The Rise to Godhood
Chapter 28: Stuck in the Gravity Well.

Gaia woke up as she was thrown out of bed when the hovercraft spaceship struck a hard object, hitting her head against the wall. At first, she was clueless about what had happened. The hovercraft had crashed, but how? The Divine Dimension was an endless flat plain, so how could one crash a vehicle under such circumstances?

She tried to get up, but she couldn’t. Although she had a small gash on her chin, she didn’t feel injured. However, she felt too heavy to move.

“Someone, please help me….”

Gaia froze when she heard an agonising voice coming from the sleeping pod. Someone was injured, and she needed to save the person immediately.

“Mother, what is going on?” Gaia shouted.

“You are stuck in a gravity well coming from a black hole. It is nothing to worry about.” The True Maker replied.

“What do you mean!? How can being stuck in a black hole not be a problem?” Gaia exclaimed. “Since you’re in a higher dimension than the Milky Way Galaxy, you are not thorned to shreds by the gravitational force. You are just too heavy to move.” True Maker replied.

“But if we are stuck here forever, we’ll die, and we won’t be able to save humanity,” Gaia exclaimed. “You won’t be stuck forever. The black hole is moving at 10 per cent of the speed of light. It will move away from your location in a couple of hours, and you’ll be free to move.”

“I understand. Thanks for telling me.” Gaia replied and closed her connection with True Maker.

True Maker’s words calmed Gaia, but another thing frustrated her. Kailow and the other crew members were screaming in panic, and she hated her inability to help them. Their screams tormented Gaia, and she felt hopeless, unable to save her friends. ‘I hope these hours will go fast,’ Gaia prayed as she closed her eyes to meditate.

***

“Gaia, wake up. Are you alright?”

When Gaia opened her eyes, Kailow was on the floor next to her, and his silvery-blue skin was drenched with drops of silvery sweat, perspiring from the exertion of pushing himself. Gaia looked at Kailow; she had never seen him this tired before. She tried to get up, but the gravity from the black hole was still too strong.

“Yes, I am fine. We are on top of a black hole tearing through the galaxy. Once it moves past us, gravity should restore to normal, and we’ll be able to move.” Gaia replied.

“When will this happen?” Kailow asked.

“True Maker said it will take a couple of hours,” Gaia replied.

“A couple of hours? We can’t stay like this for a couple of hours. What if someone is hurt?” Kailow exclaimed.

Gaia realised that Kailow was correct. True Maker had a chilling indifference to individual life. It was understandable for an eternal supreme deity to feel that way, but Gaia valued life more as a mortal. Unfortunately, she had accepted True Maker’s assurances without finding out for herself. Would she be able to forgive herself if her complacency caused the death of one of her companions?

“Okay, I will get up,” Gaia said and rolled over to a crawling position.

“I heard that Nayanika was screaming for help before, but she has been silent. We better hurry.” Kailow urged and pushed himself towards Nayanika’s quarters.

Gaia followed Kailow, and she felt annoyed that her mother didn’t lend her a fraction of her power, as she only had the strength of a regular human without it.

As they approached Nayanika’s sleeping pod in slow-motion, they discovered that the female crew member was dead. A railing had fallen unto her, and it had crushed her under the enormous weight it had due to the black hole’s gravity. Nayanika’s death filled Gaia with guilt. She had settled for doing nothing when her fellow crew members needed her; this was her fault!

“Kailow, we must help her. Please fetch one of the charged sapphires from the engine room.” Gaia shouted.

“Why do you need it?” Kailow asked.

“It is my fault that she died, so it’s my responsibility to bring her back,” Gaia exclaimed.

“Okay, I’ll do my best,” Kailow replied and hurried to fetch a Zeto-charged sapphire.

Moments later, Kailow returned with a sapphire. Gaia was about to resurrect Nayanika when True Maker interrupted her. “Gaia, I cannot allow you to resurrect this Zetan. Her death was how the timeline was meant to play out.”

“What are you talking about? You caused her death to happen. You told me that everything would be okay in a couple of hours.” Gaia ranted.

“No, I did not cause her death. I didn’t run your hovercraft into the gravity well of a black hole. That was Arish’s fault.” True Maker replied.

“No, but your actions stopped me from saving her. I will undo the damage you did.” Gaia said and slammed Nayanika’s chest with a Zeto-charged crystal.

