THE MOMENT
"Hi, I'm Justice." Ten pairs of eyes focused on the teenage girl that walked out of a black hole. She had bright pink pigtails and wore a crisp white suit. Once the hole closed behind her, it was apparent that the chaperone assigned to watch over the kids was frozen in time. He was stuck mid-step with his back turned on the cabin. He had just given the kids the final warning and was headed to his own seat to strap himself in too.
"What's going on?" One of the kids asked. Justice was appraising each kid and didn't see who the question came from; and, another one came as she searched.
"Why isn't John moving?" a girl asked.
"Yeah, why can we?" a boy asked.
"Those are all great questions!" Justice tried to smile at all of them. "Time is frozen for everyone else in the world except you 10 for right now. I came to rescue you...," she completed the sentence with a softer, slower tone. "...this shuttle is about to explode," she said.
"What do you mean?"
"How do you know that?" Each question came from a different side of the cabin.
"I don't have a lot of time to explain...," Justice said. But, her excuse was interrupted.
"I thought you said time was stopped!"
"It is," Justice giggled. "But, that's just on this Earth. We're still on a schedule." She held up a pitch-black card, then dropped it on the floor. It opened another black portal and she nodded at it.
"There are alternate Earths, and I need to get you to a different one for now. I promise you'll get all your questions answered and you'll get to see different Earths. There are things out there you can't even imagine," she said.
"Why should we trust you?" someone asked. Justice wasn't used to addressing a crowd and found it difficult to keep track. But, as far as she could tell the questions mostly came from the same group of kids. Either that or they all sounded the same.
"She walked out of a black hole, then made another one...," one of the boys stood up with a shrug. "...I trust her," he said. He approached Justice and she directed him to the hole in the floor. He was hesitant; but, after giving it some test steps he confidently walked onto the black spot. He appeared to be floating on solid space.
"You're going down, someone will help you on the other end," Justice said. The boy nodded, then the floor began to carry him down into the hole; he felt the movement in his gut like an elevator.
"You don't have to trust me," Justice finally answered the question as the boy disappeared completely. Another pair of kids stood up together and walked onto the black hole. After a moment, they began to sink into it also.
"But, I'm sorry to say I can't do anything about the explosion."
"What about our families? You're taking us to safety; but, is that on another Earth?" a boy asked. He stood and took a step closer as he posed the question. "Will we be able to see them again?"
"Oh no...," Justice shook her head as she shrugged. "I'm sorry, I didn't think about asking that. I was told to come do this, so here I am," she said. "I can't give you a definite answer; but, I will say that you won't see them again if you stay behind," she said. "Sorry..," she seemed genuinely apologetic.
"That's true, I guess...," the boy sighed, then stepped on the portal and began to descend.
"Alternate Earths are real?" a girl stood and moved forward. Justice nodded and she had follow-up questions ready to go. "Are there any Earths with magic? Can I learn magic??" she asked.
"That's an easy yes!" Justice replied. That was enough of an answer for her and two other kids.
"Wait, what about them? John and the other crew?" One of the boys asked as he gestured at their chaperone's back.
"I'm only here for you 10," Justice replied. "I'm sorry."
"You don't care about them?" The boy took a step back. "Why should we believe you care about us?"
"Yeah," the last remaining girl added. "John's a good guy! He deserves to live too!"
"I'm sorry," Justice sighed. "It's not my job to decide that. I was assigned to save you 10 only," she said.
"Are you from the future?" the last boy stood and joined the lingering pair. Though, he was notably taller than any of the other kids that had already gone. He put his arms around the other two as he asked his question.
"Not really, but I guess kind of?" Justice shrugged. "The Earth I'm from already has very advanced technology. And, I work for the most bleeding edge company there is, Sharp Development," she said. "But, I'm not from the future on this Earth."
"Okay, we're going," he nodded and stepped forward pulling the last two along.
"Wait.. but what about Jo-," the girl began to ask, but the tall boy interrupted her.
"I'm pretty sure John would want you to stay alive, right?" he asked as they began to descend.
"I don't know...," Justice heard the beginning of the girl's protest before they disappeared. Then, Justice stepped on it and sank into it too.
At the exact same moment, another Sharp Development employee was finishing his meeting with the head of NASA.
"You can't do this, they're innocent!" the director yelled at Phoenix. But, the red-haired man in a white suit shrugged and smiled.
"You're saying that like we're the bad guys here," Phoenix chuckled. "This was all your idea, wasn't it? And, this brilliant idea of yours came right after my last warning. But, this will be your FINAL warning," he added.
"The next time you try to leave this planet, Sharp Development will simply destroy it. Hopefully, the deaths of 10 kids and some assorted crew are enough to deter you from trying again. I'll say it again, just to make sure you get the message. Sharp Development does not want any craft leaving this Earth. Not for the moon, not for space exploration, not for anything. As far as everyone on this planet is concerned, this planet is all there is. Now, if you'll excuse me, it's time to blow the thing up," Phoenix said. A saucer-sized black hole appeared in the air in front of him, and his hand began to glow with bright blue light as he stuck it into the hole.
"You can't do that, they're just kids!" Phoenix chuckled and smiled at the director. Time resumed across the world and everyone that was watching the broadcast saw the shuttle explode on the pad.
"That's why you loaded them up, isn't it? You thought I wouldn't do anything?" Phoenix asked as he withdrew his hand. "You were already warned. I don't know why you thought Sharp Development was above killing a few kids."