Vik walked down a long corridor. Metal plates, disguised as wooden paneling, paved his path. From the recesses, also decorated to look like wood, echoed the sounds of departments at work.
There was no day or night in this world. Any department could operate around the clock, as long as there were employees present and they wished to work during a time different from the main crew's schedule.
"Does silence never fall in this area?" he thought and turned the corner. In all the time Vik had been visiting Professor Gennady Zernov, he had never once heard silence in these depths.
The professor's office was located in industrial sector two. "Will the new districts, being populated as the expedition advances, also transition to round-the-clock cycles?" Vik wondered.
At the moment, the construction of district five was nearing completion in the winged module. Vik was also curious: how many districts would ultimately be formed by the end of their "journey"? If up to twenty-five such districts could be built in one such module.
Reaching a door carved from real wood, he knocked with his knuckles. Mostly, the so-called wooden coverings, serving as decor, were primarily made of metal.
"Yes, yes, come in," a slightly robotic voice came from behind the door.
Vik placed his hand on the door handle, hesitated for a moment, and then, with a slight effort, pressed down on it and opened the door. This motion was unfamiliar to him, for in his twenty-two years of life, he had only encountered a door that opened in this way once before. On the ship, all, or almost all doors—with the possible exception of this one and perhaps a few others—opened automatically, retracting the "partition" itself to allow for faster or, in some cases, unauthorized entry into areas called rooms. The door opened with a quiet, melodic creak.
"Hello, Professor," he greeted the anthropomorphic robot seated in a sturdy wooden chair. "I just can't seem to get used to this type of door. And it creaks sometimes, maybe I could file a request with the tech department to have it lubricated? Then there wouldn't be any creaking." Puzzling and offering a solution to the problem, as he saw it, Vik entered the office.
"And good health to you," replied the professor with the same robotic voice. "As for doors like these, I made a proposal thirty years ago to increase their number, at least in the residential zones. Otherwise, when we arrive and start settling on a natural world, we won't make all doors sliding, will we? And we won't have electricity for automation everywhere and right away."
Vik closed the door behind him and slowly moved towards the therapeutic chair. And Gennady Semenovich continued:
"That's what the Council said. They said most doors must be standardized! Can you believe it! So that in case of an emergency, they could be easily opened. But if a door gets jammed and the proper tools aren't at hand, how are they going to open it? Are they going to try to break through a solid sheet of metal?" A smile appeared on the robot's facial interface. "But ordinary doors, the ones that open into or out of a room, can be forced open or chopped down, whether they're made of wood or their metal substitute. We leave these 'simulacra' hollow inside, to feel the real weight of the object and not have to readjust upon arrival."
Simulacra, in this society, referred to items traditionally made from plant-based materials. But due to resource scarcity, for obvious reasons, these items were created in the image and likeness—form, weight, etc.—of the originals. So that eventually, it would be possible to construct these items from traditional materials. And not lose the sensation of using them.
"But if there's an emergency, and a door leading outside is flung open somewhere in the corridor, the movement of emergency teams could be hampered by such obstacles," Vik decided to support the Council's decision.
"They put forward a similar thesis," Zernov informed, still smiling. "Well, we can't allocate training areas for 'opening all kinds of doors,' or we'll soon have training areas for blowing soap bubbles too," the professor said with a chuckle.
The room itself was decorated in a minimalist style, and on one wall was a screen simulating a window and generating a weather phenomenon called rain. The room was also slightly cool, with a noticeable hint of humidity.
During his first session with the professor, he had explained the presence of this screen as follows:
"The sounds and visual display of rain," the professor explained, "induce an effect of relaxation and slight distraction in patients. This allows us to establish contact with each other more quickly. For example, even your current question and my current answer, however strange it may sound, are already a result of this phenomenon."
"What could be relaxing about an uncontrolled stream of water falling from a height?"
"Although I understand that in your life, Vik, you have never seen or been in the rain, you can still feel this phenomenon, for instance, while taking a shower."
"I can imagine it," Vik replied at that moment. "And it's true, sometimes while standing under the shower, you can immerse yourself in your thoughts for a few moments."
"Exactly, that's the point."
The dialogue with the psychotherapist, which was Gennady Semenovich Zernov's role, progressed as usual. Some parts were calm and smooth, while elsewhere the conversation encountered obstacles of a psychological and conceptual nature.
The professor's actual body was currently in a state of anabiosis, and he controlled the anthropomorphic robot via the CI system. This system helped individuals in a comparable position to his to provide support for the expedition, ranging from psychological to scientific and technical support.