“No! This is not how I intended the timeline to be!” True Maker shouted and severed the connection with Gaia.

Moments later, Nayanika opened her eyes and gasped, “What happened?”

“We had a collision, but everything will be alright,” Gaia soothed, but deep down, she felt terrified. She had defied the supreme deity; what consequences could this have?

***

Later the same day, Gaia looked at the Milky Way Galaxy below. The black hole was moving away, and it had left dozens of ruined star systems in its wake. It was both terrifying and beautiful at the same time.

As Gaia watched the beautiful destruction, a blonde woman in her forties approached her. The True Maker had once again taken the form of her future biological mother, Ellen Hines.

“Sabina, I am sorry that I screamed at you,” Ellen said.

“Why have you retaken a human form, and why are you calling me Sabina?” Gaia asked.

“Sabina Hines will be your name in one distant timeline, where I will become your future mother. I appeared as Ellen because I wanted a physical connection with you. Creating a temporary body is less intrusive than possessing your mind. Hug your mother, Sabina.” Ellen replied.

Gaia hesitated for a moment. She wasn’t keen to hug the True Maker’s impostor body, but she didn’t want to offend her creator either. She got up and hugged True Maker. It was a lengthy hug, and at the end of it, Gaia sobbed and whispered, “I am sorry that I defied your will, mother.”

True Maker nodded and replied, “It is alright. I have seen what happens next; Nayanika’s unintended survival won’t affect the outcome of your mission or the future of our galaxy.”

“So, why is it wrong for me to save people?” Gaia asked.

“Because you cannot see the full consequences of your actions. Let’s say that Nayanika survives and moves on to raise a happy family. Then one of her descendants commits genocide and destroys entire planets 5000 years later. Was it still the right choice to save her?” Ellen asked.

“Yes, because there wasn’t any direct causality between my choice to save Nayanika and things that happened eons later. We can only judge an action by the consequences and facts known at the time.” Gaia replied.

“I see. While your morality works out on a mortal’s event horizon, it is unsustainable on an eternal’s timeline. I have learnt from the previous 99 iterations of the Milky Way Galaxy that interventions can have uncontrollable long-term consequences.” Ellen replied.

“Hey, who are you, and where did you come from?”

Gaia and True Maker turned to Kailow, who stared at them in amazement. Gaia was the spitting image of the older woman next to her. Could it be her mother?

“I am the True Maker, taking the form of Gaia’s future mother, Ellen Hines. It is so nice to meet you, Kailow Voltrom.” True Maker replied.

Hearing this, Kailow went down on his knees and kissed the True Maker’s feet.

She smiled at him and replied, “There is no need to kiss my feet. I don’t strive for worship. Besides, we are practically family.”

Kailow got up, shook her hand, and replied. “It’s an honour to meet you, True Maker.”

“The honour is all mine. It was impressive how you fought your fears and the crippling gravitation pull of the black hole to ascertain my daughter’s safety.” True Maker replied.

“Thank you, your eminence,” Kailow replied.

“You’re welcome. I need to leave. Follow your heart, Kailow, and you’ll live the life you always dreamt of.” True Maker said and evaporated into thin air.

“Well, I guess you finally got to meet my mother,” Gaia said and tried to hide her discomfort.

“Wow, she looks almost exactly like you,” Kailow replied.

“Yes... Hey, get down on the ground next to me. I want to show you something.” Gaia chirped.

As Kailow kneeled next to Gaia, she took his hand and enabled him to watch the beautiful destruction that the black hole caused below them.

***

“So, what happened before?” Arish asked Gaia as she returned to the hovercraft.

“Our hovercraft came across a gravity well from a black hole in the Milky Way Galaxy below us,” Gaia replied.

“Wow, it’s a miracle no one died. We decelerated from 90 km an hour to a standstill in no time. It was like driving into a mountainside.” Zelinko exclaimed.

“Yes,” Gaia replied with an afterthought.

“I need to hurry back to the infirmary to look after our wounded,” Areela said.

“I am coming with you,” Gaia replied while deciding to follow True Maker’s instruction not to use her supernatural powers to save anyone. She would only use the powers her human body had to save lives.

“Okay, I will drive the hovercraft spaceship slow and steady. I don’t want that to happen again,” Arish said and started the engines for a slow ride to Elvonia.

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