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Chapter 1:

Jacob\'s Point of View

Deep Space

"Jacobs? Come in, Jacobs. This is forward operating base number 1. What is your status?" A female\'s voice came in over the intercom.

Looking down at the console, I saw a blinking blue light, alerting me. Hitting a button on the setup brought up a screen. Several faces appeared. Many were outfitted in gear similar to myself. Others wore more casual clothes. Guess if there was a hull breach, they figured it wouldn\'t matter.

"Moonbase, this is Jacobs reporting in." Was my dull reply. "Have you contacted me to tell me a joke, Ms. Wethers?" She was the officer in charge of communications at the base.

Ignoring my comment, they continued. "Jacobs, we need a full report. You missed your check in this morning."

Frowning, I replied. "I\'d like a joke first."

"This is ser-"

"Fine! I\'ll tell you one!" Many seemed to sigh as the entire room waited in silence. "What\'s the best part of fingering a Gypsy on her period?" No one tried to answer. "You get your palm red for free!"

Groans from across the room could be heard as Ms. Wethers ignored me. "Are you done?" I nodded in return with a small smirk. "Good. Can we have that report?"

"All systems are green, and the ship is running like a gem." Was my answer. "For the fastest ship we\'ve ever built, I\'m surprised it\'s running so smooth."

"When most of our remaining resources are put into a ship that can travel across solar systems, I\'d hope so. We\'re counting on you, Jacobs. If you fail-" Ms. Wethers began, but I cut her off.

Resting my head on the back of my pilot\'s chair, I interrupted her. "It could mean the end of humanity as we know it. Not like I\'m going to fly into the Sun..."

Ms. Wethers sighed. "I certainly hope not, Jacobs. The ark is coming along smoothly. If all goes according to plan, we should be able to meet up with you in a few years."

"Roger that. Communications are still green. I\'ll look forward to your call tomorrow."

A few in the room chuckled at that. "You\'re supposed to be the one checking in, Jacobs."

Smirking, I leaned forward. "That\'s a lot of extra work. Besides, I look forward to speaking to you, Ms. Whethers. Until tomorrow."

Her face scrunched up in annoyance as a few laughed. "You\'re supposed to-"

Ending the call, I made my way to my quarters to relax. Truthfully, I was the only viable candidate left to pilot this spacecraft. After the incident with the other two candidates, I was the only remaining option. This was our first real space worthy ship, and I was the pilot with a mission.

Scouring the Milky Way galaxy for the chance to investigate inhabitable planets that were marked by our probes was my mission. Finding one to become host to humanity was the tricky part. Earth was dying. After the fourth World War, resources were scarce, and the planet couldn\'t sustain life for much longer. We either made this work, or humanity would become extinct. Not that I would complain either way.

Sleeping was the only way to survive the journey to the marked planets. As such, I slept long and often. This reduced food intake and kept me rested for any emergencies that might happen. However, I liked to read while in bed. Either about the planets I would be visiting in a few years, or just an old book of sorts.

Although, while I was doing so, the blaring alarm of a siren going off immediately startled me, and I shot out of bed. Rushing through the spacecraft and to the cockpit to immediately figure out the situation. The alarm meant there was a serious problem. Either with the ship itself or perhaps even a rogue asteroid.

Clicking the intercom, I heard Ms. Wethers\' voice immediately come through. "This is forward operating base number 1! Jacobs, we saw the alert! What\'s happening?"

Running through the systems diagnostics, I replied. "I am unaware myself. The alarm started going off suddenly." The screen with a full team on alert greeted me when I looked over at them. "Ms. Wethers, do you see anything on your side?"

"No. There is-"

Before she could finish her statement, the ship lurched to one side, and I fell onto the spacecraft\'s floor. Hitting the ground hard, I grit my teeth and tried to get back onto my feet as I heard screaming through the intercom.

"Jacobs! What happened!? Report!" A man shouted.

Moving to the console, I tried to figure out what happened. The ship had definitely been hit by something, and I needed to know how badly damaged it was.

"The ship has been hit! Doing a maintenance check now for damage and hull integrity!" However, as the scans came back, my confusion only grew. "It would appear that the ship is fine..."

The man, who was Colonel Sanders, replied. "We\'re getting the same reports. You\'ve been outside our solar system for some time now. Is it possible the ship merely had an issue with one of the engines or the ships alignment was thrown off?"

Shaking my head, my hands stopped over the console. "Hold that thought," I told him. "I\'m going to check the observation deck to see if I can see anything. The ship is still moving, but whatever happened knocked the ship out of its designated path."

Moving from the cockpit to the upper decks, I quickly moved down the hallways until I came to the observation deck. A large domed room that allowed you to see outside the ship. As I began to look for damage that might\'ve been done to the ship\'s hull, I saw a flash from my left, and my blood ran cold.

Running back to the cockpit, I strapped into the pilot\'s chair frantically. "Evasive action is required! Pumping fuel into the right thrusters and engines!" I shouted, prompting concern from the people through the telecom.

"Report, Jacobs! What did you see?" The Colonel questioned.

"The ship was hit by the shockwave of an exploding star! It\'s forming into a black hole, and the gravitational pull is trying to suck the ship in!" I responded frantically as I tried to get away.

"Jesus!" One of the men said. "Can you escape its gravitational pull!?" He asked me.

