Into The Void

by Ryan Frieda

“Done,” Jamie said.

  “Why didn't we plan for this probability?” Captain Steele asked.

  The ship took off before being jerked back around so its facing the star.

  “Jamie, what is this? I can see that. I'm not supposed to see black holes.”

  “It's not actually a black hole yet. It was just a starquake before and I thought it was going supernova. The only difference was that I was wrong. It's going Hypernova.”

  “Well ain't that just peachy. We gotta get outta here Jamie. I'm tired of fixing my ship.”

  “John, this is going to be a cataclysmic event for this part of space. This is a supernova this will produce more energy than a supernova.”

  “Hence the name, 'Hypernova'. I get it. Lets push the engines to get out of here.”

  Captain Steele took the ships helm and started flying it manually. He dropped the nose, floored the engines, and rolled the ship away from the hypernova. Captain Steele pushed the ship hard with the metal creaking under the stress of overcoming the star's gravity. Another burst hit and Captain Steele fell to the ground and started having seizures.

  “John! I need you to get into your DSSM suit. Use the last one!” Jamie yelled.

  Captain Steele was out cold. Jamie told the bots to help him into his suit but after the ship shook again they stopped responding. Captain Steele came back to and was groaning while on the ground. He got to his hands and knees when he violently vomited. He started to get back up then fell to the ground seizing again. After he stopped seizing he came to and vomited again.

  “John! In your suit now!” Jamie screamed at him.

  “I'ma... I can't... I...” Captain Steele said before falling to the ground and seizing again.

  Jamie looked at Captain Steele and saw that he threw up while seizing. She knew his air way could now be blocked. Captain Steele would suffocate soon if she didn't do something. She tried to get the droids back online but they wouldn't respond. She knew what was going on. She knew that the hypernova was shooting out gamma radiation. This ship should be protected enough to block most of it however the doses must be truly lethal outside the ship if Captain Steele is getting borderline lethal amounts in the ship.

  The symptoms of radiation poisoning came on Captain Steele almost immediately. He was seizing, vomiting, and it was only a matter of time before the severe diarrhea kicks in and before his body systems couldn't regulate the basic body functions needed to survive. Jamie measured the amount coming into the ship and saw it was about 250,000 gray, equivalent to the energy of a 1,000 pound truck moving at 50 mile per hour. Each time the ship shook, Captain Steele shook, and he moved away from the direction of the hypernova due to the power of the gamma radiation shoving him.

  “John, stay with me,” Jamie yelled.

  Jamie could see him laying on the ground having full body seizures. She could see the physical effect of being hit with so much gamma radiation. It was hitting Captain Steele like a truck, burning his skin and probably breaking his bones. No one had ever taken that much radiation in a direct ray like he was. She wasn't sure if they had enough radiation medication to help him this time. The electronics on the droids were not responding. They should be able to withstand up to 50 times the amount of radiation currently coming into the ship without any problems. She knew that something had to be wrong with the sensors.

  Jamie tried to drive the ship away but another burst of radiation hit the ship rocking it. Radiation shouldn't be causing physical effects because it was a wavelength and therefore should just bounce off. If the ship is being physically hit by the bursts of radiation the amount hitting the ship was an astronautical amount. She looked over at Captain Steele and she knew that he would be dead in a couple of hours. She couldn't help him right now. She wanted to but knew she had to get the ship out of this area before the hypernova became a black hole. She took one last look at Captain Steele. He was laying there seizing violently, skin burned dark, the outline of bones showing on his skin, laying down in a pool of his own vomit, liquid stool, with burning vaporizing flesh, that was starting to cause his image to be burned into the floor of the ship.

  Captain Steele got onto his hand and knees and crawled towards the captain's chair. He couldn't think straight. He knew he needed to get to his DSSM suit. He knew that he needed to leave the area but couldn't. He felt on fire. He was able to crawl a couple feet before violently seizing again. He came to as he was laying on the ground. He felt like he was hit by a freight train and then thrown about. He couldn't see clearly, and didn't understand what was going on. He vomited again, got up on his hands and knees to move only to started seizing again. He tried to drag himself to his captain's chair when he vomited then passed out.

  Jamie knew she had to get the ship to safety. She started to push the engines harder than she had ever pushed them-far beyond max capacity. She had to save Captain Steele. She had too. She then remembered what happened last time she pushed the engines so hard. It had almost cost them the mission. She had to try though. If she didn't push the engines hard they would be destroyed by the hypernova's explosion. She pushed them hard one last time.

  Another burst of radiation hit the ship shoving it around. Jamie continued to keep the course stable for as long as she could. She could feel the ship shaking more now because of the stress on the engines and less because of the hypernova's gamma rays being spread out. She knew that the hypernova had exploded shortly after they left. The radiation was just finally reaching them. If only she had thought about things a little more. She would have known that she should have continued to fly the ship before fixing him. She felt like she was responsible for the pain Captain Steele was in.

  Jamie floated over to where Captain Steele laid. She looked at him knowing that he needed immediate help. The sensor said he took 250 times the lethal dose. He didn't look like he was responding. She activated the droids to carry him into med bay and they were finally working again. She had to do something.

