Captives of the black

For a long time the world's major powers have been preparing for an unprecedented project – the study of black holes at extremely close range. "Extremely close range" means approaching the event horizon at the safest possible distance and directly observing the "behavior" of matter beyond the fateful boundary. Years of preparation, probability modeling, astronaut training and the construction of a special spacecraft have gone into this project. The amount of money spent is so great that with such support Africa, Asian countries and South America could have reached the economic level of the United States. However, perhaps it is science rather than vast sums of money that will save the world.

From time to time television news reporters discussed this ambitious project and commented on the progress of the work. There were as many opinions as there were people who knew about it. The books compiled from internet comments could surround the globe at least once.

The selection of astronauts and their physical as well as psychological preparation for difficult and extremely dangerous work was carried out even more responsibly. There had to be two of them – that was enough to operate the equipment and carry out the intended research. About fifteen candidates from the United States, three from Mexico, twenty from across Europe, five from Australia and over forty from Asia, mostly Chinese, applied. Trevor M. from the US and Myung N. from South Korea were selected. Specialists from the most renowned laboratories were invited to train them.

On the appointed day, when most science enthusiasts were glued to their TVs, computer screens, tablets or at least smartphones, and only those in dictatorial states missed it, Trevor and Myung, resembling robocops, boarded the spaceship. For some it was entertainment, for others curiosity, still for others a career or even a matter of life or death.

Their spacecraft rose into the heights of outer space. The further away they got, the less people talked about this event, the less they remembered it, and eventually they forgot it altogether. After all, the astronauts as humans had to fly for an insanely long time to reach their chosen destination in the universe.

Feeling at home on the ship, where everything was properly equipped and adjusted and where they could take off their space suits, one dark day they reached the edge of the field which must not be violated under any circumstances. The ship stopped, deployed its radars and other instruments, and the observations began. Since most of the observations will be carried out by the equipment over a longer period of time, the astronauts will have the opportunity to relax, closely monitor artificial food laboratories and by no means forget to send the data obtained back to Earth.

The event horizon appeared as a black area containing nothing but darkness. Stars and various cosmic bodies swirled around it, preventing the void from remaining completely empty.

Myung noticed in the mirror that some gray hair had appeared on his head; they certainly weren't there before the trip. Trevor was confused to find wrinkles around his neck. If the neck area starts to wrinkle, it is a clear sign of aging. Only later will wrinkles appear on the face. However, if you are wise, do know that you are gradually leaving your youth behind. Space heroes must complete their studies with first-class diploma. Thus they know how risky it is to play with space-time, what unexpected directions a careless "game" with physical forces can take. But they did not panic. After all, they were prepared, strong in spirit, hardened by training. Of course, no one wants to die, but if fate demanded it, these men would probably not be driven mad by the thought.

Unfortunately, space-time is not yet fully understood, and perhaps even the most meticulous calculations made by humans on distant Earth haven‘t been entirely accurate. It so happened that the instruments detected a tiny shift of the ship towards the black hole – by only one nanometer. Myung and Trevor were alarmed: in such close proximity even a picometer is a hell of a lot, it can determine your whole life. While they were getting ready, the spacecraft drifted a few more nanometers. By the time they had prepared the ship for launch, it was already gradually moving several micrometers, gaining millimeters, then centimeters, inches, meters, kilometers per second.

Trevor and Myung understood what had happened. They also soberly realized that trying to "break away" would not help. The speed readings on the gauges kept rising as if they were rushing to their doom. There was no point in doing anything, in resisting. If not yet, they would soon be flying at the speed of light... into a black hole. All you can do is watch what's happening. And let what's happening happen. For Myung, who grew up in a Zen cultural environment, this was perhaps easier. For Trevor it's much more fatal.

'That‘s it... Now it‘s over. The end... ' Trevor kept on repeating.

'We will definitely not return to Earth,’ Myung added dramatically, 'but we still can and have time to LIVE. '

'Do you think so? Remember what we know in theory about black holes, ' Trevor said with difficulty.

'Before we are sucked into the black abyss and crushed we can manage to live a normal life and die a natural death, ' Myung wasn't sure what his lips were uttering.

'That long? Not any sooner?'

'Anything is possible. This black hole isn't the biggest one. Still, I don't want to see the speed readings.'

The men fell silent. It seemed as if they no longer had anything in common with Earth or humankind. As if this were their only true home and true existence.

'How is the aging of humans—their journey towards death different from our current descent into the black hole?' asked Myung.

