Brewer was clearly uncomfortable around creatures such as El Ray and myself. Nevertheless, we had a duty to perform. El Ray and I approached him as he lay in his recovery room bed.

El Ray: I’m sorry to question you under these circumstances, Mister Brewer, but we need your help to figure out what it is we’re dealing with.

Brewer: I already said everything I had to say in the debriefing Commander Stone asked for.

El Ray: We got that, but there’s a discrepancy. We need to confirm you didn’t attack the creature.

Brewer: You think I did this on purpose?

El Ray: Negative. Ensign Quillroy says you went toward the creature without walking. Can you explain that?

Brewer: My legs . . . Yes. You’re right. It was such an intense situation, I guess . . . I guess I forgot about that part.

Sham: It’s common for instinct to take over when large amounts of adrenaline are secreted from the adrenal glands. Studies find that memory is diminished in such situations. One such study—

El Ray: —Please continue, Mister Brewer.

Brewer: I lifted my laser rifle in case it came near me. But as soon as my left hand went up, I felt myself being pulled toward it.

Sham: Can you describe the pull? Was it like suction? Magnetic force?

Brewer: Well . . . it started slow, and then got faster and faster. Kind of like falling, but sideways.

El Ray: Maybe like gravity?

Brewer: Yeah. That’s a good way to describe it.

At that point, I pulled El Ray out of Brewer’s earshot.

Sham: It’s not possible! The idea that a black hole could be intelligent is nonsense!

El Ray: It’s evidence. We don’t know if it is a black hole, but we have to consider it. What kind of damage would a black hole do?

Sham: Theoretically, the matter that enters it will stretch and compress in all directions like spaghetti before it’s obliterated and emits a blast of radiation and plasma.

El Ray: Reports indicated there was a blast of light and Brewer’s wound was cauterized. Is that consistent with what you’re describing?

Sham: The plasma could cauterize the wound. We’d have to run some tests to be sure.

El Ray: Let’s do that, then reconvene with Commander Stone.

Sham: El Ray, if it is a black hole . . . I see no way to stop it.