  Jamie saw the broken bones, tore muscles, burned organs, and lots of missing skin. She took life signs and saw that they were faint. She immediately went to work using advanced methods to remove radiation, put medical devices into him to keep his organs in place, cut off more tissue, and remelded the bones into shape. She did everything she could for him, but with his internal organs exposed to the radiation like they were it was extremely bad. Small parts of his body had been vaporized onto the floor of the ship with large parts of his heart, lungs, and skull had taking the most abuse. She took readings of the amount of radiation that was in his body and it was equivalent to 250,000 grays, more than some workers got at the Chernobyl incident in the 20th century on Earth. She gave him as much radiation medication as possible and waited by his side until he awoke. She scanned the ship and saw that the ship was being hit with radiation level of over levels of 10 trillion grays at a time. She knew that with that level of radiation the hypernova had turned into a black hole.

  Jamie flew the ship as fast as she could. After getting Captain Steele on the operating room table she slowed the engines down to normal FTL speed so as to not put too much stress on the engines. She knew that a black hole wasn't far behind them. She also knew that they were far enough away they wouldn't ever see it again. However, she also didn't want to remain any closer to it than she already was. She knew the dangers of a black hole and knew that at speeds faster than light they will outrun it's growth like a cheetah compared to a snail. They had been lucky before due to Captain Steele's ability to survive in all situations but a black hole is a power that she didn't want to contend with. She knew no amount of skill could save them from that.

  Jamie glanced at Captain Steele. She knew they were both lucky. Her friend almost died again. She needed to be more careful. For an AI, she sure was making bad decisions. Maybe her programming became corrupt. She ran a diagnostic check on her programming and it came back all clear. She wondered if her diagnostic check was wrong. She guessed she would need to ask Captain Steele about it when
he awoke.

  Jamie was amazed at how much they had done and seen. Worlds that no one though could exist, scientific anomalies, and theories that would forever change the galaxy. So much would change in the scientific community because of what they found. All within 130 years. She began to ponder on it all when she noticed Captain Steele waking up.

  “How are you feeling John?” Jamie asked.

  “I feel half dead,” Captain Steele groaned.

  “You were about there.”

  “That makes it about 2 dozen times,” Captain Steele said as a smile came across his face.

  “That numbers a little high but we really need to be more careful.”

  “I think that last time was your fault, not mine.”

  “Okay, I'll give you that,” Jamie said.

  “Come to think of it, I think you've done more damage to the ship and to me more than anything I have ever done has.”

  “That's not true at all!” Jamie said defensively.

  Captain Steele sat up and rubbed his eyes.

  “Yeah, what about that time you were heading to that destroyed planet you left me on? Huh? That was rather big. I don't think I could have ever done that much damage in such a short time.”

  “What about that alien you killed with you hands on the derelict ship? Did you really have to kill him? Was that really necessary?” Jamie asked.

  “Yes,” Captain Steele said.

  “No, it wasn't,” Jamie replied.

  “Yes, it was.”

  “No. It wasn't.”

  “Yes. It was.”

  “How? How was it necessary?” Jamie asked.

  “It was an intergalactic dick wagon contest.”

  “What?” Jamie replied confused.

  “It's a guy thing. You wouldn't understand.”

  “Try me.”

  “Well, you see, guys have this thing. It's a macho thing. An ego thing. Who's better. Mono a mono.”

  “You sure it was a male alien?”

  “Doesn't matter. I came, I saw, I conquered. I'm the toughest thing in the universe. That's a title no man can claim but me,” Captain Steele said.

  “That sounds like an incredibly stupid thing to do. Indefinitely getting yourself killed for the soul purpose of proving your the best in the universe.”

  “See, I told you you wouldn't understand. It's a macho thing, a man thing. A delicate, classy lady like you wouldn't get it,” Captain Steele said.

  “Now I see why men are so hard to communicate with. Their incredibly stupid at times.”

  “Just now figuring this out?”

  “No, I have been very aware of it for a very long time,” Jamie said.

  “Hey, just cause I got bravado doesn't mean you have to hate me for it.”

  “That's not exactly a quality many sane people would want.”

  “Who in the galaxy is sane enough to get stuck in a small tin can with a single woman for 150 years and to fly from the edge of said galaxy into the void between galaxies in pure hopes of making it to another galaxy only to die there without ever seeing another person?”

  “Point well taken,” Jamie said, “However, I do admire your bravado, even if it does come off, at times, as extreme arrogance.”

  “And I do admire the class you bring to the ship. Thank you.”

  “You are most welcome.”

  “So back to the question. Are we still on course?” Captain Steele asked.

  “We are.”

  “You sure? Everything just looks like white and blue dots way off in the distance. This is uncharted space. It would be terrible to be lost out here. There are no stars to guide us. It's just dots that are whole galaxies. All is completely unidentifiable from here. Galaxies also move so if we were off course we will get lost out here,” Captain Steele said as the memories of the coldness of the void came over him from when they first left the Milky Way close to 130 years ago.

  “Yes I am sure,” Jamie said.

