8

The Moona-Lisa zooms through the Milky Way. They steer towards the centre of the galaxy – the location of the big black hole. Soon the rocket is whizzing through one of the Milky Way’s spiral arms and they pass one star after the other. Uncle Albert has to manoeuvre the rocket carefully to make sure not to get to close to any of them. On the sixth day Markus and Mariana notice that Uncle Albert is working intensively and is very concentrated. He goes back and forth between the steering equipment, his telescope, the rocket computer and a paper on which he does his calculations.

”We are approaching the hole,” he says. “I have to navigate correctly now so that we exit the hole at precisely the right time. You can see the hole through the windows in front.”

The children see a large pale cloud, which seems to grow as they approach it.

”But shouldn’t the hole be black? It is called a black hole, isn’t it?” asks Mariana.

“What we are seeing are enormous amounts of particles whirling around the hole, just like planets revolve around a star. The hole’s gravitational force is so strong that not even light can stream from it. So the hole itself cannot be seen.”

“So how will we get through it?”

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“Good question! We will set ourselves spinning and with my special antiproton black hole rocket drive which will also produce an important magnetic field around us, it should work. If my calculations are correct.”*14

Markus and Mariana look at each other with uncertainty. Though they have never known Uncle Albert to miscalculate anything, they wonder if he hasn’t gone too far this time?

”Put your spacesuits on and buckle up. I have sown in extra protection into the suits to protect us from the spinning we will be subjected to.”

They get the spacesuits on and Markus and Mariana buckle up carefully in their seats. The children have now arranged a special little seat for Max which they buckle him into, but there is no spacesuit for him to wear. Uncle Albert says that mice are so small that the centrifugal force of the rocket spinning won’t be as dangerous for Max.*15

Uncle Albert makes one final round and checks his instruments, the computer and his calculations before he too buckles up. Outside the window space shimmers as though they were flying through a big white cloud.

“Okay, hold on, we’re entering the hole. Jihoooo!” Uncle Albert shouts and pushes a big black button.

The rocket starts spinning. Markus and Mariana think it’s like the worst carousel they’ve ever been on, except much much worse. It becomes hard to see out of the windows and soon it is pitch black outside. Unless it just feels that way because they’ve lost consciousness after all this spinning?

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Soon the rocket starts to shake and it feels as though they are being stretched out and then compressed. Markus tries to utter a worried question if this is normal, but he cannot make a sound. They can barely breathe.

Then they see some sharp flashes of light outside the window. The shaking continues for a while, then finally dissipates and ends entirely. After a few more minutes Uncle Albert pushes the black button and the spinning subsides as well.

”Pheuuw,” he moans. ”That was rough, but I think we made it. How are you?”

“Not so good,” Mariana whimpers.

“Me neither. My stomach feels like it’s been turned inside out. Several times. Is it over?”

“Yep. Now we are heading towards Earth at maximum speed.”

“Good, I don’t think I want to go through any more black holes,” says Mariana.

”No, this was worse than the time we were thrown out of the volcano. Look at poor Max! He looks totally flattened.”

Max is lying perfectly still with his four legs in the air, gasping for breath. But when Markus gives him some cheese he recuperates quite quickly.

“In five days we should be back on Earth,” says Uncle Albert.

“How long have we been gone?” asks Mariana. “I have totally lost track of time.”

“7 days, 4 hours, 37 minutes and 11 seconds… 12… 13… 14… you can just look at the rocket’s clock here,” says Uncle Albert and points to a small screen. “That is, that is the time we have experienced since the launch at home in Sweden, our own time so to speak. On Earth it is a little hard to say how much time has elapsed. We’ll see as we approach.”