The Black Hole Chronicles

<*> The Black Hole Chronicles <*>

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Dr. Leviathan had been preparing for this moment since his childhood. A genius and quantum physics savant, he had been recognized at age ten for his thesis paper on sub-atomic particle extraction. At the age of fifteen he had graduated top in his class from the highly prestigious Einstein Quantum Academy and was one of only twenty-five people in the entire world population to be accredited by the Academy. After graduating, he spent five years as Chief Scientist at the Spatial Fabric and Continuum Research facility, located at the Civil Infrastructure Installation Development (C.I.I.D.) on Mars; or Mars "Cidi" as it was affectionately called. It was there Dr. Leviathan developed the foundation for his theory of Space Fabric Manipulation, which despite his high regard in the scientific community, was met with much skepticism.

Leviathan's theory contended that black holes are actually portals that can be used to “jump” through the fabric of space-time. By magnetically manipulating the black hole from its interior, he believed control could be gained to allow the traversal in any direction and to any destination of travel. Leviathan's theory went on to claim that black holes were not caused by the implosion of solar masses, rather it was the solar mass' implosion that was caused by the black hole being manipulated by technologically advanced civilizations. He believed these advanced civilizations mastered travel through black holes and also contended they were able to extract the pure and massive amount of energy from a star.

Regardless of the skeptics and nay-sayers, Leviathan pursued his research relentlessly. When anonymous funding surfaced which would enable the construction of his own scientific research facility, he left Mars Cidi and returned to Earth. Through 30 years of dedicated research Dr. Leviathan toiled with a small team; experimenting, engineering and testing his theories. The final result was the successful development of a drive system that, according to Dr. Leviathan, would penetrate a black hole, obtain control of it, and render the ability to travel anywhere in the Galaxy, Universe and perhaps even to another Universe or dimension.

Through all of his research Leviathan remained very quiet, keeping a low profile, and was all but forgotten by the scientific community. His re-emergence came, not with a theoretical quandary, but a technological construct to actually prove the mechanics of his theory. To his surprise, he was welcomed back with open arms and hailed again as the genius he was. His new machine was headline news and the world government offered to cover all expenses to launch his machine to space.

And so it was, piggybacked on a Federation Star Cruiser, Leviathan's life's work would be on display for the entire populous of Earth to witness. The experiment would be broadcast and documented in real time and promoted as the next great step in galactic travel. Atomic-ion engines able to provide transport throughout the galaxy already existed. That technology, coupled with cryo-stasis advancements, made it possible to reach the center of the Milky Way in five years with minimal aging, but if Leviathan's hypothesis was right, that could change to seconds. So it was off to the center of the Milky Way, the nearest black hole to Earth.

Upon arrival to the designated coordinates, which was as close to the gravitational boundary as possible, the passengers and crew of the FSC Hope were taken out of cryo-stasis and the operation began. A four man, specially trained crew was geared up in custom suits, designed by Leviathan himself. Yellow in color, the suit was a single seamless piece of material stretching from head to toe and tight to the body, like a second skin. This design created a single mass allowing the particles of the body to bend and stretch, but at the same time keep them contained and aligned correctly. In order to conform to a single mass design, the suit had no accessories such as belts, gloves, boots, or breathing hoses that would create protrusions. The suits included helmets, also yellow in color, which were made of the same material, slightly thickened. The helmets were connected to the neckline of the suit via particle-welding. Two round cut outs in the helmet provided visibility. These were filled with a magnetically charged plasma and the view ports were transparent, flexible and dimmed to reflect solar rays. Fully geared, the crew boarded Leviathan's technological wonder.

Called the DISCC, an acronym for the actual drive system, Direct Inter-spatial Single-pole Core Charger, the main unit was mounted in the center of a large circular hull. A surrounding shell encompassed the inner hull 360 degrees. The angle was such that the bottom side was flat, while the top side gradually shifted from being thin along the outside diameter, becoming thicker at the apex, which was the center of the drive system hull. Some of the crew likened it's circular hull to that of a throwing disc they played with as children. Others joked that if it didn't fly they could just flip it on it's side and roll it back.

The DISCC system was activated and the launching dock cleared. Leviathan watched from the docking bay view port aboard the FSC Hope. With his life's work coming to a climax, success meant vindication. Failure was unacceptable. As the DISCC lifted off and headed past the gravitational boundary Leviathan grimaced, there was no way to turn back now.

The crew went through their checklists and flight plan. Even with the onboard illumination, the blue interior of the DISCC from the seats to the floor kept it dark. There was no way to communicate back with the FSC Hope because any transmission would instantly be caught in the gravitational pull and dragged away.

The DISCC got closer and closer. Using the drive system to counteract the pull, they watched as individual beams of light and dust particles streamed past them in a blur. Even with the countering propulsion, it didn’t take long to reach the event horizon. Silently and almost instantly, the DISCC was thrust over and absorbed into the rushing vastness of the black hole.

