A short little fic for Lifeline: Halfway to Infinity. Kinda contains spoilers.

The worst part wasn't the black hole. And that was saying something considering he was being inescapably dragged into it, his body stretched halfway to infinity across it.

The worst part wasn't the not knowing, not knowing what was waiting for him, be it death at the center of the pitch black or some wormhole to another world with strange alien planets and, who knows, an earth made out of donuts.

No, the worst part was the silence. He had never experienced silence like this, certainly not before the crash of the Varia, and even still, never after it. Never had there been so solid a quiet to reach his ears, the only sound his own heartbeat, pounding in his ears.

Because before, all he had to do for a bit of noise was call out for it. Just speak, and always, immediately, there it was. The soft ping of a notification from his speech-to-text communication unit, still on his arm.

Always, there was the voice of his Lifeline.

He had only to speak, and his Lifeline would respond, talk to him, guide him, keep him alive, keep him safe, keep him sane. His Lifeline had guided him through thick and through thin and through Green-infested places. They had cared for him, protected him, laughed at his stupid jokes.

His Lifeline had answered him immediately, always, no matter the time, the place, the situation.

His Lifeline had been... his Lifeline. Simple as that.

But now, here, in the grip of the black hole...

There was no contact. No new messages. An unbreakable silence between him and his Lifeline.

His Lifeline had been cut, and Taylor was in silence.