...
She was the only Venutian who made it past the entrance exam of Satellite University, the school for aspiring guardians. The finest and most prestigious school in the galaxy with the highest employment rate.
The school itself is a satellite revolving around the mother planet-Earth three times in twelve hours along with all other satellites which had made the planet look like a giant monster with antennae sticking out in all directions.
Megastructures, and stars surrounded by swarms of Dyson spheres as the main source of energy. Humanity became a galactic civilization. But, despite all the knowledge humans have attained during the past millennia, some mysteries remain unsolved. That includes the mystery of the black hole.
"The black hole has been producing more dark matter than usual. The Department of Galactic Controls and Maintenance has confirmed..."
She switched the television off and headed towards the hangar where her newly bought vehicle was waiting for her.
With her command, the engine came to life automatically. She stepped inside, ducked, and settled herself in the driving seat. With a few taps, the vehicle rose and lifted itself from the ground and up into the air, out of the hangar.
Skyscrapers shrank as she ascended and her flight steadied when her vehicle joined thousands of vehicles flying in the Skyway. She steered to the side where the position of the Satellite Academy is. Her vehicle went past the atmosphere and she was soon greeted by traffic of satellites and space junk floating around the place.
A few minutes later, she was running to her classroom and suddenly stood starstruck as soon as she stepped in and all heads turned to her.
The man standing on the platform in front had stopped talking and his gaze was fixed on her, just like everyone else.
"You may take your seat," he said and waited for her to move before shifting his eyes to the hologram beside him.
Satella walked slowly toward her seat while stealing glances at the man who now resumed his discussion.
"Why is he here?" she asked her seatmate who was staring blankly to the front unblinkingly.
"Commander Chase Miller is our new teacher for the study of the black hole. I can't believe it, Ella." Her lips moved but Satella thought she looked like a robot.
Most of her classmates are in the same state as Ella's seatmate, they were taking in the sight of the famous and extremely attractive Commander which they had only seen on television as if he will vanish if they didn't stare.
Satella took a deep breath and tried to regain her focus.
"The most essential part of understanding the black hole is?"
"The best way to understand a mystery is to treat it like a human being." They answered in chorus, which came as a shock to Ella, considering the state they were in.
---
The day ended. Satella is on her way to the University's hangar to pick up her vehicle.
Her mind was still stuck at the scene this morning when Commander Chase Miller talked to her. A dream come true for someone who idolized him.
She blinked and tried to focus more on driving, but it was too late. She had only realized that her angle for re-entry is too shallow.
She gulped. "Oh, God."
Her vehicle bounced against the atmosphere like a ball and flew out of the Solar System. Everything was in a blur as her vehicle spun around heading into deep space. After spinning and flying for what seemed like an eternity, she landed on a sea of rubbish just in time before the roof of the garbage spaceship could close.
Satella's heartbeat was so fast, that she can hear it pounding loudly in her throat. She gasped for air but oxygen was absent which made her situation worse. She moved toward the vehicle's compartment and was soon flooded by relief when a helmet came into view. She quickly wore it and kicked the door open.
All types of rubbish were floating and sometimes they would hit each other, creating a clinking sound.
She pulled herself into the glass wall where thin lines can be seen; an indication that the spaceship was flying at ultra-speed.
Satella looked around the place to find a door but there was nothing. The only way out was the door on the ceiling. She moved upwards, shoving the garbage blocking her way, and tried to open the door by force, but the door won't budge.
Hours later, the speed of the spaceship slowed down and Satella can see the supermassive black hole a few miles away. The light curved on the sides while it was sucking gases, debris, and anything that would stray close to its boundaries. Humans from the past can't see this sight with the naked eye. Humans in this generation had evolved according to their habitat, making their eyes a lot more sensitive.
While she was staring at the black hole, the walls moved and the room was gone. The rumbling sound got drowned by Satella's heartbeat. The rubbish flew towards the black hole along with Ella and her vehicle. The garbage spaceship was gone before she could realize it.
"I'm d-doomed." Her whole body trembled.
From her perspective, things the black hole would suck started stretching into thin vertical lines while heading towards the event horizon.
'But, the bigger the size of the black hole means the weaker the gravity is. Damn it, no one has ever survived falling into a black hole before! I'm dead.'
She tried to fight the black hole's pull by pushing her body in the opposite direction but all of her attempts were futile. Satella can't feel anything as her body was stretched as thin as possible along with other things. There's no escaping it, she would burn into ashes before she can make it into the singularity. That was what people would assume, but something strange happened.
Satella's body which now looked like a microscopic, spaghetti noodle, managed to go past the event horizon after freezing into time. It's completely dark and there's nothing you can see inside except a small light from a distance. Unfortunately, Satella can't see it because of the state of her body.
The radiation and gravity inside were too strong that the atoms making up her body was flying all around. One of her atoms strayed close to the light. Surprisingly, the other atoms started following it.
Slowly, the atoms stopped and collide with each other as soon as they reached the light.
First was her heart, her veins, and her brain until her body was back again.
The first thing she did was to take a deep breath even though there was no oxygen entering her lungs.
Satella can't seem to remember what happened, except her numbing body before she turned into a spaghetti noodle.
As soon as she opened her eyes, a forest filled with colorful, giant mushrooms came into sight.
A weird-looking creature with an elongated head, long hands, a tail, and an antenna on its forehead elegantly walked toward her.
The creature's mouth opened and made a strange sound. It sounds like a whisper, a scraping, and a throaty sound.
Satella opened her mouth to ask a question.
"W-What?"
The eyes of the creature bulged as it made a sound again. Satella took a few steps back. Her eyes wandered around and saw several strange creatures and all of them were making unpleasant sounds. They were jumping on their seats and there was a hologram in front of them.
She's not just the only Venutian who made it past the entrance exam of Satellite University, but also the first human who survived the black hole.
How can Satella go back and live to tell the tale?
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Thank you for reading!
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Why Fiction? (Short Stories Compilation)
Random'Cause magic don't exist in real life.
