God was omnipotent. There was nothing He could not do. When He decided to start over, people seemed to feel an invisible force sweep past Earth, the Solar System, the Milky Way, and the galaxies beyond, spreading to the edges of the universe that humanity could neither observe nor comprehend.
Countless galaxies and nebulae, along with wonders beyond measure, seemed to undergo strange changes beneath God's immense power.
The first to observe those changes were observatories around the world. Their telescopes detected the anomaly at once: the universe... was collapsing!
"Oh my God, there are so many explosions! Those planets are colliding and exploding... And what's happening to the universe? Why are we seeing a blueshift? Has the universe stopped expanding and started contracting?"
"Matter that was once accelerating away from us has begun to draw back. The expanding universe is returning to its origin. As it contracts, all matter will collide and be destroyed. Everything will return to nothing. The cosmic collapse Albert Einstein envisioned is happening, tens of billions of years earlier than his Divination predicted."
"God, is this what You meant by starting over? How could You, in all Your Mercy, be so cruel to us?"
An Astronomer crouched on the floor, trembling as he buried his face in his hands and wept. His faith had shattered, and he was overwhelmed by despair.
Beside him, an old man's face had gone numb. He had passed beyond the breaking point into utter numbness. "Call a meeting of Astronomers around the world. We'll vote on whether to make our discovery public."
At his call, observatories across Blue Star joined a video conference. As the vote began, the old man said, his face pale:
"You all know the situation, so I won't repeat it. There will be no formalities and