Governor Sterling lived in a world of polished mahogany and digital spreadsheets. His colony, New Eden, was a jewel of the Interstellar Trade Company—a lush, terraformed paradise where the air was filtered and the wine was imported from a dozen different star systems.

"Efficiency is the only morality," Sterling often told his subordinates.

The colony was built on the backs of the "Sump-Miners," thousands of workers who lived in the subterranean depths, extracting the rare isotopes that powered the colony's luxury. They lived in darkness, breathing recycled air and eating synthetic paste, but they were "essential personnel."

One morning, a young geologist named Kael burst into Sterling's office. He was covered in grey dust, his eyes wide with terror.

"Governor, you have to listen to me! The seismic readings from the Outer Rim are abnormal. It's not a tectonic shift. It's a signature. Something is coming. Something massive, and it's moving toward us at relativistic speeds."

Sterling didn't look up from his tablet. "Is it a competitor's fleet?"

"No, sir! It's not a fleet. It's... I don't know what it is, but it's erasing everything in its path. The scout outposts are gone. Silence. Absolute silence."

Sterling finally looked up. He didn't look afraid; he looked annoyed. "If we announce a cosmic threat, the stock price of the Trade Company will plummet. The investors will panic. The colony's credit rating will drop to junk status."

"But we'll all be dead!" Kael screamed.

"Death is a certainty, Kael. Financial ruin is a choice," Sterling replied coldly. "You will keep this information classified. You will write a report stating that the seismic activity is a natural phenomenon. In fact, we will market it as 'The Great Awakening'—a sign that the planet is becoming more fertile. We'll sell more land grants to the inner-core investors."

For six months, Sterling managed the crisis with the precision of a master accountant. He suppressed the reports, silenced the witnesses, and increased the productivity of the Sump-Miners to ensure the colony's quarterly profits hit a record high. He even hosted a gala to celebrate the "stability" of New Eden.

As the guests danced in the ballroom, Sterling stood on the balcony, sipping a glass of vintage nectar. He felt a sense of triumph. He had beaten the market. He had turned a disaster into a profit.

Then, the sky changed.

The stars didn't vanish; they simply shifted. A geometric shadow, larger than the planet, slid across the horizon. There was no sound, no explosion. The atmosphere simply began to peel away, like skin from a fruit.

The guests in the ballroom stopped dancing. They looked up in confusion as the ceiling of the dome shattered.

Sterling watched as his guests were sucked into the void, their expensive clothes fluttering in the vacuum. He looked at his tablet one last time. The stock price of the Trade Company was still climbing.

"Perfect," he whispered, as the air left his lungs. "A record high."

*** OTMES_v2_CODE: [V-08]-[CORPORATE-HORROR]-[M3:8,M5:9,N2:0.7,K2:0.6,TI:58.4,THETA:225]