Spider-Bat: New Way Home
Chapter Eight: Black Hole Sun
Houston Space Center…
"YAY! HOORAY!" The sound of applause could be heard all around as the mission control tower announced the confirmation of a black hole successfully being opened up in outer space.
"Congratulations!" The fifty men and women looked around at one another, shaking each other's hands. "We did it!" They smiled euphorically.
The black hole was approximately two-hundred feet in diameter all around. The length of it was yet to be proven.
"We are going to be sending the satellite through next." One of the men sitting at the control console informed the room.
The satellite was a test subject to determine how far, and at what speed, the worm-hole could be traveled through before the object made its exit on the other side.
Seconds later. "This is the control tower… The satellite has entered the gravitational field of the black hole."
Just as he said that, the satellite's tracking system showed it was rapidly getting sucked in.
"I have speeds of 100,000 miles per hour… Now two-hundred… Three…. Six... 900,000 miles per hour and climbing. And the pressurized cabin is showing very little inertia, which is excellent."
Suddenly, once the satellite got up to a speed of over one-million miles per hour it went completely offline. At that time, the only thing the witnesses in the control tower could do was wait to find out where its end point was at. However, Bruce already had an approximate time he thought the satellite would come back online.
"If my calculations are correct, the satellite will be back online within the next half hour. It will have traveled nearly three-hundred million miles through the worm-hole, and it should be orbiting somewhere close to Mars."
Everyone's faces were amazed at his prediction. This type of math was completely different than anything they had worked with before. And it was fairly new to Bruce as well.
"Does anybody know what that means?" Bruce continued. "Does anyone know the significance of traveling that far and in that amount of time?" he asked, looking around the room at a few blank stares.
Bruce then noticed someone's hand go up in the far corner of the room, the man's arm stretching out far in the air, trying to get Bruce's attention. Bruce couldn't quite see who it was at first because there were a couple other people standing in front of him. "Please speak." Bruce acknowledged the waving hand.
The man stood up. "If we traveled that far and at that rate of speed, we would have accomplished traveling at light speed," he proudly informed the room.
"PRECISELY!" Bruce blurted. "What is your name?"
"Reed Richards, sir. And I'm a big fan of your work."
"Reed… Richards?" Bruce repeated in awe because he couldn't believe the company he was in. "And I'm a big fan of yours as well. You're the one who helped us create several of the specs for the Space Shuttle Discovery 13. The shuttle we hope to send into the black hole soon."
"Correct." Reed replied.
"Happy to finally meet you in person." Bruce smiled.
"Feelings are mutual, sir."
"My son is the Captain of that ship!" J. Jonah Jameson loudly interjected, wanting to give recognition to his son John.
"Yes, sir! He is a very fine pilot!" Banner loudly agreed.
"The best pilot!" J.J. declared.
General "Thunderbolt" Ross reached out to shake J.J.'s hand. "Yes. Your son is one of the best pilots I've ever had the pleasure of working with. You should be very proud of him."
"Ahem…" A woman standing next to General Ross coughed to get everyone's attention. "Let's not forget about the one who founded this project, which led to the discovery of the black hole in the first place… Dr. Robert Bruce Banner." she pointed in his direction, allowing the room to clap specifically for him, also causing J.J. to scowl at the redirection.
"Thank you, Betty… Miss Ross." he blushed, not so much because the room was clapping for him but more to the fact that he and Betty secretly had a thing for each other. "Thank you all for helping with this project," he waved to the room.
Twenty minutes later…
"Sir, we are getting feedback from the satellite. Everything still seems to be perfectly intact."
Bruce rushed over to the main monitor. "What is its location?"
"Approximately two-hundred and ninety million miles away… orbiting Mars, sir!"
"Yay! Hooray!" Everyone broke out in celebration once again.
"Goddammit, you did it, Bruce!" General Ross gave Bruce a generous pat on his back. Then General Ross turned towards the control panel. "Let Discovery 13 know they are now cleared for takeoff."
