The Black Hole Read Online Free PDF

know." Holland grumbled a little, then flipped off the holographier, nudged other controls. "All right. You get your electronic eyes and ears tuned proper and we'll go in for a closer look. We'll have to go in at an angle or we'll chance being taken by the gravity well. Maybe the Cygnus isn't affected by it, but I have to assume the Palomino will be. We'll do a tight cometary and get out." He turned his full attention to the console in front of him, spoke to his first officer without turning.
    "Fix a coordinate approach, Charlie. We'll pass as slow as we can so Alex and Kate can take ample readings, but I want a reasonable margin of thrust programmed in. If we lose too much velocity in passing, we won't get a chance to make it up." He patted his stomach, grinned tightly. "I'd like to lose a few centimeters off my waistline, but not that way."
    "Right, sir." The captain's cautionary attitude hadn't dampened Pizer's enthusiasm for the investigation, but he was subdued by the seriousness of the attempt. He hadn't been recommended to be first officer of the Palomino solely on the basis of his infectiously cheerful personality.
    "Coordinate heading three-oh-five x , two-seven-five y , one-seven-seven z ." Pizer's fingers danced over contact switches. "Computer verifies. That'll give us fifteen percent extra if we need it."
    "Adequate." Holland entered the coordinates into the navigation block, activated the necessary instrumentation for attitude adjustment. The Palomino shifted silently in space, pointing toward destruction instead of away from it.
    "Attitude set."
    "Engines ready," Pizer replied.
    "Vincent, give us full power on our sublights."
    "Yes, Captain." Connected by umbilical armature to the main console, the robot communicated instructions to Power. Useless above light-speed, the ship's powerful conventional thrusters engaged and she began to accelerate forward.
    Several minutes passed as they continued to gain speed. Then there was a jolt, expected but still a shock, a physical reminder of the unseen immensity they would have to flirt so carefully with.
    McCrae braced herself against the sides of the portal leading into the lab. Durant was adjusting the restraints on his lounge. "Better strap yourself in. The well will intensify as we near the Cygnus . Turbulence could get worse. Nothing's certain in there."
    Booth was already making certain his own restraints were secured. "I thought the pull would be steady. Growing constantly, and without variance."
    "It does." Durant explained while securing a last strap over his waist. "That isn't contradicted by the turbulence. Partly it derives from the huge quantity of gas, solar plasma and other material being drawn down into the hole. And there are likely to be other effects. Gravity around a black hole, like other things, doesn't act in a manner we're accustomed to." As if to support his comments, another jolt rocked the ship.
    "Think of us as a gnat trying to bell a cat," McCrae added. "We're safe from the irresistible strength of the cat, but its snores still affect us."
    "I see." Booth glanced speculatively out the nearby port. "The trick is to do the job and slip away without waking it up. Or else . . ."
    "We get swallowed," McCrae finished for him. "But the Cygnus hasn't been swallowed."
    Another unseen hand shoved at the Palomino , harder this time. The crew became introspective, each considering the overriding mystery posed by the Cygnus 's seeming stability in the face of irresistible forces.
    Why hadn't the giant research ship vanished, crushed out of normal space by the strength of the black hole? They would have to employ the full power of the Palomino merely to skim the edge of the collapsar's area of influence. The gnat was defying the awakened cat's full strength. It made no sense, no sense at all. But they would somehow have to find the answer, make sense from the information the ship's scanners would provide as they raced past.
    Pizer studied the constantly