Which Came First (Revised Final Version 2/20/08) By Lee Crystal SPACE a vacuum, an almost empty nothingness. Only scant amounts of matter litter the immense void. Collecting together into large swirls to hang in the inky darkness like great unsigned works of art. Some of these particles are destined to become stars. The suns live for a time and then die. At the moment of their demise, their raw elements will be returned back into the universe, to begin the cycle of creation and destruction all over again. The large dull silver cone shaped star cruiser, Carl Sagan, moves silently through space. Halfway along its hull is a ring of bright glowing braking engines. They keep the ship in orbit a safe distance from the black hole, Cygnus X-1. The violent vortex continues to suck matter from a nearby star. Long ago this sun was one of a double star system, until its partner collapsed into a massive gravity whirlpool. For millions of years it has constantly been sapping the life out of its companion. In some time, yet to come, it will have completely consumed it. Sending the matter to some other place in this or another universe, maybe even to another time. A small silver sphere emerges from the Carl Sagan. The globe's small engines light up and they steer it towards the vortex. It is quickly grabbed with a furious jerk from the Black Hole. Using its small engines it is able to offer some resistance, but only enough to adjust its course as it falls inward. The sphere quickly gains speed and merges with the swirling hot gases from the nearby star bound for the same fate. Then it's gone. In the center of this ship's square, drab gray bridge is a set of consoles configured into a circle. Most of the main control stations of the ship are here. More consoles are placed along three of the four walls in the room. Facing the bow of the ship, taking up most of the forth wall, is a large viewport. It angles down and outward due to the cone-shaped structure of the vessel. The only access doors, to the bridge, are at the center of the two side walls. Opposite the large view port is a large Captain's console, centered toward the back of the circle of control consoles. The entire room is bathed in a soft warm glow that emanates from the remaining unused wall space and ceiling. Its intent is to mimic real sunlight inside the ship. At the moment Captain Meria Karn sits at her station. She is looking up at a three dimensional display above the center of the command consoles. It is showing her all of the relevant tactical information about the ship and anything near it. This visual holographic simulation indicates that the ship is near the edge of one of the most destructive spatial anomalies ever known. The glow from the hologram shines in her pale blue eyes and glints off her platinum blond hair. As a middle-aged woman she still retaines some soft youthful features. Even though her body is slightly plumper now, she still managed to maintain a pleasant feminine shape in her lime green command uniform. “What is our status Carl?” she asked looking at the holographic display. “Braking drives are at fifteen percent, allowing us to maintain a stable orbit around the black hole,” said a humble, serene voice from all around her. Meria was still impressed with her ship's unusual main computer. It still seemed funny to her that whenever it was possible a ships computer voice and Artificial Intelligence, or AI, was modeled after its namesake. To simply name a vessel after a famous person was no longer enough. Now they had to give the ship's main computer a matching persona. She was always told it was a fitting gesture and just another way of honoring the person the ship was named after. She was given command of the Carl Sagan many years ago. It was one of the new mark-ten model space cruisers, fresh out of the Jupiter Station Shipyards. She was told by the engineers that her ship's AI was a rather special case. They said it was a little more than ironic that this ship's AI was based on a man who didn't believe in an afterlife or reincarnation and that he was, in a strange way, being reborn. Maybe not as a man, but as the master computer for a ship that would transverse through the stars. Something the ship's namesake only did in what he called a ship of the imagination. Meria looked over to her left at an officer, dressed in an olive green uniform, seated at the ship's helm and navigation console. He was a young man who had moved up through the ranks rather quickly. There were rumors it had more to do with his handsome features and blond locks than any real skills. The Captain on the other hand knew different, he was a bright and talented officer that had a great knack for being a pilot. She asked him, “Mister Johnson what is your assessment?” With a few quick punches at his console's holographic touch screen and a glance over the responses from another visual holographic screen, he replied, “Confirmed Captain.” Meria knew that the ship's main computers did most of the work for her crew, but the electronic creature of their own making was not completely trusted. She even thought it was a little sad that after all this time they still needed to keep a wary eye on this particular creation. The crew constantly trains and readies themselves to handle any problem in case it ever fails, or worse, turns against them. With a tap of a holographic button at her station the Captain neutralized her view of the large computer-generated tactical hologram. The projection system is able to do this without interfering with the view of the other crew members around the ring of control consoles. She could now see directly out of the view port and witness the violent swirls of gas being drawn around and around in a disk. At the center is blackness, nothing can be seen past the event horizon. Neither light nor gravity can escape past this point and somewhere beyond that is where their gravity-well probe has gone. Captain Karn stands up and walks around the right