This mission seems to be out of our control. We had to move around in the Draco Galaxy, which we shouldn’t have had to do, in order to escape from asteroids. Because of that, when we tried to jump back to the solar system, we arrived in an unknown galaxy near a singularity, a giant black hole. When we tried to jump back to Draco, we traveled even farther away, appearing in a huge void. The only thing we could see in the distance was another galaxy. After repairing the ship, we jumped again, only to end up back in the previous galaxy, possibly even closer to the black hole than before. Now, we need to find the exact point where we arrived in the galaxy the first time, because we know that if we jump from there, we’ll go back to the Draco Galaxy. Allison is trying to figure that out right now.
Once in Draco, we might be able to find the exact location where we arrived at the start of the mission, which would take us back to the solar system. But it’s so risky, and there’s so much we don’t know... luckily, we have someone on board who is able to use the stars to determine our location. All of our luck now lies in Allison’s abilities as a navigator.
And if this crew never returns home... well... it’s not time for that yet... I’d just like to be with my family right now.
“Here’s what I discovered,” said Allison, breaking the silence. Apparently, we’re in the M31 Galaxy, Andromeda. Fortunately, the giant black hole in front of us isn’t the supermassive black hole at the center of this galaxy. If it were, we would be dead. We’re most likely in the region of one of the 35 black holes in this galaxy. This is a small one, by the way.”
“And where’s the spot where we arrived? Or rather, where do we need to go to get back to Draco?” asked Frank.
“Well, that’s where we have a problem,” said Allison. “The spot where we need to create the wormhole to get back to Draco is on the other side of that black hole.”
“Are you sure about that, Allison?” asked Russell.
“Yes, Russ. I cross-referenced the current data and star images with ones captured by the cameras as soon as we arrived here from Draco the first time. We have to get to the other side.”
“Allison, I know that I’m the commander and pilot of this ship, and I can take you wherever you say, but I’m going to need you to explain how we’re supposed to get to the other side without getting sucked in by this singularity,” said Russell.
Allison grabbed her computer and started doing calculations. She looked at the maps created by the telescope, and at the ship’s acceleration data.
“Okay, here’s what I’m thinking,” she said, drawing their location on a blank sheet of paper. “We’re going to have to position the ship at this angle and then turn on the engines until we get this point here. Russell will have to calculate the power level and how long we’ll need to maintain it. After that, the gravity of the singularity will continue to pull us really hard, even more so than now. We’re going to speed up a lot, probably even getting close to light speed... and that acceleration is going to become almost unbearable. However, after that maneuver, we’ll enter the black hole’s orbit and thus won’t be sucked in by it. At that point, the acceleration will disappear and it will just be a matter of time before we get to the other side. That’s why it’s really important that we follow the path I’m going to map out,” Allison emphasized.
Russell and Frank listened attentively to her reasoning.
“Then,” she continued, “after we’ve orbited about a quarter of the singularity, we’ll turn on the engines to reach escape speed and exit the orbit. That will take us to the jump point, on the other side of the black hole.”
“Allison, how are we going to be able to stop the ship? The Orion-II doesn’t have enough fuel left to slow down from the kind of speed you’re talking about. In fact, even if our fuel were at 300%, it would still be impossible. We won’t be able to stop, even after the jump,” Russell commented.
“Yes, we’re going to have to think of a way to do it,” she said. “But, for now, I need you to calculate the fuel and power parameters that will allow us to arrive at the point indicated here, and thus orbit the singularity... if we wait much longer, it will be too late.”
Russell agreed and started doing calculations. Meanwhile, Frank asked Allison:
“I need to plan how much oxygen and life support systems we’ll need here. Do you have any idea how many days it will take us to get to the other side?”
“This leg of the trip will take, according to my calculations, approximately one year.”
In that moment, Russell stops calculating and looks at Allison. Frank makes a confused face and asks:
“Did you just say ‘one year’?”
“Yes, Frank... but let me explain. If you guys don’t mind, we need to finish our calculations first and get the ship on course, and then we’ll have time to talk about it...”
“Yeah, we’ll have ‘one year’ to talk about it, right?” said Russell ironically.
“Allison, are you crazy?” Frank shouted. “The supplies on the ship are designed for a 15-day mission. Even with the extra supplies provided by NASA, we only have 40 days worth of oxygen, water, food... not to mention fuel. And of those 40 days, we’ve already used up almost ten. How could you possibly think we have enough for one year?” he asked, his head in his hands.
“Okay, I’m going to respond quickly so we can continue with the plan and stop wasting time,” she said. “It will be one year on Earth... we’re going to reach 80% light speed on this part of the trip. We’ll be subjected to constant acceleration approximately four times greater than Earth’s gravity. This speed will distort time, which comes from Einstein’s general theory of relativity... that one year on Earth, for us here on the ship, will only last about eight days. Now, we really need to get on course,” she concluded.