'I feel like I have an incurable disease, like terminal cancer, and I know I don't have long to live,' said Trevor.

'I feel like I've fallen into the hands of terrorists and know that I won't be released, that sooner or later my head will be cut off,' replied Myung. 'Are we worse off than those people? Much worse?' spoke the Korean.

'They couldn't escape their fate, but we could have stayed out of it...' Trevor trailed off.

'The hostage could have,' Myung objected. 'He got himself into trouble just like us, made a mistake by ending up in the wrong place.'

'What use are these comparisons to us?' the American muttered.

'Nothing. Just self-soothing. A desire to feel that we're not the only ones.'

'Although we definitely are, I agree it‘s better to live, as you said...'

Myung and Trevor decided to LIVE out the rest of their lives. The spaceship is their home from which they cannot leave as if they were captives. Space, the gravitational field of the black hole – that is their world. They explored less and less, devoting more time to themselves. What‘s the point? Nothing would escape this realm, no one would cross the event horizon. Even if they were to discover the nature of black holes, reveal the secrets of the origin of the universe or make other fundamental discoveries during that time, no one would benefit from it — that knowledge, like the rest that‘s left, will be swallowed up by this bloody black hole. From now on, the only way is self-development. There is enough space in the spacecraft.

Myung and Trevor knew that they were the first astronauts to "visit" a black hole. However, this did nothing to boost their pride.

Out of habit, the astronauts tried to send some data back to their home planet. As long as the pull was not too strong, the waves still used to spread in the direction they were emitted. Then the overpowering gravitational pull slowed them down, turned them around and took them back, but not to the "mother" spacecraft, but into the abyss, at a speed much greater than that of the incoming ship. As gravitation increased over time, the emitted waves would turn away from the transmitters as soon as they were generated and end up in the black singularity.

Sitting down with a cup of tea, Trevor began to feel his thoughts concentrating in the right hemisphere of his brain, on the right side of his head — facing the black hole. The American was stunned by this paranormal sensation. Never had he experienced anything like that before. He couldn't even describe to Myung how it felt to have his thoughts concentrated in one "territory."

Trevor stood up and turned around. The left side of the head was now facing the black abyss. His thoughts moved smoothly there. Then the American astronaut turned his face in the direction of black hole‘s gravity. His thoughts easily "relocated" somewhere in the forehead area. It was as if his forehead had become heavier. If the brain were not reliably guarded by the skull, thoughts could fly out through the nose and hit the front wall. That would be a lot of work for Myung to clean up! And where did that wit come from? Probably because only a small part of the gray matter is functioning. The rest can be amputated.

Trevor leaned over, turning his head toward the black hole. The top of his head became very "intelligent." Are thoughts liquid? Or granular? Or volatile? That would contradict the science of biology. But who can guarantee that the same truths apply here? Myung saw his colleague's tai chi but said nothing. Obviously, the same thing was happening to him.

As a precaution, astronauts will sleep with their heads facing the black hole – better to have your thoughts stuck in your head than sliding down your neck to who knows where...

As if the men didn't have enough worries, other symptoms characteristic of such conditions appeared. The astronauts got used to the uneven distribution of thoughts in the skull area. However, strange things began to happen to their living environment. If they turned off the lights at the back, leaving only the side lights on, their light spread intensely towards the black hole, i.e. the bow of the spacecraft. At first it was barely noticeable, but later the front half of each room was brighter, while the rear half remained darker. There was always twilight there. Over time, it grew thicker. Finally, Myung and Trevor watched with interest as, when the side lights were turned on, the front part of the room lit up while the rear part remained in darkness. The solution was to turn on the lights as far back as possible so that the light would illuminate as much of the surrounding area as possible as it moved forward. The ideal solution was back wall lighting. When only the front lights were lit, their bright spots would shine in the darkness on the wall.

Mysticism, though not at all mystical, also had something to do with sound. The words of the person standing further away from the black hole than the other reached the listener. As with light, if words were spoken at the back of the room, they would travel in sound waves to the front. If the listener was further back than the speaker, the voice would be heard as a faint echo. This effect grew stronger and stronger until finally Trevor, standing further away from the bow than Myung, could only see the Korean gasping for breath, his temples throbbing from strain of shouting, but no sound came out.

It was only natural that the air began to concentrate closer to the bow of the ship, which was heading into the black abyss. The further back one went, the harder it was to breathe.

Trevor walked further away from Myung:

'Do you still think we'll live here as usual for the rest of our lives?'

