Journey Into Nothing

(1,978 words)

         The manned extra-solar corona probe, Firebird, is passing through a dense interstellar dust cloud at 2/3 light speed. At the helm is Jon Newton, Ph.D., the navigator is David Sextant. This, the Firebird’s forth mission, takes her deeper into space then ever before; to explore a previously unknown star on the other side of the dust cloud, about 12 light-years from Earth.

         Jon is watching the radar screen as they are about to pass through the other side of the dust cloud. The star field begins to clear; Jon looks up at the forward view screen, and notices that the light from there objective star seems distorted. He switches to the visible light telescope to confirm his observation.

         He notices distortion of the star field, and the right half of the view is absent of stars. Jon changes the view from 3600Xs, to 1500Xs, and his face turns pail.

         Along side their objective star, is a circle of black, and he can see a glow around it. Jon barks out, “Navigator! What do you see on the infer-red telescope?”

         “The infer-red telescope is off line for maintenance, sir.”

         “I’ll address proper procedures later. I have a black hole in view, almost directly along our course. Unfortunately, the secondary drives are off line. Making evasive maneuvers. Turning 90° port with full power to the main drive.

         There are a red lights and an alarm coming from the helms’ console.

         Jon goes to the ship’s intercom, “Engineering! What is the problem with the main drive?”

         Engineering responds, “Dr. Newton, it appears that with the secondary drives off line, there is a glitch in the reactors’ power grid. When you fired up the main drive at 100%, we lost 90% of reactor output.”

         “Restore power as soon as possible! There is a black hole directly in our path!”

         Engineering states, “Sir, the grid keeps shutting down!”

         “We don’t have a lot of time at 2/3 light speed!”

         “I hear you, sir. We’re working as fast as we can.”

         Jon turns back to the telescopic view. The black hole now takes up most of the right side of the screen. The helm console is still in alarm. He reduces the view to 800Xs.

         “Engineering, do you have an idea how long it will be until you restore power?”

         “Not for sure, it shouldn’t be long. But, it just keeps shutting down.”

         “Understood. Bridge, to Science Officer.”

         “Go ahead, sir.”

         “Launch a Class ‘A’ probe into the black hole in our path. Report back results as soon as possible.”

         “Yes, sir, Dr. Newton, probe launched.”

         “Engineering, progress report.”

         “Still tracking down the program glitch, sir.”

         “Message received. Science Officer, what do you have on the black hole?”

                   “At this point, about 140 solar masses, negative charge, and no acceleration disk detected. And at our current rate of speed, we are 4 minutes 27 seconds from the event horizon.”

         “Do you have anything on rotational frame drag?”

         “Limited data, but it’s taking shape. I’ll have it soon, when the probe is a bit closer.”

                   “Let me know when it’s available.”

         Jon turns away form the intercom console and says, “Navigator, with the degree of uncertainty in this situation, key into your console the Special Navigational Program Code, 000-1//2. Confirm!

         David responds, “Special Navigational Code, 000-1//2, Dr. Newton.

         “Good! Stand by.”

         The Science Officer calls on the ship’s intercom. Jon responds, “Dr. Newton.”

         “Probe data complete, sir.”

         “Very good. Stand by.” Jon then says, “Navigator, enter the code!”

         “Code entered, sir.”

         Firebird begins operating completely on her own, seeming to be preparing for All Hell to brake loose. An announcement comes over the ships intercom. “Flooding the chambers may be imminent. Science and Engineering officers, check your consoles. All other personal, prepare your equipment.”

         The crew began donning special buoyancy suits and head hardware. Before they are finished, Firebird’s computer announced, “Thank you. Remaining personnel, you may now prepare your equipment.”

         David says, “Jon?”

         “Yes David?”

         “You seem to know what you are doing; but it is hard to be optimistic when most of us probably feel we may be on a journey into nothing. How much do you know about black holes?”

         “Before being assigned to this mission, I was a physicist in a company think-tank. But, many of my suggestions and proposals experienced resistance, and were declared preposterous. This is a way for them to get me out of there hair for a number of years, in hopes that I will retire upon my return.

         “And speaking of home, Communications, send a situation and status report back to home base.”

         The Communications officer replies, “Yes, sir, Dr. Newton.”

         Jon continues to explain, “I’ll try to explain the nature of a black hole as best I can, briefly. A black hole is a result of extremely compressed mater and space-time, called a singularity, to where it seems not to occupy space at all. This produces an extreme gravitational field. Gravitational fields are regions of compressed space, and slowed local time rate, also known as ‘Curved Space-time.’

         “The black spherical region is the apparent event horizon. At the true event horizon, the speed of light moving outward is at a standstill from our viewpoint; and time is moving much slower. Thus, no light escapes, and almost nothing else.

         “It’s mass, in the singularity, dose occupy space in the absolute sense, but not in the flat grid of space-time that we know. The flat grid is seemingly bent around the compressed space its mass occupies.”

         David asks, “What will happen if we go into it, Jon?”

         “Well, keep in mind that I haven’t met anybody yet that has gone into one. However, my best educated guess is this.