Russell still wasn't entirely convinced. He looked at Frank, who also seemed to be questioning Allison’s logic.
“So, for us, the trip will only last eight days, but on Earth, a year will have gone by?” the commander asked.
“Yes, but not only on Earth. Any person who happened to be watching us from a referential point outside of the ship would observe us taking a year to get to the other side. But, in here, time will expand, meaning it will only take us about eight days,” the astronomer repeated.
“So, my kids will be a year older by the time we get back?” the engineer asked.
“Frank, I’m going to be honest with you... it’s going to be much longer than year. We’re close to a singularity; we’re going to travel through an area with extremely high gravity, which also distorts space-time. Speed isn’t the only thing that affects time; gravity does, as well. And this place is a huge gravitational field. Newton’s mechanics barely apply here. The trip itself will only take us eight days, which will be about one year for people on Earth, but the simple fact that we’re going to be orbiting a singularity will make time pass differently for us. It will almost certainly be more than a year on Earth... it might be two, three, four... it’s just not possible for us to know exactly how much time will go by. Can we get the ship on course, now?” she begged.
Russell finished up his calculations and immediately positioned the ship so they could activate the engines.
“Prepare for thrust. We’re at 90% power and we’ll have to continue at this rate for three hours. According to my calculations, by the time we’re finished, we’ll have less than 20% fuel left,” said Russell. “Then, the gravity of the black hole will do the rest.”
“All systems go,” Frank confirmed.
“Activating engines in three, two, one... ignition!”
The ship was overcome by an immense force. They started accelerating toward the black hole. Russell had to make slight adjustments to the course as the gravity of the singularity pulled them in directions that he hadn’t anticipated in his calculations. Allison strapped into her seat as the ship accelerated. This seemed much worse than the launch, despite the fact that there was no vibration or noise like before.
A while later, Frank continued monitoring the temperature of the engine, as well as the ship’s fuel level. The internal batteries were down to almost three percent, enough for one more hour. He wasn’t too concerned because he knew that they would turn off the thrust in about 40 minutes, at which point he would have 20 minutes to open up the solar panels and recharge the batteries. He was, however, worried that the solar panels might not resist the gravitational force of the black hole for that long.
Although there weren’t any large stars around, there was a lot of light. The light attracted by the black hole reflected off of the dust clouds on the horizon. He thought it would be enough to keep the Orion-II running at minimum power until the end of those eight days. By the time they got back to Draco, Valkiria would be crucial for them to get their batteries back to 100% again.
“Russell, Allison, I want to make a suggestion, but it has certain risks. I think we need to talk it over and make a decision,” Frank said.
“Go on, what is it?” asked Russell.
“The forces that we’re being subjected to are increasing by the minute. I'm worried about the ship’s rings. I don’t think they’re going to be able to handle so many days under such intense acceleration. They’re long and thin, and they might break if we leave them open while traveling in these conditions,” the engineer explained.
“So, are you suggesting that we stow the rings and return to the same configuration as when we launched from Earth?” Russell asked.
“Yes. The problem is that the Orion-II wasn’t designed for its rings to be stowed. They were made to be opened just once, after exiting Earth’s orbit. However, I can rewrite the module’s controller program and force them to be stowed,” Frank responded.
“And what are the risks?” Allison asked.
“After so many days, subjected to such intense acceleration, there’s always the possibility that some mechanisms might be damaged, which could potentially keep us from being able to reposition the rings. But the risk of damage to those mechanisms is lower than the risk of damage to the rings,” he responded.
“If that were to happen, we’d be trapped here forever. Without those rings, there’d be no way for us to create a wormhole and jump back,” Russell said.
“That’s why we need to make this decision as a group. If we don’t do anything, our structure might not resist these forces. Given these two options, I think the less risky choice would be to stow the rings,” Frank said.
“I vote for stowing them, as well,” Allison said.
“Okay, let’s do that. How long will it take, Frank?”
“It should take less than 30 minutes.”
“Proceed,” the commander said.
Image 12 – Unidentified galaxy observed by the astronauts.
(credits and details on the final page)
Chapter 14
The plan was relatively simple: they would need to speed up, a lot, both so that they could get to the other side in eight days, and so they wouldn’t be swallowed up by the black hole. Contrary to what intuition would indicate, they weren’t fleeing from the black hole, but rather, they were headed toward it at full speed. This was the only way for them to speed up. The acceleration of the thrust itself, in addition to the acceleration caused by the gravitational pull of the singularity, resulted in a gravity four times greater than that on Earth.
At a certain point in the trajectory, once they were going at full speed—which, in this case, would be about 80% light speed—they would activate the engines and deviate off course, thus circumventing the black hole and entering its orbit.
For the first three days, the ship would experience intense and constant acceleration. However, once they made the detour and entered the black hole’s orbit, the acceleration would disappear and they would return to floating through space. The trip was planned to last four more days in this state.
