Prologue: To boldly go
He'd known the risks every time he went out, could list the hundreds of different ways each mission might go wrong. From micrometeorites to unexpected nebulas messing with the radars and comms to hostile wildlife upon touch down. He's seen it and could handle it. He knew the risks. He never thought he'd become another cautionary tale, though.
It was supposed to be a quick flyby around the black hole, taking some readings to make sure his gear was functioning at peak efficiency. Easy. Leave lunch back on the Illumination in time for dinner. It was all so routine. So normal. They couldn't predict the solar flare that shot out and hit him, shutting his engines off and sending him closer to the black hole. Powerless to change his trajectory or speed until it was too late. Bad luck some would say, just a bad roll of the dice. Amateurish he'd say. Now, as he watched on the vid screen of the approaching black void, he knew that for all the risks he intrinsically knew about and for all the talk of accepting it, he didn't feel ready.
"I am pleased to report that engine functionality has been restored." The synthetic voice coming from a nearby speaker spoke.
He snorted to himself. If only she'd done that five minutes ago when it'd make a difference. "Thank you Evia"
"Would you like me to play some music?"
"No." He started watching the monitor screen as various alerts began to flash, informing him of the spike in radiation his ship was now compensating for, increased gravitic pressure. He ignored them all, shutting the alerts off. "Evia."
"How may I help, Specialist Conner?"
"Are….are they…."
"The crew of the Illumination are still attempting to find a way to safely rescue you."
They all knew the common knowledge, though. The event horizon was the point of no return, and he'd passed it five minutes ago. Yet he couldn't help but naively hope that maybe he'd be an exception. That just maybe he'd get lucky once more. "Evia…how…what are my chances?"
There was a pause, the only sound the low humming of the ship's fusion plant before Evia spoke again. "I am unable to calculate that at this time Specialist Conner."
"Ah…."
"I'm sorry."
"Can we get the Illumination on Comms?"
"One moment."
He leaned back, letting out a pained shaky breath as he tried in vain to calm himself, his heart beating faster as each second passed, rubbing small circles on his forehead to rub some of his anxiety away.
"Specialist Conner, I am unable to establish two way communication with the Illumination at this time."
"So…we've really hit the point of no return then." He took a moment to collect himself. "Evia…are we able to receive messages?"
"Yes. Would you like me to play them?"
He nodded, and soon was bombarded by the voices of his friends, the people he lived with for months on end as they went out and surveyed the galaxy in the name of humanity. The best and brightest minds that humanity had to offer, all frantically trying to solve one singular life altering issue: How to get something past the event horizon of a black hole. He heard tears falling from his eyes as their panicked voices rang out, theorizing and running various scenarios on what they could do, so many ideas brought up only to be shut down as unrealistic or even more dangerous to the ship and crew. From panicked frenzied theories down to the quiet resignation of knowing that for all their attempts, he was doomed. Destined to die in the black void of space. They each began to give a personalized farewell to him, he was now nothing more than another soul lost to the uncaring void of space.
He cried out sobbing. He wasn't ready. It wasn't supposed to be like this. God damn it! Just one more month he was gonna go home to see the red sand plains of Mars and watch his sister get married! He was going to finally leave the military after this surveying tour, to settle under the dual sunlit plains of Grac 9 and start a family eventually. There was so much left to do. He'd never even had a chance to see Earth, and so he cried out frustrated and alone into the uncaring void of his cockpit. Each moment that passes he could feel the soft tug from the black hole getting ever stronger on him.
This was how he died.
When the tears ran out and his lungs burned, he tilted his eyes towards the flashing alerts and pressed it, the calm cold voice of Evia his only companion.
"Specialist Conner, radiation shields are at critical levels at this rate they will fail in ten minutes."
He nodded, not that it mattered honestly. He'd die by spaghettification by then as well. He sighed to himself. Perhaps it was childish, but he'd hoped that when the end came, he'd be able to face it head held high, not like a crying child. He turned his eyes towards the thruster controls, his hand hesitating as he lifted it towards it. It's true that there was no way to avoid his impending death, but maybe he could control how he faced his end.
"Evia?"
"Yes, specialist Conner?"
He took a moment to gain his composure, his eyes closing as he did before continuing.
"Reroute all non vital power to shields and thrusters, shut down and retract the comms relay. Shut down all navigation systems and reroute power to the shields."
"Complying."
He nodded his hand finally grabbing the thruster control. "Thank you Evia. I'm…I'm sorry about this."
"For what?"
"Killing us."
"As I am a virtual intelligence program, I can not technically die, Specialist Conner."
He snorted at that. "Fair enough. Hey Evia, can you play something for me?"
"Is there anything in particular you'd like me to play?" To which he shook his head.
"No, surprise me."
"Complying."
And with that an old slow song began to play. He then smiled a bit and forced the throttle forward.
The ever increasing pull from the black hole became an overwhelmingly powerful force as the shuttle sped towards it, into its heart of darkness. Soon alarms began to chirp and wail as gravity itself shifted and changed around him, the closer he got to the end, the more he felt the crushing weight envelop his body, his jaw clenching and straining as his vision blurred tears forming on the edges of his eyes. That was what alerted him to the burning pain that began to cover his body. Evia the ever dutiful program began to alert him of all the damages and hazards the Morningstar currently suffered. The forward visual feed began to cut out, the ever increasing black void taking more and more of the screens as if all the stars in the galaxy began to disappear. He forced his head back, resisting the pull forward as he screamed and groaned out, the bones in his body feeling as though they would be pulled from his body, no as if his body was being pulled apart piece by bloody piece. He could faintly hear Evia's voice in the background, yet his voice and pained scream prevented any hope of recognizing what exactly was said.
He strained to keep his eyes open as he watched in horror as all the colors and lights around him began to fade sucked towards the void, the ship shaking violently as lights began to explode and the controls on his console sparked and cracked. One of the nearby screens cracked before exploding, showering his face with superheated glass shards as they sped towards the front of the ship towards the void rendering him momentarily blinded, but soon the sounds around him began to fade as everything began to fade to black leaving him in the silent abyss screaming silently as he's torn apart.
For an eternity he existed frozen in this state until oddly the forward tug weakened and eventually became a push, soon he could see once more. Surrounded by his damaged cockpit as panels give off sparks and smoke, the red and yellow of alarm and warning lights filling the room as the wailing of various alerts flooded his ears and what was once the sensation of being torn apart became the sensation of being forced back together. A single video screen remained operational, and as the ship sped ever onward faster than it ever as he saw the blinding light of a nearby star. He jerked forward as the ship decelerated and drifted, his nerves inflamed and his bones rattled as he faded in and out of consciousness. Each time he opened his eyes, the screen showed an approaching planet, yet he was unable to gather any details of it.
"Spec-list Co-r, be a-ed plan-ry im-t immi-t." He wanted to respond yet couldn't as he faded from unconscious to consciousness. He knew what was happening. The screen showed it. He'd be crash landing soon on the approaching white world. Soon the fiery cone of atmospheric entry ignited the screen, Evia as per protocol dropped an emergency oxygen mask, which he weakly reached for as the ship shook and rattled, exacerbating the damage as he heard massive tears and damage alerts. A wing falling off, a tear in the hull, and all he saw was a white treetop.
"Brace for impact."
And with that his world went dark, as the ship made a harsh impact.
Notes: I'd like to thank Quinn.til-eon for beta reading, and to all of you for reading! I'd love to hear what you thought of this chapter. Stay safe and see you next time!