Chapter 2

"But, if I die here, it will mean that I have wasted all my life. I never lived even a moment of my life for myself. I have been preparing for this mission all my life and for that I had worked hard day in and day out. All that hard work and efforts were for nothing. Work is all I ever did; it has been my religion and I am not going to die without doing the last ritual. I need to try once more." He was beginning to feel alive again.

He took a deep breath, sat up and Screamed:

"THIS IS NOT THE TIME. THIS IS NOT THE PLACE. THIS IS NOT THE WAY."

He felt better. He was feeling like; he could do anything, he could travel across the universe, he could finish his mission and go back home, he could conquer the universe and he could even escape this godforsaken Black Hole.

"Death, May be later. I am not dying here. Not unless, I have put every ounce of my life into escaping this situation" He murmured while trying to find a solution to escape this situation.

"We have crossed 225 kilometers in the field. The gravity control system is not working properly." Dana warned.

Daniel had started to feel the impact of gravity. It felt like something incredibly heavy was put onto him. The feeling lasted for a moment. It was enough to make a strong man like him breathless.

"Dana! At what level, you can maintain the system without fail, until we reach 300 kilometers into the field?" He gathered himself

"120% of earth's gravity." Dana replied in an instant.

"Adjust the gravity."

"It will impact your..."

"I know the side effects." Daniel intercepted

"Gravity has been adjusted." Dana announced. As soon as the gravity adjusted, Daniel felt high weight on his body. He was having trouble in breathing and his heart felt heavier.

"How much time?" Daniel asked

"50 Seconds."

Suddenly red emergency light turned on and dana announced:

"We have penetrated 250 kilometers in the field. The security protocol is being executed. For the security of Mr. Daniel Naqal, the tenth of his kin, the ship will be shut down and…" Dana warned.

���What? Are you crazy? Don't do it. I, as the Administrator of the ship command you to abort the security protocol." Daniel screamed.

"Please take command as Administrator." Dana stopped the warning.

Even though Daniel was captain of this ship. He did not activate the Administrator's rights, because Administrative rights meant no suggestions and warnings from Dana and that could be dangerous in this long journey.

"45 Seconds" Dana warned before Daniel could even respond.

Daniel quickly got up to go to the Administrator Panel on the left side of the room to enter the passcode. He had barely walked two or three steps that he collapsed. He tried to get up, but his hands were shaking heavily. Everything felt shaky to him.

He barely managed to sit up.

"40 seconds."

"You have only 10 seconds to enter the password to abort the security protocol."

"Whhhhyyyyyyyyyyy?" Daniel was angry at himself.

"How could I forget such an important thing. But there is no time to get the injection now." He thought and put all his effort into standing up.

"35 seconds"

"Bastard." He exclaimed and rushed to the panel. He put his trembling hand onto the security panel. A keyboard came out and punched in the passcode.

"The security protocol has been aborted. 30 seconds." Dana warned

"Dana arrange an injection for me!" Daniel was leaning against the window on left side. He was out of breath. His nervous system was breaking down. On top of that the higher gravity was taking a toll on his physical capabilities.

"The injection is ready. Please proceed to the Control Center." Dana referred to the chair Daniel was sitting in.

Daniel turned around and tried to stand by himself without any support.

"25 seconds" Daniel was losing time. He had to do something.

"Dana! This is a right order command. First, turn on the left engine at full capacity and keep it on until ship turns by 180 degree. Once ship turns away, turn on all the other 5 engines simultaneously."

"20 seconds."

"Ugh." He got irritated but he continued.

"Once I fire the Nuclear weapons, burn both the support engines to get the thrust on the ship. As soon as you start with the protocol, turn off all the power consuming functions that are not necessary for the survival of Ship or me. The command to initiate this survival protocol is I AM STILL ALIVE. Got it?"

"Yes sir" Dana responded obediently.

Having said that, Daniel started moving towards the chair. His condition was getting worse and worse. His vision had become blurred and his limbs were refusing to follow his will.

"I need to be quick." He thought.

"15 seconds."

Daniel moved as fast as could and reached the chair. He fell in his chair and pressed a button on his right side. His eyes were closing. He searched the small compartment that opened in the right arm of the chair. He grabbed the syringe in it and injected the red solution into his left thigh. His hand was trembling. The syringe punctured his thigh in the wrong angle. He screeched with pain.

"It will still work." He assured himself.

"10 seconds."

"Dana! Prepare all the Nuclear weapons on the tail to be fired." Daniel coughed. It was getting harder to breathe in such high gravity. He lost consciousness for moment.

"Weapons have been prepared." Dana's voice brought him back. He took a deep breath to control his coughing and exclaimed with all his might:

"I AM STILL ALIVE."

"Initiating Survival Protocol. Left wing engine has been turned on. The ship is turning."

Daniel was holding a joystick on his right side. It was to control and shoot loaded weapons. Injection had made his condition a bit better. He was trying to aim the missiles at the right direction to get the thrust.

"Five seconds."