Stellarium (Origins): A Space-Time Adventure to the Ends of our Universe (9 page)

Russell had spent two years
aboard the Orion on the first mission to Mars. Unlike this one, that mission
had involved a long trip through space. It had taken them six months to get to
the red planet, after which they had spent two months on the ground, and then
another nine months traveling home.

The Mars mission, though complex,
had been much more predictable. He was only required to make minor adjustments
to the route. The flight plan for the entire period had already been mapped out.
He hardly had to improvise, and he hardly encountered any uncertainties.
Additionally, the Orion that traveled to Mars had included the Habitat Module, where
the crew was able to enjoy a certain degree of privacy and had more space to
move around. The trip to Mars hadn’t involved any black holes, or any
wormholes, and he hadn’t had to fix any problems that NASA hadn’t even imagined;
plus, there had been constant and active communication between him and the
control center in Houston, a luxury that they had to go without on their
current mission.

Nonetheless, Russell’s crew
included two of the most outstanding present-day astronomers. They made a
perfect team for this challenge: the most experienced pilot, who had also
commanded the first human mission to another planet; the most knowledgeable
astronomer regarding not only the technology on the ship, but also the majority
of the regions they were traveling through; the most technologically advanced
ship known to humanity; and, finally, Frank, who wasn’t the best at anything,
but that very aspect made him special, and helped to give the mission a human
component.

“Thirty seconds until the jump. Prepare
yourselves, because depending on where we end up, I may have to turn on the
engines,” Russell alerted them, fearing that they might find themselves facing
the same black hole they had seen earlier.

Those ten minutes flew by this
time. It was “ten minutes of reflection,” where the only thing they could do
was wait for the countdown to be over and for the ship to jump through the
wormhole. By now, they had gotten used to the process.

This time, there was no light
distortion on the horizon, because they couldn’t see a single star outside of
the ship.

Suddenly, the green light on the
accelerator dashboard lights up. The immense black hole appears before them
again. A strong acceleration takes over the ship. The jump was successful...
but they were back near the same black hole as before.

Image 11 
– Astronaut Frank Wood on his EVA to remove the damaged parachute
from the Orion-II. Unidentified galaxy in the background.

(credits and details on the final page)

“We’re back with the black hole,”
said Allison. “I’m collecting data to see exactly where we are, and where we
need to go.”

The crew was tired. The initial
plan for this mission had been simple: travel far away from Earth, jump to the
Draco Galaxy, send out the probe, capture data, jump back to the solar system,
and travel back to Earth. But they had deviated from that plan long ago. Each crew
member’s talents, as well as their ability to find real-time solution to
real-time problems, were now crucial for a successful return.

“Allison, how much longer?” asked
Russell.

“Twelve minutes, maybe less...”

The acceleration was much
stronger than before. It was clear that they were now closer to the black hole
than the first time they had arrived there, contrary to what Allison had
predicted. They had no idea how fast they were moving, or if there were other
objects, maybe asteroids or even planets, also being pulled by the singularity.

Russell checked the cameras,
trying to identify any possible threats, while Allison cross-referenced screens
and screens of data.

Frank, anticipating the worst,
decided to write a final entry in his diary while Allison continued to
calculate their exact position:

This
mission seems to be out of our control. We had to move around in the Draco
Galaxy, which we shouldn’t have had to do, in order to escape from asteroids. Because
of that, when we tried to jump back to the solar system, we arrived in an
unknown galaxy near a singularity, a giant black hole. When we tried to jump
back to Draco, we traveled even farther away, appearing in a huge void. The
only thing we could see in the distance was another galaxy. After repairing the
ship, we jumped again, only to end up back in the previous galaxy, possibly
even closer to the black hole than before. Now, we need to find the exact point
where we arrived in the galaxy the first time, because we know that if we jump
from there, we’ll go back to the Draco Galaxy. Allison is trying to figure that
out right now.

Once
in Draco, we might be able to find the exact location where we arrived at the
start of the mission, which would take us back to the solar system. But it’s so
risky, and there’s so much we don’t know... luckily, we have someone on board
who is able to use the stars to determine our location. All of our luck now
lies in Allison’s abilities as a navigator.

