Into The Void

by Ryan Frieda

  “Yeah, I'll just make sure to stop off at the drive through window and ask the black hole to produce some samples.”

  “Sorry,” Jamie replied.

  Captain Steele checked the holoscreens again and saw that the droid had been pulled into the black hole and was no longer reporting anything. He figured the gravitational pull was so strong the signal couldn't get away from the droid.

  “How is this thing growing so fast Jamie? Aren't we going faster than light? Why did we slow down in the first place?”

  “I had no way of knowing it would be growing faster than the speed of light. It should not be growing that fast. It is scientific anomaly that may be the norm. Or maybe gravity reaches out at well beyond FTL speeds,” Jamie said excitedly.

  “Your excited about us being crushed to death by a black hole?” Captain Steele said while pushing the engines harder.

  “Not exactly... I just marvel at the chance to understand why it's growing so fast.”

  “I don't. We need a game plan other than what were doing. Maybe it's pull is weaker in some areas. Do some scans. I need something Jamie.”

  “Scanning.”

  Captain Steele used both hands to pilot the ship. He was directing the ship's speed while monitoring the holoscreens for all the readings. The ship felt like it was being dragged around by the gravitational pull of the black hole. He saw he was going just a bit faster than the growth rate. He pushed the engines a bit harder when there was giant explosion that came from the back of the ship near the engine compartment.

  “FUCK!” Captain Steele yelled as the ship started to decompress, “Seal the bulk head and man the ship Jamie. I've gotta do some major repairs.”

  Captain Steele ran off toward the back of the ship to check the engines. He climbed into the engine room and saw engine parts floating everywhere along with a giant breach in the hull where an engine was supposed to be.

  “Most of the engine is gone Jamie!”

  “We should have two complete spare engines in the cargo bay.”

  “I'm going to need help with this one Jamie. I need some droids.”

  Captain Steele ran to the cargo bay and grabbed a cart that should help him carry the engine to the engine room. He found the engine and put it on the cart as the ship shook violently.

  “The black hole is gaining on us,” Jamie yelled.

  “I'm working on it! Get some of those bots to reinforce the ship's hull with anything they can find. Beams, spare parts, lab equipment, anything.”

  Captain Steele put the spare engine on the cart and moved it towards the engine room when the ship shook again knocking him over and having the spare engine pin him against the wall of the ship. The black hole was pulling all objects on the ship in its direction. He pushed against the engine but couldn't get it moved.

  “Jamie I'm stuck. Get one of those bots over here to help me move this engine.”

  Jamie sent a droid over to him to help move the engine. Both he and the droid couldn't move the engine.

  “Send me all of them Jamie.”

  Jamie sent all of them and Captain Steele was able to move the engine enough to free himself. He then started to push the engine to the engine room. He got to the engine room and he could see what appeared to be light being pulled into the black hole from far away. He wasn't sure what it was, but he had bigger things to worry about. He started to take the broken parts of the old engine out and shove them out the hole in the hull. As he did he looked out and he could see what appeared to be a star off in the distance having it's light pulled from it.

  Captain Steele continued to work on the engine. He felt like there was air reaching into the breach in the hull trying to pull him out while he felt like he was being crushed inward on all sides. He was able to patch the breach in the hull and started to slide the engine in place. He looked out and could see what appeared to be a ring of light starting to form around the black hole. He could also see light swirling around the black hole. He could see the outline of the black hole because of the light from the star that was being pulled into the black hole. It appeared to be growing at a substantial rate.

  Captain Steele then realized that they may have been in such close proximity to the black hole that they could be affected by the time dilation. He had to check the atomic clock to make sure time was ticking normally.

  “Jamie, is our atomic clock ticking normally?”

  Jamie looked at the clock and counted the second ticking.

  “No. It's running slow. We are being affected by being too close to the black hole. How much longer until your done?”

  “I'm working on it.”

  Captain Steele could see the light swirling around the black hole getting closer and closer. That means they were getting close to the event horizon, the point at which nothing can escape from the gravitational pull of the black hole. He looked at the light. It looked like it had been stretched and it looked blurred.

  Captain Steele worked on getting the engine in place. There was a piece of hull bent inward preventing it from sitting right. He crawled under the engine and started to pull it back and forth hoping he could weakening it enough to kick it off. He grabbed it and rocked it back and forth and was able to pull it off. He then crawled back out and set the engine in place. He attached the new parts to the old parts by wielding them into place. He attached all the holohoses and made sure all the lines were working.

  “Give it a test now Jamie.”

  “I can't. There is something wrong with the electrical system. I'm running a diagnostic now.”

  Captain Steele looked over everything and found everything to be okay. He decided to do a second check.

  “The fuel valve got turned when you shoved the engine outside,” Jamie said.

  “Alright, give me a few minutes.”

  Captain Steele had some droids help him unsecure the engine from it's place as the fuel valve was outside the ship next to the nozzle.

  “Who came up with such a stupid idea to put it out there?” Captain Steele asked Jamie.

  Captain Steele got the engine unsecured, pulled it inside, then reached and turned the fuel valve. He then carefully placed the engine back in its spot and secured it again.