"Yes, sir."
"My son will be the first person on Mars!" J.J. announced. "He'll be remembered as a goddamn national hero!" he continued bragging. He then got on the phone and let the Daily Bugle know what was about to happen. "I want the headlines to read, John Jameson- National Hero And First Man On Mars!" he instructed. "And I want it printed before the evening edition comes out!" he added just before hanging up.
"How long do we have before the worm-hole closes up?" General Ross asked Bruce.
"Based on my-"
"-Wait a second!" J.J. cut Bruce off. "What do you mean, how long before the worm-hole closes up?"
"The worm-hole isn't sustainable." Bruce replied. "And like I started to say before, based on my calculations, it only has about a three hour window before it re-implodes on itself."
"How will they get back?" J.J. continued asking.
Bruce looked over towards Reed Richards. "Would you mind taking this question?"
"Certainly," Reed was happy to oblige. "The space shuttle is well equipped to make the journey back home by itself. It will just take about four or five months to get back instead of only thirty minutes."
J.J. turned to look at one of the monitors that was displaying satellite imagery of outer space. "Why can't they just come back through the same worm-hole thingy."
"Because the worm-hole only travels in one direction. And once it collapses, it is completely gone. The rocket ship your son is steering doesn't have a Gamma-blaster on it, so it won't be able to create its own worm-hole back towards us, therefore having to be flown back to the Earth on its own," Reed responded. "But… Like I said, the space shuttle is very well equipped for its return home."
Moments later…
"SSD13. This is Houston Control Tower. We are set for go."
"Copy that, Houston Control Tower."
"We are now beginning our thirty second countdown."
30…. 29…. 28…. 27…. 26….
25.. "Throttle-rocket-nozzle-booster-steering-check has occurred." Captain Jameson relayed to the tower.
22…. 21…. 20…. "The Firing Chain is armed."
18…. 17…. 16…. "Go for Main Engine start."
14…. 13…. 12….11….
"T minus 10…"
9….
8….
7….
6….
5…. "All three engines are up and burning."
4….
3….
2….
1….
0 AND LIFT OFF!
A huge white cloud was forming on the ground as the bright yellow flame launched the Space Shuttle Discovery 13 into the sky.
"Your wings are looking good, 13, and you are right on course."
"Rock N' Roll!" John Jameson exclaimed. "Let's go make history!"
"Indeed sir! You will be traveling nearly twenty-seven thousand miles per hour, and approaching orbit within eight minutes. And your destination for the black hole is in ten."
"Copy that, Houston. Ten minutes and then we hop on the express lane going a billion miles per hour!"
"More like seven-hundred million, but you were close enough. Your cabin has been pressurized for over a billion miles per hour, so you should be good either way."
For the next few minutes, the control tower monitored the statistics of the black hole, making sure its properties were holding up to the math Banner had presented.
Soon after, the space shuttle was within a minute of the black hole.
"13, you are within thirty seconds of the black hole's gravitational field. Its properties are holding steady and you are still on mission for go."
"Copy that, Houston."
And just like when the satellite entered the black hole's gravitational pull, the SSD13 was sucked in.
Within seconds, the shuttle was already traveling more than a million miles per hour, and transmission had not gone offline yet.
"Houston, this is 13. We are all doing fine. Very little inertia thus far."
Bruce and everyone else gave a sigh of relief. "What does it look like up there?" Bruce asked.
"Everything looks like a bluish-white haze when we look out the window." John replied.
"That's because you are soaring so fast. In fact, you are the first ones to ever travel at that speed, and it will only get faster."
"It's an honor, sir. And soon we will be on M-" John's voice was suddenly cut off and the shuttle was now offline. Thanks to the previous satellite readings, they knew they should be back online within minutes.
However, fifteen minutes later, the mission control tower began having warning signs flash across their monitors.
"Sir, the properties of the worm-hole are becoming unstable!"
Bruce reached down and started typing commands on the keyboard. "This can't be right. The worm-hole should still be open for at least another hour."
