Chapter 5: Black What?
Half an hour from black hole . . .
"We'll reach safe distance from the astral object in twenty minutes," Shera informed Cid, "firing retro rockets now." She flicked two switches above the control console and a quick controlled burst from the nose greatly slowed down The Aeris, positioning the ship into a safe orbit so crew could observe the black hole. Life amongst the ship was slowly returning, people out of their seats and floating about, carrying on simple tasks to assure the smooth running of the giant rocket.
Curious, the only animal in the entire crew trotted up to the science station, his paws lightly padding over cold metal surface with little weight, "Wow, we've come quite a long distance," Red declared, tapping a button as he leaned up and checked the mission log. It had been about a week and a half since the start of their mission, and absolutely nothing had happened during that time. After the surprise of being in space left them, the emptiness of space reminded calmed their nerves and created an endless wallpaper of stars that quickly bored the crew. Some would question why they were out on this mission, but each time Red XIII went around the cabin, talking excitedly to the crew about this discovery, they couldn't help but be energized and await their arrival at the Black Hole.
"Yeah," Cid added, "never would have thought she could go this far on her very first voyage. I know how to build them, don't I?" He slapped the hull of the ship, accidentally firing a probe into direction of the anomaly, "Awww shit!"
Shera cleared her throat and quickly typed instructions to the spherical drone before any harm had been done and corrected its course, "If you're done bragging, let me take care of the rest, okay honey?" she snidely remarked, "There are a few modifications that I added to the ship, so you should watch what you touch."
After Cid finished his little session with Red, the whole cabin went into silence. The crew was anxious and nervous waiting for the data to return from the pod, and they had a right to be. Cid and Nanaki's ambitious expedition would be the first to observe and record information about a black hole, more importantly, from the actual vicinity of one. In the past it had been all done with theorized mathematical equations and powerful telescopes that 'guessed' where black holes were due to distortions in space. No more guessing would ever again be needed once they returned with a plethora of raw information. All theories concerning the mysterious phenomena could be put to rest. It would all be able to be proved now with Shera and Nanaki's findings, and they would become scientific heroes among the academic elite. The silence carried on for a couple more minutes until Cloud started to freak out because of creaking noises throughout the ship.
"What the hell was that?" Cloud began to panic, holding onto his chair tightly.
"Don't worry," Shera assured him, "that's the hull shrinking from the pressure being exerted by the black hole's gravity. I specifically modified the structure of the ship to not buckle under the gravity's pull, but to bend with it instead. We are perfectly safe, so just relax, okay?" Shera flipped a switch and Aeris came to a complete stop, gently rotating in a soft spin, "Okay Nanaki, you can begin your testing now," she paged Red over the intercom, "just don't move the ship any closer, okay?" The sarcastic tone in her voice sounded like she was joking, but the scientist was DEAD serious.
Red's ears popped up in anticipation, "Vincent, could you help me out at the science station?" Red asked, looking up to his friend. He was really the only person the ancient could ask. He never quite trusted Cloud with electronics again after he lost to the computer in the Submarine game at the Gold Saucer and sliced the control panel in half.
"Fine, lead the way," he responded emotionlessly, but he was actually happy just to have something to do. The former employee of Shinra had some experience with computers as a Turk, and wouldn't be totally lost around a keyboard. He pulled a collapsible chair from the wall near the science cluster and strapped into it, the little gravity on the ship barely holding him there.
"Okay, I want to begin by scanning for Alpha radiation particles in this region," Nanaki informed Vincent, looking at the second monitor for results.
Vincent nodded his head and typed "Alpha Radiation" in the search mode. After fifteen minutes of scanning the entire area, a report came back to the main terminal. "Minimal. Probably means that type of radiation isn't emitted from the black whole," Vincent replied as Nanaki jumped up and put his paws against the wall so he could check out the screen better.
"Hmmm, print out that screen for the records," Red ordered, "let's see . . . okay, next scan for Beta radiation."
Another twenty minutes passed. "Nothing," Vincent zipped as he hit the print key before being told to do so again. Gamma and Theta radiation were also check, but both came back nil.
Nanaki was deep in thought. He was busy talking to himself, "No Alpha or Beta radiation, that's weird," Red thought aloud, "usually collapsed stars give off some type of residual radiation," He paced back and forth in the twenty feet by twenty feet observation room, walking in a long oval. It was a decent sized room, that is, it was until all the gadgets and machines were installed. Now it was just another cramped cabin in the spaceship.
"Let's take a break," Vincent suggested, popping his joints to show his discomfort at a terminal. They had already been working for over an hour and had nothing to show for it.
"No!" Red defensively declared to Vincent," wait, I have another idea. Look for neutron particles. Gast's Law dictated that all dead matter gives off neutron particles."
Vincent initiated the scanning program. The minutes ticked by in a slowed state of time as Red went through the results of the previous tests again and again. After a half hour of waiting patiently, the report came back. "There's . . ." Vincent started.