side of the circular main command consoles towards two seated men. One of them is James Nex, the ship's primary science officer, who is busy at his science station. He is a well-seasoned officer and has been with Captain Karn for a number of years. She believes him to be a little older than herself, but looks much younger. Nex has always been prideful of his good looks and excellent physique, but in his dark green uniform he has never looked all that impressive to her. The other is a Science Council official who sat at an adjoining auxiliary science station, frowning over the results from the latest probe. They only know him as Doctor Val. He appears to be much older then either of them. To Meria he seems to be well over a hundred. His wrinkled brow and short white hair made that obvious. Even his long, bold blue robes couldn't hide it. The Captain wondered why the Doctor had not used some of the widely available regenerating methods. With them most people are able to live well over two hundred years and not look much older then she was now. Quietly, she walked up behind them and bent over her science officer's shoulder and inquired, “Well, Mister Nex?” Quickly Nex spun around in his chair to face her with a wrinkled smirk. He then stated, “As I have tried to tell Doctor Val here it would fail and it has.” The Doctor quickly snapped back, “We don't know that for certain. It should work. The Science Council has reviewed all the data on this phenomena and has concluded…” “Well Doctor,” the science officer interrupted with a soft growl, pointing at a detailed holographic tactical screen on his console, “As you can see, it has not!” Captain Karn stood erect and looked at them both. Calmly she said, “Then I guess that is that.” Glaring up at Karn Val asked in a high squeak, “What do you mean Captain?” “Carl, what is probe bay status?” She asked looking at the bridge's main console's tactical display, now visible from her current point of view. “It is currently empty Captain,” responded a soft warm voice as the tactical hologram displayed a number of images to confirm it. Looking back at Doctor Val Meria Karn said, “We had fifteen probes Doctor, no more. That's what I mean.” Val looked back up at the Captain and replied, “Yes I know, but a certain number of them were necessary. Each probe was designed to gather as much information as possible. Once the probe plots a potentially safe course, it performs a laser burst transmission of that data back to us before passing through the event horizon and entering the singularity. After the time delay, we finally pick up that information and use it to program the next probe. With each successive probe, new scans are taken and new trajectories are calculated.” “Doctor, I am well aware of these facts since we have been here for several weeks.” Ignoring the Captain, Val continued. “With each probe we have been able to improve on our tidal map of this black hole. Once one of the probes finds a safe path and makes it through, it is programmed to return. We should have had a successful return by probe ten or eleven. The extra probes were originally only for backups in case we had hardware or software problems.” The entire time Val was talking, Nex was rolling his eyes up at the ceiling in frustration. Seeing this Doctor Val added, while looking directly at Nex, “I guess it's possible that this failure could be related to programming or human error.” “What are you saying Doctor! Are you implying that it's my fault?” Nex asked looking back at the Doctor. Sarcastically Val replied, “Well, we should have had a return by now. The Science Council's calculations…” “Are based on a false premise to begin with!” interrupted the science officer. “Are you saying this is not a Cauchy horizon singularity, and you don't think we can transverse through the less violent regions of this kind of extremely large black hole?” “No Doctor. The fluctuations in the Bekenstein-Hawking radiation combined with the fact this black hole is getting a regular stream of matter falling into it clearly suggests that it is a Cauchy horizon singularity. You know as well as I that this kind of anomaly was theorized over three hundred years ago.”  Sternly gazing at the Doctor, Nex added, “You know very well what I'm referring to.” “Oh, not that again,” Val grumbled', “You're not still sticking to those old ridiculous theories are you Mister Nex?” “Even if the probe makes it to the other side, it isn't coming back. I have…” “Please Mister Nex,” the Doctor interrupted. “Let's not bring up your crazy notions into this.” With a wide grin Val added, “It was for that very reason you were drummed out of the Science Council long ago.” The Captain spoke up and asked, “Well now. Is this true Mister Nex?” She began to realize that her first officer may be much older then she imagined. “Yes,” Nex reluctantly replied. With her left eyebrow raised Captain Karn stated, “Hum, I never saw that in your records Mister Nex.” “Of course not!” snapped Val. “The Science Council would have been sure to expunge that mistake long ago.” Immediately the Captain could see Nex's facial muscles lock up and his body began to tremble with rage. Still managing to maintain his composure, Nex gazed up at her and asked, “Sir, I request to be relieved. If anything comes in I am sure Carl and Doctor Val could handle it.” Captain Karn knew Nex must have been rattled. This was the first time he had ever requested to be relieved from duty. The Captain thought it might be prudent to allow it under the circumstances. “Very well Mister Nex, you are dismissed, but if something major happens, you will be called on to return to your post.” Nex's tight facial muscles clearly relaxed once he heard the Captain's response. He slowly stood up and walked off the bridge. The Captain then focused her attention on Val. He appeared to be enjoying Nex's discomfort and was even smiling. She realized the Science Council Representative and her science officer must have had a