Avoidance Situation

A space‑navy captain aboard a starship contemplates the unnerving void of subspace while conferring with the ship's psychologist about its psychological effects; their exchanges reveal fear, sensory adaptation, and the isolating quality of absolute black. As routine jumps approach, tension rises from the captain's private recollections of being alone in the void. Those personal impressions set the stage for an impending moral crisis in which he alone must weigh staggering options for humanity—surrendering autonomy to hostile forces or choosing an irreversible path to prevent subjugation. The story examines duty, isolation, and the cost of making an extreme decision under cosmic, existential pressure.