Chapter 2: Prologue - II
"Check the conditions of the entire system."
"Roger."
"Diagnosing..."
"System is error-free, 100% all clear."
"Same here, captain!"
"Run all systems according to procedures."
"Cooling system engaging..."
"All green."
"Power Generator engaging..."
"All green."
"Main Engine engaging..."
"All green."
"Gravity Energy Converter engaging..."
"All green"
"All systems are up and running captain!"
"Buckle up and let's begin."
"3..."
Every member took out a key and placed it inside a keyhole in front of their console.
"2..."
At the countdown, everyone turned the key clockwise. The sound of seven clicks fused into one.
"1..."
Everyone pushed the key as whirring sounds of machinery was heard. A circular button sprung up just above the keyhole.
"Activate." the captain spoke as everyone pressed the button in front of them at the same time.
Every robot inside the spaceship began to shut down. All five layers of shields began to dissipate one by one.
As if shedding, the glow conforming to the disk-shaped station disappeared leaving a pristine marble-like disk with a small glass dome in the middle. The materials used were, of course, the best of the best in the entire human civilisation as it can withstand the heat of the core of the sun.
Then the four concentric circles under the station gradually dimmed and faded away. This made the entire station slowly enter the ergosphere of the Sagitarrius A* black hole.
"Check all the systems!" roared by the captain.
"All main systems are 100% functional."
"All supporting systems are 100% functional."
"No abnormalities found."
"All clear."
"Entering the ergosphere in 10..."
"9.."
"5.."
"3..."
"2..."
"1..."
As they entered the ergosphere, they suddenly felt uneasy.
Looking above the cockpit, they can see the stars slowly accelerate as if on a fast forward.
Entering the ergosphere of a black hole already shifts the perception of time. Unlike the event horizon, which is deeper inside the black hole, with proper technology and technique, one might be able to escape ergosphere using its energy.
Those who enter and exit the ergosphere of a spinning black hole will find themselves travelling to the future. Even if it took the crew hundreds of thousands of years, they should be able to still see their descendant's information through the compact supercomputers available for the consumer.
This is what they sacrificed for, for the betterment of their family's lives, they gave up living in their time to study and utilise the black hole. It could be said that the leaders of the entire human civilisation helped these cosmonaut's families in exchange for their services.
Below them is a humongous reflective structure that spanned the entire black hole. Using the time relative to the ergosphere, ten thousand years ago, the crew had shot an electromagnetic wave inside the mirror.
The wave would steal the rotational energy of the ergosphere and exponentially grow in power.
The crew aims to harvest this energy and create an energy station that won't be affected by the time compression effect of the black hole.
In terms of harvesting energy, this is the peak of the entire human civilisation.
"Very good, according to the papers, ten thousand years should have passed ever since the installation of the black mirror. Once we landed at the port, we should begin the installation of the siphon." the captain explained.
"Check all of your equipment right here, right now in this cockpit before we move to the airlocks. Make sure that you only bring what you need and keep yourself intact by completely sealing your suits."
Every member of the crew began to check their bags for any missing item. Even a missing screw could prove fatal in this project they're about to embark yet bringing more stuff for backup may prove to be troublesome due to the weirdness of the spacetime inside the sphere.
After a few moments, they reached the middle zone of the ergosphere.
"We're almost there everyone, let me debrief you one last time."
"Mission Name: Type-3 Energy. Utilising the rotational energy from the black hole, we built a reflective infrastructure called Black Mirror."
"The goal is to fire an electromagnetic wave inside the Black Mirror then extract the wave using the station, which where we are currently."
"Things to note is that after clearing the area around the black hole for a total of 10 billion km, accidental debris won't be a problem as protective measures are in place."
"At the one thousand year mark, the Black Mirror can already function as a bomb. Make sure that we're careful during the installation. Am I clear?"
"Sir, yes, sir!" The crew replied, anxiety spreading all over their faces.
During the installation, one missing or loose screw make cause the waves to leak and cause an explosion.
This is a project that required a machine's level of precision, yet using AI-powered bots inside the ergosphere breaks their processing abilities due to the quantum fluctuations.
These fluctuations cause quantum tunnelling as the transistors of their processors are already shrunk to their lowest possible size.
"If we succeed, we have already died to our timeline. If we fail, we'll just die for good. But I'd still prefer to succeed. The glory of being a hero to carry the entire humanity into the foothold of a type-3 civilisation is too huge to pass up. We're making history here." The captain said.
"5 minutes more and we'll land."
Every crew member had a solemn face, this expedition had moved them away from their original timeline. Each of the crew had a terrible background, to gain freedom, they accepted this job. The benefits included for the government to provide and care for the families of each crew member.
And afterwards, if they survive, hundreds of years would have passed. Survival meant being able to start all over again. Cutting off every single tie to their families, they decided that since they were still only 30 to 50 years old, which is young considering that their lifespan goes as high as a thousand years, they'd rather start anew.
Every single one of them had a story that can shock nations, yet here they are atoning for their sins.
"30 seconds left till landing," said a woman looking at a screen filled with data such as altitude and speed.
This woke Jack up from his thoughts.
Even when her captain is behind, she could feel Jack's nodding towards her.
With their hearts on their throats, they fell into an eerie silence as if a tiny sound could blow up their entire ship.
As the ship landed on a metallic building, yellow blinking lights spread around in everyone's monitor turned to solid green.
Everyone heaved a sigh of relief. Landing in this weird space called the ergosphere is actually the most difficult as things may happen without them realising. All of their consoles had been using large processors to avoid quantum failures, this included their landing gear.
With all of the latest safety protocols that require highly intelligent AI and state of the art processors, landing is as easy as breathing for the Earth civilisation. Yet now, with the fear of failure, they had to copy the same procedure that the very first man on the moon did, let gravity do the job.
Thinking that the hardest part of the job is over, Jack unbuckled his seatbelts and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, it's showtime."
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