TIME : June 30, 2017 10:30 P.M. (22:30)
PLACE : Deep Space
"Hank, come in Hank!"
Peter's voice came in loud and clear through the ship's communication system.
He had been trying to get in touch with Hank for several minutes. From the control tower at M.W.G.D. (Milky Way Galaxy Defense) Headquarters, he could see that Hank was heading into trouble and urgently tried to warn him that there was danger ahead. He prayed that Hank would answer him in time.
"This is Hank. Go ahead Peter," Hank replied at last.
The words were hard to understand, but it was clear that Hank had understood him. With a sigh of relief, Peter continued his message.
"You are three degrees of course," Peter stated casually. "Please correct it immediately."
Hank checked his current course on the computer and it confirmed what Peter had told him. It was no big deal to him. It wasn't the first time that he had been off course and the problem was easy to correct. Without giving it a second thought, Hank pushed the buttons necessary to make the proper corrections.
He expected Peter to tell him that his course had been corrected, but a few seconds later Peter replied sounding even more urgent than before.
"You are still three degrees off course," Peter repeated louder than the first time. "Correct your course immediately."
This time Hank was concerned. Again he doublechecked his course on the computer and again it told him that Peter was correct.
Hank pushed the same buttons he had pushed before. This time a little more forcefully as if simply pushing the buttons harder would sovle his problem. He checked the computer to see what progress he had made, but to his dismay he was still off course and headed in the same direction.
"Your current course will take you into the Mystery Zone in the center of the galaxy," Peter declared gravely. "There is believed to be a black hole there."
Hank looked on ahead afraid of what he would find. His worst suspicions were confirmed. There was a large black void directly in front of him and he was headed straight for it.
"It's no belief," Hank gasped finding he was so scared that he was unable to speak above a whisper. "That thing is-"
Peter cut him off in midsentence. Hank had to get out of there no matter what the cost might be.
"Try to get out of there," commanded Peter. "Do whatever it takes!"
Hank tried the controls once more. He felt it was rather futile, but under the circumstances he didn't have much of a choice. It seemed like the harder he tried to alter his course, the stronger the pull of the black hole became. The event horizon from which even light could not escape was only seconds away.
"I've tried to pull away from it," Hank reported thinking that they might be his last words. "I've tried everything, but its gravitational pull is too strong."
His message was followed by a loud static resembling the pattern of human speech. He thought that Peter was trying to tell him something, but there was no way of telling what it was.
He watched the chuncks of debris swirling about his ship only to cross over the event horizon and disappear forever. All he could do was count the seconds remaining until he crossed over the event horizon and braced himself for the inevitable.
"7.. .6.. .5.. .4...," Hank counted silently.
His ship began to shake under the intense pressure the black hole was exerting on it, but Hank didn't seem to notice. He had far more important concerns on his mind. He wondered if a black hole really was a gateway to another universe as some people had suggested. If that were the case, he thought that he might be able to return home or adjust to life in another universe. It wouldn't be the first time that he would have to adjust to a different lifestyle.
However, if it wasn't the gateway to another universe, he was sure to be crushed. Hank closed his eyes and continued the countdown.
" 3 . . .2 . . . 1. . . "
TIME : 10:35 P.M. (22:35)
PLACE : M.W.G.D. Headquarters
"Hank? Come in Hank," called Peter.
The chances of Hank responding were becoming slimer with every passing second, but Peter still hadn't given up hope. He had boosted his signal to the spot where they had last made contact. There was still no reply. Finally, Peter slammed his fist down on the table and took a deep breath. His disgust with his failure was appearent to everyone.
"It's no use," he sighed. "All I'm getting is static."
The person he was talking to was Shawn Cobalt the leader of M.W.G.D. He had come Earth just like Peter and Hank had. The only difference was that he had left Earth nine years before the others making him more experienced with how the rest of the galaxy opperated.
The other two from Earth, Linda and Lisa, came over to consult Peter and see if there was anything they could do to help. All of them had been friends for a long time and anything effecting one of them effected them all.