On the outside of the DISCC the crew could see the beams of light being stripped down into individual photons. The hull began to stretch, elongating further and further, but never separating. Inside their suits the crew was being stretched and pulled at the sub-atomic level, along with the entire interior of the hull. The suits were keeping the crew's particles aligned and protecting them from the process of spagetification, which would tear them apart at the quantum level.

Deeper into the black hole the effects were greater and greater. The stretched hull reached a length of over 100 miles, but never lost it integrity, holding together throughout. The crew was simultaneously stretched to incomprehensible proportions with the hull, but Leviathan's design proved correct and the crew survived the buckling effects. Through the immense forces induced, the blue color particles of the seating modules were spagetified and were drawn by the electrical charge of the yellow color particles on the crew's suits and helmets. This effect altered the molecular structure of the suits
exterior, causing the suits and helmets to turn green while the lightly dimmed helmet viewports turned jet black.

Set to a chrono-switch, the DISCC system activated it's massive magnetic charge which Leviathan theorized would create a surrounding field so intense it would allow the crew to stop their movement and control their travel down the black hole. Upon the magnetic release, the DISCC came to a complete stop. All gravitational effects ceased on the hull and it's crew. Outside, the black hole continued it's whirling path, moving so fast it was impossible to recognize anything. So far, Leviathan's theory was right. When the pilot activated the polarization in order to assume control of their motion, a sudden shift ripped the DISCC back the way they came. Traveling backwards through the black hole at tremendous speeds however, still proved to have no effect on the hull or the crew.

Suddenly the DISCC began shaking violently and within an instant was snapped out of the black hole. Perplexed, the crew was quiet. Looking around at each other, none of them knew what had just happened. As they looked out the viewports, the crew was shocked to discover they were no longer in the black hole. Not only were they no longer in space, it appeared as if they were underwater, surrounded by a dark blue ocean. Before the men could fully grasp the situation, the DISCC began to rapidly ascend. Within seconds, the DISCC emerged from the deep, hovering in an atmosphere filled with clouds of moisture.

Based on their navigational readings and atmospheric analysis the crew came to the stunning realization that they were on planet Earth. Everything was a perfect match, from oxygen content to solar position. Maneuvering the DISCC through the atmosphere, the image of a large landmass came into view, the American continents. Confused by their analysis which suggested they had just emerged from the Atlantic Ocean off the Southeast coast of North America, not far from the island of Bermuda, they repeated the analysis several times. Steadily moving at supersonic speeds they were quickly over land. It was America all right, the crew could cities and roads. But, it was not the same America they had departed from just days before. No sky towers, no air cars or orbital elevators, had they gone back in time?.

Countless light years away, in the center of the Milky Way galaxy, and perhaps now centuries into the future, Dr. Leviathan sat aboard the FSC Hope, oblivious to what his once theoretical technology was accomplishing.

Back on the DISCC the crew couldn’t get a connection via their digital transponders to open a line of communication. Without warning, the DISCC drive malfunctioned and was now flying out of control. Spinning wildly, rising and falling in elevation, the DISCC quickly and repeatedly changed directions. Inside, the crew in their now green suits, were being jostled about. Not knowing what was wrong with the DISCC or how to fix it, there was nothing they could do. The pilot alerted the rest of the crew that he was going to attempt an emergency landing by over-riding the system. They were in an unpopulated area in a desert, just passing over a mountain range. Unable to over-ride the system and gain control of the DISCC, the pilot and crew braced for impact. The speed the DISCC was traveling at was too fast to land safely and the DISCC crashed into the desert floor obliterating into pieces. Without the magnetic field emanating in the safety of vacuum, the otherwise durable hull could not withstand the direct mass to mass collision. Scattered about the desert floor lay pieces of the chemical construct Leviathan had created that made up the DISCCs' shell. The drive system vaporized upon impact, ignited by the immense heat to the magnetic core. The crew, in their transformed green suits, oval shaped helmets with now blackened viewing ports, could quite possibly have survived the impact, the heat and the explosion.

Just before impact, the DISCC picked up electronic interference, an artificially produced sonic wave transmission that broadcast over the intercom.
"Unidentified aircraft, copy, this is air control at Roswell Army Airfield. You are violating restricted airspace of the United Sates. Authority has been granted to take you down, copy. Change course immediately or you will be fired upon, repeat, you will be fired upon."


*Dr. Leviathan continued his research and testing and would go on to produce twenty-seven DISCCs, sending all of them into the same black hole at the center of the Milky Way. He continued to modify his design, changing the hull from an elongated cylinder shape to triangular and cone shaped proto-types. Not one of the twenty-seven DISCC's returned or was ever heard from again. Their fate was and still is the subject of heated debate; whether trapped in limbo between dimensions, crushed upon entry or hopelessly lost, drifting through space millions of light-years away. Shrugged off as an eccentric, the theories of Dr. Theodore Leviathan are now considered nothing more than ramblings. Sitting on display in the Science Museum of Mars, is the de-classified debris of an unidentified craft that crash landed in the American Southwest during the 20th century; a mystery to this day.