         “Near the event horizon, we will be in a very rapid orbit. The blurred star field will start to blue shift, and gravitational lensing will become more obvious. These effects will increase, and the event horizon will appear to be shrinking until it looks like a dot.

         “At that point, the forward view will appear to stretch out like the inside a cone. Assuming that we are still in one piece, there will be a burst of bright light, briefly looking something like you were inside a rainbow. And, the temperature would skyrocket.

indent} “If not for the particular characteristics of Firebird, I wouldn’t dream of attempting to purposely enter a black hole. Any other craft would be destroyed in seconds by the heat, providing the entry itself hadn’t torn it apart.”

         “How much space do you think is there is in a black hole, Jon?”

         “Quite a bit more then it appears. However, dense mass occupies a large part of it. However, the solid core may not appear as its true size.”

         The alarm stops on the helm console.

         Engineering announces, “We have 100% reactor power, Jon!”

         “Thank God!”

         The computer announces, “We have 93% of the power needed for escape. We either enter, or self-destruct. There is a 71% chance for surviving entry. What is your decision, Jon?”

         Jon goes on the ship’s intercom, “Would anyone wish to object to chancing entry?” Jon receives no responses. He then says, “Computer, take us in.”

         The main engine engages at full power as Firebird roles, yaws and adjusts its course to nearly straight at the black hole. The computer announces, “Flooding of the chambers in progress. Ready your equipment immediately.”

         David asks, “What’s the ship doing, Jon?”

         “She is preparing to make the space-time transition into the singularity as quickly as possible, while maintaining precise alignment with its space curvature. Flooding the chambers is our only chance of surviving the G-Forces we are likely to encounter. We will feel little, if any of it.”

         Everyone is madly checking there buoyancy equalizing suites and voice synthesizers, as all decks fill with breathing fluid, with a specific gravity equal to the human body. As the crew submerges, they flip down there corrective lenses to see clearly in the fluid.

         David activates his voice synthesizer and asks Jon, “Why do we need to make the transition so quickly?”

         “It will reduce the severity of any structural damage. However, that will lead to extreme G-Forces after the transition.”

         “How extreme?”

         “Have you ever played baseball?”

         “Yes, I have.”

         “Imagine being the ball.”

         When all decks are completely flooded with breathing fluid, the black hole is easily visible in the unmagnified view, and its size is growing fast.

         Jon announces, “All crew, prepare for the ride of your lives! If you dare, watch your view screens.”

         The black hole was quickly filling the forward view, and bluish stars seemed to be coming out from behind it. The stars in the center of the rear view were shifting to a reddish hue. The star field begins to spin, and all the stars begin shifting to blue. When the black filled nearly the full forward view, the stars were blue streaks, and the circle of black began to shrink.

         Jon announces, “We have crossed the event horizon!”

         The now violet stars are becoming increasingly difficult to see in normal light. The short wave length viewer showed a rainbow of streaking stars, and a small shrinking circle of black.

         Jon goes to the ship’s intercom. “The stretching you are about to see is only an illusion of compressed space-time.”

         The ship appears to be being sucked into the point of black ahead like smoke into a vacuum hose. At the same moment that the black whole seemed to disappear, it appeared to explode as light, with reds to the front, and blues to the rear, and a white band in between. Directly ahead is a reddish-gray blob.

         Firebird quickly changed ends. With the main drive still at full power, she began to role and yaw her belly toward a reddish-gray blob at the center.

         David says, “She seems to be slowing before going into a 1/2° nose up reentry position, Jon.”

         “Precisely as she should be, David. What are the heat management systems status, and exterior readings?”

         “The heat shields and exchange systems are functioning at full power. On the exterior is mostly hydrogen and plasma at 2400° Kelvin. Some slowing noted.

         “Change In Readings! We are in a near vacuum, and a negative charge off the scale! Engines off and her nose is flipping around.”

         Jon explains, “We’re passing through an electron cloud layer. It shouldn’t.…”

         WHAM! The ship vibrates as if it hit a big wall.

         David announces, “Abrupt deceleration, -351 thousand G-Force, the exterior is dense hydrogen plasma at 5,900° Kelvin. Extreme slowing noted. The temperature can’t go too much higher, before we vaporize, Jon!”

         “Have faith, David.”

         The central mass looks as it is expanding.

         David continues, “Plasma density and temperature increasing, decent slowing.

         “We’re rising! The temperature is 6,390° Kelvin, not a lot of room to spare, Jon…. So, where’s she taking us now?”

         “Most likely to the top of the electron cloud layer. It is relatively cooler there, and
there will be very little friction.”

         The foggy view of the central mass is ominous. Grate nearly white flows are emerging from the poles of the reddish-gray blob, connecting along its equator, with bright spots there and there. Farther from the blob, the background was almost deep red, shifting to a dull orange, and all the colors of the rainbow even farther out. It looked like some grate eerie storm.

         David asks, “What do you think is in that blob, in the center, Jon?”

         “Probably a rapidly spinning cluster of strange stars and neutron stars. I can hardly wait to study the enormous forces here. I may possibly be able to use them to get us out of here.”

         David remarks, “Well, I don’t know about you, Jon, but I feel I can speak for most of the crew in saying, that we can hardly wait to go back to breathing Air.”