"What?" Nanaki wagged his tail fast, waiting for the verdict. He stared at Vincent almost eerily with joy.
"Nothing," Vincent finished.
Nanaki's jaw dropped. "That is impossible! Stars collapse into dwarf or neutron stars after they expend their fuel or when they become unstable and explode to form black holes. Either way there must be traces of these particles here! The book of Life at Cosmo Canyon said it was so," Red stated in a matter of fact type of voice. He then continued to ponder his choices and re-evaluated the situation he was in. The student and adopted son of Bugenhagen wouldn't dare question the book's teachings, but what if it was wrong?
Cloud ventured inside the room to see what all the commotion was about, "What's going on in here?" he asked Red, only slightly interested.
Vincent, seeing that the dog was ignoring Cloud and only getting deeper in thought, answered his query, "Nothing, Nanaki has become frustrated over the results of his tests. That's all"
"Well I hope –"Cloud was interrupted by the tumbling of materia from his armor, "Crap . . ." he chased after the orb and was about to grab it when the red-bronze colored canine put his paw over it.
"Wait a sec," Red began, "Cloud, you just gave me an idea! Vincent, do a bio-scan and look for any traces of Mako!"
Vincent nodded and seemed to smirk under the collar of his crimson cape as he waited for the results. He seemed to second-guess Red's every decision at this point, and had a feeling it was pointless, but he did it anyway to humor his friend. Everyone waited anxiously for the results, except for Vincent. Fifteen minutes passed, and when the screen came back on, he took a step back. "I don't believe it . . ."Vincent admitted, stunned.
"It looks like a Christmas tree with all those lights on it," Cloud pointed out, moving his finger along the flat screen panel of the monitor on the wall.
Red got on his hind legs and checked out his findings, "Sure it looks spread out now, but the main concentration is centered somewhere in the middle of this thing," Red deduced. "Something big, and I mean BIG with a large concentration of Mako went through here. The particles show no sign of distortion or anything at any part of this trail on this bio scan. My friends, I don't think that this is a black hole any more. Whatever was here before us . . . it changed something."
Cloud and Vincent nodded in agreement and Red looked at Vincent intently, but had no idea what he was getting at.
"What?" Vincent asked.
"Press the print key, and get Shera down here! I'm gonna need her expertise right away!" Red growled at him. Vincent was a little angered at Nanaki's rudeness but did so anyways. If this wasn't a black hole, then what exactly had they found out here?
Half an hour from black hole . . .
"We'll reach safe distance from the astral object in twenty minutes," Shera informed Cid, "firing retro rockets now." She flicked two switches above the control console and a quick controlled burst from the nose greatly slowed down The Aeris, positioning the ship into a safe orbit so crew could observe the black hole. Life amongst the ship was slowly returning, people out of their seats and floating about, carrying on simple tasks to assure the smooth running of the giant rocket.
Curious, the only animal in the entire crew trotted up to the science station, his paws lightly padding over cold metal surface with little weight, "Wow, we've come quite a long distance," Red declared, tapping a button as he leaned up and checked the mission log. It had been about a week and a half since the start of their mission, and absolutely nothing had happened during that time. After the surprise of being in space left them, the emptiness of space reminded calmed their nerves and created an endless wallpaper of stars that quickly bored the crew. Some would question why they were out on this mission, but each time Red XIII went around the cabin, talking excitedly to the crew about this discovery, they couldn't help but be energized and await their arrival at the Black Hole.
"Yeah," Cid added, "never would have thought she could go this far on her very first voyage. I know how to build them, don't I?" He slapped the hull of the ship, accidentally firing a probe into direction of the anomaly, "Awww shit!"
Shera cleared her throat and quickly typed instructions to the spherical drone before any harm had been done and corrected its course, "If you're done bragging, let me take care of the rest, okay honey?" she snidely remarked, "There are a few modifications that I added to the ship, so you should watch what you touch."
After Cid finished his little session with Red, the whole cabin went into silence. The crew was anxious and nervous waiting for the data to return from the pod, and they had a right to be. Cid and Nanaki's ambitious expedition would be the first to observe and record information about a black hole, more importantly, from the actual vicinity of one. In the past it had been all done with theorized mathematical equations and powerful telescopes that 'guessed' where black holes were due to distortions in space. No more guessing would ever again be needed once they returned with a plethora of raw information. All theories concerning the mysterious phenomena could be put to rest. It would all be able to be proved now with Shera and Nanaki's findings, and they would become scientific heroes among the academic elite. The silence carried on for a couple more minutes until Cloud started to freak out because of creaking noises throughout the ship.
"What the hell was that?" Cloud began to panic, holding onto his chair tightly.
