Wormhole Cleaning Inc

‘All functions optimal across the board. Your team is now clear to enter Captain.’

‘We had betta be, everyone prep for full lock and load. You know the rules, we go in hard, fast and shoot anything that moves until we know we have a secure location. Annie?’

‘Yah boss.’

‘Do not test my patience this time by looking for new pets to play with. I will not tolerate any risks that go against company rules. Are we clear?’

‘Like a glass of absinthe boss.’

‘Ladies and Gentlemen, we are a go for entry. Sound off as you go, I’m first, Lieutenant Reira is last. Now go!’

They stood in a file before a large shimmering light. If a person was to stare at it for too long without protective lenses, then it was rumoured that they would turn blind.

Now, that was a lie. The truth was that you’d go insane long before your eyes melted in their socks, it was worse than staring at the sun on a bright summer day for hours on end.

Nobody actually knew the real colour of shade of the wormhole, it just existed as an image behind technology and screens. Some had said that it was blue as the ocean, others red like the depths of an imagined hell. Either way, it was stable for now and would last so according to the massive energy expenditure required to keep it open and running.

The team Captain headed in first. She always wanted to make sure that the entry and exit point was secure, she tried to lead her team by example and if they failed to listen and died then her pay got docked.

The shimmering light shifted for a moment as they stepped outside of the spaceship and directly into the void. This close to the wormhole there was little risk of freezing to death in the depths of space but higher level technology could always cause a little bit of unnecessary death.

‘Captain, this is the real deal of a lifetime. Risks yeah but we get to retire after this job. Same as any other paid mission but we get to walk away with all the rewards afterwards.’

‘Bensi, do you have any idea about how I became Captain of this crew? You never thought to ask why I became Captain and the others simply accepted it without fuss. A lack of research leads to sure death.’

‘No, I, I never thought to ask Captain. We all have our own histories and all that.’

‘Simple really. Everyone kept on dying and I kept on surviving mission after mission. In the end I was left alone with enough loot to buy my own ship and equip it while taking on these company jobs. Have you ever been inside a black hole Bensi? Actually been inside one and taken a good, hard look on the other side?’

‘No Captain. They’re meant to be impossible to get through, the light is trapped so we can’t see through and the gravitational forces alone mean tha-’

‘shut your mouth about your deals and risks and let me do the thinking. I’m not saying no to you, but the rest of the crew need to be made aware before we vote on it. Do you know the reason that I remain Captain of this crew still and nobody has decided to kill me or let me die?’

‘No, but I’m sure that you’re going to tell me.’

‘Not when I trust you as much as I trust taking a look inside a wormhole with uncovered eyes and a bare ass with my hands holding a pencil. The contents of a Black Hole are a place where you never want to go. Just another addition to the ignore list. So shut up and come to the briefing. You can get out of my office, I’ve got real work to do. Stories can wait for another day. Oh, and good job finding the deal, we’ll see what the rest of the crew thinks. You earned your bonus crewman.’