"I\'m trying to reroute power from the left thrusters into the right thrusters for short bursts. The power boost should be enough to turn the ship to safety if the engines can hold out." I said as I continued to work.

"That will put the ship in an uncontrollable spin! You won\'t be able to control where you are going!" Ms. Wethers stated. "Not to mention, it will launch you from your projected path!"

"It\'s the only chance I have!" Was my response.

The small tug on the ship became stronger as I felt it begin to lean heavily to one side. Unfortunately, as soon as it began to work, the thrusters blew out. I couldn\'t believe it.

"FUCK!" I shouted and started to try anything I could to get it back online.

Having the engines blow out and stop responding sealed my fate. Slowly, I sat down as a look of disbelief overtook my facial features. Sitting back in my chair, I rested my head against the backrest as many looked at me through the telecom.

"Jacobs! What Happened!?" Ms. Wethers asked in urgency. My mouth opened, but no words formed. "Report! Jacobs!" She shouted.

"Overriding the thrusters and increasing their output made the thrusters blow out. I have no power to get away from the gravitational pull of the black hole. The ship will only last a few more minutes as it gets closer to the black hole..." I said softly, and the entire room went silent.

My eyes watched as many started to cover their mouths in shock, and others had tears in their eyes. I have known these people for 8 years while I was going through the training for this mission. Which would make you think their tears were for me, but I knew better. A lot was resting on my shoulders, and this random incident that had the unlikeliest chance of happening has ruined years of hard work. Many likely felt like there was no hope left. So, I put a smile on my face as I began to think about possible improvements for the next to ship design.

"Moon Base!" I said loudly to get their attention. "The ship\'s design is incredible and more than capable of handling the hardships of space. If you change anything about it, I propose more thrusters and a backup engine of sorts. It may change the ship\'s design slightly, but I believe it will help avoid this problem in the future. Not that you\'ll likely ever run into this problem again..."

The Colonel spoke up. "We read you, Jacobs. Thank you for your help."

"Sincerely, Colonel, go fuck yourself." Was my reply.

Not rising to the bait, he continued. "You will go down in history, Jacobs. You are the first man to journey passed our solar system and will be the first person to see the inside of a black hole." He stated, and Ms. Wethers smacked him for his insensitivity.

"At least there\'s that." I said with a chuckle. "It should be interesting to see the inside of one if I last long enough." Was my reply as I smiled, knowing that my body was going to be torn apart.

The pull on the ship got stronger as it got closer to the black hole. Soon electricity began to jump across the console, and the video became choppy. The screen would go black at times, and in the reflection of that empty scream, I saw myself. A middle-aged man who lived through a war and lost everything, time and time again. Starring back at myself with hazel eyes, I took in my age and how much I had changed. My hazel eyes were muted, and a few scars decorated my face.

"Ja- Com- n! Ca- Y-u H- us?" I heard through the telecom.

This was it. "Finally." Were the last words I said.

My body quickly felt the gravitational beast\'s strain as the ship started to move faster and faster towards the black hole. Hearing parts of the ship being ripped apart terrified me as I felt my body being pulled in different directions. Time seemed to accelerate as I felt my body slow down. I couldn\'t help but scream in pain as it felt my body was being dematerialized, stretched, aged, and put back together again. However, as I watched, I saw the ship become more and more decrepit as time passed. Like it was aging in front of me. Nearby stars exploded in the background, and others formed. My screams of agony might have been heard initially, but I was watching time flow by in front of my very eyes. Like I was watching the universe on fast forward.

The pain was horrendous, but everything went silent after a while, and I couldn\'t even hear my own screams. Figuring the hull had been breached at some point, I was now unprotected from the black hole entirely. My body was ripped from my chair, and I flew out one of the ship breaches. Instantly, I was in cold space, but directly inside of the black hole. I screamed silently in pain from the cold and force being put on my body, as I felt my body disappearing. My eyes tried to watch everything, but they soon froze over, making me go blind to the wonders and horrors of the black hole I was inside. Soon there was nothing left of me but my consciousness.

It finally happened. The pain was finally gone, and I was at peace. No more having to live with the things I had done. I could finally rest as I would now pass on. Something I had searched for passively time and time again. However, something was off. My body felt light, almost like a spirit just floating around, and I assumed I was dead. Nothing hurt me anymore as I wandered aimlessly but continued further into the black hole.

Time seemed to stretch as I saw the past, present, and future. All at the same time. From the first humans crawling around in small caves to kids going to kindergarten in the future. I watched the planet change before my eyes as the continents shifted back and forth as they changed over and over again. Explosions were nothing more than an echo as I saw bright lights flash on the planet\'s surface. I saw the Solar System moving through the universe and another take its place. Eventually, the visions disappeared, and nothing back blackness greeted me.

As I traveled the black vortex, it seemed to be a pitch-black abyss with nothing insight. However, soon, I was spat out of the vortex into a giant bubble that seemed to focus on a dim pink light that shifted to blue and then back to pink in the middle of the area. The lights alternated back and forth as it appeared to be inside an anteroom of some kind. Willing myself to move towards the light, I slowly floated over to it. As I got closer, I saw the light to be some sort of creature. This creature was emanating light from its body, which was very curious to me. Once I was close enough, I saw that the being started to take a more familiar form. It almost seemed human but was definitely not. I seemed to startle the being awake as it looked my way in surprise.

"A guest." I heard it speak in the echo of many voices.