Myung took Trevor's place. Trevor stepped back.

'Yes. There are some changes going on now. But let's hope they won't be too rapid or too drastic.'

Trevor moved closer to the stern of the ship than Myung:

'Dream on,' muttered the American. 'Can't you see how fast everything is going to hell?!'

'No', the Korean shook his head, blinking.

'What?! Don't you see what's happening?!'

The Korean explained something with his lips and gestures until he agreed with his colleague to switch places.

'We are experiencing the most dramatic changes right now,' the Korean defended his point of view. 'Once we get used to it, it will be easier. No one has ever experienced such conditions. We don't know how to act wisely. Once we adapt, everything will be better in every way.'

'What naive optimism!' Trevor shouted. 'You may adapt, but I'll go crazy before my body adjusts!'

Myung didn't hear that because they hadn't switched places. Only the American's facial expression and body language revealed his complete disagreement with what had been said. His colleague from Korea continued:

'Don't forget that black holes are still very rare and have barely been explored! We don't know what it means to be inside a black hole. Maybe it doesn't destroy its victims at all. Maybe it sucks them in and spits them out on the other side as a white hole. We both know best that nothing comes from nothing. Likewise, whatever happens, nothing disappears without a trace — neither energy nor matter.'

Trevor rather rudely pulled his colleague back to his place, moving closer to the stern of the ship, intending to speak:

'Oh yes! Protons, neutrons, photons, gluons and other fuckons remain — I have no doubt about that! But what good are they to us?! Is it better? Will we find other worlds there? By the way, your hair is sticking up in the direction of the hole!' he remarked.

'I didn't tell you, but yours too,' said Myung, stepping in front of Trevor. 'Yours is longer than mine. It sticks out quite comically in the direction of the black hole when you turn and walk. No offense, but you look like you've poured a kilogram of hair gel on your head. Perfectly straight, but not always stiff.'

The Korean chuckled. He wore a short, comfortable, spiky hairstyle. Even his hair betrayed the gravitational pull. Trevor usually walked with hair fringe on his forehead, and his hair covered his ear tips at the temples. No wonder his slanted hair looked more impressive. He ran his fingers through his hair. Sure enough, it lay flat on the side opposite the object of gravitation. When he ruffled his hair, it immediately fell back into the same shape.

'Let's move closer to the front,' he heard the Korean say. 'The air here is as thin as it is at an altitude of six kilometers in the mountains. It's hard to breathe.'

Myung went first. Trevor followed him. When he turned to speak, his hair stretched forward, covering the upper part of his face with a fringe. Myung was no longer amused.

'You know what I'm going to tell you,' said Trevor, 'we're going to huddle together in a few square meters at the bow of the spacecraft, and so we'll be able to survive. When we can no longer breathe, we'll put on our spacesuits. We'll hardly be able to move. I wonder how long we'll last...'

'But before that we can LIVE.'

Myung thought his colleague was going to kill him, but the American just grabbed his head and stared at the floor.

'No, don't think like that,' Myung tried to explain. 'I'm not any calmer than you, not at all. I just want to answer something positive...'

The further they went, the harder it became to live in the spacecraft, which was hurtling toward the black hole at a speed that had long since exceeded the incredible speed at which they had come to the event horizon. After a while the astronauts experienced that the artificial gravity was starting to give way to the gravitation of the black hole. It was no longer just hair, dust and other light objects that were pointing to the direction of the hole. Since most of the furniture, equipment and heavier objects in the spacecraft were fixed in place, they posed no danger. However, anything that was hanging now hung at a slant, coffee in a cup collected on one side, the tap water flowed diagonally and shower spray never hit the sink side opposite the black hole. Anything that fell did not fall straight, but as if carried by the wind.

Trevor and Myung adapted even to such macabre conditions. Somehow they walked, ate and slept, but talking required physical effort — at least to move from one place to another.

One morning, when Myung came to his colleague who had woken up earlier, their clothes aroused suspicion. Trevor remembered that his colleague's jacket was rich burgundy color, not just dirty grey. Myung was no less surprised by the change. Trevor noticed that his own shirt had changed from light blue to gray. His brown pants were also darker. The astronauts looked around more closely. The colors had faded significantly.

Later, everything in the spaceship lost its color. Objects became black, gray or white. Myung and Trevor became like characters in a black-and-white cartoon.

'Can you see me blushing?' asked Trevor.

'No, I haven't learned to distinguish between fifty shades of gray tones and half-tones yet,' replied Myung.