Towards the end of the session, Gennady summarized:
"I can note one, I would say, not unpleasant, but still, fact," stated the psychotherapist. "Due to being born and becoming self-aware on a spaceship, your lexicon very often includes technical and other complex, hard-to-pronounce terms that sometimes hinder your ability to converse easily. For example, you, having uttered a specific term in dialogue, attempt to explain it."
"But how else should I talk to anyone if they might not understand me? So, I explain it to them," Vik tried to justify himself with slight embarrassment.
"Then simply don't explain," Gennady Semenovich summarized. "Just deliver your monologue simply and calmly, and don't stop for explanations. If something is unclear to your interlocutor and they ask you about it, then you can explain, without changing the mood of your dialogue."
"It's easy for you to say that."
"I can recommend the following option. Do you keep a diary?" the professor asked with interest.
"No," Vik replied.
"Well, start one. The main thing is, don't type it; dictate it into a communicator. And most importantly, don't edit it, and after recording, re-read it. That way, at first, you should notice the awkwardness of your own statements. Do you read or watch works of fiction?" Zernov inquired.
"Yes, on off-cycle days I sometimes relax that way."
"There you go!" Gennady exclaimed enthusiastically. "Secondly, you will emotionally notice the dryness, again, of your own manner of speech," he stated as a fact.
"Alright," Vik agreed and began to get ready to leave.
"Then we'll meet at the same time in ten days, does that time suit you?"
"Days?" Vik was puzzled. "Ah, you mean cycles?"
"Yes, exactly," replied the professor.
"Then yes, let's meet in ten cycles."
The door once again confounded Vik, but once again this barrier was overcome. Before leaving, he said goodbye to the professor and stepped out into the corridor. The corridor branched off after no more than a five-minute walk at a strolling pace; in exactly those five minutes, Vik found himself "outside."
Although what kind of "outside" was this for people who had previously lived on Earth? Vik had heard that they compared this space to a huge room. One could say that in ancient times, when some of the first aircraft appeared, the hangars of so-called "Dirigibles" were tens, if not a hundred times smaller than this space.
He lived in the third residential district, and his path now led him there. The districts, both industrial and residential, were built alternating with each other. For the more comfortable purpose and method of visiting the workplace for the expedition members.
The compartment itself where the districts were located was a winged module, connected to the main axis of the ship, with three winged modules per one main axial module. There were nine winged modules in total, five of which, at the beginning of the flight, were used for storage, and the remaining four for habitation and public production. Through the construction of additional modules during the flight, namely the so-called districts. To simplify the adaptation of the space society for subsequent planetary colonization.
Vik, stepping onto the main road used for the primary transit between districts, as well as for the transportation of materials. Along the path of movement, as well as towards him, walked barely a dozen people and robots; some were in a hurry, some were strolling. To his right, on the main lane, transport drones and vehicles moved.
In the three hundred and sixty-three annual cycles, to date, that the ship had been en route, the development with districts had only occurred in one winged module. Currently, four residential and four industrial districts were fully operational. Their locations and construction order alternated.
The fifth industrial district would only be commissioned in approximately twenty annual cycles.
Vik lived in apartment number twenty-five in the third residential district within the space of the first winged module (0103025). This numerical code served both for the specific designation of the premises and as a delivery address.
On his way to the apartment, he encountered a girl, short compared to the average height on the ship, roughly his age. Her dark, long hair was gathered into a ponytail; regardless of work or rest, he had never once seen it loose. She had a lively character and was never at a loss for words.
Her name was Kira; like him, she only had a first name, for the children of the dead civilization had no past.
They were, so to speak, "cultivated," to be precise. And this did not stigmatize or lower them in the eyes of others—those who were mostly in anabiosis or coming out of it, or those born naturally on this expedition.
"Hey," she greeted, briskly tapping two fingers to her temple.
They had a close, hence familiar, relationship, owing to the fact that they were colleagues. Vik had been incredibly happy on his fifteenth birthday, not only because he was assigned to an activity that interested him, but also because he had met her that day. Their acquaintance had stirred new feelings in him that he hadn't suspected existed.
It was also a coincidence how they were born. Although in this society, birth via genetic engineering was not stigmatized, the absence of parents and observing the relationships among the few peers who had them still had a depressing effect on the wards. Even having a guardian chosen by the system, while creating strong relationships between adult and child due to good statistics, still left its mark.
"Hi, are you heading to training?" Vik asked.
