Interstellar Survival: Invasion

Chapter 200: Super Black Hole

"The ship seems to have broken free from the black hole's pull. Its inertia is bringing it away from the danger zone," said Jack.

Only then did I notice that the ship's balance system had restored balance. Even so, the ship was still moving at an ultra-high speed in the opposite direction of the black hole.

"It must be the firing of our weapons earlier. Combined with the impact from the enemy's attacks, Skyhawk accelerated in the opposite direction and luckily broke free from the black hole's pull," analyzed Old Du as he recalled what he had experienced earlier.

"Captain, the report on the enemy damage is out. Our barrage had struck them accurately. Their engine system has failed, and they are being pulled toward the black hole," reported Anxashe.

'Looks like the white explosion I saw earlier was real. I wasn't seeing things,' I thought.

Everyone ran toward the window and looked in the direction of the enemy ship. The enemy ship was on the verge of falling apart after taking a hit from our double-powered barrage. Our system indicated that broken pieces of the enemy ship littered the space around it. It had also been blasted out of invisibility. Although it was kilometers away from us, we could still see a vague white dot of light far in the distance. That was most likely the sight of the enemy ship exploding.

Our scanners indicated that the enemy ship was moving rapidly in the opposite direction toward the black hole. After being struck by Skyhawk's powerful firepower, it could no longer break free from the black hole's pull.

The exchange had been a cruel life-and-death struggle, but the thought of the fate that awaited the enemy at the black hole caused all of us, Baron Sisse included, to stand straight at the window as we solemnly bid farewell to our enemy. This was our way of showing respect for life, a trait shared by all servicemen.

"The enemy must have chased us through our wormhole bubble. But the system's automatic destination adjustment came as a surprise, causing both of us to enter a super black hole's pull. Even so, they did not prioritize escaping and opted to attack us. That level of professionalism is worthy of our respect," I said.

"Captain, we are slowing down. Permission to create more momentum with our weaponry system?" asked Jack, who still looked anxious. "We need to get away from the black hole as quickly as possible."

From his nervous looks, it was clear the black hole was unwilling to let us go free so easily. Thus, the baron quickly authorized Jack's request. We all returned to our seats. After another intense shaking, Skyhawk accelerated and moved away from the black hole at a speed of 50 million kilometers per hour.

During the escape, we recharged the weaponry system three more times with bioelectricity. Two hours after the bioelectricity supply was completely exhausted, the indicator light for external pulling forces finally dimmed. All operations on the ship returned to normal. We had finally survived and escaped the super black hole's pull.

However, we still had plenty of work to do. Everyone split up to inspect the ship in preparation for another wormhole leap. Our plan was to return to Rumble and reconvene with Zhang Xingxing before initiating a search for Spacetime.

"Canyue, I have a feeling. Should we have taken at least one look at that super black hole?" Baron Sisse suddenly asked.

I was in deep thought while staring at the dark space outside the window. The distant Great Nebula glinted with a fascinating light show. The mystery and danger of the universe had always been capable of inspiring a sense of curiosity in any sentient life form.

"I think that since this is the closest we've ever been to a black hole, we should give it a try. After all, we have all the resources we need for an exploration," I agreed.

Hearing our conversation, Master Crystal could only sigh and shake his head. The curiosity of youngsters like us was something he couldn't wrap his head around.

"Jack, deploy three scouting drones to the edge of the black hole's pull. Maintain our course away from the black hole. Ensure that we stay at a safe distance at all times," Baron Sisse ordered.

I believed Jack also greatly longed to take a look at this gigantic monster of the universe. He quickly deployed three scouting drones the moment he received the order. The three drones were sent forward, each taking a different route as they headed toward the black hole.

Even after experiencing the close brush with death and the intense shaking during our escape, we all worked tirelessly to inspect Skyhawk for the level of damage it had suffered. Meanwhile, Wind Spirit was still unconscious.

About an hour later, the inspection was completed. As a whole, the ship had taken heavy damage. Its engine system only had 40 percent of its energy left while the various parts of the ship had suffered a damage level of at least 50 percent and required immediate repair. However, our attention was fully occupied by our curiosity about the super black hole.

Thus, after a simple repair, we all gathered in front of the monitoring system and slumped into our seats to wait for the result of the scouting drones. The pulling force within the black hole's gravitational radius was powerful, especially for the tiny drones we used. They had barely entered the radius when their speed started increasing. Even so, we still needed to further accelerate the three drones due to the sheer distance of 13 billion kilometers the drones needed to cover.

"Reporting to the captain, the three stages of acceleration for the drones are ready. Permission to start," asked Jack.

"Permission granted," said the baron. With Baron Sisse's command, Jack activated the drones' accelerators.