"Don't worry," Shera assured him, "that's the hull shrinking from the pressure being exerted by the black hole's gravity. I specifically modified the structure of the ship to not buckle under the gravity's pull, but to bend with it instead. We are perfectly safe, so just relax, okay?" Shera flipped a switch and Aeris came to a complete stop, gently rotating in a soft spin, "Okay Nanaki, you can begin your testing now," she paged Red over the intercom, "just don't move the ship any closer, okay?" The sarcastic tone in her voice sounded like she was joking, but the scientist was DEAD serious.
Red's ears popped up in anticipation, "Vincent, could you help me out at the science station?" Red asked, looking up to his friend. He was really the only person the ancient could ask. He never quite trusted Cloud with electronics again after he lost to the computer in the Submarine game at the Gold Saucer and sliced the control panel in half.
"Fine, lead the way," he responded emotionlessly, but he was actually happy just to have something to do. The former employee of Shinra had some experience with computers as a Turk, and wouldn't be totally lost around a keyboard. He pulled a collapsible chair from the wall near the science cluster and strapped into it, the little gravity on the ship barely holding him there.
"Okay, I want to begin by scanning for Alpha radiation particles in this region," Nanaki informed Vincent, looking at the second monitor for results.
Vincent nodded his head and typed "Alpha Radiation" in the search mode. After fifteen minutes of scanning the entire area, a report came back to the main terminal. "Minimal. Probably means that type of radiation isn't emitted from the black whole," Vincent replied as Nanaki jumped up and put his paws against the wall so he could check out the screen better.
"Hmmm, print out that screen for the records," Red ordered, "let's see . . . okay, next scan for Beta radiation."
Another twenty minutes passed. "Nothing," Vincent zipped as he hit the print key before being told to do so again. Gamma and Theta radiation were also check, but both came back nil.
Nanaki was deep in thought. He was busy talking to himself, "No Alpha or Beta radiation, that's weird," Red thought aloud, "usually collapsed stars give off some type of residual radiation," He paced back and forth in the twenty feet by twenty feet observation room, walking in a long oval. It was a decent sized room, that is, it was until all the gadgets and machines were installed. Now it was just another cramped cabin in the spaceship.
"Let's take a break," Vincent suggested, popping his joints to show his discomfort at a terminal. They had already been working for over an hour and had nothing to show for it.
"No!" Red defensively declared to Vincent," wait, I have another idea. Look for neutron particles. Gast's Law dictated that all dead matter gives off neutron particles."
Vincent initiated the scanning program. The minutes ticked by in a slowed state of time as Red went through the results of the previous tests again and again. After a half hour of waiting patiently, the report came back. "There's . . ." Vincent started.
"What?" Nanaki wagged his tail fast, waiting for the verdict. He stared at Vincent almost eerily with joy.
"Nothing," Vincent finished.
Nanaki's jaw dropped. "That is impossible! Stars collapse into dwarf or neutron stars after they expend their fuel or when they become unstable and explode to form black holes. Either way there must be traces of these particles here! The book of Life at Cosmo Canyon said it was so," Red stated in a matter of fact type of voice. He then continued to ponder his choices and re-evaluated the situation he was in. The student and adopted son of Bugenhagen wouldn't dare question the book's teachings, but what if it was wrong?
Cloud ventured inside the room to see what all the commotion was about, "What's going on in here?" he asked Red, only slightly interested.
Vincent, seeing that the dog was ignoring Cloud and only getting deeper in thought, answered his query, "Nothing, Nanaki has become frustrated over the results of his tests. That's all"
"Well I hope –"Cloud was interrupted by the tumbling of materia from his armor, "Crap . . ." he chased after the orb and was about to grab it when the red-bronze colored canine put his paw over it.
"Wait a sec," Red began, "Cloud, you just gave me an idea! Vincent, do a bio-scan and look for any traces of Mako!"
Vincent nodded and seemed to smirk under the collar of his crimson cape as he waited for the results. He seemed to second-guess Red's every decision at this point, and had a feeling it was pointless, but he did it anyway to humor his friend. Everyone waited anxiously for the results, except for Vincent. Fifteen minutes passed, and when the screen came back on, he took a step back. "I don't believe it . . ."Vincent admitted, stunned.
"It looks like a Christmas tree with all those lights on it," Cloud pointed out, moving his finger along the flat screen panel of the monitor on the wall.
Red got on his hind legs and checked out his findings, "Sure it looks spread out now, but the main concentration is centered somewhere in the middle of this thing," Red deduced. "Something big, and I mean BIG with a large concentration of Mako went through here. The particles show no sign of distortion or anything at any part of this trail on this bio scan. My friends, I don't think that this is a black hole any more. Whatever was here before us . . . it changed something."
Cloud and Vincent nodded in agreement and Red looked at Vincent intently, but had no idea what he was getting at.
"What?" Vincent asked.
"Press the print key, and get Shera down here! I'm gonna need her expertise right away!" Red growled at him. Vincent was a little angered at Nanaki's rudeness but did so anyways. If this wasn't a black hole, then what exactly had they found out here?