“WE CAN’T GET THAT CLOSE TO IT!” yelled Captain Eldridge. “We’ll get sucked in, no doubt, and then we’ll never get home!”
“What other choice do we have! We don’t have enough fuel to make it back to Earth, and the black hole will be able to slingshot us at speeds approaching light speed,” retorted Admiral Butler.
“We would have to cross dangerously close to the event horizon. One mistake would mean certain death,” replied Captain Eldridge.
“I’m not going to argue with you, Captain. I am the admiral of this spacecraft, and we are going around the black hole. Adjust our course for optimal gravity assist from the black hole, pilot,” said Admiral Butler to Pilot Miller.
“Yes sir,” replied the Pilot.
“I just want to get us all home,” Admiral Butler said, staring ahead at the deadly abyss.
“You decrepit fool,” muttered the Captain.
Later, Captain Eldridge gathered all of the crew except the Admiral and Pilot in the kitchen area of the ship. “We can’t let this madman send us to our doom. We need to act, or none of us will ever see our families again, much less tomorrow,” Captain Eldridge stated.
The crew murmured in agreement, looking around at each other nervously.
“What do you suggest?” inquired a Co-Pilot.
“What choice do we have? We have to execute a mutiny,” stated Captain Eldridge.
“Well? How?” asked the Co-Pilot.
“We need to place the Admiral and Pilot in the escape pod and detach them,” replied Captain Eldridge.
“What will we tell them when we get home?” asked the Co-Pilot.
“Let’s just worry about getting there for now,” replied Captain Eldridge.
The Admiral and Pilot continued to steer the ship closer to the event horizon increasing the speed of the ship exponentially as the ship got pulled in by the black hole.
“Adjust the course starboard, slightly,” ordered the Admiral.
“Yes, sir” replied the Pilot.
“Excuse me, Admiral,” interrupted Captain Eldridge, “There seems to be a problem with the fuel tanks. We need both of you to come check it out.”
“Deal with it yourselves,” the Admiral replied not taking his eyes off of the black hole.
“They’re leaking some serious fuel,” lied the Captain, “If you and the pilot don’t come and help, even with the gravity boost, we will never make it home.”
“Fine, this better be good,” replied the Admiral.
“Right this way,” said the Captain luring them towards the fuel tanks.
Suddenly, the Co-Pilot and another crew member knocked out the Admiral and Pilot. They dragged them into the escape pod and pressed the detach button located in the c***pit.
“Attention, crew members! I will be taking immediate control of this craft in the absence of our Admiral and Pilot,” stated the Captain.
A few minutes later in the escape pod, the Admiral and Pilot wake up.
“Where are we?” inquired the Pilot.
“The escape pod. They’ve formed a mutiny,” stated the Admiral who was already up.
“WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO? We are going to die out here!” exclaimed the Pilot in a panic.
“Set our course for ten kilometers inside of the event horizon,” ordered the Admiral.
“The captain was right to form a mutiny. There is no way to go that far in and make it out again,” replied the Pilot.
“SET THE COURSE, NOW! WE HAVE NO TIME FOR DISCUSSION!” yelled the Admiral.
“Yes sir,” murmured the Pilot, “course set.”
The escape pod screamed toward the black hole at a much steeper angle thanwas  safe.
“Approaching event horizon in T-5 minutes, Admiral,” stated the Pilot.
“Thank you, Pilot. Be ready to fire all thrusters on my count.” replied the Admiral.
“Yes, sir”
The pod began to shake violently as the gravity pulled it in with greater and greater force. It was only a minute away from the event horizon now.
“Be ready for my count, Pilot,” reminded the Admiral staring at the blackness almost engulfing the area around the ship now.
“We are just about to cross the event horizon, sir,” stated the Pilot. “In 3..2..1... “
The ship began to shake violently as all the Admiral could see turned to blackness.
“NOW!” yelled the Admiral.
The Pilot fired all possible thrusters on the escape pod towards the edge of the black hole. The pod struggled against the force of the black hole, and it began to accelerate dangerously towards the other side. Alarms inside of the ship began to warn the crew about the dangerous amounts of gravity, and the ship began to groan with strain.
“Keep her steady,” said the Admiral through clenched teeth, “We’re almost through.”
As quickly as it began, the shaking stopped, and the pod proceeded on its way on the other side of the black hole.
“Computers are saying that we are at 99.99% light speed, sir!” exclaimed the Pilot.
“Great Scott! We’ll make it to Earth with fuel to spare,” replied the Admiral
One month of space travel later, the pod entered into the Solar System. The Admiral and Pilot were overjoyed at the thought of homecoming. As they neared Earth, they strained to see their blue dot of a home through the blackness of space. However, after passing Jupiter, they saw something strange.
“Sir?” asked the Pilot, “Why is the Sun red?”
“Oh my gosh.” whispered the Admiral, “What year is it?”
“Computers calculate that the year on Earth is now 5,321,475,482 A.D.” replied the Pilot, confusedly, “How is that possible?”
“Lightspeed.” replied the Admiral “We forgot to account for the time difference on Earth, which has been swallowed up by our Sun long ago. Can you locate the mothership? Where is the rest of our crew?”
“Computers indicate them moving through space at nearly a stand still at one lightyear away,” stated the Pilot.
“They ran out of fuel, and now, we’re all doomed.” said the Admiral ominously still staring at the treacherous sun that swallowed his home.