Uh-Oh . . . Black Hole Ahead!

The spacecraft was in big trouble, and all four of us knew it. We were the leading craft in a procession of spaceships traveling to the planet Exonia, in hopes of beginning a successful colony on the planet.

On such a dangerous mission as this, we were all on high alert, so when all the red warning lights began to flash and the sirens to blare, it was all we could do to keep our heads and not panic. I examined the dashboard, searching for the cause of the warning. Then I saw it, and chills ran up and down my spine.

“What’s going on?” Carolyn shouted.

“Um, I think you guys should see this,” I said, keeping my voice calm and even. Carolyn, Josh, and Ethan came over and read the frightening words on the screen: WARNING: BLACK HOLE AHEAD

“On, no,” Josh began, but before he could finish, the spacecraft leapt forward, throwing us off our feet, then began to shake.

“Christina,” Ethan called to me, “send a message to the other ships!”

“Got it!” I hollered back. I pressed a button on the dashboard and said into a speaker, “Stop. Repeat. Stop immediately. Black hole ahead. Cut engines. Stop. And relay this message to the ships behind you.”

“Affirmative,” came a voice over the speaker. “Will do.”

I activated the pressure shield and the temperature shield. We could see the black hole now—swirling gases orbiting in very tight circles. Our spacecraft was being pulled very quickly toward it. Suddenly, all I could see was swirling gases, then everything went white and hot, and we were being tossed about. Then, after what seemed like hours, everything was still.

After the ship crashed to a stop on something solid, we just sat there for a long time, trying to catch our breath and wondering why we weren’t fried and why the ship wasn’t crushed. Then we finally stood up, bruised and battered, and donned our spacesuits. But when we stepped out of the spacecraft, we immediately realized that we were not in the world we had left.