“Voyager 3, come in, Voyager 3”, the communication module crackled to life in the empty cockpit as the behemoth spaceship flew listlessly through the dark space.
7 HOURS AGO
“Raise the shields,” orders Commander Yan to his co-pilot Castillo who does the same and unbuckles his safety belt with zero gravity bubble. The Sun comes into view for Commander Yan as he takes in the beauty of the giant red angry star.
Castillo looks through an airlock window and watches Engineer Natalya in a spacewalk repairing the communication panel. It has been three days since they lost all communication with home. “It might be another 15 mins”, Natalya’s voice echoes inside Castillo’s ear.
” We don’t have 15 mins. Please finish your walk and come in.” Says Castillo, barely containing the glee of seeing the Sun up close. “We don’t want you to be burnt crisp like a toast,” chuckles Castillo as he continues, “ I can see your eye roll from here, my love.”
Putting the Voyager 3 on autopilot, Yan releases the safety belt and floats to the center of the ship, which houses the navigation systems, an AI, stronger and more intuitive from the constant intake of data, taking almost a million decisions from a small error report to oxygen supply for the crew. Fondly named Poe after the author himself, it comes to life in a human-sized holographic character for more viscous conversation for the crew. Yan hated talking to Poe and would gladly drive a stick with Voyager 3.
“Hello, Commander Yan; it is 21:00 Earth Time, 22nd December 2054. We are almost reaching the inner zone of the Sun in Milky Way Galaxy and will reach the critical point in four hours.” Poe’s electronic trilling voice fills the antechamber.
Yan nods absently and checks the navigation system himself as the slingshot maneuver needs precise timing, trajectory, and a little bit of luck from the invisible gods. “Still don’t believe in me, Commander Yan?” questions Poe with his head cocked to a side. “No,” Yan says flatly, staring at Poe with hard lines around his eyes, leading to Poe letting a sly smile and a chuckle out.
“What’s the oxygen and sleep state situation? Is everything ready?” Yan asks Poe without lifting his eyes from the screen.
Poe lets a sigh and states matter-of-factly, “Our oxygen reserves are at 98% as our Biologist Ann is taking care of our plants in the green room. The sleep pods are ready and functional for deep sleep for the crew after the slingshot. 64 years till the Voyager reaches the destination wormhole.”
“Thank you, Poe; get ready for the maneuver.” Yan floats to the green room to check in on Ann and Christy, the Astrophysicist in the crew.
“Commander Yan,” Christy calls out, leading him to an empty chamber next to the green room. Once there, Christy takes a deep breath and says, “I have some concerns about our destination wormhole.” Yan raises an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything. Christy continues, “The energy emitted by the wormhole is greatly we have seen, and it is always constant. This is not normal wormhole behavior. I’ve been tracking it since we crossed Venus.”
Yan lightly touches Christy’s arm, which does little to nothing to Christy’s growing worries. “We’ll deal with that when we get there. Now can you please get to your station and get ready?” Yan nods, reassuring Christy for the time being. Christy nods, eyes on the floor, and she floats away.
Natalya and Castillo check their communications within the cockpit as Yan enters, “Report Natalya.” Natalya’s stern expression crosses her face as she says, “It was a failure Commander, the communication panel was fried, and any attempts to change it with a new one were faced with the same result. It’s too hot for the panel to survive. I barely made it inside. I have to try after we cross the Sun.”
” Any other ideas to establish a connection with home? “ Enquires Yan is looking at Castillo and a very sweaty Natalya.
A curt nod from both made Yan second guess the mission, and Christy’s concerns were swirling in his head. “ Take positions; we are in the zone.”
Poe comes to life in the cockpit and assumes control of the navigation “Ready, Commander, or do you have any final speech? “ Castillo snickers and fails badly to control his laughter. Even Yan cracks a smile.
“Full thrusters,” commands Yan as Poe springs to action in his holographic form. “ Beautiful, isn’t she? “muses Poe as he watches the Sun get closer and closer.
Yan watches as Poe flickers out of his form as a deep low humming fills the spaceship. The intensity increases further as they travel toward the Sun. The Voyager crosses the fiery Sun and finds a black hole hidden right behind the Sun, defying all laws of space, gravity, and sanity.
The crew watches as horror fills their heart and mind reeling with the existence of a black hole, an ancient being that shows them knowledge of everything and nothing at the same time. Insanity is the word for this formless blob of death eating, and yet nothing can fill its stomach. Death seems imminent and yet useless because nothing matters anymore.
” LEAVE,” booms the voice as the spaceship is rattled like a chew toy with a dog. Castillo and Ann try their might to raise Poe, who is unresponsive in the motherboard network systems.
“I can’t die, I can’t die, I-“ Yan stops midway and mutters,” It wants me,” Yan screams, trying to drown out the sounds, watching helplessly as his crew kills themselves, but is drawn to the sound. The Voyager is running on autopilot, and Poe appears in front of a crazed commander as he witnesses the abyss of a black void that will swallow the ship.
“Till next time,” smiles Poe, watching the commander walk to the auto eject and smile for the last time as the black hole welcomes him. The Voyager is truly empty as it crosses the event horizon. “ My tribute is done, “Poe bows reverentially towards the black hole like an ancient God. The static and voices from the home base crackle as Poe flickers out of existence.
___________________________________
“Raise the shields,” orders Commander Yan to his co-pilot Castillo and stops midway as something weird hits him. He has gone through this before. Goosebumps cover his neck, and a chill runs down his spine. Shaking away the ominous feeling, Yan goes about his duties as the view of the Sun fills up in front of the Voyager.