Interstellar Survival: Invasion

Chapter 198: Black Hole Gravitational Field

"What is going on here? Jack, check the star charts for Skyhawk's exact location," said Baron Sisse.

"We're in between systems and are not within the gravitational range of any systems in the Orion Constellation. The nearest system is the Betelgeuse System, but it is 2.4 lightyears away," said Jack.

"2.4 lightyears. That's about 22 trillion kilometers away. Even if Betelgeuse has an incredibly powerful gravity, it shouldn't have the pull to reach so far," said Old Du.

"I don't think the chance of trajectory is due to the gravity of any stars. With the empire's level of technology, the gravitational pull from stars won't be able to affect a Milky Wayclass battleship from so far away," said Baron Sisse.

"Baron, what do you think is the cause of the malfunction?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"This place feels very weird to me. The darkness here seems to hide a monster that is looking right at us," said Baron Sisse.

"Canyue, do you still remember Planet Abyss?" Master Crystal suddenly asked.

"Of course. That's Bulu's old home. It was the remnants of a black hole that we only found through transit photometry. It was hiding in space, absorbing all light around it, making it almost impossible to find," I said.

"Master, do you think there's a similar planet ahead of us, disrupting our flight with its gravity?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"No. I don't think the remnant of a black hole is powerful enough to affect a Milky Wayclass battleship," Master Crystal shook his head.

"In that case, you think that..." I hesitated to finish my words.

"Yes. I believe there is a big black hole ahead of us," said Master Crystal.

"A black hole? Here? Impossible!" denied Zhang Bao'er.

"Why are you so sure? Can you tell me?" asked Master Crystal.

"A Blueling astronomer once discovered that in the Orion Nebula, a high-tier black hole is hidden. However, the nebula is located between Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka, and Betelgeuse and is at least 700 lightyears away from us. Apart from that, no other high-tier black holes have been discovered in the Orion Nebula," said Zhang Bao'er.

"Tell me. Are we currently at the Orion Nebula?" asked Master Crystal.

"On paper, we were indeed at the Orion Nebula. However, we were merely at its fringe. This shouldn't be a place with a black hole nearby. Additionally, Betelgeuse was too close. If there was a super black hole here, it would only cause instability in the Betelgeuse System," said Zhang Bao'er, showcasing the rich knowledge he had obtained through knowledge download.

"You're right. But that's exactly it, right? Betelgeuse IS unstable," said Master Crystal, presenting an argument none of us could counter.

That single sentence stunned all of us. We suddenly understood why Betelgeuse had reached the end of its life cycle even though it was still a young star at roughly 8 million years old. There must be some unique reason to accelerate the nuclear fusion within the star and hasten its demise. Perhaps the unique reason was none other than the super black hole hidden somewhere near us.

"I'm still not fully convinced. This place is really not that far from Betelgeuse. If there is a super black hole here, why isn't the empire aware of it?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"A super black hole won't be too big. I remember that the gap between Blue and Mercury is big enough to contain the largest black hole in the Milky Way Galaxy, Sagittarius A*. I believe the super black hole here isn't too big. Also, don't forget that this place is still considered outside the Orion Constellation. When I checked the database earlier, I found that there was news of spaceships going missing here in the past. Because of that, this place has been excluded from all the general interstellar travel routes," said Baron Sisse while checking his system.

"In other words, this is a terrifying forgotten corner of the universe," said Wind Spirit, shivering.

"What do we do now? Can we no longer leave now that the black hole's gravitational field has started pulling us in?" asked Zhang Bao'er. He was slowly starting to believe that the ship was being pulled in by a black hole.

"Dondon, Jack, make a calculation based on the scenario that we move in slanted angles and different levels of speed and see if it is possible for us to escape the gravitational field. If not, calculate how long we have before we reach the field's control radius," said Baron Sisse.

"Are you referring to the Schwarzschild radius?" asked Old Du.

"That must be a term from Blue. What is this Schwarzschild radius?" asked the baron.

"The Schwarzchild radius is also called the gravitational radius. When an object is compressed to its Schwarzchild radius or smaller, it will irreversibly collapse in on itself due to the gravitational attraction between its particles. This is an extremely important concept in physics and astronomy. Any object whose radius is smaller than its Schwarzschild radius is a black hole, and in non-rotating black holes without an electrical charge, the Schwarzschild radius measures the distance between the black hole's center and its event horizon. Within this region, neither particles nor light can escape," explained Old Du.

