Space date 4.00.20.338.70
Log 5456.8974.2358-7
Location. Sagittarius Constellation
Spaceship. “Eternal Horizon”
Type. War spaceship
Mission. Classified.
Lt First Class Dorian Manteaus. Navigator
“Colonel, we are receiving some bizarre signals in our radar coming from SO-2”
Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Ulrich
“How is this unusual? We know SO-2 behavior due to its proximity to our Milky Way massive black hole, please define what is happening.”
Navigator
“Sir, there is a small object escaping the Event horizon from SgrA*”
The crew at the Capitan’s commanding deck looked surprised. To their knowledge, it would be impossible to escape the event horizon of such a massive black hole, the heart, and the angel of destruction of our galaxy.
“How far is it from us right now?” Asked Colonel Ulrich
The navigator responded after a pause.
“Around 800 parsecs”
“Do the corresponding calculations as per the object's apparent speed and let me know the distance to intercept it” Ordered the Colonel.
“Yes sir” responded the navigator.
Executive Officer Captain Emil Ybarra approached the Colonel.
“Sir, it will be a detour of our original direction.”
“I am aware XO, this is part of our mandate, we are exploring the outer borders of our interstellar government. Is this a vessel? Is it friendly? Is it a stellar object? Take the deck now.” Ordered the Colonel
“Yes sir” answered the XO
The colonel went to the vessel library to study the interstellar charts, rules of engagement and rules of diplomacy.
The head of the scientific team, Dr. Brooke Palmer, joined him.
“Dorian, this detour will deviate from our research on the deformed space time calculations we want to gather from Sagittarius A*”
“Do not worry about it, Brooke, it will be a routine check, and we will be on our way to SO-2 to confirm its behavior in front of Sagittarius A* on time for your calculations. Tell me again, why is this relevant?”
Dr Palmer turned her eyeballs up and succinctly explained:
“Light from SO-2 will deviate from its normal spectra to the red, confirming the de-acceleration of light and the curve it will make when entering the black hole. We will be able to witness this up close for the first time in millennia. It will give us a clue on time bending!”
It was time for the colonel to turn his eyeballs up and think.
“And we are expending too much of our resources in this expensive experiment to fulfill the crazy dreams of our lunatic scientists.”
It was clear that neither party liked each other much; they just tolerated each side. The colonel got his budget to go to space one more time, the doctor got her budget to prove a long-standing theory.
The XO called him through the vessel comms.
“Sir, as per the Navigator, we will intercept the object in about 500 parsecs, it is confirmed, is a vessel.”
“Set the course to intercept it, let me know once we are in range for a first contact.” Instructed the Colonel.
“Yes sir” Answered the XO.
The Doctor and the Colonel looked at each other and embraced. After all, most of the time, space travelling was tedious and monotonous.
The Eternal Horizon set the direction to intercept the foreign ship.
“Sir” The XO communicated 45 minutes later
“Go ahead XO” replied the Colonel from his bed where Doctor Palmer was lying beside him.
“ETA is about two weeks standard Earth time” The XO replied.
“Good, carry on” commanded the Colonel
Doctor Palmer looked at him but said nothing, it was clear for her he wouldn't move from that fixation.
The voyage for the next 10 Earth time days was without any incidents, the crew was performing their normal daily routines. The starship entered the Lagoon nebula on the 11th day after shifting their original trajectory.
Lt. Manteaus began to enter data to the ship AI and confirm once more the trajectory to intercept the foreign ship.
The AI took more time to calculate the myriads of data that the ship was gathering in real time.
An alarm started and the Navigator read the resulting message.
Debris from a couple of new stars was heading towards them
He opened the comms and began to communicate with the Colonel and his XO.
“Sir, we have an emergency, we need to start evacuation immediately, debris is coming towards us at full speed…”
A boulder the size of the Eternal Horizon hit it in a tangent trajectory, but the impact was catastrophic for the vessel; it destroyed it...
Exo biologist Dr. Carolina Moore
Dr Moore opened her eyes; she was submerged in an aquatic tank or so she thought. The liquid in which she was immersed was thick and viscous.