  “Now Jamie!”

  The ship started to move forward before slowing again.

  “What's the problem now?” Captain Steele said as he ran to the bridge.

  “The fuel valve turned again!” Jamie replied.

  “I made sure it didn't.”

  “Was it loose? Did it turn easily?” Jamie asked.

  “Yeah... oh for the love of... you got to be kidding me.”

  “It's not tight enough. Every single time you turn it on gravity pulls on it until it turns it off. You need to replace it. We don't have much time,” Jamie said.

  Captain Steele ran to the cargo room and searched for an additional valve. He saw that the other spare engine's valve was also loose. He searched everywhere for where one was supposed to be but failed to find one that would work with the engine. He looked around for anything he could use to modify the part that holds the valve so they could use a temporary valve for another piece but failed to find that too. He looked at the logs to see what spare pieces they've used and saw that they've used them all.

  “Jamie, we've used all the spare valves for the engine,” Captain Steele said.

  “Then you need to find a way to secure it,” Jamie replied.

  “I won't be able to secure the valve from inside the ship because of how the engine sits in place. I'll have to make sure its tied down to a fixed object from outside the ship,” Captain Steele said.

  Jamie paused.

  “Surely your not going out there...” Jamie said in disbelief.

  “I am,” Captain Steele said while running to the portside airlock, “I'll be back shortly.”

  “Send a droid John!”

  “A droid will be pulled away by the gravity. I'll be able to do it,” Captain Steele said.

  “Don't.
... please don't.”

  “I'll be back shortly,” Captain Steele said as he changed into his last completely fine DSSM.

  “Open the door Jamie,” Captain Steele said.

  Captain Steele tethered himself to the handle inside the portside airlock. He checked himself, his DSSM, and his gear.

  “Open the door Jamie,” Captain Steele said as he activated the magnets in his boots and turned on his flash light that was mounted to his shoulder.

  The outer portside air lock opened. The second it did it felt like a hand reached out from the black hole and grabbed him, both pulling him towards it and crushing him on all sides at the same time.

  Captain Steele looked out and could see two stars, a white-blue one and one dark red in color, being pulled into black hole. The light swirled around the the ends of the black hole. He could feel the gravity trying to pull him around the black hole and not straight into it. He could also feel the the hair on his arms stand up. He also could see his DSSM was having a hard time regulating readings. He also felt like the gravity was moving him as if he was on waves. He knew that these things meant several things. It meant that the black hole was a “Schwarzchild black hole” meaning it had a spherical surface that was the event horizon, that the black hole was also a “rotating black hole” meaning it rotated around at an angle making its gravity stronger than a static black hole that didn't rotate, a “charged black hole” meaning it possesses an electric charge, that it also had a magnetic field to it it that messed with electronics, and that it was causing gravity to move inward in “waves” and not pull it straight in evenly in all directions. Captain Steele knew this would violate some current theories about black holes but he knew enough of each theory to come to these conclusions.

  Captain Steele reached out the air lock and grabbed the handle wielded to the side of the ship. He grabbed it and climbed out. As he did he saw the light of his flash light pulled toward the black hole and away from where his flashlight was pointing. He started to climb upward to the top of the ship then climb around to the back of the ship. He had to be careful with the tether making sure it was hooked through all the loops on the side of the ship otherwise the black hole would pull the tether towards itself causing him to fly away from the ship at the full length of the tether instead of the length from where the last loop was.

  As Captain Steele started to climb upward towards the top of the ship the ship went off of a wave of gravity and hit another wave of gravity. The ship was being pulled into the black hole like it was floating on the surface of a storm ridden, wavy ocean. Almost more like an ocean during a major storm. The ship was being hit with waves causing it to move around. It was also having the waves lift the ship up at the same time and, as if that wasn't bad enough, it was also having waves fall onto the top of the ship. The ship was being violently shoved around like a ship at sea during a major storm. The only difference was that the ship was also being pulled in towards the black hole, causing it to be hit by waves from every side, while being rotated around the black hole as well.

  Captain Steele held on as best as he could. He knew he had to get to the back of the ship. He looked up and could see the black hole's event horizon pulling light inward.

  “Hold the ship steady Jamie.”

  “I'm trying. The gravity is too strong. We are being pummeled on all sides at the same time.”

  Captain Steele finally reached the top of the ship. He looked toward the back of the ship and started to head that way when a wave of gravity fell on top of him knocking him hard against the ship and pushing the ship down. His chest hit the hull of the ship knocking the wind out of him. He struggled to breath, trying to catch his breath as another wave hit the ship sideways. He flipped side ways and almost lost hold of the handle. He caught his breath and continued toward the back of the ship. He could feel the strength of gravity increasing exponentially. He knew he had to hurry.

  “Have those droids reinforced the hull with anything they can find?” Captain Steele asked Jamie.

  Captain Steele continued to wait for his answer while making his way to the back of the ship. It seemed like several minutes before he heard back from Jamie.

  “They have John. How close are you to finishing John? We don't have much time.”

  “Almost to the back of the ship now .”

