by A. C. Ellis
"Joseph." She smiled, held up the basket. "A picnic?" He nodded.
They spread a red and white checked tablecloth on top of a nearby dune. He sat quietly as she prepared the meal, watching her sure, smooth movements, enjoying the beautiful twists of her nakedness.
The food was good, he was hungry. Thick slices of lean ham, potato salad, cherry tomatoes with salt, cold beer. They ate in silence—watching each other, wanting each other.
Later, after the meal, they made love.
Rayne had signed his contract and entered the psi reservation almost three years ago. Katherine had arrived two months before him. The reservation's population was kept close to one hundred inhabitants, births very nearly balancing the assignments. Mating was encouraged among those inhabitants.
It was a good life. They were permitted run of the reservation and allowed to do almost anything they wished, as long as it was not overly dangerous. The only interruptions to their life in paradise were the psionic reinforcement sessions.
Katherine was Rayne's psionic complement. They would grow old together. They would become immortal together.
Danger—240:02:215
A gravity wave ripped through Rayne's strong metal body. His constituent parts vibrated with the force, threatening to break apart. The universe he perceived was confused and chaotic. All incoming radiation stimuli were infinitely shifted to the red. His sensors could not handle the overload and, one by one, they failed.
Rayne knew what was happening. His orbit had decayed. He had crossed the black hole's first event horizon. But he should have been warned before this. His sensors should have told him of the danger before it arrived.
He wondered if time was warped this close to the black hole. At his last time check he had been out of subspace just under five seconds. The danger signal had registered at a little over four hours. He had lost nearly four hours.
Rayne fired his CO2 jets, attempting to break his inward spiral. They did no good. He activated his space/subspace interface circuits. Nothing happened. He continued to spiral inward, toward the heart of the black hole.
Another gravity wave tore through him, shaking the very thoughts from his mind. He had crossed the inner event horizon now. The gravity waves mounted in strength and frequency—their theoretical limit was infinity.
"Katherine!" he thought, as he felt the material of his body break down into separate, disjointed molecules. There was no pain, merely the knowledge that he was terminating, dying.
"Yes, Joseph," came Katherine's soft thought. "I am with you."
He felt the molecules break into atoms, then into stripped nuclei, and finally even into the elementary particles that a nanosecond previously had been the building blocks of the nuclei. The entire process lasted no more than a few milliseconds.
Yet, there was still thought. He wondered at that in a detached, analytic way. His brain was now merely a mist of scattered particles. How could there be thought?
Termination—240:02:216
No thought.
Awakening II—INFINITY
Nude, he climbed a low dune, turned and looked back the way he had come....
***
About the author
A. C. Ellis has published novel-length and short science fiction and mystery/suspense fiction, in both print and electronic formats. His novels on Amazon.com include Soldier of 'Tween, Shadow Run, In Pursuit of the Enemy and Worldmaker (which was reprinted in Germany and has been optioned by an independent Los Angeles film production company.) He has also written two Amazon Shorts, "The Navigator" and "Stolling the Road."
Ellis is currently working on a dark mystery/suspense novel titled Hollowpoint, as well as various shorter projects. He hopes eventually (read: soon) to return to the Pursuit series of mysteries with a sequel to In Pursuit of the Enemy, as well as writing the second book of the Ancients' War series, of which Shadow Run is the first.
Ellis lives in Denver, Colorado.
***
More Kindle eBooks by A. C. Ellis
(Those books that are not links are coming soon)
The Ancients' War universe (sf)
Shadow Run
Ghosts (a short story)
The Peripheral Man (coming later this year)
The Point novels (mystery/suspense)
Hollowpoint (coming later this year)
The Worldmaker novels (sf)
Worldmaker
The Brad Carpenter novels (mystery/suspense)
In Pursuit of the Enemy
The 'Tween novels (sf)
Soldier of 'Tween
Short Story collections (sf and Mystery/Suspense)
Spaceships & Brass Knuckles
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Table of Contents
A. C. Ellis
More Kindle eBooks by A. C. Ellis
Holes
Happy Three Hundredth
Termination Orbit
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