by Kumar L
◆◆◆
A single candle burned in Anara’s room as she sat cross-legged on the carpeted floor. She had left her hair loose and it cascaded over her shoulders. Her eyes were closed as she worked to control her breathing and relax her mind. As usual, she was unsuccessful. Outwardly, she was calm but her mind raced in all directions and random thoughts kept breaking her concentration.
She thought of her early childhood; she had been protected, yet had always felt driven to try new experiences. She recalled the names of her friends from school. She remembered her training in the Air Force and the day she’d been selected for space training at ISC after one failed attempt. The thrill of her first space flight. The sorrow over the loss of the entire crew of Akash-2 when it had crashed on Mars. And of course, the last two eventful years.
She felt like a person being led to the gallows: the knowledge her time would soon be up and the utter helplessness to do anything about it. Death is the only constant.
There was a soft knock on her door. It was repeated when she did not respond.
“Come in,” she called out. The door slid open and Manisha hesitatingly poked her head inside.
“Do you have a minute?”
“Sure. Come in. Feeling alone? Would you like some tea? I made a pot.”
“No, thank you. I had something on my mind, thought I’d come over and see if you were up for a short talk.”
“You mean you have something on your mind besides Kevin?” Anara smiled softly. The young woman’s secret was not a secret aboard the ship. Come join me,” said Anara patting the floor in front of her. ““Do you know how to sit in the padmasana, lotus pose? Here I’ll show you.” She helped Manisha cross her legs and position her hands in the proper posture.
The flame of the candle fluttered creating moving shadows in the room before settling down again to a steady glow. Manisha stared at the flame as if she had never seen fire before.
Anara observed her through half open eyes. She has come as a troubled young woman, not a military officer.
“I hate this waiting,” Manisha said, with a sigh. “Why are we still floating around? We entered the event horizon hours ago. We should have reached the singularity by now at the speed of light.”
“What do you mean?”
“We move at the speed of light once we enter the event horizon, don’t we? Under the gravity hold of the singularity?”
“No, no. That’s not correct. Our speed increases as we accelerate but we don’t reach the speed of light, at least not till we reach the end, I believe.”
“Oh. I thought…” Manisha’s voice trailed off.
They sat staring at the flame.
“What do you think awaits us?”
“I do not know, Manisha,” replied Anara trying not to alarm the young woman any further. “This is another first for humankind, being absorbed by a black hole. But I guess there is no better way to become one with the universe, don’t you think?”
“If you say so, but…” her voice trailed off. “But, you know, I never expected you to give up, Captain. You have always fought against the greatest odds. Why not now? Why are you accepting this... this... fate?”
“There are times, Manisha, when a person should recognize the futility of her struggles. Maybe this is my time. God knows we have tried every option we could think of.”
“I can’t believe those are your words.”
“Ahh,” Anara answered, her voice gentle. “It is the burden of leadership, Manisha. Sometimes even fearless spaceship captains must give up when the odds are stacked up impossibly against them. But all of us, we are together in this. We are calm and collected and we will face whatever comes together. Sometimes we should accept our destiny with courage and pray for strength to face whatever fate has in store for us.”
Manisha lowered her eyes. Some of her assertiveness left her. She stood up slowly.
Anara felt a twinge of guilt for having broken the young officer’s trust. She felt sorry for having let down her entire crew, a hundred souls who had trusted her to bring them home safe.
Manisha stood up. At the door, she turned around.
“You know I had read somewhere that black holes are actually not just singularities, but portals or doorways.”
“Uh-huh?”
“They might be wormholes which can transport us many light years away or even into a parallel universe or maybe even another dimension. Maybe we won’t die. Have you thought of this?”
Anara stood up, went to Manisha and put her hands on her shoulders, looking deep into her black eyes. She wished she were young again. Oh, for the energy and optimism, the defiance, of youth!
“Manisha, I understand your need to believe so, but none of those theories have been definitively proven.”
