Horizon Skimmers

No one wants to go in a black hole, and for good reason: imagine being stretched infinitely long, for an infinitely long time, while the universe gradually decayed around you. It's not fun!
But, sometimes you need to get close to a black hole. Depending upon the size, a black hole can be a significant impediment to stellar travel, forcing a ship way out of its way in order to avoid being sucked in. Additionally, black holes give off 'rejectonite,' the exotic matter that is used in calculating galactic positioning for faster-than-light jumps. Thus, the profession of "horizon skimmer" was born.
Horizon skimmers are pilots brave - of foolish - enough to get close to the event horizon of a black hole. For some, it's about speed: racing along the edge of a black hole can cut precious hours/days/weeks off of a travel itinerary, something that the well-heeled will pay for. For others, its collecting that rejectonite; although jets of it can be gathered further out from the event horizon, it is far more cost/time efficient to gather dense streams of it closer to the source.
Those that survive the first few months of the job typically have a normal life expectancy - the learning curve tends to weed out those that aren't good at it, who find then find themselves beyond the horizon line, condemned to be stringified for eternity...


DTG Figures

Type

Transportation