariannewests-freewrite-writing-prompt-day-2686-a-dark-glare
A dark glare.
The glint of the ...not sunlight. The absence of its radiance. A black hole as it DOESN'T reflect off the windshield.
The black hole had been approaching for decades. Or rather, we'd been approaching it. Or really, we'd been approaching it since the beginning, but the scientists had noticed decades ago.
We cared, certainly. Humanity as a whole had talked about it. There were projects to try to help. Big ones, but nothing was really enough. Even if we could have put the entire productive output of the planet towards the goal of saving us, who knows if it would have really worked, and meanwhile, there were profits to be earned. There were populations who needed to be exploited rather than uplifted so those profits could be earned.
Some billionaires fooled themselves into believing that they could save their special little cadre. Could wrench the productive capacity of the earth toward a few spaceships that could travel away from the hole faster than they were traveling toward it.
Maybe that could have been done, but come on. If you're not aiming the productive capacity of the planet at saving us all, how do you think you're going to aim it at saving a few jerks?