  Captain Steele carefully turned around so that he would be climbing downward feet first to the end of the ship where the engines were. He took one step when a wave of gravity hit the front of the ship pushing it back while the wave of gravity they were on suddenly ended making them drop off it and the ship seemed to fall down several dozen feet before hitting the tip top point of a gravity wave that caused the ship's nose to point forward and down.

  Captain Steele lost his grip and fell out toward the black hole as he reached for the tether. The tether extended as far as it could and he stopped, dangling him approximately 50 feet from the ship in the direction of the black hole. The pull of the black hole was so strong that the tether was extended as far as it could be. There was no slack in the tether and he was literally dangling from the ship as if from a cliff. The ship was 50 feet above him, the black hole thousands of miles below him. It's event horizon, or point of no return, was even closer.

  “Jamie, move the ship between me and the black hole. I can't climb up the tether.”

  Captain Steele waited, while dangling helplessly between a black hole and his ship. He assumed that the transmission from him to the ship was taking some time because it had to overcome the gravitational pull of the black hole. He looked at the flashlight mounted on his shoulder. He could see the light being pulled across his chest and off to his side then down towards the black hole. He could see the tether being pulled away from the ship at a 45 degree angle. He was tossed around by a gravity wave pushing him to the right of the ship as that gravity wave missed the ship.

  “I'll try. Brace for impact. These gravity waves aren't going to make it smooth,” Jamie said.

  The ship moved abrasively with its thrusters that were used for minor corrections and precision flying.

  Captain Steele was tossed about as the ship moved around causing the tether to move. He heard what sounded like a metal creaking sounds come from the ship only it sounded a little bit different for a second before it disappeared. He assumed the principle behind why it sounded different was because of the Doppler effect. It was much like the sound of a police siren before the car passes you then the way it sounds as your right next to it then the sound as after it passes you. He guessed the reason he didn't hear the metal creaking sounds after it went past him because the black hole pulled the sound into itself making it so that he couldn't hear anything from behind him. The fact that he could even hear the sounds in the vacuum of space meant that the black hole was somehow pulling sound through the vacuum of space or that the atmosphere of the stars have been redistributed to where he was in just a small enough quantity that sound could travel.

  The ship tried to move between him and the black hole when it was hit on its right side, causing the hull to be breached and pushing the ship back to where it just was. He could see stuff pulled from the ship and fly right off into the black hole. A gravity wave hit him, but not the ship, causing him to fly by the items and the hull breach. The wave hit him towards another wave that shoved him back upwards when another wave hit him forward towards the ship and down towards it. The ship hit another wave that caused it to fly toward him. He knew he and the ship were going to collide hard with the ship and he braced himself for it.

  Captain Steele ran into the ship as the ship ran into him. He hit it so hard that he went into the hull and out the other side pulling the tether through the hole in the hull of the ship with him as he went through the ship. He then bounced back towards the ship due to the tether and the gravitational pull of the black hole causing him to go right into the bottom of the ship and back out through the top of it creating another hole in the ship. This brought the tether through the ship yet ag
ain. His DSSM said he was flying at about mach 30, close to 23,000 miles per hour when he first hit the ship. His suit also registered him hitting the ship at close to 1 gigaton, or 1/7th of the power of all the nuclear arsenal on Earth in 2014. Captain Steele was knocked out after the first hit and his DSSM suit did a shock call to revive him. After the second hit he was knocked out again and his DSSM suit did yet another shock call.

  The ship hit another wave along with Captain Steele. He knew that if he hit the ship two more times at that speed it would be torn into pieces. He knew that with the tether wrapping around the ship it was going to tear the ship in half as he was being pulled by it. He knew he needed to cut the tether but he had to time it just right. He started to fly towards the ship and he grabbed his knife and just as he was about to hit the outside of the ship and he cut the tether. He hit the ship, was knocked out, went through the ship, shot through the bottom of the ship, and came to when his DSSM suit did another shock call.

  Captain Steele was about 75 feet from the ship, not tethered to it when he came to. He could feel the black hole pulling him towards it. The ship was between him and the black hole. He activated his DSSM's thrusters to help move him toward the ship. A gravity wave caught him and threw him in another direction away from the ship. He guessed he was about 145 feet from the ship at that point. He activated all the boosters on his DSSM and aimed towards the ship. He could feel the gravity of the black hole pulling him away from the ship. Another gravity wave hit him as Jamie directed the ship in his direction. He could see the black hole pulling the light from the two stars and his flashlight into it. He could see the ship 100 feet below his feet and about 45 feet to his right.

  Captain Steele turned upside down with his head heading for the ship and the black hole. He then activated his DSSM's thrusters towards the ship knowing that this was his best chance to get to the ship. The black hole pulled him closer and closer to the ship. He was about 100 feet from the ship. He focused on the ship, the black hole off in the distance. He was only 80 feet from the ship. He looked at the black hole that was just beyond the ship. He could see the light being pulled into it. He looked back at the ship. He was only 75 feet away when a gravity wave pushed him and the ship so that he had to change his direction. He turned his head sideways so his ship was out of view and could see the black hole off in the distance. He could see that Jamie and him were close to the point of no return. He focused on the ship as Jamie directed the ship between him and the black hole.