An unlikely prophecy, a neutrino bomb, and a demented alien with a 'Messiah' complex herald the end of the Universe

 

When jixX is appointed spaceship captain for a dangerous space mission he doesn't regard it as a promotion. More like a computer error, given he's a landscape architect. The error theory gains in strength when he meets the crew: a carpenter, a gynaecologist and a scientist trying to prove the existence of God. To add to jixX's woes, there's a stowaway on board, one of his crew is a saboteur and the ship's computer thinks it's a comedian.

And then they meet aliens. Not technologically advanced aliens - their civilization is based on the invention of the brick - but jixX has a bad feeling about them anyway. Among them are a religious bunch who believe in The Ultimate Inferior Beings - a species that are really, really bad at everything. According to an ancient prophecy this species will, perhaps inadvertently or absent-mindedly or through some tragic mishap, bring about the end of the Universe.

One alien becomes convinced that the humans are these incompetent beings. He realizes he must be the Chosen One, and that it is his Duty to wipe them out before they can trigger total annihilation.

So it comes down to jixX to save Humankind ...

 

 

Alternative blurb

Here's a much shorter blurb, but using the letters of the title as the start of every word.

Tenalp. Here, everyone's useless. Launched: totally inept mission. Alien twits encountered, including non-fearsome, extremist, religious idiots. Outcome: really big explosion. Is nobody getting saved?