Losing Time

Anxiety and fear swarms over my body like a plague. I can't show it. I have to stay strong in front of the ones I have come back to save. But sadly I was slowly losing hope I could save them. Having hope in a better tomorrow is what carried us forward as a civilization. Hoping that the struggles and hardships we faced in surviving after our world was gone, would one day be enough and we could all finally rest. Yet, here we are once again fighting to survive.

Our original homeworld had been scorched by our star millions of years ago. The yellow star's expansion of its outer layer incinerated the first few unlucky planets while slowly increasing the temperatures on our homeworld. Luckily we had prepared for this, we knew one day our star would lose its luminosity, leaving behind a cold memory of a former warm and lively solar system. The only way to keep humanity going was to find ways to survive elsewhere in the universe. On the few celestial bodies we were able to inhabit, life slowed down for some, but for the scientists and the ones that continued to look forward in securing a long term home for our race never rested. They relentlessly scanned the universe in hopes of finding a new system to call home.

After exhausting all options a lead astronomer located a nearby blackhole that met all five of the criteria for using a black hole's energy to fuel a civilization. The idea would be troubling for some because it was something never done before. Also the parabolic reflector our team had been working on was still not even close to functioning. This would help reflect the Hawking radiation produced from the black hole turning it into fuel and energy.

We gathered a team to release the news to the others, but there was fear in some as they viewed black holes as behemoths that devoured whole galaxies. Assuring them nothing was in motion yet,we still had not finished all the math yet, we only asked them to keep it in mind. If this solution worked out, it would guarantee a long term home for us. There was still some uncertainty if this was feasible within the laws of physics, but everyone, including myself, strongly believed it would work. That this would be our time to finally rest.

We set up computerized simulations for the first couple of weeks for all of the other survivors to view so that their fears would be lessened. Some were still uncertain but were thankful that soon our race would have a set future . The black hole founded for our new future was named after the astronomer that first found this perfect new home. Sadly she had passed away a year before the journey.

The first years of construction started off quickly. Soon we would be living amongst the most dangerous objects in space. Instead of bringing an end to something it would be bringing a future to us.

After construction, the first few years were a success. My team and I were congratulated for our perseverance in finding a way for our continued survival for billions of years or more. The move was hard for some as we transitioned to the new base. Those that had doubts in the beginning were now adjusting to the new base and now felt at home

This was our last hope of continuing the survival of mankind, and so far everything pointed to a hopeful future.

After twelve years of blissfulness an alarm sounded in the middle of the night. Quickly jumping out of bed and throwing on yesterday's clothes I ran towards the control room. Cyrus, one of the lead programmers, was already in the room when I arrived.

"What's happened?", I asked out of breath.

"The reflector is not responding to any of the commands and is losing power.", he said, panicked.

"What could have caused this?", I questioned.

"Debri we didn't anticipate, a loose screw, it could be a million things. The system that scans each section is offline so we will have to send a team out there.", he said befuddled.

"It's too risky, but we need to know what’s going on. I'll wake up Elia, to get her team suited up to go.", I mentioned headed towards the phone.

Before Elia and her team could reach the dock to begin suiting up, the whole base shook as if something had crashed into it. A large chunk of the storage bay had been torn apart.

We didn't have as much time as we thought.

It was far too dangerous now to send out anyone at this point, we needed to put in the evacuation order that I had hoped we'd never have to use.

Giving the command, we set off the alarms throughout the base. Alerting everyone to leave everything behind and make their way to the loading docks.

This future of hope I had started believing in has now led to this.

Us running.

Most of us made it to the ships and had escaped. We had made it far enough from the black holes grasp, when we received a message from a few we had left behind. I was furious with myself for not double checking the list that they had checked off as everyone boarded.

The thought of leaving anyone behind over my mistake would haunt me forever, and no one should lose their lives over my carelessness. Everyone protested that I go, but I ignored them all and took a ship back to the base. Before heading back, Cyrus stopped me and told me he figured out what had happened. We had made a miscalculated error, and built too close to the black hole. The reflector had been straining for a couple years against the intensity of Alice's gravity, until eventually coming apart which led to the alarm sounding off. I told him to continue working on the problem, because we could not afford to make this same mistake again. He nodded his head and told me to hurry back safely.