"Any sign of him?" asked Lisa.
Peter shook his head.
"I've lost him," he answered.
Shawn put a hand on Peter's shoulder.
"I'm sure you did your best," he assured him.
Peter blamed himself for not spotting the black hole in time. Due to a crisis at M.W.G.D. Headquarters, Peter had to work in the control tower. Normally the computer would automatically direct traffic, but the computer could not always handle emergency situations such as the black hole. It was the job of the person in the control tower to handle such emergencies.
Some tragedies could not be avoided no matter who was in charge and the others were sure that this was one of those times. Peter, however, was still not convinced. He had always taken failure rather hard and the fact that one of his friends had disappeared as a result did not make matters any easier.
Considering that that was not his usual job, he had acted promptly to the emergency. Hank should have had plenty of time to correct his course, but something had gone wrong. What had caused that something to go wrong remained unclear, but Peter had practically convinced himself that there was something he could have done to prevent it. The thought that it could have been something beyond his control had not even entered his mind.
"There has to be something we can do," complained Peter. "We can't just leave him there."
"We don't even know if he's still alive," Shawn reminded him. "Sending out a search party will just put other lives in danger. Unless he sends us some kind of signal, odds are we won't find him anyway so try to stay put. If Hank wants to contact us, he'll find a way to do it."
TIME : 11:00 P.M. (23:00)
PLACE : Inside the black hole
Slowly Hank sat up and looked around the room. He was in almost total darkness making it impossible to make out any details. The only thing he could figure out, at least at that moments, was that he was in some sort of warehouse.
He tried to recall what had happened to him after he'd entered the black hole, but he was unable to remember. Someone had obviously been concerned enough to bring him to safety, so he felt his next move should be to find whoever had rescued him and thank him or her.
As his eyes began to adjust to the light, he could see row after row of boxes as far as he could see. The boxes were stacked almost to the ceiling which he could now tell was about five meters above him.
Hank found himself going around in circles, lost in the maze of boxes which had consumed him. While he was trying to figure out where he was, his mind began to wonder. He wondered why he had been left alone in an apparently deserted wearhouse and why they had bothered to put him there in the first place. The more he tried to answer his own questions, the more questions he came up with. Things weren't getting any easier.
He was just about to give up when he saw a light in the distance. It was a door leading to the outside! Hank ran to the door hoping it would open. It did, but to his dismay, it only led to a building just as deserted as the wearhouse. His only consolation was that the place was well lighted meaning that someone was probably inside somewhere.
The technology was much more advanced there than it was on Earth, but Hank could recognize an elevator when he saw one. Next to the elevator was a map of the building. He looked at the map and saw that he was near the middle of a several hundred story building.
"What an unusual place to put a wearhouse," Hank thought to himself.
Hank stepped inside the elevator and debated breifly on whether to go to the top or the bottom. He thought that the ground floor might lead to the outside where all the people were, but whoever was in charge would probably be at the top. The lights had to have been left on for a reason, if not for him than for somebody else. The answers to his questions would be more likely to be found at the top.
The elevator rose smoothly and rapidly to the top floor without making a sound. It was starting to get on Hank's nerves. Nothing had made any noise since he first arrived. It was as if no one had entered the building in years and he had been thrown in there so no one would find him.
When he finally reached the top floor, he found it to be almost exactly like the floor he had just left. The only real difference was that the halls were slightly different. Hank wondered around just as lost as before until he heard a noise off in the distance.
It was the sound of a human voice, something he thought he might never hear again. Cautiously, he approached the room where the voice was coming from. He peeked inside and saw a young woman, probably in her mid twenties, talking to somebody through an intercom. She had her back to him and apperantly had no idea he was there.
The voice on the other end belonged to a middle aged man who seemed to be in charge. He was asking her for a status report on the company's profits. Hank thought it would be best for him to wait until she was finished before he announced his presence. She would be more likely to help him than the person she was talking to.
He tried to turn and back away, but he made too much noise. The woman was startled and turned around to see an equally startled Hank.