Finally, after seven days, they would turn the engines back on and escape the orbit, at which point they would once again be subjected to gravitational force and a slight deceleration, until finally arriving at the point where they would create the wormhole and perform the jump. One more day of travel, making eight days in total.
Once the route was mapped out, they began a journey which no other human being, vehicle, or probe had ever experienced before.
It was hard to imagine that they would endure three days of intense acceleration, almost reaching light speed. First of all, because no physical structure created by man had ever reached such a speed. And, secondly, because traveling so close to a black hole at that speed meant that time and space would become distorted. For them, the clock kept ticking as it always had, but for someone on Earth—if they were able to observe the ship from there—it would seem as if every second lasted an eternity.
Time wasn’t the only factor that seemed strange; space was also affected. They all had different dimensions than normal, even though they weren’t able to perceive any particular changes.
The gravity exerted by the singularity, however, was very perceptible and real to them. They didn’t seem to be in space anymore. They felt a 4G force (four times Earth’s gravity). Russell, for example, usually weighed 175 pounds on Earth, but now, it was as if he weighed 700.
On the first day, they were all in great pain because of the strong acceleration. Nonetheless, they gradually started getting used to their new weight. They didn’t move around at all; they spent all of their time sitting. Even lifting an arm was extremely tiring.
Allison was reminded of a ride at a theme park near her house in which everyone sat in a sort of cylinder; the ride would start spinning really quickly until you couldn’t even manage to get a hair out of your face.
During the first few minutes of the trip, after stowing the rings, Frank put the system in voice recognition mode. That way, they could do almost all their daily tasks just by speaking with the computer.
Before reaching the peak level of acceleration, they all put on a special part of their space suits. They would all use a system that was, basically, a high-tech diaper. Though they had joked about this element during training, it had become incredibly important for this part of the trip.
Even simple activities such as typing or turning their heads would become unbearable.
Allison was the lightest of the team. She was the one responsible for going to the Service Module and bringing back food. They ate only twice per day. They weren’t at a point where they needed to ration food yet, but it was just too hard to get up for more food.
Russell, on the other hand, had to do the most work. From time to time, he had to make small adjustments to the Orion-II... something he couldn’t do with voice commands. Despite using joysticks for this task, his weight made these maneuvers—which he had trained extensively for on Earth—much more difficult to manage.
“Russell?” Frank called out.
“What?”
“I was thinking... could you turn the ship about 30 degrees upwards?” the engineer asked.
“Why?”
“The angle we’re at right now is putting a lot of weight on my lower back. If you could tilt the ship a bit, some of that weight would fall on the rest of my back,” he explained.
“Frank, do you know how difficult it is to maneuver the ship at this speed? And that if I make even the slightest error, our weight could become concentrated on our chests, making it hard to breathe?” Russell argued.
“Come on, just a little bit?” he insisted.
“Okay, here’s how it’s going to go: when you find a way for us to stop the ship once we arrive at our destination, I’ll be so kind as to tilt the ship a bit so your bum won’t be in so much pain,” the commander negotiated in a playful tone.
At the end of the third day, Russell and Allison calculated when they would have to turn the engines back on in order to position the Orion-II in orbit. They were reaching the most critical point of the trip. They would have to alter their path and accelerate at full force. Up until that point
, they had been headed toward the black hole, but now, they would follow a curve to circumvent the hole at high speed, thus positioning themselves in its orbit.
If the maneuver were successful, that would be the end of the acceleration. They would be safely orbiting the black hole, once again floating inside the ship. But if their calculations were off, if the engines failed, or if anything else went wrong, they wouldn’t be able to enter the orbit and they would have to jump through a wormhole from wherever they were to avoid being swallowed up by the black hole. Allison had said that, in this case, jumping just “anywhere” wouldn’t solve the problem... they would end up dying anyway, because they wouldn’t be able to make it back to Earth. So, she had tried to convince her colleagues to die in the black hole itself. At least that way they would finally discover what happens when one is sucked in by a singularity in space. Obviously, neither of the two remaining astronauts liked the sound of that, and they put an end to the discussion. None of them were planning on failing. They absolutely had to find a way to get the ship in orbit.
Finally, the time came. Russell slowly steered the ship, aligning the rockets with their ideal trajectory. They all prepared themselves as he counted down. Once he activated the ignition, they would all feel a strong jolt backwards. The ship was flying at full speed; then, gradually, the immense gravitational force they had experienced started to decrease.
This leg of the journey took approximately 10 hours. Russell turned the engines on and off, aiming to stay on course. He only stopped once he could tell that the variation in acceleration had stopped. They had reached equilibrium. The centrifugal force of their curvilinear trajectory and the force of the black hole’s gravitational field were finally equal.
The crew members were ecstatic. Everything seemed to be going according to plan. Allison and Frank congratulated the commander over and over again. Inside the Orion-II, everyone was feeling optimistic.
Stellarium (Origins): A Space-Time Adventure to the Ends of our Universe Page 8
