Captain Zorik glared at the Corporal, "What do you mean, disappeared?"
The Corporal's palms began to sweat, he could almost feel the blast from the Captain's gun vaporising his head. "Its last heading was directly astern, then it vanished."
"Check the hyperspace scanners, he could have jumped again."
"Yes Captain."
********************
Ryan's eyes lit up as a plan began to form. "Lucy, see if you can identify exactly what ship this destroyer was before it was refitted for Warrian use, but don't use any deep level scanners or they will know exactly where we are."
A moment later she replied, "It was the Achemedes, but how could this information help?"
"All our ships were fitted with a deactivation program in case of the very situation we have here. The Warrians would have disabled it for sure but I was once shown by a rather clever technician a way of reactivating the program through an indirect source. If they have not modified the ship too much, we could pull the plug on the entire Destroyer.
Lucy, dig the deactivation code for the Achemedes from the data that Dad loaded from the Historical Records Computer. Then see if you can patch me into the primary directive system on the Destroyer."
Lucy was the latest in computer hardware and was quick to search through the billions of data and soon uncovered the code. "Deactivation code is one, two, three."
Ryan wasn't sure if he heard correctly. "Excuse me?"
"Deactivation code is one, two, three."
"Those security guys sure don't have much imagination."
As usual, Lucy liked to give a running commentary on her progress. "Entering main files, patching into primary directive program."
Ryan began hacking the primary directive program. He used the keyboard that was positioned at the front of the central console and the rear view monitor displayed his progress. The last time he had operated a computer manually was in primary school and despite the many years that had passed, he was quick to get results. Soon he was in the deactivation program. "We're in!" Without hesitation he entered the code and waited for a result.
********************
Without warning, the ship went dead. All power and light turned off instantly, and the only systems still in operation were the life support, emergency lighting and primary communication lines. The bridge went totally black, then the emergency lighting came on which flooded the bridge in red. Apart from that, the only light source was from the distant sun that shone through the large window before them. Captain Zorik was furious. How could such a technically advanced space ship suddenly lose all power? Zorik's tactically alert mind soon solved the mystery. "The deactivation sequence has been initiated, but how?....What was the position of the freighter at last point of tracking?"
"Just past the rear of the ship then we lost it."
The Captain slammed his fist on the console beside his chair. "The little bastard has latched on our hull and somehow triggered the deactivation program." Zorik had to think quick, "Do we still have communication with the launch bay?"
"Yes Captain." Answered the private at the communications terminal that still hummed with power.
"Launch Squadron Alpha and blast him off our ship."
Just as the Captain felt some satisfaction, he noticed a small freighter flying towards the black hole.
********************
Ryan gave Lucy the trajectory coordinates and activated the specially designed force field, then readied himself for the joy ride to end all joy rides.
The black hole engulfed all the scene before him, shrouding the view in total blackness.
Lucy startled Ryan out of the hypnosis of the black hole, "Ten Warrian Warbird Fighters have launched from the Destroyer and will be in range in twelve seconds."
"How long before we penetrate the horizon plane?"
"Fifteen Seconds."
"Shit! Three seconds to spare. It’s too late. All we can do now is hope and pray that they're bad shots."
Lucy gave a countdown for prosperity, "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five...."
"Dad, I hope you were right or this will be one short trip."
"....Four, three, two, one."
The Eagle shuddered from a violent shock wave. Ryan glanced at the rear view monitor and saw that the Warbirds had taken a shot at the Eagle. He checked the monitors for the damage report, but it was too late. The Eagle had already penetrated the horizon plane and all the monitors had gone berserk.
********************
Zorik pulled his pistol from its holster and blasted the nearest Corporal. The subordinate was knocked off his seat as his body erupted into a fiery vapour and dissipated to nothing. The bridge was momentarily splashed with light, then returned to the red of the emergency light system.
The Private at the communications console, heedlessly questioned the Captain, "Why did he deliberately fly into the black hole when knew it would mean certain death?"
Zorik turned to the Private and pointed the pistol at his head. "You fool, somehow he's discovered a way of passing through the hole without being crushed to oblivion. Now there is no way of following him." His anger turned to frustration as the pleasure of blasting the private faded. Zorik lowed the pistol and sagged back in his seat. Then he looked up at the view of the black hole before him as an idea came to mind. "Can you patch me through to Alpha Leader?"
"Yes Captain." The Private considered himself lucky.
A voice infiltrated the bridge, "This is Alpha Leader."
"Did you have a full scan of the freighter's flight path?"
There was a slight pause, "Yes Captain."
Zorik's brooding changed to a more positive mood, "There might still be a way."
