by Kumar L
“We do carry nukes, Colonel and we will certainly give them a try,” agreed Anara.
Ryan shrugged his consent. The low lighting in the room and the eerie glow from the workstation screens made the perfect setting for the dark future they were heading into. Anara was right, he thought, there was no harm in trying the nukes, even though such devices only worked in science fiction movies. In fact, knowing the explosions would only fuel the craving of the black hole, he wasn’t entirely sure that was a wise thing to do. He was glad the lack of lighting hid the dejected look on his face.
“Let’s do it then. Manisha, line us up for firing. Let’s start with two missiles. Dial them up for full ten megatons. Set for detonation at a thousand kilometres. Will that be enough?” Anara asked Ryan.
“Yep, that ought to do it. In normal space the explosion would not be dissipated by the lack of a medium. But inside the event horizon, the shock waves should travel away from us. Do we have enough power to put that distance between the bomb and us? Last time we tried to move, we managed all of three hundred kilometres, remember?”
“We’ll launch it towards the black hole and let gravity do the rest. It should move away faster than us.”
“All right then. Manisha, let’s get all engines up and running. Try to put as much distance between us and the bomb as you can.”
“Yes, commander. Weapon will be ready in five minutes.” She acknowledged his command but she realised, like Ryan, that the effort to move away would be futile. It had not worked the last time either. “Mr. Madhavan, you ready? We’ll launch on my mark.”
“Ready down here,” replied Madhavan as his hands moved over the control station. He was pleased to see the engine status back in green. The ship was as ready as it would ever be especially after their last aborted attempt. “Don’t let me down now,” he whispered, caressing the controls.
“All ready for launch,” reported Manisha, a few minutes later, studying her screen.
“Put up the display on the main holo.” The centre of the room filled up with a simulated image of the ship in space with an estimate of the position of the centre of the black hole.
“Fire when ready,” ordered Anara. This was it. In those three words she had ordered a nuclear launch. In any other circumstances, she would have been responsible for genocide, but not today. Today she was trying to save billions of lives. She felt powerful and weak at the same time.
“Mark. Bomb away,” called out Manisha.
“All engines engaged,” reported Madhavan as the vibrations built up again and the ship once again struggled against the power of the hole.
The holo display showed the trajectory of the missile, and rapidly changing numbers scrolled along one side showing various data points.
“The missile is being pulled in and is accelerating,” reported Ryan, his voice on edge. “I have lost lock. It was moving much faster than I anticipated. We may lose the ability to track it or even send the detonation signal. Recommend we send the signal now. The ship has barely moved but the missile should be at least five hundred kilometres away. It should be safe.”
“The signal will also be moving inwards at the speed of light, but why take a chance? Do it!” Anara commanded.
Ryan pressed a button and they waited.
“Is it done?” asked Anara.
“Yes. Signal sent.” Pressing a button to detonate a nuclear warhead seemed pretty anti-climactic to him.
Some members of the crew crowded the portholes.
Ryan was amused. They’d see nothing out of the window, but some might get hurt. “Everyone back to your stations. Strap in. We may get hit by a massive shock wave. Things will get rough.” Unlikely, but why take a chance?
The crew obeyed and went back to their seats. Discipline won over curiosity.
“Well, where is my explosion?” demanded Anara after a few more seconds.
Manisha looked perplexed. “I don’t understand. The missile should have exploded in microseconds on receiving the signal.”
More seconds ticked by. Anara raised an eyebrow at Ryan. He shook his head.
A mild tremor rocked the massive ship.
“Is that it? I barely felt it?” remarked the Colonel.
Anara gave him a small nod. “The bulk of the force must’ve been directed towards the centre of the hole. It has probably been absorbed already. There isn’t going to be anything more. We’re lucky we felt as much as we did.”
Fraser understood, but his mind refused to accept. “Will we get to know if it worked?”
“Let’s wait and see if the gravitational pull reduces. That’s the only way we can be sure. If the atomic explosion disrupts the singularity, there should be another explosion as the singularity releases all its stored mass and energy and then we would no longer be slaves to its gravity.”
They waited. There was still hope, wasn’t there? The holo however remained resolutely black. It had nothing to show.
“No explosions,” sighed Ryan. “It didn’t work.”
“At least let’s try pulling away one more time. Maybe your instruments are not working accurately.” Fraser knew he was being stubborn, but he knew sometimes you needed to use brute force.
“Why? It’s pointless. The singularity is right there.” Ryan was irritated at the Colonel’s doggedness.
Anara walked over to his side. “For the sake of the crew, Ryan. For the sake of the crew, let’s test it.”
“Okay,” Ryan said with a nod. “Mr Madhavan. Fifty percent power. Reverse.”
The engines were already primed. As Madhavan increased power, the ship struggled once more against gravity.
“It’s not working, Captain. We are not moving. The explosion was a waste of two perfectly good atom bombs,” reported Ryan.
“Well, we aren’t exactly going to need them where we’re going, are we?” Anara snapped. Then, she shook her head in frustration. “Alright. Alright. Power down. No point wasting fuel.”