“Maybe the theories haven’t been proven but they have not been disproven either. For that matter who has proved the singularity theory beyond all doubt? What makes that theory valid and not my belief?”
“You were in Ops with me when we tried to escape. You have seen all the data, all the observations.”
“Observations and data are not everything. What about faith? What about curiosity and open-mindedness. I mean, look at it this way, if a black hole absorbs all matter and radiation, then where does it all go? How can all of it be compressed into a space of zero volume?”
“All matter is mostly empty space; as much as 99.9%. Even the basic building blocks may finally be made up only of pure energy. Maybe the old string theory was correct after all. Maybe everything gets converted to some form of exotic energy. And energy does not require volume. Or maybe the singularity just squeezes all matter till there is no more empty space between the basic particles—”
“No. I don’t think what you’re saying is right. Even if matter is compressed there has to be a limit to the compression. I can’t subscribe to the accepted theory even if you do. I believe the black hole is a portal and if it is, then we can pass through it unscathed.”
Anara dropped her hands from Manisha’s shoulders. She had nothing that could counter the burning conviction in Manisha’s eyes.
“Maybe that is so,” she said, trying to end the debate, “but we have no way to prove it. Even if I agree that this black hole is really a portal, we still cannot pass through it. The gravity will stretch, and tear us apart even before we can reach its centre.”
“You’re just gonna roll over and die? Accept your fate and refuse to do anything more? I’m sorry, but I expected more from you. I trusted that you, of all people, would hold out and resist. The Captain I knew would have pushed back even against gravity if she could.” Her voice dripped with disappointment.
Anara froze, staring at her. “What did you say?”
Manisha hesitated. She knew she’d gone too far.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get emotional.”
“No, no. Not that.” Anara took her by the shoulders and shook her hard. “What were the exact words you used? ‘Push back against gravity’?”
Manisha nodded.
“Anti-gravitons! You’re a genius, Manisha. Come with me.” Anara rushed out of the room, Manisha in tow. “And better start praying you’re right about that portal!”
13
A New Hope
They ran down the deserted, darkened corridors, Manisha close behind Anara.
“Where are we going?” Manisha panted.
“To test your scheme. You’d better be right. I don’t think we have much time left.”
Anara came to a sudden stop in front of a door and Manisha bumped hard into her.
“S… Sorry,” she said, rubbing her right forearm.
Anara paid no heed to her apology and banged hard on the door.
“Ryan! Ryan! Open up. We’ve got work to do!”
The door opened to reveal a somewhat dishevelled-looking Commander.
“Captain? What’s the …?”
Before he could conclude, Anara had grabbed him with both hands and had already
started pulling him down the corridor.
“I’ll explain everything along the way. C’mon!”
“At least let me get my shoes!”
“We don’t have the time. Manisha, go to Ops and get the senior staff assembled. Wait for my orders. Tell Colonel Fraser to come down to Engineering and meet me. Got it? Go!”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Manisha and peeled off down another corridor. Captain Anara was back, and it felt good to have a purpose even if it was just following orders.
Anara and Ryan hurried towards Engineering in the light of the emergency lamps.
“Just what is going on with you, Captain?”
“You explained all those details about black hole. You also mentioned a charged or Kerr black hole through which we might be able to travel. What was that all about?” She paused to catch her breath. “This black hole might contain a singularity and all of us have taken this fact for granted, but what if we consider an alternate theory, that it is a doorway to a wormhole or... or a fracture in spacetime? If we can find a way to travel through it, we might yet pull through.”
“Stop!” Ryan pulled her up short at the entrance to the engine room. “Let me get this straight. You want to try and go through a black hole?” he asked, incredulous. “Yes, it is theoretically possible to travel through a Kerr type of black hole. Yes, it may contain a wormhole or portal as you say. But what you are proposing just can’t be done, Kerr-type black hole or not. Our very act of entering the black hole will disturb it irrevocably. You can’t seriously be thinking of making it through unscathed?”
