Jeremy Baker was the only survivor when the Raven's Warton-Purg drive deliveredthe vessel to the vicinity of a black hole. Its tidal forces immediately didtheir stuff. The hull groaned and cracked as indicators screamed the ship'ssituation and listed its problems. Jeremy, who had been somewhat bored, had beenin the possibly enviable position of testing his powerful extravehicularsurvival suit at the time of the disaster. He had on everything but the helmet,which he promptly donned. Then he hurried to the control station with theintention of activating the Warton-Purg drive again in hopes of fleeing throughextracurricular space -- though under the circumstances it was more likely tocause the Raven to explode. But then the Raven was exploding anyway and it wasworth a shot.

He never made it.

The vessel came apart about him. He thought he glimpsed the jumpsuited figure ofone of his crewmates spinning amid the debris, but he could not be certain.

Suddenly, he was alone. Pieces of the Raven drifted away from him. He took a sipof the suit's water, wondering when he would feel a great heaviness in his feetas they were drawn down the gravity well faster than the rest of him -- orperhaps it would be his head. He was uncertain as to his orientation. Still halfin shock, he scanned the sky, peering into a star-occluding blackness. There. Itwould be his right arm where the stretching would begin. At least it would be aninteresting way to die, he reflected. Not too many people had gotten to try it,though there had been a lot of colorful speculation.

He seemed to drift for a long while, musing on final splendors, withoutdetecting any unusual sensations other than occasionally glimpsing what seemed asmall, local patch of flickering light. He could not be certain as to itssource. After a time, he felt an uncontrollable drowsiness and he slept.