CHAPTER THREE - ESCAPE TO EARTH
The horizon plane of a black hole is the boundary between the known universe and the unknown world of the black hole. All light and matter is swallowed up and sent on an enigmatical journey never to return. Through the brilliance of Professor John Williams, this journey could now be taken with a known destination. Unfortunately, Ryan was unable to make the final calculations and utilise John's findings. Black holes can theoretically lead to other universes, but from the limited amount of information which his father and himself had scrutinised, Ryan's destination was definitely in the same universe.
The Eagle maintained its precise flight path through the black hole, guided by the navigation computer. Fortunately it was still functioning correctly, unlike most of the other systems. Ryan hoped the engines were still operating because his perception of sound had disappeared and the view from the cockpit was still pitch black. Here, the laws of the universe did not apply; light, sound, smell, colour, distance, and direction were all deformed to a point where none could be recognised. Ryan's own perceptions were influenced. His sight became blurred, he could no longer hear or feel clearly and his mind became so confused from his warped senses that he soon lost consciousness. The Eagle moved relentlessly forward through the perilous domain of the black hole, despite its assault on her perceptions. Being powered by electrical energy, Lucy was immune to the effects and continued to operate the ship without Ryan's aid.
At the centre point of the scene from the cockpit, a point of light developed that grew larger and larger, until it shone like the sun. A kaleidoscope of colours spread from the light and engulfed the Eagle in its false warmth. Then an explosion of light, colour and senses hit the Eagle and shocked her systems back to life as she plunged into a starry universe. All the systems returned to normal except the unconscious pilot.
Eventually, Ryan awoke to the sound of Lucy's voice. "Captain, Captain, wake up."
A throbbing sensation that came from his brain made him groan. “Errr.”He opened his eyes to find the ship idling slowly through a starry landscape with all the monitors and scanners functioning correctly. "Are we through?" He asked as he rubbed his eyes and head.
"Yes."
Ryan looked at the rear view monitor and saw a bright li
ght at the centre of the screen. At the end of every black hole there must be an exit point that spews out what the black hole consumed. Such an exit point is called a White Hole. Though for many years such entities were only a theory. In the thirty first century, white holes like black holes, were a known fact.
"What's the damage report?"
"Undercarriage badly damaged by laser blast. Vertical thrusters are inoperative and retro-thrusters are impaired to twenty per cent power. Shields down seventy per cent and main power down thirty five per cent."
"The Eagle really did take a beating! Now the all important question, where and when are we?"
"Processing three dimensional star coordinates. Estimated time to completion, three minutes."
The main computer aboard the probe was not as advanced as Lucy and would have taken hours to determine a time-space fix, so John decided to process the data back at the lab rather than leave the defenseless probe at the other end of the hole. Also John was more interested in answering the question; can a man travel through the hole and survive? If he could not, answering the questions where and when were a waste of time.
"According to the relative position of the star systems in the three dimensional space plane, we are in the Milky Way Galaxy. Three light hours from the star system Alpha Centaury....." Lucy informed him.
"That's only five light hours from Carillia, the Warrians could track us from this distance. All that effort for nothing!" Ryan held his head in his hands trying to comprehend his dilemma.
".....And our position in time is the year one thousand, nine hundred and eighty five A.D."
"What?!"Ryan lifted his head from hands in surprise.
"The year one thousand, nine hundred and eighty five A.D."
"My God! Do you mean to tell me we've travelled back in time, over one thousand years?"
"Yes."
"Well at least we won't have to worry about the Warrians for very long time." Ryan began to comprehend his situation, the planet he lived on was yet to be inhabited for another eight hundred years. He began to recall his ancient history lessons. "What was the extent of man's inhabitation of planets at this time?"
Lucy searched her memory banks and quickly came up with the history on the twentieth century. "Man's sole inhabitation was the planet Earth."
"That's it, Earth. I was never any good at ancient history." He reconsidered the damage report; the landing gear, vertical and retro-thrusters were very difficult to repair. It would require the ship to be grounded and more than one man to do the job. Ryan decided that Earth was his best bet for a destination to repair the ship. "How far is it to Earth?"
"Twenty three hours at maximum warp speed."
"Do we have enough fuel?"
"The energy resources are just adequate."
He already exhausted all means to improve the shields and main power generators. The retro-thrusters are vital to reduce speed for landing. Without them the Eagle would plummet straight into the planet like a meteor. The Earth's atmosphere would slow the ship a great deal, but not enough. Ryan thought out aloud, "There must be a way.... Can you give me a description of the Earth's surface?"
"Most of the surface is covered with water and the land masses are quite mountainous with limited vegetation."
"Water! That's it, we'll use the water to cushion the landing. Lucy, program the navigational computer for Earth, I need to pay my ancestors a little visit."
********************
The Eagle exited from hyperspace before the lush blue-green planet Earth. Ryan gazed upon the planet in awe. This was the legendary origin of the human race and there it was, right before him.
Lucy startled Ryan. "Scanners detect primitive radar, sonar and other low level tracking devices emanating from the planet surface."