And
if this crew never returns home... well... it’s not time for that yet... I’d
just like to be with my family right now.

“Here’s what I discovered,” said
Allison, breaking the silence. Apparently, we’re in the M31 Galaxy, Andromeda.
Fortunately, the giant black hole in front of us isn’t the supermassive black
hole at the center of this galaxy. If it were, we would be dead. We’re most
likely in the region of one of the 35 black holes in this galaxy. This is a
small one, by the way.”

“And where’s the spot where we
arrived? Or rather, where do we need to go to get back to Draco?” asked Frank.

“Well, that’s where we have a
problem,” said Allison. “The spot where we need to create the wormhole to get
back to Draco is on the other side of that black hole.”

“Are you sure about that, Allison?”
asked Russell.

“Yes, Russ. I cross-referenced
the current data and star images with ones captured by the cameras as soon as
we arrived here from Draco the first time. We have to get to the other side.”

“Allison, I know that I’m the
commander and pilot of this ship, and I can take you wherever you say, but I’m
going to need you to explain how we’re supposed to get to the other side
without getting sucked in by this singularity,” said Russell.

Allison grabbed her computer and
started doing calculations. She looked at the maps created by the telescope,
and at the ship’s acceleration data.

“Okay, here’s what I’m thinking,”
she said, drawing their location on a blank sheet of paper. “We’re going to
have to position the ship at this angle and then turn on the engines until we get
this point here. Russell will have to calculate the power level and how long
we’ll need to maintain it. After that, the gravity of the singularity will
continue to pull us really hard, even more so than now. We’re going to speed up
a lot, probably even getting close to light speed... and that acceleration is
going to become almost unbearable. However, after that maneuver, we’ll enter
the black hole’s orbit and thus won’t be sucked in by it. At that point, the
acceleration will disappear and it will just be a matter of time before we get
to the other side. That’s why it’s really important that we follow the path I’m
going to map out,” Allison emphasized.

Russell and Frank listened
attentively to her reasoning.

“Then,” she continued, “after
we’ve orbited about a quarter of the singularity, we’ll turn on the engines to
reach escape speed and exit the orbit. That will take us to the jump point, on
the other side of the black hole.”

“Allison, how are we going to be
able to stop the ship? The Orion-II doesn’t have enough fuel left to slow down
from the kind of speed you’re talking about. In fact, even if our fuel were at
300%, it would still be impossible. We won’t be able to stop, even after the
jump,” Russell commented.

“Yes, we’re going to have to
think of a way to do it,” she said. “But, for now, I need you to calculate the
fuel and power parameters that will allow us to arrive at the point indicated
here, and thus orbit the singularity... if we wait much longer, it will be too
late.”

Russell agreed and started doing
calculations. Meanwhile, Frank asked Allison:

“I need to plan how much oxygen
and life support systems we’ll need here. Do you have any idea how many days it
will take us to get to the other side?”

“This leg of the trip will take,
according to my calculations, approximately one year.”

In that moment, Russell stops
calculating and looks at Allison. Frank makes a confused face and asks:

“Did you just say ‘one year’?”

“Yes, Frank... but let me
explain. If you guys don’t mind, we need to finish our calculations first and
get the ship on course, and then we’ll have time to talk about it...”

“Yeah, we’ll have ‘one year’ to
talk about it, right?” said Russell ironically.

“Allison, are you crazy?” Frank
shouted. “The supplies on the ship are designed for a 15-day mission. Even with
the extra supplies provided by NASA, we only have 40 days worth of oxygen,
water, food... not to mention fuel. And of those 40 days, we’ve already used up
almost ten. How could you possibly think we have enough for one year?” he
asked, his head in his hands.

“Okay, I’m going to respond
quickly so we can continue with the plan and stop wasting time,” she said. “It
will be one year on Earth... we’re going to reach 80% light speed on this part
of the trip. We’ll be subjected to constant acceleration approximately four
times greater than Earth’s gravity. This speed will distort time, which comes
from Einstein’s general theory of relativity... that one year on Earth, for us
here on the ship, will only last about eight days. Now, we really need to get
on course,” she concluded.

