by Warren Dean
The bottom of the drone had been filled with regeneralloy to form a flat deck about a third of the way up. A vertical console, stretching from the deck to the top of the drone, had been installed off-centre so that the three seats could be accommodated. The seats were different sizes, to match the different physiques of their intended occupants, and were positioned at different angles to each other, maximising the use of the space available.
Various control systems – or at least their interface screens – were embedded in the console and others were dotted around the inside of the shell of the drone. The interior was lit by a soothing blue glow emanating from the regeneralloy of its deck.
The hatch to which Seeker was attached lay on the other side of the console.
Christina squeezed into the smallest seat and wrestled with the safety harness. Hopefully it would keep her in one piece while the drone was being thrown around by the black hole. The forces around a supermassive black hole were a fraction of those of its smaller cousins – apparently because they were spread out over a much larger area – but they were still unimaginably powerful on a human scale. She couldn't see how to fasten the harness and decided to wait until Xzaroth was there to help her. But as soon as she let the contraption go, it fastened itself, sliding downwards and merging with the regeneralloy of the deck below her seat.
The interior of the drone became even smaller as Connor squeezed through the opening and took his seat. He gave her a thumbs' up, although his watery smile belied his own feelings of dismay at the close confines. He fiddled with his own harness until she gestured to him to leave it alone. When it closed up of its own accord he gave her one of his comic-quizzical expressions. It made her smile for a moment.
Xzaroth followed him in, slipping lithely through the hatch with his wings folded around him like a cocoon. She had never seen him do that before and was intrigued by how thin it made him look. The flyer took the central seat, closest to the console, and let his harness fasten itself. His seat was set at an angle that enabled him to reach most of the system interfaces.
He reached up a claw to a screen above him and traced a little pattern over its surface. The hatch closed, its edges merging seamlessly with the drone's shell. It was as if the opening had never existed. This did nothing for her claustrophobia, but she could at least console herself with the knowledge that the hatch wouldn't be a weak spot to be exploited by the forces they were about to encounter.
Xzaroth closed the other hatch too, the one to which Seeker was attached. It made sense to do so; if the smaller drone was breached, the occupants of Hunter would not be affected. Still, it felt like a callous thing to do – like locking a puppy out of the house at night. She shook her head at the misplaced sentimentality of the thought. The drone was just a machine, after all.
The three of them now sat encased within a metal ball. She tried not to think about it. Exacerbating her discomfort was that there was no viewport or vid-screen to look at, so there was not even the impression of space within the drone. At least they weren't sitting in the dark. Or maybe it would be better if they were; if she couldn't see anything she might be able to imagine that she was somewhere else. But darkness would mean she wouldn't be able to see her companions and take comfort from the fact that she wasn't alone.
"Establishing external communications," said Xzaroth aloud, making her jump. He raked a claw over another screen, this one on the console, and repeated the phrase. He spoke in the fluted hoots and whistles of the flyers' native tongue rather than using mind-speech. What effect proximity to the black hole might have on the use of mind-speech was unknown, so the flyers had decided that it would be prudent to install a conventional comms system as a backup.
The flyers of Aquasolis rarely spoke aloud, but she had picked up the basics of their language, mostly from practice conversations with Elexzath, and was able to follow what was being said.
A burst of static came and went, followed by the disembodied voice of one of the other flyers. "Baxzaeth confirms external communications."
"Confirm calibrations for primary portal jump," Xzaroth said, before rattling off some equations.
There was a pause before the response came back. "Baxzaeth confirms primary calibrations."
The process was repeated to confirm the calculations for a secondary jump.
The first jump would take Hunter-Seeker from the Repository to a small docking station just out of reach of the black hole's gravity field. The Journeyman had personally handled the calculations required to open a floating portal in the right place and to anchor the docking station to it.
Riding the black hole's gravity in from the station was not an option. It would take months to cross the intervening space, which was time they did not have. It would also expose them to the risk of being hit by incoming debris or being slung away before reaching their goal. Not to mention the fact that they would probably starve long before they got there. Hunter-Seeker's food systems were rudimentary at best and only meant to see them through should the process take a few days rather than a few hours.
The secondary jump would take them to within a few minutes of crossing the event horizon. There the black hole's spin would put them into orbit around its singularity. The time spent in orbit would, it was hoped, give them the opportunity to see what might be in there – at the same time awakening in Seeker a recollection of how it had once been able to escape.
The docking station had a hub just big enough to accommodate two of Xzaroth's fellow flyers and Baxzaeth and Axzael had agreed to monitor the secondary jump from there. After that, they would take turns as watchman, awaiting their friends' re-emergence.
As Xzaroth performed a few last system checks, Christina closed her eyes and tried to thaw the icy fingers of dread which fluttered through her mind and body. She wished fervently that she could hold Connor's hand but he was out of reach on the other side of the drone.
"Initiate primary sequence," whistled the flyer into the silence.
"Acknowledged," hooted Baxzaeth in reply. "See you on the other side."
The comms ceased and they waited while Baxzaeth and Axzael stepped through the portal to the docking station. Xzaroth busied himself with Hunter's systems, ensuring that he was as familiar with them as possible.