"Could you hold on a minute?" she requested to the man who was obviouly her supperior. "There's someone here."
"Why would anyone want to come here at this time of night?" he demanded.
"I don't know," she replied crossly. "Maybe if I ask him he'll tell me."
There was a few seconds of silence as her boss contemplated the situation.
"All right," he agreed at last. "but make it quick."
Hank had heard everything that was said between them and knew it was going to be more difficult to explain his presence than he thought it would be, especially considering that he didn't know how he got there.
"My name is Hank," he said extending his hand in friendship. "I work for M.W.G.D."
The young woman shook hands with him and tried to recall what M.W.G.D. stood for.
"Oh, yes. The Milky Way Galaxy Defense," she recalled at last. "My name is Ovetta. What brings you to THIS portion of the universe."
"I was on my way back to M.W.G.D. Headquarters when I was diverted from my original course by a black hole," Hank explained. "I must have passed out and, when I woke up, I found myself in a deserted wearhouse. Right now, I am looking for whoever's in charge so I can return home."
Ovetta laughed as if Hank had said something absured. "It's going to be a bit difficult for you to leave," she declared trying to break the news gently.
"This whole place is one gigantic spaceship stablized at the center of the black hole. If you try to leave, you will be sucked into the black hole forever, so you might as well get use to things here. You're going to be here for the rest of your life."
"So what I thought was a building is really part of a spaceship?" asked Hank.
"We prefer to think of it as a city," the woman told him. "It has been affectionately named City At The Center Of The Universe." "Why is it called that?" wondered Hank letting his curiousity get the better of him. "By our best guesses, this is nowhere near the center of the universe."
"For us, this is the center of the universe," she told him grimly. "The black hole isolates us from the rest of the universe, so we think of this place as a universe all to ourselves. This city is in the center of it. It really all depends on your point of view."
Hank wondered how his friends were reacting to his disappearance and whether or not they would try to look for him. If the situation were reversed, he would have assumed that he had been killed by the black hole. Fortunately, Shawn was not so quick to write people off. He had seen things much stranger happen in his time at M.W.G.D. and was willing to believe anything.
From what Ovetta had told him, part of him was hoping that they didn't find him. If they did, they might become just as trapped as he was. Hank would have to find a way out on his own.
TIME : 11:15 P.M. (23:15)
PLACE : M.W.G.D. Headquaters
Shawn and the others refused to retire for the night until they heard something from Hank. As Shawn had said, Hank would try to contact them if it was at all possible for him to do so. All they had to do was wait until he did.
"I'm getting a message from somewhere inside the Mystery Zone!" exclaimed Peter putting the message on the loud speaker so everyone could hear it. "The frequency is one reserved for M.W.G.D. people only. It could only have come from Hank."
The others listened eagerly hoping Hank had somehow managed to escape from the black hole safe and sound though they could sense something was wrong, otherwise Hank would have communicated with them much sooner.
When it turned out to be someone other than Hank, they were not surprised. It was illegal for people outside of M.W.G.D. to use that particular frequency, but that didn't stop some people from using it. However, none of the others had ever dared to contact M.W.G.D. itself on a frequency that they knew was reserved strictly for their use only and carried a hefty fine. Whoever it was was certainly not afraid of them, or very foolish.
"This message for Shawn Cobalt, the leader of M.W.G.D.," announced a gruff voice that could only come from a man in his later years of life. "Hank is here with us. He is safe and sound in our beloved city. If you want him back, come to the black hole accompanied by two staff members of your choice. Don't worry about finding me, I will find you. The coordinates have been fed into your computer. That is all I have to say for now. Good bye." Peter, Linda, and Lisa looked at each other. None of them could find the right words to say. They were glad that Hank was doing fine, but he was not in the most pleasant of situations. It was going to be difficult to get him back.
"What do you think his alterior motives are?" questioned Linda.
"Whatever it is, it has something to do with me," reasoned Shawn. "Hank is only being used to get me to go over there and get him."
"Is it safe for you to go?" advised Peter making the statement sound more like a warning than a question.
