Life Inside the Vacuum

“Life Inside the Vacuum” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Abhijeet Vijay Mohod, Nobles International School - Petro Rabigh, Saudi Arabia.

Life Inside the Vacuum

Science was nowhere as advanced when I was young. The year 2390 changed my life forever as it was the year I finished college. It was also the year I embarked on the most unimaginable adventure ever!

I was so thrilled about the idea that NASA had chosen me before I had completed my final year. My passion for science kept me awake at night, trying to understand the most complex formulas, and even trying to modify them. I had been working on a theory I would like to call “Theory of The Dark Energy”. It consisted of a way to harness eternal energy from black holes or singularities. This theory blew the scientists’ minds away! They decided that they need me, so they offered me a job which I accepted without hesitation. The arrangement was for me to join them after completion of my final year.

It was a dream working with astounding scientists, talking about what others thought was impossible. I soon heard some heart-breaking news, though! It was extremely classified information about the Sun. An asteroid with high radiation levels had collapsed near the sun which made the Sun age faster and now the sun was turning into a red giant. Earth had only four centuries more until all life on this planet will simply burn up! We needed another place to live but we weren’t advanced enough. We didn’t have sufficient energy to travel to galaxies in search of a new home...

We needed to act fast to avoid a total disaster! That night everyone stayed late to discuss the issue. We then decided to use my theory in an experiment. Yes, I was going to a black hole to get fuel! But I wasn’t going alone. I was going with Joe, my brother who was a mission-specialist astronaut. He and I were very close, so we knew that both of us would die for science and discovering new ways to further mankind. This was our passion and the main reason we worked for NASA.

Departing from Earth on route to the nearest black hole, V616 Monocerotis, was both thrilling and extremely terrifying! It has about 13 times the mass of our Sun. It was truly something frightening knowing that the end was near! Days went by in a flash. The next moment, we were saying good-bye, maybe forever, and we were in this colossal spaceship where we were going to spent 3,200 years. We had a system of water hibernation which allowed us to survive for that long. It felt like I was dying from inside, but living for the first time, when I entered hibernation. When the spaceship took off, we didn’t feel a thing. After the lengthy siesta-hibernation period ended, both my brother and I woke up at the exact same time. We checked the date and was very surprised to see it was 5991. We both gasped as couldn’t believe we were still alive, but we were woken up seven hundred years later than we were supposed to! This meant that we needed to execute the intended plan as fast as possible. So, we started with the ground work to step up. Finally, it was time to execute our plan, but we had only two seconds to stabilize the singularity to avoid the person being sucked into eternal “neverness” of a black hole. After the stabilization, we could start to absorb the energy it transmits, which will happen instantly in exactly 0.0078987 seconds. But the ship was programed to leave two minutes after absorbing, on route back to Earth. It was a hard task but we had to do it for humanity. The moment was here! We both had to jump into the singularity and get close enough to stabilize it. The fear that cursed through my body and mind was inexplicable and overwhelming.

As I looked around I saw the horizon of the singularity and some stars being inhaled by the black hole. It wasn’t long until we reached close enough to stabilize it. Joe pushed the button. It didn’t do anything! He was halfway into the horizon. Everything slowed down. I thought it was in my head, but it wasn’t! Joe was still getting sucked in, but very slowly I reached for him. I wasn’t close enough!!! I saw his head starting to bulge before exploding. Tears swept from my eyes as I saw the remains of my brother. I let myself loose and I got sucked in, but I didn’t die. Now I am alone in darkness...