How many more disappointments will I have to suffer? I want to keep fighting but what’s’ the use? Is it time to roll up and surrender? Every theory I have read states it is impossible to escape the pull of a black hole. This is an impossible task. What’s the point of fighting against the impossible? It would be so easy to just give up right now, right here.
◆◆◆
Anara read through the details on her screen for the third time but found no new answers. She pushed back her chair and stared at the ceiling. Her room was considerably large by the ship’s standards, yet she felt cramped. A desk, a couple of chairs, a small bureau, a concealed closet, a single bed along a wall. She was thankful for the open space in the centre of the room. The carpeted floor allowed her to continue her yoga routine on the days she could not hit the gym.
She looked up when Ryan knocked on the door and entered. He looked haggard and drawn.
“Tell me you have something else we can try?” asked Anara.
Ryan pulled up a chair and sat down. He shook his head in defeat. Anara had never seen him quite like this before. Ryan was her pillar, her cheerleader, her rock. Now, head bowed, he just sat there quietly.
The two of them reviewed in silence the virtual screen displaying the latest woefully inadequate data. No signals were reaching the ship and while they were not completely blind, they were pretty close to it.
She pushed back her chair, walked to the porthole and looked outside. There was a beautiful show of lights outside. Streams of light appeared and disappeared seemingly at random. It was a fireworks’ display in every colour of the rainbow. She’d expected a lot more red-shifting as the rays of light moved away from them and the frequency of light shifted lower and lower. But this was different. It was unexpected. They’d broken a barrier, entered a forbidden zone inside the event horizon. They were witnessing wonders never before revealed to the human eye. But, rainbows? Inside the event horizon? What was happening? Well, at least our deaths will be pretty.
A low murmur came from her virtual scre
en which flickered and blinked off. The subdued artificial lights dimmed as well, and Anara would later swear she saw the same light float out to space through the solid walls of the room, as if being sucked out by the black hole. She, however, convinced herself that it had been an illusion.
The room was now quite dark except for the irregular flashes from the exterior. Ryan had looked up in surprise at the sudden darkness, but he lowered his head again in resignation.
“Narada, what happened?” Anara called to the AI.
There was no reply. She felt the familiar vibrations of the ship’s engines reduce considerably.
“Narada?” she called again. “Narada?” She almost punched the controls on her workstation in agitation.
“Ryan, snap out of it! I need your help. Narada seems to have gone offline!”
Ryan looked up slowly. “Yeah, must be the higher gravity finally starting to affect our power systems. We must be getting close to the singularity. It was expected.”
To Anara’s relief the emergency light came on suffusing the room in a soft red glow.
“What does this mean, Ryan? How close are we to the singularity? How much time do we have left?” It was then that she realised she had been avoiding facing the reality of their situation. She had, of course, been thinking about their predicament, about the black hole, but clinically, in an abstract manner. All the while, she had been evading the question—what would happen when they actually reached the singularity? How would they die? Now it hit her hard. This was happening. This was happening to her, the ship and the crew. They were at death’s doorstep. There was no escape.
“I’ve already told you. I have no idea. Days, hours, minutes … take your pick.”
“I’m not giving up yet. C’mon, let’s go.” She grabbed his shoulder, pulled him up and pushed him out of the room in front of her.
◆◆◆
She had never seen Ops so quiet. No blinking lights, no active display screens, no hands actively working the controls. A few emergency lamps provided light but failed to dispel the gloom. Some members of the crew sat at their stations with nothing to do. They had no control. Everything was offline. Antariksh was adrift in space.
“Manisha, status report?”
“Primary controls not available. Backup controls have failed as well. Power at 32% of normal. Main computer is offline. AI is offline. Limited communication facilities available.”
“What about the crew?”
“All accounted for as of ten minutes ago. A few bruises when the lights failed. Nothing major to report.”
Anara watched out of the corner of her eyes as Ryan sat down at his station.
“Get me Madhavan,” she commanded.
“Madhavan here,” came the engineer’s voice over the intercom.
“Status?”
“There was a sudden power drain on the engines, Captain. I’ve throttled down power to a bare minimum but if this continues we’ll be out of fuel shortly. Most of the systems are offline.”
“So the engines are still working? That’s a relief.”
“They are holding at 30% but I’m using up more fuel than normal. I’m not sure why. I’ll keep checking and will get back to you.”
“I’ll take the small miracles for now. Okay, Manisha, I want everyone out of Ops and back in the quarters. Signal the crew to do the same. Then power down Environment to minimum. No point wasting more energy than we need to. Ryan, join me in the engine room with Madhavan, will you?
Ryan seemed to have regained some of his composure. He joined her as they followed the crew out of Ops.
“I’m sorry. My conduct was unbecoming earlier. I’ve let you down. You wanted solutions and there is nothing more I can offer you today.”
