The spaceship contained thirty-three humans. It had been in space for three hundred and thirty generations. Their knowledge of Earth was encoded and then presented to the humans via a screen that displayed all the knowledge and experience of humans. This knowledge had been selected by human academics. The history of the Earth stopped at Earth year 2075, after the common era. In generation one hundred and four the navigation system failed and the humans drifted. They had no idea where they were.
The captain of the ship halted the speed of the spaceship when the on board system detected a black hole. The spaceship was less than thirty kilometers from an event horizon. The pull of gravity was strong but the crew was able to prevent being sucked into the black hole. STORIUS, the spaceship computer that controlled all of life on board the spaceship, bleeped and stated it had information.
<I HAVE INFORMATION THAT IS BEING RADIATED FROM THE BLACK HOLE>
The captain knew that black holes emitted radiation and that they radiation consisted of all the things the black hole had munched on. Nothing is ever destroyed in the universe.
“Tell me about the information,” commanded the captain.
STORIUS displayed data on the screens. There was DNA.
“The DNA is similar to lizards and chickens,” said the scientist who was also co-pilot.
The scientist analyzed more data. There was human DNA.
“I have words,” he exclaimed. STORIUS analyzed the words. It was the Bible, the Koran the Torah. There was also the Iliad, the Epic of Gilgamesh, Egil’s Saga…and then someone named Danielle Steele and James Patterson. Neither of those were selected by the academics as something worthy to know. The captain assumed the black hole had consumed another planet that discovered some of Earth’s literature. STORIUS also played images. A man with a strange mustache holding his arm up as athletic looking people walked below him. He was not selected by the academics. There was also something called Dallas, Dynasty and The Kardashians. The images flashed in the screen. This was new to the crew. None of this had been selected by the academics.
The captain was certain that the planet consumed by the black hole had contact with Earth but that Earth had not been consumed by the black hole.
“Our search for Earth continues,” announced the captain and they veered towards a binary system, a far distance from the black hole. “One day we will find Earth, our true home.”