June 8th, 2044. NASA prepares to launch the last manned mission to space. Climbing inside the capsule of the Ark I are two veteran astronauts, Jillian Moore and Hank Darin. They look at each other as they strap into the seats at the front, hiding their emotions from one another. Hank flips some switches on the panels above him, the lights blink as he does. Jillian does the same. “All systems set on our end, mission control,” Hank says into his headset.
“Roger that, Darin,” the man responds, “Astronaut Moore, are you prepared?”
“Yeah…” she responds shakily. Hank looks over to her, noticing the colour drain from her face.
“Just another day for us, Jill,” Hank jokes, giving Jillian a light punch on the shoulder. She chuckles slightly.
“Dr. Hammond has asked me to rebrief you two while we prepare for launch” the voice says through their headsets.
“Roger that, we are listening” Hank responds.
“Launch will begin in 5 minutes, after which your flight will take approximately 3 hours. You will connect with Ring Station and the crew onboard will prepare you for the outer orbit launch in the Eschaton I. They will also provide you with supplies. After second launch, you will reach your destination in about 1 month. It will only be you two, the Ring Station crew will not be joining you. Understood?”
Yes, sir” both of them respond.
“Alright you two, settle in. We are going to launch shortly.” Jillian breathes out heavily, shifting in her seat.
“It’ll be nice to see Alvez again, I haven’t been on a mission with him since the 20s” Hank says, looking over to Jillian. Her eyes stay fixed on the window. Hank jabs his fingers into her side.
“Huh?” Jillian blurts out, turning to look at Hank.
“Alvez, it will be nice to see him” he repeats. He stares at her pale face.
“Yeah” she responds, turning back to the window. Hank stares at her for a few moments, worry stricken across his face.
“Jill, this is an important mission. I can’t have you breakin’ down like this” Hank says softly. Jill’s gaze shifts slightly before she turns to Hank.
“Sorry, I’m just nervous” she explains, “I’ve never been on a mission quite like this one.”
“Maybe not with the same end goal, but you’ve been to space plenty of times” Hank reassures, smiling at her. “The intricacies of the mission are pretty much the same!”
“Yeah, you’re right” she responds, sighing. “Thanks, Hank.” They both turn to face the sky, staring at the heavens through their visors. They both sit quietly for a few moments before a voice speaks through their headsets.
“Launch in one minute, team,” the man says. Both the astronauts grab onto their seatbelts. Hank laughs out loud.
“I love this part” He says, smiling at Jill. She meets his gaze and smiles at him as best as she can. They both sit there waiting for the engines to fire. Each second feels like hours for Jillian as they await launch.
“30 seconds,” the man says. Hank sees Jillian's vitals spike on his HUD. He reaches over to her.
“This is where the fun begins!” he yells through his headset. Jillian takes a deep breath and grabs Hank’s hand.
“T-minus 10 seconds to launch!” the man yells. The engines fire from beneath the astronauts and the craft shakes violently from the phenomenal power. The man continues counting down as the power increases exponentially. “Launch!” he yells. The spacecraft lifts from the ground in a blaze and speeds into the sky.
“Wooooooo!” Hank yells, giving Jillian a shake. She screams with him, hoping to ease her nerves. The rocket ascends at increasing speed, turning into a mere speck in the sky. Cheering can be heard from the control room, celebrating the successful launch of the final manned mission to space.
*
Some time goes by as the two astronauts speed through the sky, before they reach the upper atmosphere. Finally, they reach outer orbit and the engines stop firing. “Okay, team. Time to jettison the boosters” mission control says through their headsets.
“Roger” Hank responds, flicking a couple switches on the board above his head. He presses a large blue button on the same panel and they feel substantial weight release from behind them. “Boosters jettisoned” Hank informs mission control.
“Understood, Darin. Prepare for Stage 1 release in T-minus 5 minutes.” Hank releases Jillian’s hand and sets it on the armrest.
“Just look at that, I never get tired of it” he says, releasing a sigh. His eyes are fixed on the window, watching as the universe unfolds before him. Jillian watches as well, though her mind is plagued with panic. The beauty of the cosmos seems so bleak as her mind dwells on the coming mission. It’s clear that it haunts Hank as well, but he is ignoring it, probably for her sake. His smile is wide, but when Jillian looks at him, she can see it in his eyes. He is afraid too. Jillian reaches for Hank’s hand and grabs it, he looks at her and smiles softly. They both turn to look out the cockpit, looking at the stars.
“Stage 1 ready for jettison, team” the man says. Jillian flips a few switches on the board above her head and presses a glowing green button. A large kerthunk can be felt from behind, as a part of the rocket falls down to the Earth.
“Stage 1 jettisoned” Jillian responds.
“Roger, Moore. Prepare for Stage 2 jettison in T-minus 5 minutes” mission control responds.
“Phew! Almost there, Jill!” Hank exclaims, squeezing her hand. Jill nods even though he can’t see her. They sit quietly once again, both watching as they pass through space. Finally, mission control calls in for the final jettison. Hank flips numerous switches before pressing a button in the center console.
“All three jettisons successful, good job you two!” the man says through their headsets. Jillian and Hank release each other’s hands and fist bump. “Two hours and thirty minutes until interception with Ring Station, settle in, team.”
“Easy sailin’ from here” Hank jokes, as he pulls a screen down from above him. “You feeling any better?” Jillian nods.
“Yeah, just launch nerves. Now that it’s all over, I feel a bit better” she says, clearly withholding the truth. Hank looks at her vitals via his HUD to see sustained high numbers. He pats her on the shoulder and points to the screen above her.
“We’ve got a while until we reach our destination, partake in some entertainment to distract yourself!” he says. Jill pulls down the screen and starts flicking through menus of movies, shows, and games. She pauses momentarily.
“Should we be paying attention in case something happens?” she asks, with a worried tone.
“Remember in training that the onboard AI will take care of us, better than we could,” Hank responds.
“Okay,” she replies, with a hint of distrust. She shifts her screen to the left to unblock her view. Hank sits quietly, watching a sitcom as Jillian stares out into the void of space. The twinkle of distant stars distract her from her thoughts for a time, but the relief fades. All that is left is anxiety. Looking at the bottom of her visor, she sees that Hank’s vitals are perfectly normal. She debates asking him how he is so calm, but chooses not to. She’d rather not make him think too hard on the coming mission.