“Listen to me, Ryan.” She pulled him by his arm. “We are still in command. We do not, cannot, give up. A hundred people depend on us to keep trying. They will all die the second we give up. There are another eight billion innocent people back on Earth who also depend on us. I noticed how the crew was looking at you back in Ops. They were frightened. They thought you were giving up. That’s not fair to them. They derive courage from us. They derive strength from our actions and our composure. They derive hope from us. You know what I have learnt in the last few days, sitting alone in my room? We live on hope. We thrive on hope. Hope makes us chase our dreams and hope is what defines us humans. You cannot take away their hope.” She cupped his face in her palms and looked into his eyes. “I will not let this crew down and neither will you, got it? Even if there is absolutely nothing more to be done, even then,” she paused to compose herself, “even then we… we will die with dignity giving it everything we’ve got and then a little more.”
She let him go and started walking. Ryan followed her, his steps a little firmer, his back a little straighter.
They reached engineering.
“Are you ready? Are you with me, Ryan?” She knew what his answer would be, but she needed to her it from him.
He nodded. “Let’s do this.”
◆◆◆
“Madhavan, your report?” Anara ordered as soon as she entered Engineering and located him.
“All non-essential systems have been shut down,” he replied, pausing his frantic activities. “I’ve kept environment controls working. Heat and light are just about what the engines can manage. I might be able to get more power for a short duration, but the fuel consumption will not be worth the effort. Higher power outputs just seem to drain our energy faster. The devil outside is devouring us. Right now, my priority is conserving fuel. I know you will try to break us free again. I know you. And I’m making sure the ship is ready for you. You are going to try, aren’t you?”
Anara spoke to him in a soft voice. “We’ve tried everything, Madhavan. Ryan and I are out of ideas. I was hoping you’d have something.”
“All I can give you is a bit of power for a few more hours. I’m sorry. I can fix any engine, propel any ship. I know the intricacies of faster-than-light travel. I deal in gravity generators, but I don’t know how to escape this… this singularity. It is stronger than anything I have ever faced before. I guess what I’m saying is, tell me your plan and I’ll find a way to make it happen.”
“That’s that then, Ryan,” Anara looked at Ryan. “Nothing else left to try.” She shook her head wearily then smiled wanly. “We will die with dignity, right?” She smiled wanly. “We should tell the crew to get mentally ready. This ship may be our tomb but let’s give them a chance to get prepared.”
12
The Last Hour
Her crew received the news of their pending destruction with surprising equanimity. Everyone had been granted leave to spend the time they had left in whichever way they saw fit. How does one prepare for death?
◆◆◆
Colonel Fraser decided to take a last walk amidst his weaponry. He touched the shiny side of the fast attack flyer, feeling the smooth cold metal with his fingers. The dark, aerodynamic shape of the flyer always gave him a sense of power. The multiple machine guns, rocket launchers, guided munitions, laser guns. The flyer could impose justice. But not this time. He thought about the troops he was supposed to be leading. They were never going to fight the battles they’d trained so hard for. This time they were up against an enemy they could not fight, an enemy they did not even understand.
◆◆◆
Dr Khan put away his instruments one last time. The medical room was prepared to receive casualties but somehow, he didn’t believe there would be any. He thought about Lucy and her baby. He smiled when he remembered holding the baby in his arms. Baby Anara, named after her mother’s saviour. He hoped the two of them and Joe would remain safe on Earth. He would pray for their long life.
◆◆◆
Madhavan walked around Engineering. He felt contented here, among the soothing vibrations of his engines. He had promised the Captain he would keep them running if she needed the power. He still believed she would find a way. Till then he would tend to
the engines and keep the crew warm and comfortable.
◆◆◆
Ryan thought about his wife, Joan, and his daughter, Sophia. They would be waiting for him to come back home and they would keep waiting forever. No. Not forever. Only till the black hole consumed the entire solar system. He had hardly spent any time at home over the last two years. On the last visit home, he’d met them briefly before being called to Mumbai to stop the two aliens. His daughter was growing up so fast. This was not fair. If he could only find a way to destroy this monstrosity, he could at least save his family back on Earth.
◆◆◆
Manisha held Kevin’s hand, stroking it gently, lost in her thoughts. It had seemed so natural to her to seek him out and find solace in his company. Accelerated romance, she thought, but it felt comfortable. It felt like just the right thing to do. She folded her legs beneath herself and rested her head on Kevin’s shoulders. Was this love or just the need for emotional support? She did not know and did not care. They would all be dead in a few hours and life would go on everywhere else. Till the black hole reached everywhere else.
Kevin sat motionless. This had never happened to him before. He felt content and fulfilled. His free hand stroked Manisha’s hair, while he wondered what his next step would be. Oh, chuck it, he thought, then bent forward, pulled up her face slowly and kissed her. It was love’s first kiss, not a lovers’ kiss. Filled with passion yet restrained, unsure. She kissed him back and he relaxed. It was going to be all right.
Manisha’s eyes widened, then she closed them, savouring the surprise. It felt so natural. She let go of her fears, lost in the moment. But something still nagged at her—why did the Captain give up the fight? Anara never threw in the towel, whatever be the odds stacked against her. Why now? Why this time? Captain Anara needed a push, Manisha decided. I’ve just found Kevin. I’m too bloody young to die!