troubling history. As a result of all this, she decided then and there she didn't like this pompous, wind bag of a man very much. Once Nex was gone, the Captain bends over and leans into Val's face and states, “I realize my orders are to assist the Science Council in this endeavor and turn all of the ship's resources over to you Doctor. However…” She pauses and gets closer to whisper, “I will not tolerate the abuse of my crew.” Standing upright she glared at Val with her cold pale blue eyes and asserted, “Do I make myself clear, Doctor!” Val's smile instantly turns into a scow. Quickly he protests, “Captain, I must remind you, that you are here at my discretion and I will…” “Do I make myself clear!” disrupted Karn through clinched teeth. Reluctantly Doctor Val replies, with a grimace, “Yes, Captain.” “Good, I'm glad we understand each other.” she said curtly while smiling. Turning to face the ship's hologram she asks, “Carl, can you confirm we have no tracking on any of the probes?” The large hologram before them at the center of the circle of consoles changed. It showed a number of different images of the anomaly as the computer checked all around it with the ship's sensors. In a warm, matter of the fact tone, the ship's computer replies, “Based on the equations logged by Officer Nex, Doctor Val, and my scanners I can not confirm. There are many false telemetry echoes due to the time distortions caused by the black hole.” She stared back down at the old man and asked, “Well then Doctor. Just how much longer shall we remain here?” With a loud sigh Val turns to look at his and Nex's consoles. After a few seconds of reviewing the data on the two small three-dimensional screens, he replies, “I'm not sure Captain. I'll need a little time to further calibrate the computer and check for any possible bad vectors the probes may have taken.” Looking up at the ceiling Karn thought for a few seconds to herself. Once returning her gaze back on Val she said, “Very well Doctor. You still have full access to Carl so I'll give you two hours. After that we will need to re-evaluate our situation.” Looking back up at Karn with scorn, Val snapped “Captain, I'm supposed to have your complete cooperation in this endeavor. The Council…” Interrupting the Captain sternly said, “I am well aware of my orders Doctor, but I will not waste time in deep space orbiting this anomaly when we could be doing more important tasks elsewhere. You must remember that this is still a military vessel and it has other responsibilities.” Val snarled back, “Captain I will log a formal complaint with the Council if you pull me away from my work too soon. My research is far too valuable to abandon.” “That is up to you Doctor,” She curtly replied. “I will do what I…” “You believe Mister Nex don't you Captain!” Val interrupted, staring up at her through squinted eyes. “That's why you think this is a waste of time.” With surprise Kern asked, “What are you talking about Doctor?” The Doctor answered with anger, “You think his loony theories are true! That's why you want to abandon my work!” “Look Doctor,” Karn said trying her best to remain calm and professional. “I didn't know Nex had any special theories on black holes until you brought it up. In fact, I was not even aware he was a former member of the Science Council until a little while ago.” With a sudden serenity, Val asked, “So he has not told you any of his perverse ideas then Captain?” Cautiously she replied, “No Doctor.” Turning to look at his console, Val coldly states, “Very well then Captain, I will see what I can learn from the data we have gathered.” With curiosity Karn looked at the old man and said, “Good, you have two hours Doctor. We will decide on our next step then.” Val jumped from his chair and took Nex's seat. Quickly he started using the first officer's console. He grumbled to himself about Nex's holographic touch screens configuration, but was soon feverishly typing away on them like a mad man. He knew he had only a short period of time to save his once in a lifetime experiment. Karn slowly walked away. She told Officer Johnson that he had command just before leaving the bridge. All the while, Val watched her every move as his fingers danced on Nex's input touch screen of light.                                                               * At the bow of the ship, several levels below the main bridge, is the ship's V-shaped mess hall. It is a large gray room with a number of big observation windows that angle up and outward. Most of the ship seems to carry a standard military gray color scheme. The crew even thought it a military requirement to include the food in it as well. With a drink in his hand James Nex sat at the table placed in the forward most point of the cafeteria. This was a highly sought after space because of the great view. Nex stared out the large window, mesmerized by the bright excretion disk of matter circling and falling into the black hole. A few other crew members were eating and socializing at other tables around him. Nex had never been one to mingle much, not even with the ship's command staff. Meria Karn entered the room and made her way towards James. Even though most of the crew in the room saw her they made no attempt to salute her. The mess was one of the few places that the ancient ritual of acknowledging a superior officer was not required. “May I?” she asked, gesturing at a seat across the table from James. James popped out of some sort of a trance to look up at her and replied, “of course Captain.” Meria sat down and took a few seconds to see what Nex had been staring at. “It is marvelous, isn't it?” she asked. Nex sat his drink down on the table and looked back out the window. With a smile he replied, “Yes, it is.” Turning her attention back to James she asked him, “I was wondering why you never told me about…” Glaring back at her Nex interrupts in a hushed tone, “It's something I'm not fond of remembering, Sir. I don't wish to discuss it, if you don't mind.”  “I see. I can respect that,” she replied with a reassuring smile. After a soft sigh Nex looked down at the table and said, “I suppose he's told you all about it.” “Actually he hasn't told me a thing. In fact James, the Doctor has accused me of siding with you and your point of view.” Nex raised his head, let out a soft laugh, and then said, “I wouldn't have expected anything else from him.” “So you two have had issues in the past?” “That's putting it mildly Captain. Let me just say we have never seen eye to eye on a number of issues. “ “I see, and what do you think about all this then? Until now I just assumed you…” “I was merely doing my duty. I was also sure it wasn't going to succeed and I…” Nex couldn't finish his sentence. Instead he could only look back out the window. Meria leaned forward and whispered, “So you were hoping to see Val fall on his face?” Turning back to see Meria's soft blue eyes he reluctantly said, “Yes, I'm afraid to admit it.” After a short pause he added, “I'm sorry I had to leave sir, but I just couldn't take his harassment any longer.” “That's fine Nex, but don't worry. Doctor Val won't be causing you any more trouble. I made sure of that.” With a smile James replied, “Thank you Captain.” “You're welcome. I can't and I won't have some civilian giving my people any trouble, no matter how important they think they are.” Karn stated. After a few moments of silence Karn finally asked, “So what is this theory of yours anyway James?” Nex let out a soft moan and replied with a question, “Do you really want to know?” “Of course I do.” She replied with a smile. James grinned and was just about to explain when the humble voice of Carl interrupted. “Excuse me Captain and Officer Nex but you both are needed on the bridge. Doctor Val seems to have found something.”                                                                * “…you can see it is right there.” Val said with excitement pointing up at the large holographic tactical display while sitting at Nex's console on the bridge.  The three dimensional image showed the very edge of the event horizon. Every now and then an unknown object would appear along its spherical border. “Based on my new calculations, while factoring in all the time delays, I believe its gravity well probe thirteen or maybe fourteen.” The Doctor stated smiling with glee. Nex looks down at the Doctor and mocks, “Not probe ten or eleven as predicted by the Science Council?” Val's smile disappeared. Nex pointed the Doctor to the other seat at the adjacent console. After Val reluctantly moved over, Nex sat down at his station. The Captain quickly stepped in and stood right behind him. Nex's fingers danced over his holographic touch screen for a few moments. After reviewing the results on his display screens he said at last, “It could be anything.” Looking up at the large main tactical image Meria inquired, “Carl, What is your assessment?” There was no response. After a few seconds of silence Meria Karn asked, “Carl, confirm query.” Finally a soft voice responded, “Confirmed, I'm still trying to analyze…” The computer's voice suddenly faded out. Moments later it loudly exclaimed, “It does seem to be one of our probes Captain!” Looking down at her science officer she asked, “Can you confirm that Nex?” After a few moments at his console Nex glanced up at Karn and replied. “No, I can not sir.” Val looked at his console screens then back at Nex's. Pointing with one of his bony fingers he declares, “Its right there. The telemetry is incomplete because the probe is bouncing along the edge of the event horizon.” Glaring at the Doctor Nex questioned, “How is that possible?” “Obviously the probe got caught in a tidal rift on its way back, and got stuck there.” Val explained still overjoyed, unaffected by any of Nex's remarks. Nex quickly stated, “Doctor, even if it is one of our probes stuck in the tidal forces between the singularity and the event horizon, that doesn't mean it got there on its way back.” “That is true, but a probe returning back through the rift was programmed to transmit its journey back to us. How else can you explain all the additional telemetry coming from the probe?” Val asked. Nex checked over his screens again and responded. “It's incomplete and it could just be an echo, Doctor.” “Of course it's incomplete. The probe is bobbing along the event horizon. We are only getting data when it's on our side.” Val tried to explain. Looking down at the Science Officer Captain Karn asked. “Nex is that possible?” Nex rubbed his chin and said, “Possible maybe, but the conditions would have to be just right.” “I'm sure of it, Captain!” Val exclaimed looking up at her still smiling.  Karn took a few steps away from them trying to take it all in. She thought about it for a few moments then stepped back behind James and proposed, “OK, let's just say it is one of our probes. So what? If we are not getting any useful information from it, how will we ever know if it made the complete trip?” “Hmm, that is a good point Captain,” Val mumbled. After looking at the data on the screens a few seconds more he carefully added, “We are just too far away from the object to get enough information. However, if we went in closer…” The Captain snapped. “What are you suggesting, Doctor! Venture into the lion's den just to prove a theory?” “Well, if it's just one of our probes that got stuck from this side of the vortex, it could disprove it as well.” Val said staring at the science officer with a curl on his lips. Nex looked up at the Captain and she gazed back at him. They remained fixed on each other thinking the same thing for a few seconds until the ship's computer suddenly spoke up. It quickly rambled, “It might be possible to do a close flyby of the anomaly to get the data. We could adjust a large arc course and calculate the perigee to coincide with the probable location of the probe. If this is done correctly, we should be close enough to confirm the information from the