A couple hours pass as the two astronauts drift through space towards the intercept point, until they finally come within sight of ring station. Hank puts his screen back up and flicks a couple switches on the communication panel to his right. Jillian hears the buzzing of a new signal in her headset before a voice speaks. “Ark One, do you copy?” the woman says. Hank chuckles for a moment.
“Read you loud and clear, Commander Alvez” he responds, grinning widely.
“Hank? I thought they were joking when they said they were sending you!” Alvez laughs.
“Great to hear you too,” Hank jokes, “We’re on course to intercept in 5 minutes, are you prepared for contact?”
“We are prepared to receive you, the ring team is set up” Alvez confirms.
“Roger that, ring leader” Hank says, closing the communication channel for a moment. “Are you prepared, Jill?” She gives him a thumbs up. Hank switches the comms back on. “We are ready to be received. See you soon, Alvez.”
“Don’t crash, Hank,” Alvez teases. Hank curses and laughs before closing the comm channel. Jillian puts her screen back up and looks over to Hank.
“Remember where to dock?” Jillian asks. Hank looks at her with an exasperation.
“Of course I remember, dock 5 on the outer ring” he responds, somewhat annoyed by the question.
“Just making sure, standard procedures can get a lot of people hurt if they aren’t followed carefully” she explains. Hank waves her off and looks out the window at the space station they are approaching.
“Seems bigger than before” he says, staring at the spinning multi-ring station gracefully hanging in the orbit of Earth.
“Seems to be spinning faster than before” Jillian responds, her face draining of colour. Hank looks back to her, with half a grin plastered across his face.
“Ya gonna get dizzy, Moore?” Hank prods. Jillian scowls at him.
“I’ll be fine, we’re only gonna be on the station for an hour, tops.”
“You better hold it together up there, I don’t want to be cleaning up anyone’s breakfast” Hank jests, as he reopens the communication channel. “Ring leader, we are closing in on your circus. Is dock 5 ready for interception?”
“Dock 5 is ready to intercept Ark One, Noah” Alvez responds. Hank flips a few switches and a control stick rises from below him.
“1 minute until intercept, stop the spinning until successful connection” Hank orders. The large multi-ringed station slowly stops spinning as a protrusion from the ring stops near the Ark I. On the side is a large black number five.
“Ready to align, Ring leader” Jillian says into her headset.
‘Roger, Ark team. Proceed with caution” Alvex responds. Hank grabs the control stick and begins to slowly rotate the ship so the port is lined up with the station. Little bursts of gas spread into open space as Hank makes little adjustments. “Almost lined up, move to the port now” Alvez says, peering out a window on the space station. Hank steers the ship to be parallel to the port and begins to shift the Ark I upwards. Jillian watches her screen intensely, watching as they close in. The ports connect and Hank eases off the control stick.
“What’s our status?” Hank says, breathing heavily. Jillian stares at the screen for a few moments before big green words flash on her screen.
“Successful lock!” she yells in celebration. Hank pumps his fist in the air.
“Ring leader, how are things on your end?” Hank asks, with a smile plastered across his face.
“Lock is successful on our side as well, nice job Ark team!” Alvez responds. The clapping of the Ring Station team buzzes through their headsets.
“Prepare for boarding, Ring leader” Hank says, unstrapping himself from his seat. Jillian does the same and floats over to the payload door behind her. She opens the door into an airlock and waits inside as Hank makes his way over. He pulls himself in and shuts the door. “Ready” he says, giving Jillian a thumbs up. She presses a large red button and the airlock begins to pressurize. The room hisses with gas for a few moments before it stops and Hank removes his helmet. “Glad to have that off” he mumbles. Jillian pulls off hers as well and takes in a deep breath.
“Let’s meet with the team” she says, pulling a large lever beside the door into the space station. The door hisses as it opens into a large room with a few tables scattered around. Alvez and four other people are floating around the room, watching as Hank and Jillian enter the room. Alvez floats over, embracing Hank.
“Good to see you, Darin,” she says, giving him a big squeeze.
“You too, Alvez” he responds, patting her on the back. She releases him and pulls Jillian into a big hug.
“Welcome, Dr. Moore” she says sweetly, squeezing her in a tight embrace. Jillian loosely hugs her back.
“Thanks,” Jillian says quietly. Alvez releases her and looks at her for a moment, before gesturing for everyone else to join her.
“Darin, Moore, meet the team!” she says, gesturing to the people slowly floating over. She points to a small asian man with a buzzcut. “That is Adam Yi,” she explains, “he is our payload engineer.” He waves to both of them, but doesn’t say anything. Alvez moves her finger to point at a middle-aged man with a mustache. “This is Jon Maywood, the botanist.” He floats over and shakes both Hank’s and Jillian’s hands. “Over there is Dannil Kozeveck, he’s from Russia. He keeps everything in working order.” The big bald man waves, but doesn’t approach. “And last, but certainly not least,” Alvez begins.
“I’m Eiva, the chief scientist,” the blonde woman says, cutting off Alvez. “It’s so great to meet both of you, I’m inspired by your courage.” Both Hank and Jillian solemnly nod.
“That’s my team, too bad you won’t be staying for too long” Alvez says with a slight frown. “Adam, will you move all of their equipment from Ark I to Eschaton I?” He nods and gestures for Dannil to follow him into the airlock. They both float past the Ark team and close the door. “Alright, why don’t you two follow me and we will get you settled in and geared up? My team will take care of the rest.” They nod and float behind Alvez through the dark grey room.
“Are you gonna resume the spinning while we are here?” Jillian asks wearily.
“No, don’t worry,” Alvez reassures. Jillian sighs in relief. The trio floats through a few windowed corridors until they reach a loading room with a large door facing into the inner area of the space station. “That is the Eschaton I right there,” Alvez says, pointing to the large door. “I’m guessing you two have had significant training with this model, correct?”
“Yeah, I know it inside and out at this point,” Hank says, floating over to the door. Jillian nods in agreement.
