# Trapped by the Black Dwarf explained — Islands of Space

> Chapter companion for Islands of Space by John W. Campbell.

## What happens

Arcot and the crew navigate the Ancient Mariner to the edge of a galaxy, taking photographs to mark their path. After Arcot falls asleep on watch, the ship overshoots its intended distance. Arcot playfully retaliates by putting the ship into a spin, but their situation turns dire when they are captured by the gravity of a black dwarf star. Despite their best efforts, they can only achieve a tight orbit around the star, and they realize they lack the fuel to escape, leaving them trapped.

## Themes in this chapter

### Science and Technology as Tools

The crew uses the ship's advanced drives and photography to navigate, but the limitations of their technology become starkly apparent when they are trapped by the black dwarf's gravity.

### Resilience in the Face of Cosmic Threats

Despite the dire situation of being trapped in orbit around a black dwarf, the crew remains calm, eats, and tries to sleep on the problem, demonstrating resilience.

## Character check-ins

### Dr. Richard Arcot

Falls asleep on watch, then uses ingenuity to escape the library; later pilots the ship into orbit around the black dwarf, acknowledging their trapped state.

### Morey

Wakes to find Arcot asleep, scolds him, and helps wake the others; explains the nature of the black dwarf to Fuller.

### Wade

Awakened by Morey, observes the streaks in the sky and questions their nature; cooks a meal for the crew.

### John Fuller

Asks about the streaks and expresses concern about falling into the star; listens to Morey's explanation.

## Key lines

> We can never hope to avoid that thing; we haven’t got the power. I’m going to try for an orbit around it.

Arcot admits they cannot escape the star's pull and decides to attempt entering an orbit around it.

_Shows Arcot's quick decision-making under pressure._

> We’re going around that thing better than three hundred times every second; our ‘year’ is three milliseconds long! Our orbital velocity is seven hundred thousand kilometers per second!

Arcot explains that their orbital period is incredibly short due to the star's small size and immense mass, with their speed reaching a fifth of the speed of light.

_Highlights the extreme conditions of the black dwarf's gravity._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/islands_of_space_se/chapters/x
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/islands_of_space_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/islands_of_space_se/chapters