She could move her eyes and move her arms and legs. She was not breathing but somehow, her respiratory system was providing the air her body needed. The doctor saw her extremities and then looked at her abdomen, there was a scar, a big scar traversing her body. The destruction of the Eternal Horizon in deep space where temperature is almost zero degrees Kelvin would have left no survivors. The wound was so extensive and massive that she knew she wouldn’t survive that kind of damage to the body nor the space temperature without a space suit, but somehow, the biologist was alive.
She began to panic.
“Doctor Moore, you are awake, that is great news”
The voice was coming from inside her and yet, she knew it belonged to another being; she couldn’t panic more as she already was in that state but somehow her brain began to relax and sooth her in a very peculiar way, it was as if someone was massaging her limbic system comforting and calming her down.
“Don’t worry Doctor Moore, you are in friendly hands”
Again, the voice was coming from inside her as if the entity was inside her body
“We know you have many, many questions, it was a miracle that we found you just in time to rescue the majority of your crew, we couldn’t rescue a sentient being you call ‘cat’ ”
Doctor Moore gathered enough courage to respond. She didn’t need to open her mouth; she just created the question in her mind:
“Who are you?”
Once again, the answer came from inside her body.
“We are what you call physicians, we rescued you from a crash you had with a debris coming from the collision of two baby stars inside the Lagoon nebula, it seems that you were traveling towards us as we checked your vessel AI entity logs”
Carolina was quite for some instants, her mind whirling at high speed; then, she responded:
“Yes, we were going to intercept a vessel that escaped the Event Horizon of SgrA*, is that you?”
The voice inside her body replied.
“We were rescuing a team of scientists from SO-2 that got too close to SgrA*, their ship was also destroyed.”
Carolina asked
“Are they with you now? Are they humans? Are you humans? I have so many questions in my mind now”
The voice from inside her began to talk:
“We are what you call ‘slime’ . We acquired self awareness a million years ago by your earth standard years, we divide ourselves to study and protect the singularity of life in the known universe. Our vessel is completely flooded by us. This tank you are in, it is for us to heal you from inside out, yes, you are immersed in us, we got inside your body and began to repair your bones, your muscles, your nervous system, your circulatory system etc. You were dead by your human terms”
Carolina was going to panic again but her limbic system began to be massaged again.
“Do not worry Dr Moore, we wish you no harm, it is in our nature to nurture and care for all types of life in this galaxy you call the Milky Way. Life is a singularity as a black hole is. As per the scientists from SO-2, they are what you call Cephalopods, we have known each other for millions of years now, we couldn’t let them die.”
Carolina asked her next question
“How did you escape the Event Horizon?”
The entity answered,
“We have eons of evolution in space travelling, we know how to approach the different gravitational waves that are built around a black hole so massive as SgrA*, it was risky, but we could maneuver to get them alive and well, we were on our way to SO-2 when we saw the explosion and came to rescue you”
Carolina paused for a moment
“Can I see my fellow crew members?”
The entity answered.
“We are so sorry, you cannot. You see, because you are inside us, you are engulfed, and we need to put you in a space of us to heal you but as a foreign body, it is painful for us if you move within us. Now, get some sleep, next time you wake you will be with your kind.”
Colonel Frederick Ulrich woke up on a hospital bed
“Where am I?” Was his first question out loud.
A human physician answered:
“You are on board the rescue Ship Galactic Hope”
“How did I end here? We were in a mission to SO-2”
This time the vessel Captain answered.
“You were inside a couple of life pods, there was a distress message that we couldn’t ignore that got us here”
The Colonel paused for a while
“How many survivors?”
The Capitan replied:
“Seems that all your crew survived a catastrophic event. We cannot explain what happened. Maybe later you can provide that information”
Dr Carolina Moore was wide awake in the quarters assigned to her; she was the only survivor that was aware of everything when the Galactic Hope came to rescue them.
“How can I explain what happened to us? Would they believe me? What would be their reactions? I know our nature, humans are aggressive, full of fear of the unknown, and we always try to destroy things we don’t know or make us afraid. How can I let them know that we were saved by a self-aware entity like earth’s slime?”
A couple of years later the crew of the Eternal Horizon got together after the final hearing related to the miraculous event of surviving a life ending catastrophe.
They all agreed the event was a miracle, an act of God.
Bio.
I am a biologist by heart, I like fantasy and science fiction stories. Now I am writing them.