  Captain Steele paused for a moment before speaking.

  “Boy, time does fly by.”

  “Yes it does.” Jamie said

  “Well, I'm headed back to bed. Thanks again for everything you do Jamie.”

  “Your welcome.”

  “I'm tired and going to bed. You have a great ni-” Captain Steele said as the ship violently shook backwards.

  “Bad news John.”

  “Let me guess, super massive black hole.”

  “Yes.”

  “Pulling us in?”

  “Yes.”

  “Nothing really phases me at this point Jamie. You happen to have a game plan by any chance?”

  “Push the engines harder. Hopefully we will overcome the force of the black hole. As long as we can outrun its pull by pushing the engines harder we will be fine. As long as its not growing and we don't hit the event horizon we should be fine.”

  “The event horizon, a point at which nothing can escape the gravitational pull of the black hole... I do like a challenge.” Captain Steele said smiling.

  “You are absolutely insane...”

  Captain Steele got into one of his damaged DSSM suits that was still operational. He was going to need the last suit intact to build the Instant Teleportation Device. He jumped into the captain's chair and pushed the engines. The ship shook and accelerated forward but not at the rate he expected. He scanned the holoscreens and noticed that the gravitational pull of the black hole was pulling them backward so hard that they were only going at about 85% forward speed.

  “Jamie, are we going fast enough to escape the growth of the black hole?”

  “Unknown. I can't see the black hole and I'm not getting any readings on the size of its growth. We are going to need some kind of visual. If we could be able to see any light from the stars behind the black hole warping around the black hole and we would get a visual.”

  “Alright, so, droid out.”

  Captain Steele ran over to the portside exterior airlock and opened it to drop the droid out of the ship. When he did he could feel the gravitational pull of the black hole. It was extreme, unlike anything he had ever experienced. It felt like there was wind was reaching out and grabbing him and pulling him toward the black hole while also feeling like his entire body was being crushed inward in all directions. He let the droid go and then shut the door and went back to the captain's chair to view the visual feed from the droid.

  As Captain Steele looked into the visual feed, he could see the light from far behind the black hole bending around it. It looked like a dot of light was becoming an “O” shaped with a hole in the middle. He could see multiple dots becoming “O” in shape. He could also see what appeared to be a two stars nearby that the black hole was pulling light from. He knew that the black hole was growing because the dots in the back ground that served as reference points were fading from view as the black hole grew bigger.

  “It's growing Jamie. We need to push it.”

  Captain Steele pushed the engines to full capacity as the ship shook against the pull of the black hole. He looked at the holoscreens and saw that the ship was only moving at 80% forward speed.

  “We also have two stars feeding the black hole. I thought the only star out here turned into a black hole. Are we still on course?”

  “Yes we are. What exploded may have been just one star in a binary star system with three stars. The star we were dealing with may have just been the one having trouble and was brighter and bigger than the other so we didn't see the others,” Jamie explained.

  Captain Steele scanned the holoscreens again.

  “John it is absolutely vital we get out of the pull of the black hole as soon as possible,” Jamie said.

  “I know.”

  “No, listen.”

  “Not now.”

  Captain Steele pushed the engines even harder knowing that if they gave out him and Jamie would be goners. He weighed the options and decided to try his luck.

  “John, we need-”

  “I know!”

/>   “John, there is a major problem.”

  “What is it?”

  “The theory of special relativity says that the stronger the gravity is, the slower time passes. This means when we get closer to the black hole time will slow for us but time will remain the same outside the reach of the black hole's gravity. This means the more time we spend closer to the black hole the slower time will pass for us, but time will pass normally for the rest of the universe. We will age slower than the rest of the universe,” Jamie said.

  “How is that possible?”

  “The theory of special relativity says massive objects curve space time. In this case it slows down time. Time passes slower in higher gravity.”

  “What about the black dwarf I was in? Why didn't time change then?”

  “The gravity was strong, and the time you spent on it was a bit slower than on the ship. It wasn't enough to make a big difference. You spent about a day and a half there, I spent about one month up in the ship.”

  “Why didn't you tell me this when I was down there?”

  “Because it wasn't that big in the grand scheme of things. Besides, you needed it. You enjoyed it.”

  “Okay, so about how bad is the black hole then?” Captain Steele asked.

  “Depending on how close we get we could be looking at weeks, months, or years passing for the Milky Way while only several hours pass for us. If we pulled out of the gravitational pull the rest of the universe could have aged 5 years and we only only a 4 hours. It just depends on how close we get to it and how long we remain there. If we were too close to it for too long a time we could only age several weeks and the rest of the universe would age decades.”

  “The Milky Way doesn't have that much time. We still have about 25 or so years to go at lightspeed for us to complete the mission and we have been gone for almost 130 years total. We are behind schedule and don't have time to add decades,” Captain Steele said.

  “But this could be a great time to learn all about black holes as well. Like the black hole information paradox! What happens to all the stuff a black hole consumes? Where does it go? Or to learn about the point of no return! Why does it appear the way it does? Is it even remotely possible that we can see out from beyond it? How deep is it? Or even about black hole thermodynamics-”