Russell still wasn't entirely
convinced. He looked at Frank, who also seemed to be questioning Allison’s
logic.

“So, for us, the trip will only
last eight days, but on Earth, a year will have gone by?” the commander asked.

“Yes, but not only on Earth. Any
person who happened to be watching us from a referential point outside of the
ship would observe us taking a year to get to the other side. But, in here,
time will expand, meaning it will only take us about eight days,” the
astronomer repeated.

“So, my kids will be a year older
by the time we get back?” the engineer asked.

“Frank, I’m going to be honest
with you... it’s going to be much longer than year. We’re close to a
singularity; we’re going to travel through an area with extremely high gravity,
which also distorts space-time. Speed isn’t the only thing that affects time;
gravity does, as well. And this place is a huge gravitational field. Newton’s
mechanics barely apply here. The trip itself will only take us eight days, which
will be about one year for people on Earth, but the simple fact that we’re
going to be orbiting a singularity will make time pass differently for us. It
will almost certainly be more than a year on Earth... it might be two, three,
four... it’s just not possible for us to know exactly how much time will go by.
Can we get the ship on course, now?” she begged.

Russell finished up his
calculations and immediately positioned the ship so they could activate the
engines.

“Prepare for thrust. We’re at 90%
power and we’ll have to continue at this rate for three hours. According to my
calculations, by the time we’re finished, we’ll have less than 20% fuel left,”
said Russell. “Then, the gravity of the black hole will do the rest.”

“All systems go,” Frank
confirmed.

“Activating engines in three,
two, one... ignition!”

The ship was overcome by an
immense force. They started accelerating toward the black hole. Russell had to
make slight adjustments to the course as the gravity of the singularity pulled
them in directions that he hadn’t anticipated in his calculations. Allison
strapped into her seat as the ship accelerated. This seemed much worse than the
launch, despite the fact that there was no vibration or noise like before.

A while later, Frank continued
monitoring the temperature of the engine, as well as the ship’s fuel level. The
internal batteries were down to almost three percent, enough for one more hour.
He wasn’t too concerned because he knew that they would turn off the thrust in
about 40 minutes, at which point he would have 20 minutes to open up the solar
panels and recharge the batteries. He was, however, worried that the solar
panels might not resist the gravitational force of the black hole for that
long.

Although there weren’t any large
stars around, there was a lot of light. The light attracted by the black hole
reflected off of the dust clouds on the horizon. He thought it would be enough
to keep the Orion-II running at minimum power until the end of those eight days.
By the time they got back to Draco, Valkiria would be crucial for them to get
their batteries back to 100% again.

“Russell, Allison, I want to make
a suggestion, but it has certain risks. I think we need to talk it over and
make a decision,” Frank said.

“Go on, what is it?” asked
Russell.

“The forces that we’re being
subjected to are increasing by the minute. I'm worried about the ship’s rings.
I don’t think they’re going to be able to handle so many days under such
intense acceleration. They’re long and thin, and they might break if we leave
them open while traveling in these conditions,” the engineer explained.

“So, are you suggesting that we
stow the rings and return to the same configuration as when we launched from
Earth?” Russell asked.

“Yes. The problem is that the
Orion-II wasn’t designed for its rings to be stowed. They were made to be
opened just once, after exiting Earth’s orbit. However, I can rewrite the
module’s controller program and force them to be stowed,” Frank responded.

“And what are the risks?” Allison
asked.

“After so many days, subjected to
such intense acceleration, there’s always the possibility that some mechanisms
might be damaged, which could potentially keep us from being able to reposition
the rings. But the risk of damage to those mechanisms is lower than the risk of
damage to the rings,” he responded.

“If that were to happen, we’d be
trapped here forever. Without those rings, there’d be no way for us to create a
wormhole and jump back,” Russell said.

“That’s why we need to make this
decision as a group. If we don’t do anything, our structure might not resist
these forces. Given these two options, I think the less risky choice would be
to stow the rings,” Frank said.

“I vote for stowing them, as
well,” Allison said.

“Okay, let’s do that. How long
will it take, Frank?”

“It should take less than 30
minutes.”

“Proceed,” the commander said.