“Great, let's head in and get you two situated” Alvez barks, clasping her hands together. Hank pulls a switch to open the door into the Eschaton I, revealing a large grey interior with a couple of vertical beds and alongside some desks and a giant control cockpit at the front. They float inside to the right, towards the cockpit. “This is the main control area for the entire ship, including the recording systems which you will be using a lot in the later portions of your mission. On this wall to the right of the cockpit is your life support suits. They are far more advanced than our regular space suits and should be able to sustain you for a full week should issues arise.” Hank and Jill nod along with Alvez’ words. She floats down to the mid section of the cabin and gestures to the two grey desks built into the floor of the ship alongside chairs. Two large screens on poles sit above each desk. “These are your personal entertainment stations, each loaded with your personal requests for the mission. Hopefully that will make the days feel less boring.” Hank floats over and flicks through some of the menus on his station, nodding in approval.
“Nice” he says, smiling. Alvez smiles back, before switching her attention to two workout bikes.
“Naturally, you’ll need to keep your muscle mass at an appropriate level, so make sure you do a proper workout every single day. Got it?” Jillian nods, Hank stares blankly.
“Alvez, we know all this stuff. Can’t we just sit for a little while before we get shot off into space?” Hank complains.
“Hey, mission control wanted me to rebrief you on the ship. This is a very important mission, you two” Alvez states sternly.
“I know, I know. It’s just…” Hank begins, but tapers off.
“There will be a lot of down time during your journey, right now we need to make sure you know everything” Alvez explains firmly. Hank nods and stays quiet. “Alright, over here at the back of the ship is your supplies. You have rationed meals for about three months. Stay strict with the meal plan, otherwise you could run out.” Alvez pulls out a few shelves to show Hank and Jillian various foods, most of which are vacuum sealed. “Finally,” Alvez says, pulling open the hatch beneath their floating bodies, “this leads into the storage bay and bathroom. It can also work as an emergency shelter in worst-case scenarios. There is a single spare life support suit on the left side of the supply room, do not use it unless absolutely necessary.” Alvez slams the hatch and looks at Hank. “All is clear?” Hank and Jillian give Alvez nods of confirmation before floating out of the ship, back into Ring Station.
“How come we only get one spare suit?” Jillian questions, closing the door as Alvez floats through.
“The life support suits require intricate systems to be functional and the ship can’t handle that. Besides, the suits are extremely tough. It’s unlikely you would ever need to use the spare anyways.” Jillian nods, but can’t wipe the weary look off her face. “Follow me to our mission control room and we will do a rebrief of the mission goal.”
*
The three astronauts float around a table with a large screen on its face. Each of them hangs on to one side of the table, staring at the pictures that move across the surface. Alvez looks up from the table and clears her throat, drawing Hank and Jill’s attention. “Let’s go over the mission timeline.” A large chart appears on the table with various dates and times on it. “In 45 minutes you will board the Eschaton I and launch away from Earth, towards the outer rim of our solar system. This will take approximately four weeks. Once you have reached the outer rim, you will be quickly intercepting the target location.”
“The Black Hole” Hank and Jillian state in unison.
“Correct,” Alvez responds, “The blackhole discovered and designated Ragnarok I by our very own head scientist, Eiva. It is on a collision course with our very solar system and will begin to eviscerate everything within 10 weeks. Thankfully it is small and moving slow enough for us to reach it before it reaches us. During your journey, you will constantly transmit us status updates, especially when you get close to Ragnarok I. We need to know what to expect from the black hole, as it is no longer avoidable for us. The colony ship project failed, this is our only hope.” Alvez pauses and looks sick momentarily, Hank and Jillian just stare blankly. “We will maintain daily contact with you two and hopefully we can get some sense of what Ragnarok I will bring. Of course, we understand that the closer you get, the more difficult it will be to transmit anything. Try every 12 hours regardless, or if any significant changes occur.”
“How often will you transmit to us?” Hank questions, gripping the table tightly.
“Everyday we will send you a message regarding the date, time, and any significant changes. Naturally these won’t reflect the exact time that you will be experiencing upon receiving the messages as there is travel time.”
Jillian looks up from the table at Alvez, “At what point do we fire the probe into the blackhole?”
“Well, we intend for you to slingshot around the black hole, so preferably on your way back.” An animated video comes up on the screen, showing the course of travel. “We intend for you to fly around the blackhole and right as you are leaving its gravity well, you should fire it off,” Alvez explains. Hank and Jillian nod in understanding. “After that, you fly back to Ring Station.”
“But…” Jillian begins, but Hank puts out his hand to stop her.
“Understood,” Hank says firmly.
“Alright, 30 minutes left till launch” Alvez barks, “my team should have finished loading, let's get you two suited up for launch!”
“Right” Jillian mutters, floating off towards the ship with Hank in tow. The two of them stop in the room connected to the ship and pull their standard issue spacesuits off the wall. The Ring Station team helps them put on the suits, casually chatting with them as they do. Once they are finally properly suited up, they float into the Eschaton I and lock into their seats. Jon floats in and out of the ship hauling a couple bags at a time.
“What are ya doing, Jon?” Hank calls out from his chair. Jon stops just above the hatch.
“Just loading up the last of the seeds” he says, floating out of the ship. Hank and Jillian look at each other confused.
“Seeds?” Jillian asks. Jon floats back in and nods his head.
“Yeah, we are providing you with enough material to grow food in the very unlikely case that the black hole sucks you in and moves you across space. We still don’t know much about black holes, so that situation is just as likely as any other possible situation that could happen from being sucked into a black hole.”
“I think the idea is that we don’t get sucked in at all,” Hank yells. Jon just shrugs and loads up the last few bags. Hank shakes his head, turning back around. “I can’t believe this…” he mumbles. Jillian looks over to him.
“You knew what you were getting into when they originally briefed us for this mission” she explains, “getting sucked is an all too real possibility. At least we can be prepared for every situation.”
“I suppose you’re right, but why wouldn’t they include suspended animation pods?” Hank argues, clearly agitated for the first time in their mission. “They were developing them for the colony ship project, why not utilize them here?”
Jillian sighs, “they didn’t work, that’s a key issue which led to the failure of the colony ship. Most people didn’t wake up and if they did, they took months of rehabilitation to function properly.” Hank’s become stricken with panic.
“This is all hopeless, isn’t it?” he remarks, collapsing into his hands. Jillian sits for a moment, feeling his anxious energy flood the room.
