I Breathe Euro

Jack sat in the heart of Future Island's Advanced Aerospace Lab, staring at the blueprints of humanity's last hope—a spaceship that could travel faster than light. The calculations sprawled across his holo-screens were nothing short of madness.

He had conquered energy, mastered antimatter, and even altered gravity, but space travel at superluminal speeds? It was a wall that even his mind struggled to break through.

Jack exhaled sharply. "This isn't working."

---

The Impossible Problem

Faster-than-light (FTL) travel wasn't just about speed. It was about surviving the journey.

The moment a spaceship exceeded light speed, the force would rip anything inside apart—human bodies would be reduced to atoms.

Even if they solved that, navigating through space at such speeds was suicide. One miscalculation, and the ship would collide with cosmic dust at a velocity that could annihilate entire cities.

Lastly, powering the ship required a reactor that didn't exist—not even with Aether and Antimatter combined.

Jack ran his fingers through his hair. No known physics could solve this.

---

The First Attempt

But giving up wasn't an option. He had 8 months before Earth became uninhabitable.

With his best engineers, Jack constructed the first prototype—The Starborn One.

It was an enormous obsidian-black vessel, sleek, sharp, and reinforced with Aether-Alloy—a material that could withstand the sheer forces of high-speed space travel.

For propulsion, he developed Antimatter Warp Engines, designed to bend space itself. If successful, it would allow the ship to 'jump' across vast distances rather than simply flying at high speeds.

The test flight was scheduled.

Jack, Katrina, and Emma stood in the control center, watching the unmanned Starborn One prepare for its maiden voyage. If this worked, humanity had a future.

"Initiate warp sequence," Jack commanded.

The engines roared to life. The ship glowed with raw energy, space itself seeming to distort around it.

Then—disaster.

The moment the ship attempted to enter warp, a violent shockwave erupted. The entire lab shook, alarms blaring as Starborn One was ripped apart in an instant.

The debris rained down into the ocean. Billions of dollars in research, gone in seconds.

Jack clenched his fists. He had failed.

For the first time in years, doubt crept into Jack's mind.

Was this truly possible?

He had saved Earth temporarily, but building a ship capable of escaping extinction was proving to be beyond even his genius.

Emma placed a hand on his shoulder. "Jack… maybe we need a new approach."

Jack remained silent, staring at the smoking remains of Starborn One in the distance.

He needed to think. To find another way.

But time was running out.

Jack sat alone in his private study on Future Island, his eyes locked onto the shattered remnants of Starborn One displayed on his holo-screen. The first attempt at FTL travel had failed, and with it, so had his confidence.

But failure wasn't an option. Not when Earth had only eight months before the tectonic shifts would make it uninhabitable.

His mind drifted back to his meeting with President Qrumb of America, a conversation that now felt heavier than ever.

---

The Talk with the President

It had been a tense discussion. Jack had arrived in Washington, D.C., only to find the White House surrounded by military forces, their eyes filled with fear and uncertainty.

Inside the oval office, President Qrumb had been pacing restlessly, the weight of the world visible on his aging face.

"Jack," the president had said, gripping his shoulders. "Tell me you have a solution. Tell me we aren't all going to die."

Jack had seen many things in his life—monsters, futuristic technology, and beings beyond human understanding. But seeing the leader of the free world filled with genuine, unfiltered fear had shaken him.

"I have a plan," Jack had said back then. "But I need time."

President Qrumb had exhaled sharply, his fingers tightening into fists. "We don't have time. The world is collapsing. Governments are breaking. People are losing hope. We need something, Jack. Even if it's just a damn lie to keep them believing."

Jack had only given him one promise: "I don't do lies. I do results."

Now, as he sat alone in his study, he realized that those words meant nothing if he failed.

---

The World's Growing Desperation

The news channels painted a grim picture.

Countries were fighting over resources, knowing that the world was on borrowed time.

Millions were attempting to flee to what they believed were "safer" regions, only to find devastation waiting.

The monsters that had emerged from the earth were still wreaking havoc, despite the efforts of the world's greatest heroes.

And worst of all… people were losing hope.

Jack knew that if humanity lost hope before he could finish the spaceship, it wouldn't matter if he succeeded. The world would destroy itself before nature did.

---

Jack's Determination Rekindled

Jack leaned forward, his hands clasped. He had been looking at this all wrong.

He had been trying to solve FTL travel from a purely scientific standpoint, but this wasn't just an engineering problem.

It was a human problem.