probe and be far enough away to keep any time distortion to a minimum.” Thinking out loud and staring up at the ceiling Karn said, “We would need to take some time to prepare. Stow away our gear, lash everything loose down, and prepare the crew…” Staring down at James she asked him, “What does my Science Officer think?” Nex looked at the Doctor with disgust. He knew all too well if he were to discard this attempt, Val would use it against him and all of the crew of the Carl Sagan. The Doctor could just plead to the Council that if not for the bias of a former member he would have been able to prove his and their theories. Nex also realized there might even be a chance to disprove them as well. Perhaps this could give him the golden opportunity to gather some hard evidence that might support his own hypothesis. James looked up at Meria and stared at her for a few seconds. With a smile he said. “I say let's get this monkey off our backs.” Knowing exactly what he was referring to Meria returned the smile and said, “Am I to assume you think we should proceed Mister Nex?” Still smiling up at her Nex nodded in agreement.                                                     * All of the Carl Sagan crew members were at their assigned posts. The bridge was silent. Light panels above the doorways were flashing yellow. This was the only indication that the ship was at battle stations. Sitting at her station, the Captain calmly ordered, “Carl, open up the com ship-wide. I want to address the crew.” Humbly the ship replied, “You are on Captain.” “To all the crew of the Carl Sagan: I know we have been out here in deep space for a long time now. Many of you can not wait to return to more familiar places and star patterns. We have only one major task left to complete before we can do so. As you may already know we have been sending probes into Cygnus X-1 since we arrived. One of these probes is stuck along the edge of the event horizon. In an attempt to gather vital data from it we will be attempting a close flyby of the anomaly. If we are successful this information could open up vast new frontiers for all mankind.” “I have been assured that even though this flyby will only take us about twenty-three minutes to complete, the time dilation from the gravity well should only add a few extra days to regular time once we are back outside of the anomaly. We will remain at battle stations until we are safely away from it. Until then all crew members are to remain in seats equipped with inertial force field harnesses.” “For any of the crew not yet familiar with this kind of restraint system, the chairs emergency release mechanism is strategically placed on the left chair arm and should be near your finger tips. I must warn you that accidentally pulling it while we are attempting this maneuver could be extremely dangerous. That is all for the moment. All stations please stand by.” Gazing up at the ship's main tactical hologram the Captain softly said, “Carl you may close ship-wide.” “Yes Captain,” it replied. Nex noticed that Carl was kind enough not to feed the Captain's announcement back on to the bridge. It would have been very distracting to hear Karn's voice echoing throughout her speech. It was frightening enough to already know what she was going to say. He could just imagine how her speech might be affecting those crew members hearing it for the first time. Looking at her console screen the Captain started going over her checklist. “Close all outside viewports,” she ordered. “Check,” said one of the crew members along the back wall who was responsible for that ship function. The large viewport on the bridge slowly closed. Along the hull of the ship the rest of the viewports closed one by one. Meria thought that she would be glad not to see the same old view of Cynus X-1 any longer. Oddly enough, just as the rings of gases were no longer in her sight, she felt as if she were going to miss them. “Adjust the ship's force shield wavelengths to filter out excess radiation,” She continued on with her list. “Yes Captain,” said the ship's Tactical Officer, opposite Nex at the round bank of consoles. Addressing the Tactical Officer the Captain adds. “Make sure the system is set to power down artificial gravity after the harnesses have been activated, Miss Carrok. We're going to need all the ship's available power to pull this off.” “Yes Captain,” replied Carrok carrying out Karn's orders at her station. Officer Carrok was a well-seasoned officer new to the Carl Sagan. She had bright red hair, high cheek bones and was solid as a rock. She was very intimidating with sculptured muscles protruding from her olive green uniform. Some of the more rambunctious men on board found that this just made her that much more alluring.  “Take the ship's jump drives offline. Re-route the power to the ship's secondary ion drives.” Karn commanded, continuing with her list. “Aye Sir,” replied Officer Johnson as his fingers fluttered over his station's holographic control screens. Staring back up at the ship's main tactical hologram Captain Karn ordered, “Carl, standby for the programmed approach sequence.” “Ready Captain,” it calmly replied. Karn glimpsed over her own holographic console screen and saw all green lights. Looking back up at the ship's main display again she commanded, “Carl, open up ship-wide once more please.” It responded, “You are now on, Captain.” “To all crew members of the Carl Sagan: We are now ready for approach. Everyone get comfortable in your seats. We are about to activate the restraint system throughout the ship.” Still looking at the ship's main tactical hologram she asked, “Carl, what is the crew status?” After a few seconds it warmly replied, “All members are at their stations and ready for activation of their safety harnesses.” Karn leaned back and looked around at her command staff one last time to make sure they were ready. Once satisfied she said, “Carl Activate all restraints.” A soft hum emanated from all the chairs