Trevor moved away to the stern of the spacecraft.

'I can't tell if it's our eyes that have atrophied or if the colors have disappeared. There isn't a single colorful object around!'

'From now on, we'll only be able to remember what green, yellow and purple look like,' replied the Korean blandly.

'But no damn black hole will ever take away the white, black and gray from our eyes!' Trevor shouted, running ahead of Myung.

'Unless together with our own eyes,' his colleague added. He intended to give the phrase a figurative meaning, but it sounded very realistic, cruel and merciless.

'Maybe we should try to describe these incredible changes that happen when you fall into a black hole?' suggested the American.

The Korean nodded, mumbling something under his breath. His colleague didn't understand.

'What's the point?' Myung repeated, going behind the American.

As they talked, they often walked to the end of the room. There it became impossible to breathe. The worst part was that the ship's gravity was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain, and heavier objects, such as the astronauts themselves, began to feel the tilt and pull toward the bow of the ship, in the direction of the black hole. Walking on the floor was like climbing a hill. Meanwhile, the actual "floor" appeared somewhere in the corner between the floor and the wall.

The black hole "managed" to draw the gaze. Standing sideways, the pupils of the eyes turned towards the hole, and it was no longer possible to look elsewhere. Standing face forward, the eyes looked straight ahead, but they moved slightly out of their sockets. When they bent down, their eyes did not look at the floor, but peered behind their eyelids. When they turned their back to the black hole, the eyes also looked straight ahead, but they had the feeling that they were slightly penetrating their brain, pressing against the walls of the eye sockets.

The grim outcome became increasingly apparent. It became extremely challenging, often impossible, to move away from the black abyss. Moving toward it was much faster and easier than moving away. The astronauts found it difficult to eat, scary to fall sleep, every single step required enormous effort. It became difficult to meet their daily needs; even some of their vital bodily functions were disrupted. Unwilling to accept what the black hole was "imposing" on them, the space explorers did everything in their power. They were overcome by a peculiar curiosity about how much a person could endure, both morally and physically.

The devices continued to purify the air, and the turbines successfully generated electricity, but the gravity was completely malfunctioning. It took too much effort to say a word or make a comment to each other, so the fellow astronauts chose silence against their will. They communicated only with gestures or lip movements, sometimes writing to each other with great effort. Their tongues rested on the jaw that was turned toward a black hole. If they strayed too far to the stern of the spacecraft, they risked suffocating.

The light emitted by the lamps at the rear of the spacecraft spread forward without dispersing into the environment. It simply fell in continuous beams of light onto the objects in front of it. The diameter of the beam of light did not exceed the diameter of the luminous part of the bulb. Life was becoming more and more like life support.

Trevor and Myung stood huddled against the front wall. They often fell asleep like that. It felt more like time with their eyes closed. The astronauts gathered the food they had close to them with their last ounce of strength. They set up a toilet nearby. When they had the power and motivation, they would walk half a meter away from each other and say what they were thinking. At the same position even the sound of a face-to-face conversation would not reach them, "crashing" onto the wall.

Later, when they wanted to say something or ask his colleague a question, they had to stand in front of him and press their hands against the wall so that they wouldn't crush the poor friend. In this way, Trevor once managed to say:

'We've been alone for a long time; from the moment we crossed the event horizon, neither other planets, nor other people, nor spaceships exist for us anymore...'

He didn't finish what he was about to say and fell silent. Then Myung set off on a journey:

'But we never became true friends. Only as much as was necessary for our work together.'

'We were united only by common fate,' Trevor leaned against the wall in front of Myung.

'Well, at least before we die we'll become friends, not just colleagues,' replied the Korean.

'No need to fake it,' Trevor stood up. 'Better let's save our strength and stop talking.'

The American collapsed against the wall, exhausted.

Even when pressed against the front part of the room, facing the black hole, breathing became difficult. The air was thin, concentrated near the surface of the wall. If they turned their faces toward the wall, it would be easier to breathe, but their noses would be pressed against it. One can't stay like that for long. Their heads were spinning, their bodies were shaking, and they were overcome by a general feeling of weakness. It was easy to choke while eating, and swallowing food required skill. Trevor had no doubt that they were not just experiencing physical reactions, but had become terminally ill with irreversible damage to their health.

'Hey, should we bite those ampoules?' suggested the American.

'Yeah, let‘s do that.'

Nothing happened. The spaceship continued hurtling in the same direction as before.