“Hank, you gotta stay strong. We can’t both be breaking down like this,” Jillian says, trying to sooth Hank. He looks up at her for a moment, before sighing.
“Sorry, the stakes are high,” he says, calming slightly. “Hard to wrap my mind around this whole thing.” Jillian puts her hand on his shoulder.
“I’m scared too, but we have to do this. For everyone.” Hank nods and smiles slightly.
“You two done the pep talk?” Alvez blurts from behind. Hank curses and grabs his chest.
“Jesus, Alvez” he exclaims. “We are ready, I think.”
“Good, my team has finished loading everything. I’m gonna head over to the control area, 5 minutes until we launch.” Alvez grabs them both by the shoulder. “Good luck, you two. We’re counting on you.” She flies out of the ship and seals the door behind her, before disconnecting the ship from the main ring. Hank and Jillian sit quietly for a few moments, glancing over the control panels. Moments later, Alvez speaks over the communications channel. “Alright, I’m going to shift your ship into the booster ring. Don’t be alarmed by the sudden movement.”
The Eschaton I begins moving upwards slowly, turning the nose out towards space. The window of the cockpit briefly passes the Ring Station control room where Alvez and her team are busy typing away on various computer systems. Dannil waves as they pass. The ship slows to a stop and a ring of four large engines locks itself onto the rear half of the ship. The hull shudders slightly as the clasps engage. “Alright, are you ready, Eschaton team?” Alvez chirps through the comms.
“Ready, Alvez,” Hank says firmly.
“Dr. Moore?” Alvez asks. Jillian pauses for a moment, before responding.
“Good to go, commander.” Alvez confirms and begins counting down through their headsets. Both Jillian and Hank shift uncomfortably, tensing up with every number. Jillian closes her eyes tightly, clenching the arm rests of her chair.
“One…. launch!” Alvez yells. The Eschaton I blasts off with incredible force, tearing off from the Ring Station. The team watches as the ship turns into a speck in the darkness of space. Jillian nearly passes out from the sheer force tormenting her body. Hank clenches his entire body, trying to resist the unrelenting pressure. The engines continue blasting for a few more minutes, before dissipating. Jillian sighs in relief and releases the tension wrought in her body. She flips on her comms and connects with Alvez.
“Boosters have run out, Alvez” Jillian informs.
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“Roger, jettison the boosters, Dr. Moore” Alvez barks, causing Jillian to recoil. She looks over to Hank who shares the same look of confusion.
“Could you say that again, Commander?” Hank asks, mulling over the order in his head.
“Jettison the boosters, Eschaton team” Alvez says firmly. Jillian and Hank look at each other again, still confused.
“Won’t we need it to escape the pull of the black hole?” Hank asks, alarmed.
“Negative, your plotted course does not require an additional boost. The slingshot will provide more than enough force to get you away” Alvez says, casually.
“I don’t think that’s quite right” Jillian remarks. Hank removes his helmet and unlatches from the seat, floating over to his desk.
“Jettison the boosters” Alvez demands, before cutting off the comms. Jillian calls out a few times, but no one responds. Hank slams his desk with his palm and turns to peer over at Jillian.
“Something’s not right” Hank states, his brow furrowed. Jillian just nods, staring blankly. “That wasn’t part of the briefing. They told us to keep the boosters, I know they did.” Jillian gets out of her chair and removes her helmet.
“Maybe something changed and they had to adjust” Jill argues. Hank scowls at her.
“C’mon, Jill. You know that’s something they would have mentioned to us. We knew the risk when we signed up for this, I’m sure a change like that wouldn’t be worth hiding.” Hank angrily floats back and forth, deep in thought. Jill sits at her desk, watching him. He continually rubs his bald head as if trying to push back the hair that isn’t there. He finally stops at his desk and looks over to Jill. “I’m going to call mission control, surely they know something” he states, floating back to the cockpit area. Jill watches as he pushes a few buttons and waits for the communication channel to open. “Mission control, this is Eschaton I.” Static is the only response.
“Hank…” Jill pleas, “just do as Alvez says, it’s just a communication issue. He shakes his head and keeps calling mission control. The static eventually stops and a voice comes through the intercom.
“Eschaton I, this is mission control,” the man says, “what’s the purpose for communication?”
“Commander Alvez told us to jettison the boosters, we were told to do this” Hank states firmly.
“That is correct, Eschaton team. Trajectory has been adjusted for a boosterless slingshot around Ragnarok I, follow through with the jettison” the voice confirms.
“Roger. Thank you, mission control.” Hank switches off the communication channel. He sits back down in his cockpit chair and pulls a lever on the right hand panel. The boosters unclasp from the ship and float off into space, away from the ship. Jill sighs and floats over to Hank who is clenching his chair.
“Relax, it was just a miscommunication” she says, soothingly. Hank breathes out and releases the chair.
“Jill, this whole mission has reeked from the start” he begins, “think about it. It will take us about a month to reach the black hole and by the time we have slingshotted around it and gotten back, nine weeks will have probably passed. That gives us about 1 week left on Earth, if everything goes according to plan. And you know well that it never does.”
“I know, Hank. I was going to say the same thing to Alvez back on Ring Station” Jillian says softly. “But we need to do this. I know that now. That black hole is coming whether we do this mission or not, so we should at least attempt to understand what is coming.”
“Yeah…” Hank sighs, “I’m sorry, I’m struggling here. I can feel the weight of the world on my shoulders.”
“I can too, there is nothing more important to the human race than this mission. We were chosen because we are two of the most experienced astronauts available, we can’t let stress tear us down.”
“You’re right, thanks Jill” Hank says, smiling softly. “Now, help me get out of this ridiculous suit.”
“Sure thing” she chuckles, helping him remove his bulky space gear.
*
A couple weeks pass, as the two astronauts go through their uneventful daily schedule. They keep a similar routine as they did on Earth, waking up in the “morning,” eating breakfast together, working out for two hours, and spending the rest of the time sending in reports or using their personal entertainment systems. They talk little of their objective, unless on comms with Alvez or mission control. Each day they get closer to Ragnarok I, the farther apart they seem to each other. They speak less and less, but the ship feels more and more tense.
On day 18, a call comes in from mission control during their regular routine. Hank sits down in his cockpit chair and answers the comms. “Mission control, this is Eschaton I. What’s the purpose of this communication?”