"This radius you mentioned shouldn't be too big. Such force should only extend to the very edge of the core region surrounding the black hole's point of singularity. However, outside this dark zone is a region still influenced by the black hole's gravity. This gravitational field will be much larger than the area within the black hole's Schwarzschild radius," said Baron Sisse.

"Captain, the result is out. According to the calculations, there is a dark field about 13 billion kilometers to the right of our ship. I believe that is where the black hole is," said Jack.

"Thirteen billion kilometers. That's basically twice the distance between Blue and Pluto. How is this black hole's gravitational field so big?" I exclaimed in astonishment.

"Its range is more than 13 billion kilometers. Even Betelgeuse is affected 2.4 lightyears away, resulting in an unstable core. This black hole is definitely not weak," said Master Crystal.

"Canyue, from Dondon's and Jack's calculations, it is certain that we have gone over the safe range of the gravitational limit," said Old Du while standing behind Dondon and looking at his screen.

"We're still 13 billion kilometers away from the dark zone. Did we already reach the Roche limit?" I asked in astonishment.

"I'm sure. According to the calculations, we have gone beyond the limit by about 100 million kilometers," said Old Du.

"What Roche limit?" asked Wind Spirit curiously.

"If we consider two celestial bodies, the Roche limit is the closest distance the smaller, secondary body can approach the larger, primary body without falling apart if the secondary body is held together purely by its own gravity. When the two bodies are of similar composition, this theoretical limit is about 2.44 times the radius of the primary body. At the Roche limit, the tidal forces induced by the primary body exert the same force as the self-gravitational forces holding together the secondary body. If their distance is shorter than the Roche limit, the secondary body will disintegrate because the primary body's tidal forces would have exceeded the secondary body's internal gravity," I explained.

"Zhang Bao'er, your sloppy work and your shitty luck brought us straight into the limit of 100 million kilometers, bringing us into the black hole's pull!" Wind Spirit started complaining.

"We're still at the edge of the limit. I believe we can still try to break free from the gravitational pull," said Zhang Bao'er, who was apparently rather optimistic.

"Jack, did you manage to calculate the force and resources required to escape?" asked Baron Sisse.

"Reporting to the captain, we can use Skyhawk's engine and borrow the black hole's gravitational forces to accelerate in an arc. When we are about 10 billion kilometers away from the black hole, we can activate sublight speed travel before blasting out in some escape pods in the opposite direction, using the momentum and our acceleration to break free from the pull," said Jack, giving a rather bad solution.

"No, I disagree," I refused resolutely.

"Canyue, do you have a better idea?" asked Baron Sisse.

"Not at the moment. But we're still at the edge of the gravitational field. Wouldn't it be safer to look for an escape here than to move in an arc and go 3 billion kilometers closer to the black hole to reach the optimal speed to break free?" I asked Baron Sisse.

"But the gravity is pulling us in. If we don't do something quickly, we won't even be able to travel in an arc to get away anymore," said Baron Sisse anxiously.

The baron's worry was reasonable. If we continued deeper, Skyhawk would no longer have the opportunity to accelerate. But I was unwilling to give up on a battleship we had gained after so many difficulties.

"Canyue, where there's life, there's hope. You have to think long-term," said Zhang Bao'er, who seemed to have seen through my thoughts.

"I just find it hard to believe that a super advanced Milky Wayclass battleship will be dragged into a black hole just because of a single erroneous leap," I said indignantly.

"Sigh. It would be great if Li Yizhi were still here. Her technological knowledge is ahead of us by 30 years. She will definitely be able to think of a way to escape," lamented Zhang Bao'er.

He might not mean anything else by his words, but he did inspire someone.

"Canyue, I have an idea. Li Yizhi's synthetic brain still seems to work. Can we try to analyze her brain to look for a future technology that can help us escape?" suggested Old Du.

"No. There are too many personal memories in her brain. We shouldn't intrude upon her privacy," refused Baron Sisse, which was quite a surprise.

We entered a deadlock. Everyone suffered anxiously. Time and the gravitational pull would not wait for us. Slowly but surely, our chances of survival were slipping away.

"Thirty more minutes and we will no longer have the required space to perform the acceleration required to break free," Jack reminded.

We could no longer afford to hesitate. The stress that was increasing as time passed forced Baron Sisse to make a decision. I saw Baron Sisse look at Jack, seemingly prepared to make the order to carry out the final plan.

"I have an idea. Give it a thought. Perhaps it will be worth trying," Master Crystal suddenly said, breaking our deadlock.

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