"He might cause trouble for us if I don't show up," Shawn began. "As long as I follow his instructions, we might delay him long enough for us to figure out what he wants. His demands are probably reasonable since he didn't say he was holding Hank for a ransom. I just hope he doesn't change his mind when we get there."
Shawn read the coordinates that had been fed into the computer. He hastily grabbed the print out and stared at the resulted.
"This can't be right!" he gasped. "According to the results both the source of the message and the coordinates he gave us are at the center of the black hole."
The others stared at each other in disbelief. None of the technologies that they knew about, including Alpha Memory's, were capable of putting a city in the middle of a black hole. Their new adversary was much more advanced than anybody that they had had to face before.
"Which of us are coming with you?" wondered Lisa bringing their attention back to the matters at hand.
"Which of you want to come with me?" Shawn inquired.
Lisa decided to stay behind, so Peter and Linda agreed to come with him. The three of them entered Shawn's personal shuttle and prayed that the coordinates they had been given were correct. They were being led by blind faith in a person they had no reason to trust.
"Don't worry," encouraged Shawn. "When I first joined M.W.G.D., I was afraid of travelling faster than the speed of light."
Peter and Linda remembered how different life at M.W.G.D. was from life on Earth. They had learned from experience that they could adjust fairly quickly to an advanced technology. More often than not, the new technology was not that much more advanced than their own. It just appeared that way at first glance. They kept trying to assure themselves that this would be the case and their new adversary was not as powerfull as he appeared to be, but they still had their doubts.
TIME : 11:19 P.M. (23:19)
PLACE : A secret location on Altair 7
Shawn wasn't the only one recieving messages from an unauthorized person on a restricted frequency. A few minutes after the old man had communicated with M.W.G.D., he contacted the Ruler. This time, he was on the Ruler's frequency.
Unlike with M.W.G.D., improper use of the Ruler's restricted frequency was punishable by death. The Ruler was very angry that someone had dared to intrude on his privacy. He was determined to track down whoever had sent the message and see to it that no one ever tried a stunt like that again, but before he did, he would listen to what he had to say just in case it was something important.
"I know you are angry at me for using this frequency, but don't try to talk back," ordered the old man. "Your communications system doesn't have enough power to send a message over this great a distance, so I won't be able to hear what you say anyway. You'll just be wasting your breath."
The Ruler wasn't use to anybody taking to him in such a rude manner. While the old man continued to talk, he walked over to his desk and pushed a button on the side which sent a message to Vondwin, his second in command, telling him that the Ruler wanted to see him immediately.
"By the time you recieve this message, which should be half an hour from now, Shawn will be on his way to this location," the old man continued. "If you want to set a trap for him, meet me at the coordinates I have fed into your computer. This will be the only time I make this offer. Once Shawn leaves this city, you will have lost your chance."
Vondwin came running into the room knowing that the Ruler wanted him for something important. The Ruler motioned for Vondwin to remain silent as the two of them listened to the message together.
"I want you to come to the City At The Center Of The Universe accompanied by Vondwin and two others of your choice," he continued. "When you get here, I will give you further instructions. It takes a great deal of energy to send a message across half the galaxy and I would like to conserve as much of it as possible. Good bye for now."
Just like Shawn had done, the Ruler trace the message to see if it matched the coordinates he had given them, but when he found out that both had come from the center of the black hole, he was not quite as surprised.
"How are we supposed to get there?" griped Vondwin when he saw where what the coordinates were.
"I have heard about the City At The Center Of The Universe," the Ruler informed him still deep in thought. "It is rumored to be remnant of an advanced civilazation visiting our galaxy five thousand years ago. Legend has it that the secrets of their technology are hidden somewhere inside. If we can get hold of them, we will be able to conquer the galaxy in no time."
The Ruler picked two of his best officers to accompany him and the four of them headed to their preselected destination at maximum speed. As soon as Shawn was in their clutches, they would have a little surprise for the old man who had brought them there.
Copyright MCMXC, MCMXCIX