“Hello Eschaton team, we have some good news for you two” the man explains. Hank waves Jillian over to him and she floats over, grabbing on to the back of his chair.
“What do you have for us?” Hank asks. Static floods the comms for a moment, before a young voice bursts through the speaker.
“Hi Dad!” the kid chirps, happily. Hank gasps softly and smiles widely.
“Hey buddy! How ya doin’ down there?” he responds.
“Dr. Moore, we have your family on a separate line” the man interrupts quickly. Jillian floats off and puts her headset on. She excitedly yacks out of range of Hank.
“I’m good, Dad. Me and mom look for you in the telescope every night!” Hank’s kid yells through the speaker. Hank chuckles lightly.
“Well, we are a bit too small to see right now, but we will be home before you know it!” Hank replies.
“Okay, Dad. Mom wants to talk to you.”
“Sure, put her on.” The voice of a chipper young woman beams through the speaker and Hank’s smile grows even wider.
“Hi, honey!” the woman yells.
“Hey, Kirsty. I have missed you so much” Hank gushes.
“I’ve missed you too! So have Douggie and Brandon” she responds.
“How is the little hellraiser?” Hank asks, chuckling a bit.
“Your son or the dog?” Kristy jokes.
“Both of them.”
“Well, Douggie is finally house trained, I think. Can never be too sure. Brandon is doing okay, he asks about you constantly.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Tell Brandon that everything is going well, the mission is going as planned...” Hank quiets as he speaks.
“You aren’t making it sound that way, what’s wrong?” Kristy asks, her tone becoming a bit alarmed.
“Just a miscommunication, everything is fine” Hank says, but even he doesn’t believe it.
“Alright, I sure hope so. Is Dr. Moore giving you any trouble?” she asks, changing the subject. Hank sighs loudly.
“Yeah, we’ve been getting along,” he insists. Kirsty tuts through the mic, seeing right through his words.
“Hank, you only have each other up there. Be friendly, I know this is a lot, but don’t make it harder for each other” she nags. Hank nods, even though she can’t see him.
“You’re right, I guess the pressure of our mission has thrown a wedge between us” he replies, “I’ll do better. The silence has been frustrating most days, anyways.”
“Good. Looks like time is up, we love you!” Kristy yells.
“Love you too!” Hank yells back. The speaker crackles with static as the line disconnects. Jillian takes off her headset and floats back over to the cockpit. She sits back down in her cockpit chair and looks over to Hank.
“How’s the family?” she asks.
“Yeah, they’re good. Wish I could have talked more” he replies.
“Good” Jillian replies, shortly. Hank huffs and looks over at her.
“I’m sorry if I’ve been distant, I’ve been all in my head” Hank apologizes. Jillian chuckles softly and puts her hand on his shoulder.
“It’s okay, Hank. I don’t mind the quiet, gives me time to try and wrap my head around all of this. As long as I’m not alone here, I’m okay.” Hank smiles, feeling a weight lift off of his chest.
“Thanks, Jill. I ain’t goin’ anywhere anytime soon, don’t you worry” he says, smiling widely. Jillian smiles back and floats back over to her entertainment station. Hank stares out the window at the unfolding cosmos, wondering what the black hole will look like up close.
*
On the thirtieth day of their mission, the astronauts are awoken by surprise. The ship’s alarm blares and debris thuds against the hull. Hank unstraps from his bed and floats over to the cockpit where Jillian is already sitting at the controls, looking at her screen.
“What the hell is going on?” Hank asks in a panic. Jillian presses a few buttons on the screen and turns it to Hank. He curses loudly before strapping himself into his cockpit chair.
“It really has this much range?” he questions.
Jillian nods, “some of the debris Ragnarok I picks up in its path gets flung through space in all directions. The closer we get, the more likely we are to run into debris.” Hank shakes his head and sighs.
“That’s gonna be really annoying, but I’m certain that the ship can withstand it fairly well” he argues. He presses a few buttons and the alarm quiets.
“If the tests are anything to go off of, yes. Can you grab the patch kit out of the storage bay, just in case?” Jillian requests. Hank floats off to the hatch and enters into the lower part of the ship. Jillian sits and watches as the occasional rock bounces off the window like a flung rock on a highway. Hank comes back up with a duffle bag of materials and hooks it to the wall, before sitting down in his chair.
“Everything okay still?” Hank asks, looking at Jill gaze out the window.
“Yeah, just a bit of rock. Nothing the ship can’t handle I don’t think.” They sit and watch the window for a while, hearing a rock collide with the ship every few minutes. After the first few hits, Hank floats off and begins working out. Jillian doesn’t move, something haunts her mind and she can’t shake the feeling that something is not right. Suddenly a rock smashes into the bottom of the ship, shaking the entire craft. Hank curses in surprise and calls out to Jillian.
“What the hell was that?” he yells.
“Just another rock, nothing to worry about. The ship says everything is fine, but could you check the storage bay just in case?” Jillian requests. Hank sighs and floats down the hatch again. Jillian listens as he rummages around for a while before floating back up and closing the hatch.
“All clear” he calls out, as he floats back to the cockpit.
“Alright, the ship should be fine--” Jillian begins, but is cut off by the loud thud of a rock hitting glass. Both of the astronauts look at the top right window and gasp. A rock became lodged in the window, cracking it, but not breaking through.
“That’s not supposed to happen, is it?” Hank yells. Jillian feels her heart drop and jumps out of her chair.
“Pass me the patch kit” she stutters, pointing to the duffle bag. Hank unhooks it from the wall and hands it to her. She pulls out a container of expanding foam and a plate of titanium.
“Are you just gonna cover the whole window up?” Hank questions, watching her shake the foam can.
“This whole window is compromised, I’d rather not take any chances,” she explains. Jillian sprays the foam around the border of the window and waits a moment before sticking the titanium sheet over it. As it dries, she gives it a few punches. “There,” she says, with a hint of pride.
“What’s the status on the other windows? Are all of them like this?” Hank asks.
“If everything is up to par, they should be completely fine,” Jillian explains. “I’m hoping this was just a one off.”