Christina tried her best to sit still while Connor fidgeted nervously. "I should have brought my holo-vid," he grumbled.
After a while, Ant's voice broke in over the comms. "Can I get you guys anything while you wait?" he offered hospitably.
"Like what?" asked Connor.
"I don't know; a cup of coffee maybe?"
"I'd rather not have something that'll make me want to use the jacks," said Connor. "Thanks anyway."
After what seemed like an eternity Baxzaeth's voice broke back in over the comms. "Confirm docking position stable and ready to receive you."
"Acknowledged," said Xzaroth. Without further ado he activated the drone's drive systems. Hunter-Seeker rose from the scaffold it had rested on for the time they had worked on it. To Christina it felt like being in a lift. The drone scudded sideways and then wobbled. Moments later it stabilised and she surmised that they had passed through the portal.
"Welcome," said Baxzaeth. "Stand by while we align the portal for your secondary jump."
A feeling of disconnection with reality settled over Christina. Whether that was better or worse than the waves of anxiety it replaced, she couldn't say. Her claustrophobia remained, however, and she decided that not being able to see what was going on was the worst part. "--Xzaroth, is there a way for us to see what's happening outside?--"
Without comment, Xzaroth flicked at one of the console screens. An instant later, the drone disappeared around her.
Whatever she had been expecting – an image on one of the screens or a hologram perhaps – it wasn't this. Suddenly, all she could see were her companions and herself, seemingly suspended in the vastness of space. Everything else, the regeneralloy of the drone's shell, its floor, even th
e seats they were sitting on, had become completely transparent. The only parts of Hunter-Seeker still visible were its interface screens, now transparently ghost-like.
"Whoa!" she heard Connor gasp. He clutched at his now invisible seat to make sure it was still there.
Vertigo washed through her, setting her heart racing, and she had to close her eyes to get the shock under control. She took a deep breath, hoping that it would help, but then found it difficult to exhale.
"--It is just an illusion, Cxza'xza,--" said Xzaroth. "--We are still within the safety of the drone.--"
"--I realise that.--" She breathed out and experimentally opened her eyes. "--I just wasn't ready for… this.--"
Almost directly in front of her was the docking station, a frail looking, spindly structure sporting long light sails shaped like bat wings. Beyond it was a vast panoply of stars, some twinkling enigmatically while others shone solidly – all of them resplendent in a breath-taking light show.
The station appeared to be getting smaller as she watched, fading slowly into the star-scape behind it.
"--Why is the docking station moving away?--" she asked.
"-- We wish to avoid it being affected by any gravity which may leak through the portal we are about to open.--" replied Xzaroth.
That made sense, Christina knew, but she couldn't help feeling small and lonely at the sight of their only link with civilisation disappearing into the distance.
A sharp intake of breath from Connor made her turn her head. He was looking over his shoulder at something behind them. She did the same and then wished she hadn't. The entire hemisphere of space behind them was as dark as night. Except that no night she had ever seen was that dark.
"The black hole," she whispered aloud.
"Now I know why it's called that," said Connor.
They stared at the profound nothingness behind them, unable to tear their eyes away.
"--Where are the radio jets and gas clouds and the like?--" Connor asked their pilot. "--This doesn't look like the pictures of any black hole I've ever seen.--"
"--You should be grateful for that,--" replied Xzaroth. "--This black hole is presently consuming nothing of significance so none of those phenomena are evident. If they were, the radiation levels would have killed us almost instantly.--"
"Alignment complete," came the voice of Baxzaeth. "Initiating secondary jump sequence."
The central zone of the portal alongside them began to brighten.
Xzaroth flicked and prodded at various screens, readying the drone for the jump.
"Prepared for secondary jump," announced Xzaroth. "Confirm re-acquisition parameters."
There was a pause.
The biggest challenge the expedition faced – apart from the whole achieving the impossible thing – was the question of how Baxzaeth and Axzael would find the drone again once it had made its orbit of the singularity. Beyond the event horizon the known laws of physics did not apply, so it was not possible to calculate a portal jump into or out of that zone.
The only way Hunter would be able to re-emerge was by way of whatever arcane means Seeker had discovered.
But even if Seeker successfully repeated the process, the problem did not end there. How would the waiting flyers know precisely when or where their friends had re-emerged? Although the circumference of the event horizon was not that large – in galactic terms, anyway – finding the returning Hunter-Seeker would still be like looking for a needle in a celestial haystack.
Calculations had shown that, although a portal could be cast from normal space to the event horizon, the immense gravity would sweep it away within a few minutes. So it wasn't possible to leave one in place as a back door. The occupants of the drone wouldn't be able to cast one back out to normal space because of the warping of space-time by the black hole's gravity. And they couldn't simply send a signal; it would take too long for the signal to reach the docking station.
The flyers solved the problem with more mathematics. Using all of the known parameters of Sagittarius A recorded in the Repository, they calculated how long it would take Hunter-Seeker to make a single orbit of the singularity. For the occupants of the drone, no more than three hours would pass, while a hundred and seventy daily cycles would go by for Baxzaeth and Axzael.
