Interstellar Survival: Invasion

iddle-left area, there was something connecting the two regions.
That object existed within the Schwarzschild radius, a place where we had believed that nothing could exist.
However, the picture indicated that there was clearly an object there.
That discovery captured our attention.
According to what we knew, no object should be able to exist there.
That should be a place of pure darkness.

”Is it possible that this is the camera malfunctioning? The gravity there is too strong for any celestial object to exist, ” said Jack.

”It ’s hard to say.
Anything is possible in the universe.
I mean, we once entered a white dwarf.
Can you imagine that inside a white dwarf, a world full of life can be found? ” said Old Du, retorting with his personal experience.

”Just wait until the next picture arrives.
We will know if it ’s a malfunction then, ” I said calmly.

As we spoke, another picture arrived.
This picture was slightly clearer than the previous one, and we could clearly see that not only was there an object in the middle-left area, but there was also an object in the middle-right area.
However, the picture wasn ’t clear enough for us to see what those objects were.

One thing we could confirm was the fact that beyond the event horizon within the Schwarzschild radius, there were definitely more objects.
That contradicted what we knew before that no physical object could exist within a black hole.
That was a discovery that caused all of us to grow incomparably excited.

Our sole regret was that we couldn ’t get a clear look at the objects.
All the data we had received so far had come from the first two drones.
Thus, all our hope was placed on the final drone, the one that had gotten the nearest to the event horizon out of the three drones.
Hopefully, it was able to send us a clearer image.
Time continued to pass, but no new data arrived.
We started to grow nervous.

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”Did the last drone get too close to the event horizon, to the point its signals can ’t return to us due to interference from the black hole ’s gravity? ” asked Dondon.

”The final drone had not only turned on its electromagnetic wave transmission system but had even shifted all its power for ray transmission during the final moments before its engine system failed, all to send one final picture back to us, ” said Jack.

”I believe that so close to the event horizon, electromagnetic waves won ’t be able to transmit any data.
We can only put our hope on the ray transmission system and hope that it can bring us the closest picture ever taken of a black hole, ” said Master Crystal.

Alas, the cruel reality continued nibbling away at our confidence.
Yet another hour passed as we waited.
According to the speed of the laser transmission system, any data would have arrived if there was any.

”Looks like the gravity near the event horizon is too powerful.
No data can be transmitted no matter what system we use.
We have wasted too much time here.
We need to return and repair the ship.
We also need to begin the search for Spacetime, ” said Baron Sisse, preparing to end the wait.

”Can we wait a little bit more? The gravity there must be extremely powerful.
The laser transmission might have slowed as a result.
We encountered a similar situation at Sirius B.
The data we were waiting for took several hours to arrive.
Since a black hole ’s gravitational force is much stronger than a white dwarf ’s, I suggest we wait longer, ” said Old Du, not willing to give up on this rare opportunity to study a black hole.

He was not alone.
None of us wanted to give up on this chance.

”Skyhawk will stay here for three hours.
If we still receive nothing after three hours, the exploration mission will end, ” decided Baron Sisse after a short hesitation.

We all understood that the three hours given were extremely generous considering the urgency of our situation.
We had wasted nearly eight precious hours just to study this black hole.
If we couldn ’t receive a satisfactory result, all of us would feel regretful.
We started resting and waiting.
Surprisingly, everyone was able to easily fall asleep previously, but we were all fully awake despite being exhausted.
All of us were waiting for the final data transmission from the drone.

Without realizing it, two hours passed.
That was negligible in the grand scheme of things, but for us, that was a miserable period of time with our confidence slowly slipping away.
We were aware of how slim the chance was that any data would make it back.
Perhaps the heavens had shown mercy due to our ordeal.
We did not have to wait until the end of the three hours for the system to suddenly beep.

”Two streams of data! ” Jack jumped in excitement the moment the data returned.

All of us also jumped in excitement, including Master Crystal, who hadn ’t been very interested in the mission.
We all gathered before the screen and waited anxiously for the historic picture of a black hole to appear.

With trembling hands, Jack opened the first picture.
Disappointingly, the picture only showed a blank whiteness akin to what one would see from an exposed film roll.
Nothing could be seen on it.
That dealt a great blow to our excitement, and a collective sigh was heaved.
All our hope lay on the final picture.

”Jack, let me, ” said Baron Sisse, volunteering to open the final picture.

Jack yielded the seat to the baron.
Slowly, the baron processed the data stream.
He also seemed to have muttered a prayer before solemnly opening the extremely important picture.
With that, a picture that would shock the entire space exploration industry appeared before our eyes.