“Alright, I’m gonna send a message to mission control. Maybe they did repairs on the ship and something wasn’t sealed properly. Can you get the ship AI to run a full diagnostic check?” Jillian nods and they both begin typing away at their screens, occasionally checking the window in case something else breaks. Hank sends the message off to mission control and looks over at Jillian’s screen to see the ship processing the diagnostic. “Anything?” he asks.
“Nope, everything seems to be in working order. No hull breach sensors are going off either” she confirms. Hank floats away without a word, resuming his workout. Jillian watches as the diagnostic finishes and reports no issues. She pushes the screen aside and floats over to the workout bikes, joining Hank for their daily workout.
After a few hours, a ping comes up on the screen in the cockpit. Both Hank and Jillian float over from their entertainment stations to see an incoming message from mission control. Hank presses a few buttons and a large block of text pops up on the screen. They read it for a moment, before Hank slams his fist against his chair. “God dammit!” he screams, turning away from the screen. “Yet another thing they happened to not mention!” Jillian watches Hank flip out, punching the walls a few times.
“I don’t understand…” Jillian mumbles, “the glass broke before, so they resealed it with the spare pane they had on Ring Station?”
“Yeah, and that is for emergency repairs. It is not designed for this kind of mission, god dammit!” Hank floats around in a fit before drifting back to the cockpit. “I’m gonna message them again, I need to understand what the hell is going on here.” He begins typing away at his screen again, but Jillian grabs him by the shoulder.
“Hank, which other panel did they say was compromised?” she asks, wide eyed. He reopens the message and reads through it again.
“The bottom right pane. I didn’t read that far down, sorry.” Jillian quickly grabs the patch kit and begins to spray the foam onto the bottom window. She gets half way done when the can begins to sputter. “Dammit!” she yells, shaking the can. Hank looks over and then points at the hatch.
“There are plenty of canisters in the storage bay, just grab another” he says, casually. Jillian turns to push off of her chair, when she hears the crack of glass and something hits her in the gut. She tries to look down, but gets sucked towards the window where the pressure of the ship leaks through. Hank dexterously grabs the patch kit and pulls out another panel of metal, pushing it beneath Jillian to cover the now shattered window.
“That’s not gonna hold for long, I’m gonna grab more foam. Wait here” Hank yells, floating away from Jillian. She glances down at her gut, as Hank floats off, to see a hole in the right side of her torso. Blood floats out in little balls, towards the partially sealed window. Hank comes out of the hatch as quickly as he entered with a large medical box and a can of foam. “Here” he says, passing the medkit to Jillian. She opens it and pulls out a few things as Hank seals the leak. After a good dose of foam, the leak tapers off and the ship pressure stabilizes.
Turning back to Jillian, Hank sees her checking inside her wound with a mirror. She winces as she does. “Oh no…” Hank mumbles, helping Jillian into her seat and grabbing the medkit.
“It’s not that bad” Jillian says, gritting her teeth. Hank gets in close to her wound and shines a light in it.
“Looks like the debris hit your liver, I’m gonna try to stop the bleeding” he says, grabbing a few things out of the medkit. He jabs a needle right into the wound and holds some gauze against it.
“I think it went… clean through” Jillian stutters, her face becoming pale. Hank begins stapling the entry.
“Yeah, it did. Turn around, I need to close up the exit wound.” Jillian groans as she rotates, facing away from Hank. He staples the exit wound swiftly and turns Jillian back around.
“Am I gonna be okay?” she asks, weakly. Hank pats her on the shoulder.
“Yeah, just need to get an IV in you. Your body should do the rest of the work while you rest.” Jillian slowly floats over to her bed and lays it parallel to the floor, strapping herself in carefully. Hank puts the IV in her right arm and hooks it into the wall beside her. “Rest easy, now” Hank says, softly. He floats back to the cockpit and rechecks the windows to make sure they are secure. After a few pokes and prods, he determines that the patched windows should remain structurally sound for the time being. Hank can’t shake the feeling that something else could go wrong, so he types up a message to mission control informing them of what has just occurred and if anything else could potentially happen.
Upon finishing his message, Hank realizes that he never checked for any further damage to the ship. He turns away from his cockpit seat, towards where the window broke. Though there is no perceptible damage to anything in the cockpit, Hank carefully observes the walls further back, until he notices something. The glass panes protecting the life support suits both have holes through them. In a panic, Hank rips open the glass doors of both of them and checks the actual suits for damage. He runs his hands over the fabric of the first suit, feeling nothing at all. As he runs his hand down the right leg, his finger slips through a hole that punches right through the entire leg. “Dammit” Hank thinks, grabbing the user manual from the cubby. He flips through the pages until he reaches the section on suit breaches. In big red text on the top of the page it reads “Patch all suit breaches with durable material as soon as possible, until proper repairs can be done.” Hank quickly drops the manual and pulls tape out of the patch kit that hangs on the wall behind him. He rolls the tape around the breach over and over again until it is perfectly covered.
Placing the first suit back in its cubby, Hank quickly notices a significant issue with the second suit. A strange blue fluid appears to be leaking from the cubby, through the hole in the torso of the suit. He quickly patches up the second suit and studies the hole in the cubby that is leaking the blue liquid. Unsure what he is seeing, he flips through the manual again, looking for any information he can find.
A few minutes into flipping, Hank comes across safety instructions regarding life support fluid. Assuming that’s what the blue fluid is, he reads through the article. His heart drops with every word, but he continues to read. “Exposure to any contaminants will result in destabilization of life support fluid, rendering it unsafe to use” he reads, “any contact with pure oxygen or air will negate the effectiveness of life support fluid.” Hank looks over to Jillian, his eyes wider than ever. “Oh no…” he mumbles, “Jillian.”
“Hmm?” she grunts weakly, shifting to look at Hank.
“Our life support suits are ruined.” he states, panic plain across his face. Jillian sits up quickly, wincing as she does.
“What do you mean?” she questions.
“The life support fluid tank was hit and the fluid has been exposed to the oxygen in the cabin which completely negates its use.” Jillian shakes her head in disbelief, but her face lights up for a moment.
“Maybe it's just the tank of one of the suits and we have the spare in the storage room!” she chirps. Hank nods his head vigorously and reads more of the manual. His expression drops once again.
“These two share a tank,” he says.
“Dammit…” Jillian mumbles, “what about the suit in the basement?” Hank reads the manual once more and looks back at Jillian.
