Lifeline

Time for another entry in Friday Fictioneers challenge, courtesy of Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. If you want to give it a try, check the info on her blog. 100 words more or less, inspired by a photo, here we go….

 Copyright –   Connie Gayer

Ever since her ship skidded past the event horizon, barely missing the black hole accretion disc, Geneviève Bouchard wondered how much time passed back home.

Accompanied by radio silence, she sailed over the space and time, her trepidation contained in the titanium cage of her mind. Eventually, resignation took over, with only the fraction of her instinct for survival slowly burning, pushing her onward.

The data logs on InternationalSpaceStation finally offered answers, stories of human arrogance and stupidity. Years of nuclear winter left its mark, but the wild sapling she found near the landing site told a story of a new beginning.

After 329 years, Geneviève came home.

I went for a walk and kept thinking how no one will understand this story, apart from Science Fiction fans.
Basically, in theory when you approach the black hole, for you time slows down. Meaning, while it might be days or months for Geneviève, in Earth time centuries flew by.