filling the room. Slowly the noise faded. Nex verified that his invisible harness was working by trying to stand up. Once satisfied he decided to get comfortable and make sure that all his fingers were still free. Like the rest of the crew he quickly checked to see if he was able to use the auxiliary physical touch pad controls on his chair's right arm. On the left chair arm, James cautiously placed a finger near the harness emergency power down “T” shaped release pull. Nex had never been comfortable using these new chairs, but it beat the old physical harness systems of the past. Unlike them, these field generating seats not only keep the person in place, it also reduced the pulls and jerks on the body caused by inertia. The ship's gravity slowly faded. Anything that had not been put away or strapped down would be free floating in the weightless environment. From within the field restraint chairs, most of the crew didn't seem to notice anything other than feeling lighter. Using her arm chair touch screen controls, the Captain adjusted her station's holographic display screens to see her updated checklist. After looking it over Karn then stared up at the ship's large tactical three-dimensional hologram. It now displayed the small dot of the ship orbiting a large black hole. A number of calculated paths and tracks began to form. They all finally merged into one path to become one long arc that would take the ship near the event horizon. A bright red dot showed the calculated location of the probe along the event horizon near the closest point of the ship's projected course. Taking one last look around at her crew to make sure everyone was comfortable in their invisible harness and able to access their hand touch control pads she softly said, “To all crew we are about to go in. That is all.” Whispering she added, “Carl, close ship wide.” “Done,” It replied. Meria Karn took one more look around the bridge and took a deep breath. “Ok, Carl run the approach program and take us in,” she said. The Carl Sagan jerked slightly as the ships braking engines dimmed and its massive stern drives came to life. Their hot silent roar pushed and steered the ship towards the black hole. “We are now going in." Carl said coldly. Karn felt the ship start to shake as the gravity of the vortex began to pull it in. Doctor Val glared at his holographic console screens and was feverishly using his hand control touch pad.  He stared intensely at numerous three dimensional display screens flashing before him on his auxiliary console. The Carl Sagan was now streaking towards the far side of the black hole. It was gaining speed and was beginning to curve in towards the vortex. Soon the ship would be heading back out and away from the swirling menace. “Coming to closest point, scanners are working. Information feeding..." Nex said loudly over an ever growing roar now engulfing the ship. Nex knew the sound must have been coming from the tidal stresses on the ships hull combined with the noise coming from the over taxed engines. The Captain turned towards Nex and shouts, "Are you getting anything!" Nex, using his chair's touch pad controls, quickly flipped through holographic screens. Page after page of the ship's sensor information flickered on his console. He stopped for a second at one of the screens and looked puzzled. Concerned by what she sees on her first officer's face Meria loudly asked, “What is it Nex?” Nex shouts back, “This is not making sense. The computer's summary scan shows a probe, but in the raw data there is nothing. I'm not picking up anything in the raw information, but the computer still asserts that it's there! The data the main computer is…” Suddenly the ship jerked and shook violently. Its powerful braking engines came to life. The loud noise inside the ship changed its pitch and dropped in its intensity. “Braking drives have just switched on!” yelled Officer Johnson with shock. Glaring at the helmsman Karn responded, “What! The ships not programmed to slow down this soon. We'll need to keep our momentum up in order to escape the gravity well.” Staring up Meria yells, “Carl, ship status!” There was no response. Frightened Johnson shouts, “Captain, it seems the braking drivers are now controlling the ships course, we are headed directly towards the edge of the singularity!” “Carl!” Captain Karn yelled up at the large central hologram. Again there was no response. Turning towards Johnson she ordered, “Activate emergency override!” With a few clicks on his touch pad control he relayed back to the Captain. “The controls are not responding.” Quickly, Meria pulled her emergency restraint release so she could grab for her console and use it to gain direct access to the ship systems. She soon realized the release was also not working. Horrified, Officer Johnson screams, “Captain my emergency release will not disengage the field restraint.” “Neither will mine,” she replied. Franticly looking around the bridge the Captain beckoned, “Can anyone else get out of their chairs!” She could only hear muttered cries of “no” and “no sir in response.” Looking up again at the main tactical hologram she could see the ship was getting closer to the event horizon heading towards the singularity. “Sir, the ship is constantly re-adjusting its course. I don't know why!” Johnson yelled to make sure she heard him. For no reason Carl stated very loudly, “Billions and Billions…” With a glimmer of hope Karn ordered the computer again, “Carl, confirm status!” Carl responded only with, “Billions…” The Captain closed her eyes in frustration as her hopes were quickly dashed. “Captain, might I suggest using the computer core detonator?” tactical Officer Carrok calmly suggested. Val immediately stopped what he was doing to listen. “And hope we can get the manual overrides to kick in?” Karn asked with newfound hope. Carrok answered, “That's what I was thinking Captain.” Meria thought, could it be after all this time Carl finally revolted? Should she risk