“It has a separate tank, thank God.”
“At least we have one, is there any reason we would have to use them?” she asks, laying back down.
“I’m not sure, still haven’t received a message back from mission control regarding the integrity of the ship” he replies, taping over the hole in the wall. “I can’t believe all of this.”
“This is a tough situation, Hank,” Jillian explains, “we were incredibly limited on how much preparation went into this mission since we discovered the black hole so late. The fact that we are even able to attempt this mission is surprising.”
“I know, but so much has already gone wrong” Hank argues. “We could have been prepared for this stuff if they had mentioned it in the briefing!”
“They had mere months to set up and plan for this mission…” Jillian begins, but quiets with each word. Hank waits for her to continue, but hears nothing.
“Jill?” Hank asks, floating over to her. He reaches her bed and looks at her to see her eyes rolled back into her head. “Jill!” he yells, watching her body convulse violently. He pushes off to grab the medkit and quickly returns with a defibrillator. He places each pad of the machine onto Jillian's skin, but her convulsions stop suddenly. He stares at her unmoving body, unsure what to do. His paralysis is interrupted by a loud beeping coming from the screen in the cockpit.
A robotic voice calls out “Doctor Jillian Moore vitals unresponsive.”
“No!” Hank screams. He presses the defibrillator button and shocks Jillian’s lifeless corpse. “C’mon, Jill!” He presses it again. And again. And again. He keeps trying for 3 minutes, but nothing happens. In a fit of rage, Hank throws the defibrillator at the wall, pulling the pads from Jillian. “Don’t leave me here alone” he cries, dropping his head into his hands.
*
Hours after Jillian’s death, Hank sits at his desk entombed by his emotions. His attention is shifted by the sudden thuds of rocks shaking the ship as they collide. The ship’s alarm blares loudly before the robotic voice speaks once again “heavy debris detected. Please equip emergency gear.”
“Why didn’t you warn us the first time?” Hank mumbles angrily. He floats down into the storage bay and approaches the spare life support suit. He presses the red button beside the cubby and the suit makes some noise as it fills with the fluid. As it finishes filling, the suit unhinges from the wall and the cubby door releases. Hank slides the suit onto his body, struggling as he does. The suit self-adjusts and it secures itself to Hank’s body as he dons the helmet. As soon as he clicks the helmet into position he feels a sharp jab into his arm, followed by a slight calming sensation.
“Suit secured, approximate duration of sustainability: 172 hours” a feminine robotic voice says through the built in headset. Hank grunts in mild surprise before floating back to the hatch. He pulls himself through the hatch, but gets thrown against the wall suddenly. The ship gets barraged by huge rocks, shaking the entire craft. Another alarm starts blaring along with the previous one, signalling a significant decline in pressure. Hank looks around for the breach and sees a huge dent in the ship’s door, leaking his precious oxygen.
Diving back into the storage bay, Hank grabs another patch kit and returns to the main area. He quickly hooks himself into the wall and begins spraying the foam around the door, but the pressure drop increases.The door begins to creak and flies off the ship into the void of space, followed by Hank who is being kept close by his harness. He tries to pull himself back in, but is pelted by pieces of food and other objects from the ship. Out of the corner of his eye, he spies Jillian being pulled towards the door, but her bed straps restrain her. Once Hank gets a grip, he pulls himself back in, avoiding the flying food as he does. Without warning, Jillian slips out of her restraints and flies at the door. Hank grabs her by the wrist, but she moves with too much force. His grip slips and he watches as the lifeless Jillian tumbles into the icey limbo of space, never to be seen again. Hank cries out in terror, but no one hears him.
Eventually, the ship runs out of pressure and the force pulling Hank recedes. He looks around at the ship that lays in ruins. The shelfs of food are torn to pieces and lay empty of everything. The beds are frosted over and the sheets have disappeared. The entertainment stations are shattered and frosted over as well. The alarm lights still flash, but Hank can no longer hear the sirens. He floats over to the cockpit to see that the screens are still functional. The ship reports a complete lack of pressure except for the storage area, which happened to close during the ruckus. A message from mission control blinks on the screen and he opens it.
“Eschaton team,” Hank reads, “please be aware that the structural integrity of the door is questionable, it was resealed with emergency supplies on Ring Station. Regarding Dr. Moore’s status, make sure to stop the bleeding and seal the wound. Please keep us updated on her condition, we will inform her family.” Hank chuckles drily at the timing of the message, wishing he had known about the weakened door beforehand.
Realizing that the exposed door is probably going to be an issue, Hank grabs a large plastic sheet and tapes it over the hole. Though it is not substantial enough to repressurize the ship, it does give him some peace of mind. After he finishes, he sits back down in the cockpit and looks out the window. His eyes spy what appears to be the black hole, a dark void in the distance, warping the stars and light around it. He regards it for a while, mulling over many things in his damaged mind, unable to cope with his situation. And yet he goes on, plummeting towards the well of darkness.
*
Day 35 approaches, Hank awakes to a beeping sound from his suit. “50 hours of sustainability remaining” the robotic voice says, flashing a timer in the corner of Hank’s visor. The suit has sustained his body for the past 5 days, keeping him nourished and quenched. Despite this, his body and mind grow weaker. He can feel the exhaustion in his muscles weighing heavily on him, and he feels his thoughts spiral out of coherence every few minutes.
He glares out the window to see the enormous black hole, spiralling with dying light. His ship quickly approaches the accretion disk, to perform a slingshot around the monstrosity. Hank pulls the screen close to him and presses a few buttons, bringing up a diagram and some numbers. The image depicts the ship slingshotting around Ragnarok I, which it approximates will take 10 hours. The timeline beneath the counter determines that the probe should be launched 8 hours in. Hank, somewhat understanding the diagram, pushes the screen away and resumes staring at the massive void he is drifting beside.
A couple hours pass as Hank sits, motionless. The ship rattles and shakes as it moves through the ring of light and space dust. His trance is shaken by the screen to his right flashing. He pulls it towards him and reads a blinking light. “Incoming Message…” he reads aloud, not quite comprehending the words. Suddenly it hits him and his eyes light up for the first time in a week. He presses the flashing message and an audio file comes up.
“Hey Han….” the staticy female voice says “be… while.”
“Kristy…” Hank whispers, listening to the broken message.
