Personal Log 119: A Conversation
17 Oct 2016Jemine Caesar
"Hello, Steel. I've been thinking about you. I was worried in case you were hurt or something." "No, I'm fine. No need to worry about me. I had to crash into a 'Conda to get my mind off you, though."
"Oh."
"Well, here goes. The final jump."
"May Gaia watch over you and protect you."
"Thanks... I made it. I'm at the galactic core, Jem. Sag 'A', a supermassive black hole."
"Oh, Steel! It must be an incredible sight!"
"It is. And now it's time to do what I came here to do."
"Take a picture?"
"Heh! That, and a couple of other things. I'll be staying here for a bit."
"How long's 'a bit'?"
"That's literally relative. Time flows differently here than it does for you where you are. The gravity near something of this size warps time. The transmission packets I'm sending you are corrected for relativity shift."
"I never understood all that relativity stuff."
"Yeah. Well... One thing I came here to do was dip a slab of steel close to the event horizon. It's a knife, made by my grandfather. I thought it'd be kind of cool to forge it here, in the biggest black hole of them all."
"That sounds rather dangerous. Steel, allow me to be the first to congratulate you on reaching the centre of the galaxy."
"Well, Jem, let me tell you something."
"What?"
"In all probability I will come back with no problems. I certainly don't intend to wreck out here or anything, but shit happens. So that being said, I honestly could think of no one else I would rather share this with than you."
"Oh! I'm very touched, Steel. Thank you."
"Yeah, but you know what I mean by that."
"Yes. I do."
"It's been hard."
"I know."
"I, er... I could explain the time dilation thing, if you like."
"You can explain it to me when you return to the bubble, over a coffee."
"Heh! You sure that's such a good idea, letting me within arm's reach of you?"
"It depends how long the arm is. Steel, please take care of yourself out there."
"I will. I'll see you in a while. I miss you, Jem."
"I... miss you, too."
===================================================================================
Thank you to Argent Steel