loosing Carl in order to save the ship and her crew? Or was it something else? She knew she had very little time to decide what to do. Looking over at the first officer Karn asked him. “Nex, can you determine what is wrong with Carl and why is he not responding to my verbal commands?” Nex took a few moments to look at some new computer related display readouts. Gaining no insight he said, “I don't know Captain. Everything seems normal. The feeds are still intact to the computer core but…” James stopped suddenly and turned to see Doctor Val staring wide-eyed back at all of them. Small beads of sweat formed on his wrinkled brow. Nex shouted, “YOU! You did this!” as he squirmed trying to get free from his seat to get at Val. “You changed Carl's sub routines. You have sealed our fate Doctor!” “Doctor is this true!” Karn demanded. The Doctor was now the center of attention. With a satisfying smile he replied, “Relax, once we are through and back we can all celebrate this marvelous achievement.” “You are insane Doctor!” Nex growled as he frantically clicked on the emergency release, still trying to get free from the invisible harness. “Can't you see it? Mankind will be able to venture to almost anywhere, and possibly any time. Oh what a glorious day this is. The first day mankind slipped beyond the stars!” Val preached looking lovingly up at the tactical hologram before him. It continued to plot and adjusted the ships course attempting to find a safe path to navigate through the black hole. The hologram showed them the ship was growing closer and closer to the singularity. Val realized he was just about to achieve the ultimate goal of his life's work. He was so overjoyed that he wept out loud for the first time since he could remember.   The soft warm lights inside the ship began to flicker and fade as new noises from the stress on the ship's framework began to grow. Nex looked at Doctor Val and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Damn you, you bast…” Then everything went dark.                                                       * Nex awoke to discover that he was floating towards the top of the ceiling. Still groggy he could just make out someone saying, “Gravity restored.” With that he found himself hitting the deck with a loud thud. Again, there was darkness.                                                     * Once more Nex found himself gaining consciousness. This time he was laying on the bridge deck with a couple of people standing over him. Corrok bent over Nex. Taking a small devise from a medical kit she carefully angled it over the science officer's temple. It emitted a fine mist into the cuts, causing them to heal within seconds. She told Nex, “I'm sorry sir, but I couldn't just gradually turn up the gravity. With all the damage I was lucky to get it back on-line at all.” With a warm smile she added, “We didn't realize you were up there.” Nex could make out that Captain Karn was also standing over him. “Sir, what…” was all Nex could get out. “Most of the crew blacked out due to the high g-forces encountered. The trip turned out to be far more turbulent then even Doctor Val anticipated.” Karn replied looking down at James. Nex rolled over and jumped up on to his feet. Getting dizzy from this, he soon realized that maybe he should have taken his time. Luckily, he was close enough to a chair and used it to steady himself. Corrok stood up and placed the spraying device back into its case. Nex took a few breaths before looking over at the Captain. He asked her, “Where are we?” “We don't know,” she replied. “We haven't even been able to open a viewport to look out. Most of the ships systems went off-line just as we entered the singularity.” Doctor Val snapped from the corner. “For good reason, I programmed the system to shut down everything but the basics in order for us to get through.” Nex looked over to see the Doctor being held by two burly security officers. He grinned with pleasure seeing this. For a brief moment he was even able to forget about his painful fall. “The Computer was programmed to record everything. Once the computer is back on-line it can use that data to take us back through.” Val snarled as he struggled in the grip of the two security men. It was almost funny to watch the Doctor squirm. Both of the security men had to be more then three times his size. The old man wasn't able to put up much, if any, noticeable resistance. Nex slowly made his way to his station. It seemed cold and dim on the bridge. Only about half the room's interior lights were working now. He could see that a number of the crew where not at their posts. Instead they were working on repairing the more critical ship system consoles. Many service panels along the walls and floor had been removed. Several of the ships service techs were carefully digging into them. From time to time a few sparks would fly out from them. Fortunately, Nex was pleased to find his console still intact. He sat down and quickly started typing away on the consoles control panels of light. Captain Karn was fast on his heels and quickly sat down at the auxiliary station next to Nex's. She tried her best to see just what he was doing. Looking at her he said, “Well once Carl is back up, I think we will be able to get the sensors on-line with its help.” “Is that wise?” Carrok asked as she came up behind them both, still with the medical case in her hand. “Good question let's ask the Doctor.” Nex said staring over at the old man. “He's fine. I only bypassed his ship controls with my probe guidance system sub-routine to fly us through.” Val said looking down at the deck, no longer struggling with his captors. He realized it was a waste of time. Defiantly he added, “Now let me go so we can get back home. You're going to need my help to do that!” “I think we will just leave you there for the moment Doctor. Once we know what's going on, you'll be heading for the brig.” Captain Karn growled back. “What happened to that probe then?” Carrok