“Hope… doing okay. Bran…. Douggie miss you. Love you, H.... See…” she says, but the message cuts out at the end. Hank's mouth curls into a grin for a moment, but grief sweeps over him. His eyes leak with the little water left in his body. His heavy sobs are the only sounds for hundreds of thousands of miles.
As the grief softens, Hank feels something arise from deep within his body. Something he hasn’t felt for days. His mind sharpens and he feels energy fill his veins. “This isn’t over” he thinks, unstrapping himself from his chair. He presses a couple buttons on the control panel and gas begins to hiss from the bottom of the ship. Once it finishes, Hank opens the hatch into the storage room and floats in. He digs through all the supplies until he pulls out spare ship panels and patching foam. Hank nods in approval and floats back into the main hull with his new materials. Without removing the plastic sheet, Hank begins spraying foam all over the sides of the door until it is well covered. He then sticks multiple panels of metal all over until all the cracks are gone. Unsure of the structural integrity, Hank punches and kicks the panels multiple times. None of them budge.
Floating back into the cockpit, Hank takes a deep breath and hits a large blue button on the middle control panel. Gas hisses into the hull, pushing Hank to the back of the ship, as it fills the space. Hank pulls himself across the wall towards the cockpit and presses the screen. The screen flashes “pressure stabilizing” and Hank cheers.
Oxygen continues to flood the hull for a little while until finally the ship is fully pressurized. Even with Hank’s patchwork solution for the door, it holds stable. Breathing a sigh of relief, Hank removes the life support helmet and inhales somewhat real air for the first time in days. He pushes a few buttons on the console and the temperature begins to stabilize as well, defrosting most of the ship. Finally having a secure area again, Hank collapses into his uncomfortably moist chair. He gazes out at the massive void, seeing that his trip is part way through. The timer suggests that he is now 4 hours into his 10 hour journey around Ragnarok I.
Realizing that he is going to need supplies for his trip back, Hank digs through the shelves where the food was kept. Most of the food flew out during the breach, but a few packages of dried ice cream lay about. One shelf remains untouched strangely, filled with dried potatoes. Hank floats over to it, curious why it remains untouched by the disaster. He pulls on the shelf and it doesn’t budge. He looks down at the rolling contraption underneath and it appears jammed. The lid of the shelf also remained on during the disaster. Hank laughs, blessing the luck he has. He pulls out the packs of potatoes and counts 5 packs of 8 potatoes each. “Just enough to sustain me until I get back” he says, placing the packs back into the shelf and closing it off.
Hank digs through the shelves for a little bit longer, but comes up empty handed. He eventually stops searching for other food and settles with what he has. The rest of the ship still lies turned over or broken. Curious about the entertainment stations, Hank presses a button on the screen, but gets no response. He scowls, turning back to the cockpit and sitting down.
A couple hours pass as Hank sits watching the journey take place. The ship runs into no issues besides the occasional shake or bump. An alert on the screen grabs Hank’s attention and he pulls it towards him. “Off course?” He reads aloud. He clicks on the alert and the ship computer reads it out loud.
“Ship off course, too close to target” it warns. Hank quickly reads the status report and finds that the ship sensors have determined that he is approaching the middle of the accretion disc. Pressing a few buttons, Hank tries to realign the ship. The engines turn on and the ship turns slightly, angling away from Ragnarok I. Hank feels the force of the engines pushing behind him, but the ship does not shift further away. Gripping the lever, Hank pushes it all the way forward. The ship shudders with the full force of the engines, but it still does not move away.
Hank turns off the engines and sits for a moment. He mulls over anything that could possibly pull him away from the increasing gravity, but nothing catches. Suddenly, the nose of the ship turns drastically. The ship faces along the tangent line of the black hole, a path which the ship would not be able to escape from if it were to keep going for a few more minutes. Once again, Hank turns the ship and blasts the engines. The ship is unable to escape the pull of gravity, as if being guided towards the void by an invisible hand. Realizing his helplessness, Hank watches in terror as he quickly approaches the innermost stable orbit of the black hole.
Opting to give it one more shot, Hank turns the ship slightly off the tangent line and puts the engines at half power. He then clicks a few switches on the control panel and a red light begins blinking on the screen. The intercom buzzes with static for a few moments and Hank clears his throat. “Recording beginning” the computer says out loud.
“Hey,” Hank says, his face stricken with panic. “I’ve reached the black hole Ragnarok I. I’m approximately…” he pauses and reads the other screen with the diagram, “6 and a half hours into my journey around it and things have turned sideways. Literally.” The ship shakes more and more as Hank approaches the black mass. “I’m going to launch the probe now, maybe it can give me a sense before I get sucked in, I don’t think I can avoid it at this point.” Hank shakes his head and sighs, “just as things were looking up…”
The screens flash as Hank releases the probe, warning him that he is launching it too early. He presses the button anyways and releases the small machine, directly into the heart of the storm. “Hopefully that will start transmitting something” he sighs, “I’ve tried everything that I can to get out of the grasp of gravity, but it was already too late when I was warned.” Hank straps himself back into his cockpit seat. “Looks like I’m about to pass from the innermost stable orbit into the photon sphere.” He looks out the window to see the darkness of the event horizon on his left and the helpless light of the innermost orbit to his right. The engines stop firing and Hank sinks into his chair. “There is no escaping now,” he says, “in moments I will enter the event horizon and that will be that. I’ve been live transmitting this message so hopefully this will reach someone. NASA, if you hear this, I just want you to know that I now know we were never going to return from this mission. Jillian’s death is your fault and mine will be as well. To Kristy and Brandon, I love you both so much. I hope somehow you two survive this, I don’t know if it's possible, but I hope it is.” The light around the Eschaton I begins to fade. “This is Commander Hank Darin of the Eschaton I, signing off.” Hank sighs and presses a button on the screen.
“Recording finished” the computer says through the static of the intercom. Hank unbuckles himself from his chair and floats in the air, watching as the last of the light fades out of existence. The main lights of the hull flicker and die out, as he drifts past the rim of the event horizon into the unknown region. Everything stretches out before him as he does. Hank watches ahead as everything gets sucked into a single point in front of him. He breathes in one last time as his hands evaporate into the singularity.
“I don’t want to die here…”