The tip of my probe looks funny. I wiggle it back and forth. Looking through the microscope, of course, this slight movement looks like an earthquake, but I’m used to that. No. This is different. Could the filament be bent? Is that even possible? Pyramidal graphene is supposed to be completely unmalleable. Something isn’t right. I slowly move the magnetometer forward and back. The very tip is not only curving, but also lengthening. But then when I pull it back, it seems to shorten again. That can’t be right. Must be a distortion in the microscope. Could I be knocking into something? The chamber is a vacuum, or at least it’s supposed to be. The casing appears intact.
I look at the glove. Am I crazy, or does it appear to be a lot longer than it usually is? It is awfully late. I could be tired. Of course, I must be dreaming. Silly me. I look around. I’m not asleep. The panel of instruments are just as they always are. The atmospheric readings inside the chamber are all normal. Pressure. Density. My eye catches the magnetometer reading―a hyphen. That means it’s broken. But then, when I pull the probe back, numbers do scroll down. Very high numbers. Way too high. No, it’s definitely screwy. Magnetism in that range isn’t possible. I move it back and forth, and watch the reading go down and up. Two to five hundred Coulomb-Newton-meters/second? Obviously broken. The most powerful magnet on the planet is only a hundred Teslas.
But then, I try to pull it back again, and it’s stuck. What is going on? It must be caught on something. I pull as hard as I can, but it is definitely stuck. I let go of the probe, but I can’t. My hand is stuck to the control.
This has to be a dream. But, it’s not. Could I have been exposed to some chemical leak in the lab? Maybe a liquid nitrogen tank has ruptured. Can nitrogen cause hallucinations?
I lift my face off the viewer to see what’s going on. My hand is inside the metallic glove that attaches to the reaction chamber. I pull and pull, but it feels like the tips of my fingers are part of the glove. Could there be a chemical leak in the glove? How can something the size of an eyeglass case possibly be grabbing me this strongly?
I can’t call for help. I’m the only one here at 2:30 in the morning. The security guards don’t even bother disturbing me most nights. Why would they? Nothing exciting ever happens in a research facility. No one robs a physics lab. It’s usually dead boring.
I look at the crinkly silver glove which is my handcuff. I must be tired. It appears to be very long. Much longer than usual, and thin. In fact, my whole arm looks elongated. It’s a strange sensation. My hand feels like, I don’t know how to describe it, like it is immovable. Like it is part of whatever is pulling on it. And this strange stretching. The pull is continuous, drawing my arm in. My arm is stretching. My arm looks like it’s twenty feet long. How can that be if the chamber is only inches away? Not only is my arm impossibly long, but it is stretching thin, like a piece of spaghetti.
Oh, God, no. Spaghettification. All at once, I realize what is going on. Somehow, I must have crossed the event horizon. That wasn’t supposed to be possible. We took precautions. The black hole is only 2 yoctometers in diameter. Far too small to be of any danger. Or so we thought.
I look at my shoulder. That is exactly what is happening. It’s a hundred feet long and only a millimeter wide. I’m turning into spaghetti! Hopefully, they’ll put up a plaque or something with my name on it, after I’m gone. At least I died for the sake of science. Apparently the gravitational range is far greater than we calculated. That alone is quite a discovery.
I was about to call for help, but the top half of my body is bending in towards the glove. I feel very … strange indeed. My thoughts … are… the same? I’m still me. I think … but for how long?
My feet are on the floor. I can feel it. I can tap my toes, but they feel a mile away. My waist is the size of a pencil. I always wanted to be tall and thin, but not like this!
I’m surprised I haven’t been sucked in yet. Of course. Stupid me. Time slows down. Am I thinking slower? I wouldn’t be able to perceive it.
No one has ever been this close to a black hole before. The knowledge I gain will be earthshaking. Of course, I won’t be able to tell anyone. If light can’t escape, what chance do I have?
I haven’t been torn to shreds yet. Will I be? I don’t feel like I’m being ripped apart. My hand doesn’t feel anything at all. I would have thought my head would be crushed or explode or something. Either stretched or condensed. But I’m still here. I’m still able to think thoughts.
I don’t know why they call it a black hole, it’s so very bright. Brighter than the sun. I don’t know how my eyes are even capable of seeing this without burning in their sockets. This discovery alone should get me a posthumous Nobel.
How long will it take to reach the event horizon? The curve never reaches the asymptote. Each second takes longer and longer to pass.… Is this moment lasting longer? Time is supposed to stand still at the event horizon. But I’m not still. Mathematically, one never reaches it, just keeps getting closer. One second takes a million years, … the next lasts two million, and the next four … million, isn’t that the same thing as stopping completely? Almost. I guess I’ll … find out the hard way. Time … will tell.
I’m inside the dimension of the infinitely slow. There is existence in here. Life goes on. Do you realize what … this means? This… will … change …… the …… field ……… forever ………… or …………… at …………………… least ……………… …………………… it ……………………………………. would ……………… ………………….. if ………………..…… …………………… I ………………………… …………………….. were ………………………… …………………….. able to ………………… ……………………… ………………………………… tell …………………… ……………………………………… …………………………………………………. anyone……………………………… ………………………………………… …………………………………….. ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………..
END