asked. “There was no probe stuck in the singularity. The good Doctor faked it all. It seems he's not a bad actor either.” Nex replied still working away at his console. Meria then looked at Nex and asked, “If the Doctor is wrong Nex and you are right, what does that…” “Billions!” the ship's computer yelled out causing everyone to jump. Nex looked up smiling with satisfaction that he was able to get the computer up and running again. Meria quickly asked, “Carl, what is your status?” After a few seconds the old familiar soft serene voice of Carl responded. “I'm functioning at seventy nine, point four percent efficiency.” With a smile Meria asked it, “Carl what is the ship's status?” “We are down to about twenty five percent power output. The shields are still holding. We also seem to be traveling at a remarkable speed. I will try to get all sensors back on-line.” They stared up at the vacant spot where the tactical hologram should be and waited. “Remarkable, energy levels outside the ship are off the scale.” Carl added sounding surprised. With vindication Val spoke up while still looking at the deck, “You see, everything is consistent with being ejected from a black hole.” “There is no black hole Doctor,” Carl calmly replied. Val looked up from the floor puzzled and then he began to look frightened and pale. The ships tactical hologram was now slowly returning. As it was coming to life it looked like fine wisps of smoke forming in the air from nowhere. “Sir, I can open the bridge's main viewport now.” said the voice of a technician from inside one of the open system access wall panels. “Fine, go ahead.” replied the Captain while she still stared at the forming hologram. Just as the three dimensional image was almost fully formed the main viewport opened a slight crack. Bright intense light flooded the bridge, blinding everyone. Karn quickly commanded, “Shut that thing back up now!” The technician was able to reverse his actions. Fortunately he was in the wall access and not affected as much by the bright light. Once the port was closed again they all had to take a few seconds for there eyes to re-adjust to the interior lighting. When Meria was able to see again she saw that Nex was slumped over his console mumbling, “I wish the Doctor were right. I do, I do…” Grabbing Nex by the shoulder Karn said, “Nex, what are you…”  “Look at that!” Johnson yelled out interrupting the Captain. Everyone on the bridge quickly gazed up at the holographic tactical display. It showed the ship as a small dot that was close to the inside edge of an enormous bubble wave of matter and energy. Being much heavier than everything else that was in the wave the ship had fallen out of it and was now following close behind. “How could that much energy and matter come from a black hole?” Carrok questioned. Carl replied, “As I have already told the Doctor, there is no black hole. My sensors have only detected this ever growing colossal bubble of matter and energy. I can not locate anything else.” Looking up at the display with concern Val quickly asked, “What is the matter made of Carl?” “It's mostly Hydrogen Doctor,” Carl answered. “Oh my God…” was all the Doctor could say as he dropped his head. Shaking Nex by the shoulder Meria asked, “James, what does this all mean?” Slowly Nex rose up off his console coming up through his holographic touch screens and cried. “I was right.” “Nex, get a hold of your self and answer me!” Karn ordered. Nex wiped away his tears and looked at Meria smiling. “We are at event one Captain. It's just as I had predicted it would be all those years ago.” Val said solemnly staring up from the floor at the science officer. “I am sorry Nex, you were right all along. To bad no one but us will ever know.” “Event one?” Carrok asked with confusion. “I think Nex is talking about the big bang. You know the birth of the universe.” Johnson said trying to come to grips with what it all meant. The crew said nothing. They only stared at the hologram with disbelief. Meria folder her arms together and asked, “Do all black holes take what they suck up to this point in time and space?” Nex replied “No I don't think so. I believe only the really large ones are powerful enough to bring matter here.” Still confused by it Johnson asked. “And what does all this mean Sir?” Nex looked at the pilot and blinked a few times before saying, “Throughout our travels we have seen the universe re-create itself all the time. Stars live and die. New stars are born from the elements of the dead ones. It seems this has been applied to the entire universe. Forever creating and re-creating itself!” Johnson replied with a nervous giggle. “Kind of like that old ancient adage, which came first the chicken or the egg?” “Does this mean the universe was never created? It just exists, merely some cosmic fluke of time and space?” Carrok asked. Nex looked up at her and softly replied, “I always considered myself a bit of an atheist. That might be how I was able to come up with a theory about all this in the first place.” James then rubbed his chin and continued, “It's funny, now that I'm faced with the ultimate proof any true atheist would appreciate I still wonder. Could this have been how it was meant to be all along? Created this way in the first place, maybe even by the hand of God himself?” The bridge crew where surprised and stunned by Nex's statement. Silence filled the room. All they could do was watch the holographic display at the center of the bridge. With sadness Captain Kern looked at Nex and asked, “Then there is no chance of getting back home?” “Of course not, we are stuck here!” Doctor Val blurted out looking up at the Captain with tears welling up in his eyes. Nex stood up and walked over to the Doctor. He bent down, looked him in the eye and said, “Now Doctor Val have you not learned anything from all this?” With a slight grin he added, “The universe is full of surprises, you never know.” END © Lee Crystal's Outpost 13 All rights reserved