“Ryan! Listen to me. We are going to die anyway and as a young woman just reminded me, she depends on me to provide a solution. A way out. We have to push back. So what if the theory seems absurd? No human has ever encountered a black hole before us, so who really knows what transpires inside one of them? For all we know there could be the devil waiting for us inside or God even. There is zero empirical evidence to support any of the theories, including that of the devil for that matter, so how do you conclude which one is correct?”
“We can’t,” he agreed somewhat reluctantly.
“Great! Now that that is settled let’s stop wasting time and get the evidence we need—by living the moment. You said that our effort might disturb the hole. I think a portal, if it is present, may be minuscule. We need to find a way to open the aperture wider. Make it bigger and keep it open till Antariksh can pass through it.”
“You want Antariksh to thrust against the gravity of the black hole... to...to create a corridor. A tunnel?”
“Exactly!” This was why she admired Ryan. He was smart. He just needed to be given a nudge in the right direction sometimes.
“It’s like those stents they used to put in the human body to keep blocked blood vessels open. If we can generate a strong enough field, we might be able to create enough space for us to get through. Antariksh will be out stent. It will be our wedge and our vessel. We can create an inverse gravity field, right? You did say this was a young black hole. It might just be weak enough for our plan to work. And the gravity field will keep us suspended inside the portal or wormhole similar to the repulsion between similar poles of a magnet. If we do not interact with the wormhole, we will not disturb it. It can work!”
Ryan looked at her, shook his head as if still trying to digest all she had said and then nodded. Oh, what the hell! Once more unto the breach. Better to do something than to sit in the cabin moping away.
Anara pushed the button to open the doors.
The first sight to greet them was that of her engineer Madhavan slumped over his station his head buried in his hands.
My God. What have I done? I have let the life go out of my team.
“Madhavan! Get up. I’ve got the idea you wanted so badly.”
The engineer looked up and right past them, as if unable to focus. She walked across and shook him hard. “Gather yourself, mister. You can grieve all you want later.”
“Yes. Yes. You are back. You have a plan? I was waiting for you to come back. I am ready. The engines are ready. What exactly are we doing again?”
The door opened again and Colonel Fraser walked in, followed by Kevin, both of them looking fresh in their crisp uniforms. Anara almost smiled. The cavalry was also here.
“You called, Captain?”
“Yes, sir. I need your help. We need to get all our people prepared and alert for a manoeuvre we are going to attempt. I can’t spare anyone from my staff, and your people are best suited for the job. You have to get everyone on this ship into the dome. I’ll give more instructions later once we have set up.”
Fraser nodded, turned on his heels and left with Kevin.
Military personnel do take took orders well, provided they are delivered with authority.
“Now, Ryan, how do we do this?”
14
Through The Looking Glass
"Will one of you please fill me in too?” moaned Madhavan, who was nursing a huge tension headache. “Just what do you want from me?”
Ryan looked over at Anara. “All yours.”
“Always,” she responded with equal sarcasm.
“Okay, Mr. Madhavan. We need to reconfigure our gravity generators to invert our gravity field. It’ll require several steps, am I right?”
“Invert? Why?”
“Well,” Ryan said. “The Captain here believes that we can travel through the black hole, find a wormhole and travel to another universe.”
“Sure. Sure, I can invert the field. And you can tell me why we are really doing this while we work? How much time do we have?” In his current state, he did not even try to make sense of what was being said.
Ryan wished he knew the answer. “No idea. Sensors are no longer working. I could look out of the window and tell you, if that’ll help. Anyway, I need your undivided attention for just a few minutes while our control systems are still functioning. We owe it to the crew to give this our best shot, right?”
“Okay. I’ll… I’ll re-align the graviton particle emitters, you go ahead and set up the calibration. What power levels do you need?” Some of the requirements filtered through into his clouded mind. This was just the kind of problem that got Madhavan right back on track and raring to go.