Jack realized that if he wanted to succeed, he needed everyone—scientists, world leaders, and even ordinary people—to believe in this mission.

He couldn't build this ship alone.

He needed the world to help him.

His eyes hardened. He would not let humanity fall.

Jack wasn't just going to build a spaceship.

He was going to unite the world under one mission—one last hope.

And this time, he wouldn't fail.

Jack stared at the holographic projection of space in front of him, his fingers twitching as he zoomed in on the nearest black hole—Sagittarius A*, located at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. It was 26,000 light-years away, an abyss of infinite gravity capable of warping time and space itself.

And yet, it was their only hope.

---

For weeks, Jack had locked himself in his lab, poring over theories, equations, and simulations. The solution had finally struck him like a thunderbolt—the event horizon of a black hole held infinite energy.

If he could harness the radiation and gravitational forces of the black hole, he could create a perpetual energy source, one that would allow humanity to sustain itself for millennia.

But there was one massive problem.

Even if he succeeded in utilizing the black hole's power, getting there was another issue entirely.

Moving 8 billion people across the universe to the edge of oblivion? That was beyond science fiction.

Even with all his advanced technology, Jack couldn't fathom how to:

Build enough spaceships to transport an entire species

Sustain people for the journey of a lifetime

Ensure that humanity wouldn't fall apart before reaching the destination

It was the greatest challenge in history—one that seemed impossible.

But Jack didn't believe in impossible.

---

A Plan Beyond Limits

Jack stood before the world, a live broadcast streaming his words across nations.

"Humanity has eight months. The Earth is collapsing, and no amount of power, technology, or science can stop it. But I have found a solution—a new home.

There exists a place where energy is infinite, where the laws of physics themselves can be rewritten. But to reach it, we must do something no civilization has ever done.

We must move an entire planet's worth of people through the stars.

I won't lie to you—this will be the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced. The risks are enormous. The cost is beyond imagining.

But I ask you this—would you rather stay and die, or fight for a future among the stars?"**

Silence filled the world.

Then, like a ripple across an ocean, humanity's answer became clear.

They would fight.

---

The Impossible Begins

With every government, every scientist, and every engineer working together, Jack knew they had one shot at this.

The first step? Building the largest fleet in human history.

Jack's mind raced. He would need:

Colossal mother ships, capable of holding millions at a time.

Self-sustaining biodomes, producing food and oxygen for generations.

FTL technology, pushing past everything humanity had ever known.

And above all… he needed time.

Eight months wasn't enough.

Jack had to find a way to break the limits of time itself—or humanity was doomed before it even began.

Jack wiped the sweat off his forehead as he observed the shimmering, translucent Time and Space Chamber—the first of its kind. It was a small metallic sphere, barely the size of a basketball, humming with an eerie blue glow.

At this moment, it wasn't meant for humans. It could only carry cockroaches.

---

Breaking the Barrier of Time

Jack had two major problems when it came to interstellar migration:

1. Time Dilation – The journey to Sagittarius A* would take thousands of years using conventional methods. Even if they traveled at near light speed, time would slow down for those aboard, while centuries would pass on Earth.

2. Survivability – There was no guarantee that human life could be sustained for so long in deep space. Even if they reached the black hole, there was no certainty they could harness its energy.

Jack had been thinking about these issues nonstop, barely sleeping.

That's when it hit him.

If he couldn't speed up the journey, what if he could manipulate time itself?

If he could build a chamber that allowed for instantaneous movement across space-time, then the limitations of distance, time, and even fuel efficiency would become irrelevant.

Thus, he designed the first prototype.

A chamber so small and fragile that it could only transport the most resilient lifeform on Earth—cockroaches.

Jack took a deep breath, holding a glass container filled with six cockroaches, their tiny bodies twitching inside.

"You guys are the first travelers of space-time. Let's hope you survive."

He placed the insects inside the chamber and activated the Quantum Stabilizer.

The chamber vibrated violently, the energy surging through it like an uncontained storm. The inside collapsed into a singularity, swallowing the cockroaches whole.

Then—silence.

Jack turned toward his holographic monitor, tracking the chamber's signal.

Nothing.

Then, a flash of red light—a response signal from the other side of the lab.

Jack's eyes widened.

The chamber had teleported.

He rushed toward the exit door and saw the device intact, sitting on the floor, its energy core still glowing faintly.

With shaking hands, he opened the hatch.

Inside, the cockroaches were alive. Not a single one was injured.

Jack exhaled, his mind racing with possibilities.

This was it.

The first, imperfect version of a technology that could eventually save the entire human race.