Ray saw the asteroid long before anyone. He understood, has always understood, that space, with all its wonders, wants us dead.
For years he searched the sky for the one constellation missed by vast generations of stargazers, the sum of the Zodiac, the sinister face scowling at mankind.
On a ridge in San Pedro de Atacama, the cosmic clockwork came into view, a billion points of blazing light sneering on the little man facing it down in defiance.
The rock spat from the mouth of the cosmos barreled towards him. Trembling with rage, Ray said, “No.”
And the universe blinked.