“Let’s see.” Ryan tried pulling up a screen which flickered weakly. He grabbed a tablet and pen, to ensure he did not make a mistake in their calculations. Writing also helped him focus his thoughts. “At faster-than-light speeds, we generate a substantial gravity field bending the space around us. Maximum level of gravitons we can emit will be approximately 125%. We might be able to push that by a few more points so say 130%.”
“Sure that’ll be enough?” asked Anara.
“The gravity field outside we last measured was 85% of our maximum level. At the rate of increase we’d observed earlier, in the last thirty minutes it should have reached 110% or more by now. So, yeah, 130% should be enough. That’s still thousands of times Earth’s gravity. Hopefully, we will be at the singularity by that time. Best estimates only, of course.”
“Go ahead. I’m off to see the preparations of the ship and crew. Do I have ten minutes from you?”
“This procedure will eat up our fuel pretty fast. I don’t think I can hold this for more than that. Better hurry.”
“If this doesn’t work then we won’t need the fuel for we will die here in this space. If it does work and we do get to our normal space we may still have enough fuel to limp home at the very least. It’s a calculated risk. Now, you can turn off power to all the sections and I will get everyone into the dome.”
Ryan looked at her, wondering if that was the last time they would see each other, but he could not allow emotions to sway him from his task. “Roger, but I’m not sure we will be joining you. Someone needs to be here. Madhavan and I can manage this end. One more thing, don’t activate the dome. It protects us from time dilation. We are already inside the event horizon. To outside observers, time is flowing more slowly
for us than for them. The dome will mess up time flow for the people inside, I think. We are better off not using it. Besides, we just don’t have any power to spare for its operation.”
“You sure of this?”
“About as sure as I am about this whole hare-brained scheme. It is a good idea to keep the people together in the dome, but don’t activate it. Just trust me on this, okay?”
The ship vibrated strongly.
“What was that?” asked Anara, holding on to a table for support.
“We must be getting closer. I feel heavier. And look at that panel. Our artificial gravity is no longer required. Our protection systems are being overwhelmed. We need to get gravity inverted now! Get the crew prepared, Captain. Go now! Madhavan, we need to move.”
“Best of luck,” she called out as she ran out of Engineering.
The two men worked feverishly, running from station to station to activate the gravity field.
“Ready at my end. You done?” called out Ryan, a few minutes later.
“Activating now!” answered Madhavan.
◆◆◆
A skeleton crew led by Manisha was holding the fort in Ops. At least I can say my goodbyes, Manisha thought, glancing around. She hesitated, then pressed the intercom button. “Kevin,” she whispered.
“Manisha? Are you okay? I so wanted to talk to you. Listen, you left the lounge so suddenly. I’m sorry about what happened in there. But I really like you. You hear? I really like you and…”
“Kevin, I know. I wish we had more time. But, if we do manage to survive this passage, then…” Her voice broke, and she closed her eyes tightly. “Stay safe. Goodbye.” She closed the circuit.
◆◆◆
The Colonel had managed to gather the rest of the crew in the dome. Anara joined them to find most people sitting around listlessly. Most were silent, though a few quiet sobs could be heard in the semi-darkness. They were sapped of energy, just wanting it to be over. Time to play captain.
“Listen people,” she said, speaking in a loud, confident tone. “I know things have been chaotic, but through it all you have been an amazing crew. We believed... I believed we would escape. But we could not,” Her voice shook a little, but she gathered her courage and continued. “As it stands; we believe we are very close to the singularity, the centre of the black hole. Perhaps this is the end, but there may yet be another way out. I’m asking for your support one more time.” She looked at her crew with pride as they listened to her intently, most of them now standing up. “Now, we do not know what will happen in the next few minutes, so we prepare as if we are going to face an intense storm in space. I want you to stay in pairs to help each other. Buckle up or hold on tight to something. Preferably, something that is be fixed to the floor. Stow away or remove anything movable that could hurt somebody. Got it? Let’s hustle! Colonel Fraser, you’re with me. We will seal the room as soon as the crew is ready.”
