The Black Hole

Unscheduled course correction

due at 2200.

Pre-correction check:

Rotation axis plus three degrees.

Nitrous oxide pressure:

Quad jets C and D

on pre-select.

Rotor ignition sequence

beginning in 3-0.

Thruster line reactors

on standby.

Vincent, notify me with 15 to go.

- Alex?

- Yes, Dan.

Have you determined the difference

in ETAs with and without our correction?

Working on it. You know, we shouldn't

be needing a direction at this time.

Vincent, run a confirmation

on the last inertial fix...

and check it

with another celestial, please.

I have.

It is correct...

but I think I've found the reason

for our present variation.

- Mr Pizer.

- Yes, Vincent.

Mr Pizer, I think

you should come up here.

What's up, Vincent?

The largest black hole

I have ever encountered, Mr Pizer.

Hmm. Let's have a look at it

on the holograph.

My God!

Right out of Dante's Inferno.

Yes. The most destructive force

in the universe, Harry.

Nothing can escape it,

not even light.

I had a professor who predicted

that eventually black holes...

would devour

the entire universe.

Why not, when you can see giant suns

sucked in and disappear without a trace?

- Give us the magnification, Vincent.

- Polarizing image.

Every time I see one of those things,

I expect to spot some guy in red

with horns and a pitchfork.

It's a monster, all right.

A rip in the very fabric

of space and time...

but I picked up

something else of interest.

- Let's see it.

- It hasn't moved

since I first picked it up.

- It seems to be some kind of ship.

- Do you copy, Alex?

- Roger, Dan.

- Enlarge again, Vincent,

and let's try to identify it.

But how could anybody

be out here ahead of us?

Arcturius-10, United Kingdom.

Liberty-7, United States.

Russian experimental space station,

series five.

France, Sahara Module 5-3.

Pluto-4, Japan.

United States,

Space Probe One.

- That's it.

- USS Cygnus.

Dr Kate, wasn't that the ship

your father was on?

USS Cygnus.

Its mission:
To discover habitable

life in outer space. Same as ours.

Signal that ship, Vincent.

- Activate the sensors, Charlie.

- You bet.

They were recalled to Earth

their mission

considered a failure.

How that must have galled

Dr Hans Reinhardt.

Did you ever meet

Commander Reinhardt?

Collided with him would be

a more accurate description.

- A legend.

- So he believed.

Reinhardt had the knack

of making his own ambitions...

seem like a matter

of national pride.

Why, he talked

the space appropriations committee...

into the costliest fiasco

of all time...

and refused to admit failure.

He ignored his recall.

Maybe not.

Maybe it never got through.

That ship just...

just disappeared.

They've never been seen again.

Dan, get us in close enough. Vincent

and I could get aboard on tethers.

To quote Cicero, "Rashness is

the characteristic of youth...

prudence that of mellowed age and

discretion the better part of valour."

No sense leaving the story

of a lifetime untold, Captain.

I believe there is, Harry...

and it's looking

straight at us.

Picking up anything

on the sensors, Charlie?

Negative, but with all

that turbulence...

out there, our signal

might not be getting through.

According to my instruments,

it hasn't moved a centimetre...

since we first spotted it.

But, Alex, how can a lifeless derelict

defy that kind of gravity?

I don't know, but it's

certainly worth investigating.

My instincts

are against it, Alex...

but we'll go in

for a closer look.

Fix a coordinate approach, Charlie.

Full power on the thrusters, Vincent.

Strap yourselves in. We'll be feeling

the gravitational force...

right now.

Range:
29551 and closing.

What's your reading

on Cygnus, Vincent?

Triangulation shows

it's still holding steady, sir.

- Gravity pull?

- .02450 and rising.

Puts us in an escape attitude of

- 8-5 degrees.

She's bucking like a bronco.

- Gravity?

.46960, still climbing.

Switching to manual.

Captain, I'm not sure how long

the engines will remain operable...

against that much force

when we turn back.

Alex, gravity's close to maximum.

We can afford one pass, and then we're

gonna have to get the hell out.

- Zero gravity.

- Cut the power.

Smooth as glass.

It's like being

in the eye of a hurricane.

- What happened?

- Natural phenomenon.

Or something from that ship.

Activating the microbeam.

Picking up anything, Charlie?

Negative, Alex. No way our signals

can't get through this time.

- Gravity's at maximum, Dan.

- My God, I think it's got us.

We're starting to tumble.

Hundred percent on the roll jet quads.

Roll jet quads, full capacity.

- Air break at midship. Losing oxygen.

- Charlie...

give me a full burst

at 180 degrees, main thrusters.

We got a break here too!

Emergency readouts show the primary

and secondary air lines ruptured!

Never rains.

Full-pitch attitude thrusters,

A and B rings.

The black hole

is pulling us in.

Going to manual.

The number four hatch blew outward,

Captain. I'll go out and secure it.

Watch yourself out there, Vincent.

There's more gravity pull

than we've ever encountered.

Yes, sir.

Alex, we'd better check out

the damage below!

Vincent, do you read me?

Come in, Vincent.

Kate, either we have

a malfunction here...

or there's too much interference

on the outside.

See if you can get through

to Vincent with your ESP.

I got through to Vincent.

He said there are old pilots

and there are bold pilots...

but there are very few

old, bold pilots.

She's tuned in on Vincent,

all right.

Grab my leg! My leg!

- You okay?

- Yeah, yeah.

And that's got it!

Hit the boosters, Charlie. We gotta

make a run for that zero gravity.

He secured the hatch!

Good.

We can only make temporary repairs

here, Dan, and that's only

to the secondary line.

Unless we can replace the damaged parts

in the main regulator...

we're gonna lose

our oxygen supply.

Damn!

Dan, the tether's broken.

- I'm going after him.

- Stay at your post, Charlie.

What the hell are you made of?

- What if it were one of us out there?

- Vincent is one of us.

Reverse thrusters

and look for a place to set down.

- What's going on?

- That's what I'd like to know.

Like a tree

on Christmas morning.

Locking warheads

into firing position.

Hold it, Dan. They've got

to be friendly. They could have

blasted us right out of the sky.

Your side, Dan.

You got a picture down there?

- There are people on board.

- Just a shadow, Kate.

Enlarge, please.

There are people, Alex.

I know it. I feel it.

Docking elevator coming up.

Wonder why they didn't roll out

the red carpet earlier.

I don't know,

and I don't like it.

But they're calling the shots,

and we've got to repair this craft.

Dan, I'm sorry I blew my stack.

I guess we all have a soft spot

for the little guy, Charlie.

- Yeah.

- All right, let's bring her in.

Okay.

Bingo.

We have gravity.

Nice work, Vincent.

Out of the frying pan;

hopefully, not into the fire.

- Are you all right, Vincent?

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