"Affirmative!" Kira cheerfully rattled off, simultaneously snapping to attention. "Allow me to invite you to accompany me!" she rattled. "We're in the last weekly cycle before the upcoming game!"
"I've just come from the shrink," he informed her. "So I'm exhausted, I'm going home to rest."
"Aw, and I was counting on you!" Kira replied, relaxing and feigning indignation.
"Alright, see you tomorrow."
"I'll drop by for you, don't leave without me."
They said goodbye and each went their own way. Approaching his apartment, Vik used his biometric data to enter inside.
When assigned a living space, the occupant had a choice of how to enter their home. Previously, when he lived with his guardian, Aoi Nakamura, who had been in anabiosis for three years now, he used a physical pass, which he sometimes lost. Although Aoi didn't scold Vik for such oversights, he still got nervous anticipating them. This became the deciding factor for him in choosing a biometric lock; after all, he couldn't lose his head somewhere, right?
Entering the apartment and content that the door panels had opened automatically with almost no effort from him, Vik proceeded with his pleasant, familiar routine: change clothes, start the laundry, turn on background music, and prepare dinner.
He loved making dinner himself, even though there were options to eat in the cafeteria or subsist on dry rations, which on the ship came with any taste and any consistency. And cooking itself was for him akin to meditation and a kind of magic of flavor mixtures in creating each new dish. Having prepared dinner, as well as breakfast and lunch for the next cycle, Vik began his meal.
Putting the washed dishes away in their place, he decided to start his diary:
"Well then, let's begin..."
"Wanderer's Diary Entry 00001.
My name is Vik. I am an inhabitant of the spaceship 'Shambhala'.
There is something magical in this name. Our ancestors once believed that on our home planet there was a mysterious, unexplored territory filled with wonders. And by finding it, one could achieve anything one desired. Similarly, our spaceship, where I am now making this recording, set out to colonize a planet different from our home.
It is ironic, considering the fact that just thirteen cycles after the launch of the 'Shambhala' on its one and only voyage, our planet was struck by the 'Red Sunset'. And we forever lost our parental home.
At the moment, the ship has been en route for three hundred and sixty-three cycles.
'Shambhala' is a self-sustaining ship of the 'Planetary Immigration' class, designed for a one-way flight with subsequent planetary colonization. Also, during the flight, three Adaptation Programs for Individuals, abbreviated AI, are provided.
AI 1 – provides for the transport of subjects whose organisms are in a state of anabiosis. To preserve clarity of consciousness and informational awareness about the state of the expedition, the subjects' minds are connected to the CI (Computerized Reality). Also, a subject, using CI, can take control of autonomous objects, using them for: engineering purposes, rescue and medical operations, and maintaining order on the vessel.
The main individuals participating in this program are members of the expedition who started the journey from our planet and wish to reach the destination point, beginning a new chapter in the history of our race. Individuals from AI 2 and AI 3 programs can also join this program.
AI 2 – a program designed to support and develop a society existing for a long time in a confined space. Namely: the birth of new individuals through genetic engineering throughout the expedition, assistance in personal development and instilling the norms of this society, assistance in adaptation when transitioning to AI 1 and AI 3 programs.
The main participants in this version are people born on the ship from pre-frozen embryos.
AI 3 – designed for so-called 'cells of society,' families formed on Earth or during the flight between individuals from the AI 2 and AI 3 programs, which may subsequently lead to natural childbirth. AI 3 also includes individuals operating the ship since the beginning of the flight and periodically using anabiosis as a means of rest and preservation for the 'long haul.' As well as persons from the AI 1 program who decided to exit anabiosis.
The main observation goals within this program are: natural childbirth during an interstellar flight and assessment of the mental state of subjects cut off from their subjective reality based on the planet Earth.
There is also an AI 4 program, which is designed for offenders. However, due to the established ship security systems, the crew, which comprises every living subject on the vessel, excluding the animal fauna, is physically incapable of causing material damage. And any hints of criminal activity end with anabiosis without connection to the CI. For the individual, from the moment of falling asleep to waking up in this situation, not even ten seconds will pass...
Why all this information about the programs? To clarify that I am a person born under the AI 2 program. And I was grown from genes taken from a large number of the Earth's population.
Even without re-reading, I can already see myself delving into explanations. Well, I think for the first time, it's enough. Although I'm restraining myself from explaining what 'explanations' have to do with it. Okay.
End transmission."
Having finished the recording, Vik re-read it, not without embarrassment, and praised himself for not explaining the "explanations." After taking a contrast shower, he fell into a deep and sweet sleep.