"Any chance of them detecting us?"
"Negative. Shields at five per cent power could overcome these devices."
"Good, I like to drop in unannounced." Ryan manoeuvred the ship as best he could to penetrate the atmosphere at a sharp angle. The gasses around the Eagle burst into flames and filled the cockpit with a deep red light. Meanwhile the shields kept a thin void between the Eagle and the incredibly hot ignited atmosphere. The ship quickly reduced speed from the initial velocity of fifty thousand kilometres per hour to a more sedate speed of eleven thousand. A soft white blanket of clouds invaded the scene before him and shot up towards the Eagle at an alarming rate. Ryan plummeted into the white blanket meeting no resistance. Then a few seconds later, emerged from the other side and was rewarded with a view of an endless ocean. The angle of incidence was about fifteen degrees to the water but his velocity was still too fast. A land mass appeared over the horizon and its coast was in a direct line with his point of contact with the surface. Ryan could not pull up without the damaged vertical thrusters. Also an increase in angle could topple the fine balance between the strength of the shields and the force of impact.
There was no other solution, he had to increase his angle of incidence. Ryan gripped the controls and pushed them forward a fraction and felt the Eagle dive abruptly towards the water. Then he prayed to God that the ship would hold together. The surface of the ocean reared up at him until the Eagle and water intersected. A mighty shock wave struck the ship with a cataclysmic explosion of water and sound that penetrated right through to the Eagle's valiant heart.
******************
Charles Clark was a keen fisherman. Since his early retirement, much of his time was spent on a small secluded beach near Port Stephens, Australia. He was two months short of his fifty first birthday and he felt every year of his age since his wife Debra, died of cancer. Charlie, as his friends called him, and Debra never had children, and in his later years wished they had adopted. He always thought that Debra would have made a great Mum. Until his retirement, Charlie was a mechanical engineer and one of the finest in his field. But due to staff cuts the company forced him to retire early. With a large redundancy package he decided to call it a day and spend more time on the things he really enjoyed.
He stood knee deep in the surf with small waves lapping against his bare legs with his favourite fishing rod in hand. The summer sun that was just about to breach the horizon managed to shine some light upon Charlie's glasses and his bald head. His face contained several deep lines and a large bushy grey moustache that seemed to have a life of its own when he talked. Behind the glasses were two alert brown eyes that scanned the surf for an indication of a potential catch, and aback his large ears was wrapped a band of grey hair that diminished with every year. His torso was covered in a large red T-shirt that stretched over his fat stomach and hung down over his khaki shorts.
As far as Charlie could see, he was the sole visitor to the small beach at this early hour. He enjoyed the solitude and the breath-taking sunrises, and rarely failed to miss his pre-dawn visits. While he gazed across the ocean he noticed a small dark object appear in the sky, then it grew as it closed at an alarming rate. The object headed straight for him and in a collision course with the beach where he stood. As the object plunged into the ocean just short of the beach, the shock caused him to fall backwards and drop his fishing rod.
Charlie sat there startled, trying to understand what just happened. The only explanation he could come up with was that an aircraft had crash landed, but it looked like no aircraft he had ever seen before. Also, if it were an aircraft there would be wreckage strewn across the ocean, but none was to be seen. Then the thought, U.F.O. came to mind. What do I do when a U.F.O. crashes into the ocean? Who should I contact? Who would believe me?
He stood up and retrieved his fishing rod from the shallow water while he contemplated his situation. He glanced around the beach to see if anyone else had seen the incident, but no one was in sight. Maybe he imagined the whole thing? Maybe the early morning sun was playing tricks with his eyes? It occurred only seconds ago but scene before him showed no sign of disturbance. Charlie decided to prove to himself that he was not losing his mind, and s
cuba dive to where the strange craft had crashed into the ocean. He guessed it was about five hundred metres out to where it performed its spectacular plunge, which was close enough to reach from the beach. So he quickly strode back to the beach house to get his diving gear.
********************
Ryan studied the readouts on the console to examine the damage from his crash dive. All the ship's primary systems were still functional, but there were still hundreds of minor systems that needed to be checked. "Lucy, is there any further damage to the Eagle?"
"Some minor structural damage, nothing critical."
He looked out the windscreen to find a view of light brown silt. The angled penetration of the ocean surface slowed the ship enough to allow a safe intersection with the ocean bottom, but the manoeuvre caused a vast amount of ocean bottom to be stirred up. The Eagle was dusted in a thick layer of silt and was well camouflaged from prying eyes above. This would give Ryan time to make necessary repairs then move to a more secluded location. The ship required more than his own skilled hands, so Ryan was in need of help.
He had no idea of where to go or who to see. After some careful consideration, he decided to go out and ask for help from the first person he met. Although it was a foolish idea, it was also his only idea.
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