"The satellite we sent through first is showing the same validity."
J.J. rushed towards the monitor. "What does that mean!?" he demanded to know. "What's happening with my son!?"
"How far through the worm-hole have they gone?" Bruce asked.
"At this time they will have traveled slightly more than two-hundred million miles, sir."
"It just has to remain stable for another seven minutes and they will be home free." Bruce proclaimed.
Everyone stood there holding their breath, watching the warning alerts continue to blink faster and faster. Until suddenly-
"It's gone, sir." The technician sadly spoke. "The entire thing is gone."
Everyone in the room began looking around at each other. They weren't exactly understanding what was going on.
"What does it mean if the hole closed up!?" J.J. bellowed. "My boy will be okay…RIGHT!?"
Bruce stood there shaking his head. "I don't know," he said in shock. "It should have still been stable… Somehow the calculations weren't right… What have I done?"
"What have you done!?" J.J. continued to moan.
General Ross grabbed J.J. by his arm because he was becoming rather aggressive with Bruce. "Calm down! We have the top scientists in this room! They will figure something out."
"Actually…" Reed stood up and began walking up to the control console. "I believe I might have an idea…" he announced, typing several things into the computer. "When you put in the rate of speed the space shuttle was flying at the point the worm-hole imploded, and you put in the reading of the satellite monitor from the other side, you will notice that something else happened."
Bruce looked closely at the numbers. "When the worm-hole collapsed… it reopened in another direction."
"What does that mean?" Betty Ross asked.
"That means they could still be alive… traveling through another worm-hole." Bruce replied. "And if the same anomaly continues to happen?..."
"...They could be bounced all around through space until they finally come out the other side of it." Reed finished Bruce's sentence.
"Where will that be?" Betty continued asking.
Reed began doing more math on the computer. Based on this equation… they might come out somewhere close to… Neptune."
"How long does it take to get back from Neptune?" J.J. asked.
"About twelve years." Bruce answered.
"TWELVE YEARS!? Are you freakin' nuts!?"
"They aren't equipped for a twelve year journey back." Reed informed them.
"Then you will have to go rescue them!" J.J. demanded.
"How can we do that?" General Ross replied. "We aren't even sure if that is where they will end up."
"My team and I could do it, sir." Reed piped up. "Let us go up there. We'll create another black hole… a bigger one… One that will create a worm-hole far enough to reach. We'll also equip the spacecraft with a Gamma-blaster, so that we can get back sooner after we find them."
"We don't have the financial resources to back a mission of that magnitude. We barely had enough to launch this mission!" General Ross declared.
"I'll fund it!" A gentleman yelled out, causing everyone to look in his direction.
"Who are you?" The General asked.
"I am Doctor Victor von Doom… And I will fund this mission." he stated again. "But under one condition… I have to be able to go along with Reed's team."
Suddenly, the technician began noticing something strange showing up in the data as they diagnosed what had just happened. "Sir, look at this?"
Bruce looked at the screen. "What is it?"
"While we were busy trying to figure out where SSD13 was at, something else came through the worm-hole from the opposite direction."
"That's impossible. It could only go one way."
"We couldn't pick it up on the radar, but look at the ultrasound imaging of the black hole just as it started to close. And it was big. The two-hundred foot opening could barely hold it."
Bruce and Reed studied the picture. "Is that the shape of a-
-skull?" they said at the same time.
"Where is it at now?" Bruce asked.
"It's gone, sir. That was the last image we received before it completely vanished along with the black hole."
Bruce and Reed gave each other blank stares. They weren't exactly sure if the imaging was correct or if it might have been glitching somehow.
"This could be the reason why the worm-hole imploded ahead of time." Reed stated. "It was drawing too much weight and resistance from whatever that skull-shaped thing was."
Bruce could only ponder the possibilities. "If that worm-hole was traveling at light speed, and it could only be traveled in one direction... How powerful would a spaceship have to be if it could travel against it?"