7eleven

Kerr is its Name

he quest for knowledge is a prime directive of the human race and now in the 31st century, exploration and experimentation still continues. Nine-hundred years ago, the invention of cold fusion technology provided an abundant source of clean and cheap energy which we continue to use on Titan, where I live. Yes, I live on Saturn‟s largest moon, Titan, in Sector B12. I have spent much of my growing up years watching the galaxies beyond with a view that only a few humans experience. I have been told great stories of Earth where our ancestors originated; its beautiful oceans, mountains, diversity of other species and great civilizations of the past. But Earth is no more: it is merely a dead planet, a planet destroyed of its ozone layer by us long time ago. Humans were then forced to abandon it and disperse to colonize other planets, space stations and moons. They formed hostile factions and alliances among themselves. The greed for power still lingers in the human-heart, and is never satisfied. Thus we, the Titans are constantly at dismay from threats by foreign forces everyday. On several occasions I have been observing the blue planet Earth, the birthplace of humankind, but being born here on Titan, far away from the soil of our ancestors, I felt no emotional attachment towards Earth. However, the Alliance faction, a colony in L4 (one of the Lagrange points) and we are at war for the rightful ownership of Earth for re-colonization efforts. But I felt more at home here and among the distant galaxies and other potentially existent universes, which were waiting to be explored than the Earth or its xenoarchaeological1 material.

xtensive research on antimatter-catalyzed fusion2 has proven so successful that it is the main source of energy in Titan. Technologies have developed, matured, and were rendered obsolete as we found new ways of energy generation, propulsion, life support and electromagnetic shielding. Despite all the progress science has made, we have yet to conquer the speed of light and escape relativistic effects. However, this has not deterred our curiosity and enthusiasm to keep

1 Xenoarchaeology is a hypothetical form of archaeology concerned with the physical remains of past (but not necessarily extinct) alien cultures. These may be found on planets or satellites, in space, the asteroid belt, planetary orbit or Lagrangian points.

2 Antimatter-catalyzed fusion uses small amounts of antimatter to trigger a tiny fusion explosion. This has been studied primarily in the context of making nuclear pulse propulsion feasible.

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trying. The drastic decrease in energy costs that resulted, coupled with technological advances in magnetic storage sped antimatter production. By the end of the century, antimatter propulsion was made a reality and from there on began an era of exploration unlike ever before. The first antimatter spacecraft, the Michio, was launched in 3005 by the National Aerospace Exploration Agency (NAEA). It reached its target, the edge of the Andromeda Galaxy. The spacecraft was powered by a mixture of antimatter propulsion and fusion reactors and shielded by a hybrid system consisting of a general products hull3 and the slaver stasis field4 to protect against cosmic radiation by electromagnetic fields. It was also protected from microscopic particle impacts by nano-reinforced carbon composites and thus, ships capable of deep space travel were built and launched. Trips to other solar systems took decades from our point of view, although only half the time would have passed for the travelers on the spacecraft, due to the relativistic effects of time dilation.

aving parents as scientists, gave me the advantage of having access to sophisticated telescopes and equipment at the observation dome since my younger years. I was able to observe many scientists at work and they were always willing to answer my curious questions. By twelve, I was helping both my parents in their various tasks вЂ" though mostly by staying out of their way - and learning what I could understand along the way. I joined the National Aerospace and Exploration Agency (NAEA) at seventeen, having just completed a degree in astrophysics, intending to join one of its many exploration missions. For centuries, scientists and astronomers studied radio emissions from Sagittarius A and gathered enough evidence to determine that the accretion disk and the relativistic jets surrounding it were the result of a central super-massive black hole. It has always been one of my greatest desires to explore the world beyond a black hole. After many years of debating, a financial grant was released from the Titan Government to NAEA for a black hole exploration mission. In fact, I ended up joining the first black hole mission

3 General Products hull is an example of a "passive" or material shielding; the hull is transparent to visible light and impervious to electromagnetic energy and matter in any form. 4 Slaver stasis field creates an area in which time does not pass; since time stands still, no damage can be done to the material occupying the space protected by the field.

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to the centre of the Milky Way, about 25,000 light-years away from Titan, to study Sagittarius A5, which is associated with a super-massive black hole.

e were on the final leg of our 11 year journey, and less than a month away from our destination вЂ" a Kerr black hole6. I was not sure of what we would discover. I was feeling somewhat nervous as I prepared to give my crew their very first pre-mission briefing. As the IAS Voyager‟s newly appointed captain, I felt I got more responsibility than I bargained for. Most of the crew members were almost twice my age and I felt their dislike to take my orders. Perhaps they might take more time to accept me as their captain. Nonetheless, I ought to anchor my responsibility as the crew‟s captain. In a quick dash of my thoughts, I was suddenly disturbed from my thoughts by Sting, one of our rather over-enthusiastic junior officers.

“So what‟s your approach in entering the black hole?” asked Sting. “A very interesting question, Sting, but you will have to wait till the end of my briefing to get an answer to that,” I said and smiled, trying not to appear rude. “If that‟s all the questions, let me begin.” “At some point in their lifetime, stars that are about 3 times the size of our Sun become exhausted of its fuel for fusion reactions вЂ" that is, when its core turns into iron. The final