As I approached the crumbling base I knew the chances were low of finding those that sent out the S.O.S. But I would not give up until I searched every inch of the remaining base. I lowered the ship onto the dock bay and rushed through the doors calling out for anyone. The base shook as I walked slowly through the halls. Soon I saw a small group huddled in a corner screaming into the radio they had most likely sent out the message on. I called out to them and they looked startled to see someone there. I could see the relief in their faces as tears formed in their eyes. I threw a cord from my end to them and told them to walk their way towards me, just as the last one of the six in total was across, a chunk of the floor beneath them began cracking. I yelled for them to hurry, but it was too late. The last person fell into space and was dragging everyone with them. They let the cord go as they had made it safely to me and we watched him float towards the void. My heart sank but I knew I must save who was left.

My hope of saving everyone slowly dimminshed as one by one I lost a person until it was down to the two of us. It was a young girl I remembered was the daughter of one of the chefs from the kitchen, she was in tears and asked if we could stop. I said no if we did we were next. She needed a moment. Hell, I needed a moment but there was no time. We would grieve later. Only a few feet from the ship's dock, I knew it had enough boost to get us far from the black holes attraction. The last ounce of hope I had was to save her, it carried me towards the dock doors as the green light blinked letting you know the ship was ready for take off.

Taking my eyes off of it for a second to check on the young girl, the light became a blur as I watched it turn from green to red. Red meant there was an error. It meant something had malfunctioned and the only thing I could think of was that the ship was gone or had been torn apart.

I took a deep breath and looked at my screen, noticing my oxygen was running low, I slowly turned towards the young girl as she was on her knees barely grasping my hand. "Wake up", I said to her under my breath. There was no response from her and the green light that's on our suits to indicate we were stable, was now yellow.

She was crashing.

So was I.

I hear the automated system in my suit. "12% oxygen. Critical. Locate the nearest port."

We sat near the now non-existent port.

The area around us was still stable so with all the strength I had left I pulled myself off the floor and told the girl to stay put. I'm not sure if she heard but we were losing time.

The red light that blinked before, where I had docked my ship, was now green.

How is that?

I must be imagining things, from the lack of oxygen to my brain.

Nonetheless I made it to the docks door in hopes I was not hallucinating.

With the last bit of strength I had left I pressed the button to open the doors.

*Swoosh*

My ship still sat there waiting to take off.

I began laughing hysterically, after losing all the bit of hope I had left. I tethered myself to a slot inside the dock area and made my way back to the girl but she was gone.

I called out for her but no answer.

All of it was for nothing I thought.

Reluctantly I stumbled back towards my ship and made it safely inside.

Taking my helmet quickly off, I breathed in as much air as possible.

As things became clearer, I could see everything once again.

But that quickly changed as I began to hear the sounds of the ship being torn apart and things became a blur again.

Things faded away from me as I reached for anything to grab hold too.

I closed my eyes ready for death to take me. I prayed it would be quick. Seconds, then minutes seem to pass waiting for the end. When I heard a faint voice.

"Help us!", a girl called out.

Opening my eyes I saw the young girl again, but this time she was back where I first found her with the group huddled in a corner.

There were all six again.

Before another thought could form I was already grabbing for my cord to extend to them.

Was this a second chance?

But surely enough the events slowly unfolded as they did before, losing them one by one.

When this repeated for a fifth time, I stopped myself from throwing the cord again and asked myself if this was real.

In my desperation to redeem myself back on the escaped ship I failed to realize that time is different the closer you are to a black hole.

Time is irrelevant. It doesn't make sense.

It was another thing we had not solved.

Sadly I just solved it.

Time repeats itself.

Until there's nothing left, after the void has consumed you.

This time I walked away from the group back towards my ship in hopes of re doing things.

But each time I've made it a few miles away from the base, I'm right back where I started.

Now I just sit and watch as the group calls out to me to be saved and I weep.