With the first acceleration, the 3 drones started moving at a speed of 10 million kilometers per hour toward the black hole. Borrowing the pull of the black hole, the drones ultimately reached a speed of 30 million kilometers per hour. After analyzing the data sent back by the drones, the live recording of what the drones were seeing was played in the room. Apart from darkness, nothing of note could be seen.

Yet another hour passed before the live feed started showing other objects apart from the total darkness of space. The objects in question were the enemy battleship we had battled earlier. The ship had broken into pieces, and only about 50 percent of the ship's body remained intact. The rest were scattered everywhere due to the explosion and the pull of the black hole.

'I wonder if there are any survivors on that ship. If there are, how would they feel when faced with the threat of death by the black hole? It must be a terrible feeling,' I thought to myself.

War might be cruel, but none of us looked excited upon noticing our defeated opponents who were simply waiting for their deaths. Rather, we remained silent and solemn as a sign of respect.

By the time the drones passed the enemy ship, they were already traveling at 50 million kilometers per hour. At that time, Jack activated the second acceleration. The drones reached a speed of 100 million kilometers per hour.

At that point, the live feed returned to the empty darkness it was before. In fact, this empty darkness was the norm in the gravitational radius of the black hole. Everyone longed to witness the beauties of the cosmos, but the dull and monotonous darkness was the actual main theme of space.

Time passed, and eventually, we were three hours away before the drones breached the limit of the safe distance from the black hole. From the data we had received so far, the drones were still working fine. In certain aspects, one could say that these drones designed for scouting missions were even more durable than Skyhawk itself.

During the long wait, we started falling asleep due to exhaustion. The continuous combat had been extremely tiring. The moment when we were falling asleep also happened to be the moment Wind Spirit had picked to wake up. And thus, the pitiful Dondon was unable to sleep like the rest of us since he was forced to accompany Wind Spirit, who had rested enough.

After sleeping for an indeterminate amount of time, I returned to the beautiful Blue in my dream. Under the beautiful blue sky and white clouds, I lay on a green prairie, breathing in the fresh air and listening to the symphony of various insects. I only wanted peace and tranquility. With those two, any sort of wealth became meaningless.

Suddenly, Dondon appeared in my dream. He was driving a mower and was seriously pruning the grass. The mower constantly made a "kakaka" sound as Dondon worked. He kept approaching me, and when the mower was about to reach me, I woke up. Oddly, the "kakaka" sound remained. When I shook my head and looked around, I saw Dondon and Wind Spirit loudly eating crackers to the side.

"Dondon, both of you look like gluttons when eating," I grumbled, annoyed that my sweet dream had been disturbed.

"Canyue, ignore them. The drones have breached the safe distance, passing the so-called Roche limit and entering the area where the black hole's pull is stronger. They are moving close to the speed of light. Because of the interference caused by gravity, we are no longer receiving live updates," said Baron Sisse.

"Can we see anything from the recordings?" I asked.

"Nothing at all. It's still dark all around the drones. They are moving faster and faster. I only hope they can send a video recording or even an image of the black hole before they're lost. That can very well be the closest image of a black hole ever taken in history," said Baron Sisse.

"There are so many ships around. Why weren't more drones sent to take these images?" asked Wind Spirit as she ate.

"Due to how hard black holes are to find and their powerful gravitational force, the empire believes that they are not worth studying. Also, it has always been hard to accurately determine the safe limit of a black hole's gravitational radius. The Imperial College once gave an order prohibiting all imperial ships from approaching black holes. Thus, I have never gotten a chance to observe this mysterious celestial body at such close range. Speaking of, you have rather impressive technologies on Blue. Have there been any close observations on your part?" asked Baron Sisse.

We were rather speechless by his question. Yes, the Interstellar League's technological level was indeed impressive, but we were still at a stage where we rely on binoculars to observe the universe. The years of war and the scramble for resources to fuel the war had resulted in a decrease in exploration for purely scientific reasons.

The league had delayed research on black holes and had not bothered dedicating even a single telescope or even a satellite to the study of black holes. Under the league's emphasis on efficiency, black holes had been classified as a worthless existence to focus on.

'In that case, let us, a group of people who have accidentally arrived here, bear the mission of observing a black hole from up close,' I told myself inwardly.

"Jack, how far are the drones from the Schwarzschild radius, the gravitational radius of the black hole?" I asked Jack.

"If the drones don't break down, at this speed, they will take three more hours to reach it," said Jack.

"Upon reaching the radius, they will be able to take some images of the black hole itself, right? That should be close enough," I asked Jack.

"Yes. If everything goes smoothly, we can. But after entering that radius, everything will cease to exist, including light and time itself," said Jack, causing our hearts to beat faster.