Xzaroth's task would be to ensure that the drone re-emerged after precisely one orbit, so that his fellow flyers would know approximately where and when it would reappear. At that point Hunter-Seeker would begin signalling its exact position.
At about the same time, Baxzaeth and Axzael would start blanketing the area of re-emergence with open portals. The idea was that one of the portals would pick up the signal and relay it to the docking station. The flyers would then be able to cast a portal in the right place to pick up the drone.
For Christina and her fellow sojourners, they would be back at the Repository within a few hours. It was going to be very strange to find that six months had gone by for everyone else.
"Re-acquisition parameters confirmed," hooted Baxzaeth. "You are clear to depart when ready."
By then the portal was dazzlingly bright. Xzaroth reached over to a screen and switched off the drone's transparency, restricting their visuals to the insides of the metal ball. "--To protect our retinas in case we emerge into a zone of radiation,--" he said by way of explanation to his passengers.
"Ready for departure," he announced. "Activate portal."
"Activating portal now," replied Baxzaeth. "Farewell, and may your wings bring you home."
"Stay well, and may your colours never fade," fluted Xzaroth. He scrabbled at a screen and Christina felt the drone move and wobble as it had when it entered the portal back at the Repository. Then, without warning, her stomach was snatched away and her body crushed into her seat. Her chest felt as though it was in the grip of a powerful vice and she was unable to emit so much as a whimper. She couldn't breathe and her heartbeat slowed to the point where she thought it was going to stop. For a few moments she almost blacked out and then, to her profound relief, the unseen force began to reduce its grip on her. She was able to take shallow breaths and her heartbeat slowly returned to something approaching normal.
"--What the hell was that?--" gasped Connor, echoing her sentiments exactly.
"--That was our acceleration as we emerged from the portal into the black hole's gravity field.--" replied Xzaroth. "--Think of it as stepping into a waterfall from a ledge halfway down.--"
"--And you couldn't have given us a heads-up beforehand?--"
"--Would the foreknowledge have assisted you?--"
"--Well… maybe not, but still, on Earth it's customary to warn people in situations like this,--" spluttered Connor.
"--We are not on Earth,--" observed the flyer laconically.
Connor subsided, muttering darkly about brain damage and post-traumatic stress.
Xzaroth ignored him, concentrating on flickering readouts scrolling across some of the screens. The rate of their acceleration continued to slow until it felt like they were no longer moving at all. "--We are on the cusp of the event horizon,--" he announced, at the same time restoring the drone's transparency with the flick of a claw.
Christina drew in a sharp breath, expecting another visual surprise. But the view was remarkably similar to the one seen from alongside the docking station; one hemisphere a dazzling star-scape, the other an inky nothingness. Had it not been for the acceleration they had just experienced, it would have seemed like they had not moved at all.
"--What's the event horizon supposed to look like?--" she asked, looking around for some sign of it.
"--There is nothing physical to see,--" replied the flyer, "--An event horizon is a theoretical concept; an imaginary sphere around the singularity at the point of no return.--"
He looked at the readouts on various screens. "--The orbit we have taken up is within the parameters we calculated back at the Repository. This is encouraging. It means that our anticipated time frames should be accurate.--"
"--Why can we still see the stars from here?--" asked Connor. "--I thought the black hole swallowed light.--"
"--The light from the stars is travelling inwards faster than we are,--" answered Xzaroth. "--So they remain visible to us.--"
One of those stars caught Christina's eye. It appeared to be growing brighter. "--Is that one getting bigger?--" she asked, nudging the flyer to look.
Xzaroth pressed one of the screens, magnifying their view of the indicated area of space.
"--I didn't know we could zoom in like that,--" said Connor, intrigued.
"--Hunter's scanners can be used to view distant objects. They also have filters which can make dark objects visible by measuring their heat, motion, or radiation.--"
He showed his human companions how to adjust the scanners and toggle filters.
Then he focused on the star Christina had pointed out. "--That is not a star. It is an incoming piece of debris travelling faster than the dust and gas around it. Its passage through the surrounding material is making it luminous.--" He examined some data on one of the screens. "--We do not need to be concerned about it, however; it is not on a collision course with us.--"
"--That's a relief,--" she said and then frowned. "--Is it possible we could be hit by something we haven't spotted?--"
"--It is unlikely,--" he replied. "--Sensors will detect any approaching objects long before they reach us and trigger the drone's evasion protocols.--"
"--How much longer will it be until we cross the event horizon?--" Connor asked him.
"--We did so a few moments ago. As I said earlier, there is no physical barrier to observe.--"
"--If there's no physical barrier,--" said Connor, "--where did all the stars go?--"
Christina looked around and couldn't help a gasp of surprise. He was right. The star-scape which had been visible moments ago was gone. It was as if a giant hand had drawn a curtain over it.
Xzaroth turned to look too, his features unreadable. "--That is… unexpected,--" he observed. He punched quickly at various screens. "We are not travelling faster than light and the scanners detect no substantial dust or gas clouds in the vicinity. So we should be able to see the incoming starlight.--"
