Valery Bulygin - Coiper Belt

© Valery Konstantinovich Bulygin, 2020

ISBN 978-5-0051-3558-2

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

Almost three years of flight behind. The Ship “Nation” and nine other ships are flying on their given route. The speed is still small, some 50,000 km/h. However, we cannot fly faster, although there is such an opportunity. It is still good that without losses flew the asteroid belt. Let us fly faster; the defense of the ship could not withstand the bombardment of interstellar gas and meteorites. We will be looking for protection from this in the Coiper Belt. Then, if all goes well, we will rush to the fullest.

Not much changes on the screen. Darkness and distant stars.

– Dad, what star are we flying to? – Kvik asked.

– It is up to the team center, – the father said.

– Previously, it was decided to fly to one star system. However, three years of flight have already passed and during this time, there may be other options. However, we are going to be in the Coiper Belt for five or six months. We are going to have a lot of work to do there. The braking will soon be over, and we will be in weightlessness. You have never experienced this condition before. Burton stroked his son and went to his department. You need to prepare for a very difficult and responsible job. The ship is large, about 3 km in diameter. To get to the place of work it is necessary in a special elevator. He made this way every day. Sitting in a chair, he again thought about the upcoming work. Three years behind. Behind his home planet Earth. How hard it is to part with your home. It is not a breakup for a while when you know that the business trip, though long, will end and you will come home. Even expeditions on Mars in 8—10 years return home. What about now? He will not be home. There is nowhere to go back. How do you accept that?

Our flight, this is only the first expedition. The second, the third will fly after it. So it will continue until there is no one on Earth. The earth is dying and it is inevitable, unfortunately.

Our luminary behaved unpredictably. Activity has increased greatly. Plasma emissions are increasingly flying towards the Earth. The Earth’s magnetic field will not withstand such a bombardment for a long time. In 100—150 years, life will fade, and it is inevitable. Exit one; look for another place of life, another land.

It was decided to combine all the resources of States for the construction of spaceships and go in search of suitable planets, for their further colonization. There was no other way. Even the few colonies on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn will not last long. Ships began to build not only on Earth, but also on Mars. Mars has become the main transit point. Mankind was faced with the challenge of survival. Mankind did not expect it to happen so soon.

– What is the situation with the passengers? – Burton asked his wife. You are a psychologist. There are 100,000 of them on our ship alone. What is the psychological situation after three years of flight?

– We do a survey on the net every month, – Dora said. They need to answer many questions. Well, for example, how do you tolerate parting with your home planet? Have you fully understood the situation on Earth? It was very difficult to understand and accept it. Many people were thinking before we left, maybe it would. Only scientists, physicists, astronomers did not give such hope. Now I am more concerned about the relationship between people.

– During the three years of the flight, they united or locked themselves in small groups? What unites people and what divides? Will not despondency, hopelessness, and doom overtake everyone? If there is no consolidation of people on the ship, the whole flight will be meaningless. They should understand that they would not reach the target, but their distant descendants. Perhaps the next generation will not be so painful to bear the hardships of flight, but people who saw the blue sky, bathed in the warm sea, will endure it very hard.

– What about faith? – Burton asked.

– We have representatives of different faiths on our ship. We still look at ancient Greek mythology as a legend. Do they preserve traditions, rites, and festive customs?

– Yes, – after thinking about it, Dora said.

– The question is very interesting. Before the flight, no one could accurately predict people’s behavior. Some believed that detachment from the earth, from big cities, from shrines would force people to reduce their commitment to faith. Others, on the contrary, believed that detachment from the earth to force people to keep the faith that will help them survive would further unite.

I am more inclined to the first option. 5—10 generations will pass and detachment from the Earth will do its job. Everything will remain in the form of legends. We still look at ancient Greek mythology as a legend.

– Do you, as a psychologist, already see changes in people’s communication? – Burton asked.

– When we left the Earth, people of different nationalities gathered on our ship, people spoke different languages, although they knew the universally recognized, on which everyone communicates.

– Yes, of course, there are changes, – the wife replied.

– Although not much time has passed, people have become less likely to communicate with each other in their native language. That is understandable. During the flight, people continue to work, perform their official functions. Now it is mostly English. It has been like this on Earth lately. This is computer language and technical texts. Even at the very beginning of the flight, it was decided to develop some universal language, which would be clear to all and easier to study.

– So, what is the basis? – Burton asked.

– There have been many discussions on this issue. On the one hand, it is convenient to use a language in which sounds and letters correspond, as in Russian language. If, for example, a person speaks the word cosmos, then each spoken sound corresponds to its own sign, letter. With such a system, you can record a word when you hear sounds. There is no need to think about the fact that there are any exceptions or accepted conventions. Take English. I pronounce the sound of “yu” but I write “you.” You just have to remember it, and why? If, for example, you heard an unfamiliar English word, you cannot write it down. There are also words that are pronounced the same, but are written differently, and the meaning is understood only out of context. All these difficulties must go away.

– What about the beauty of language, poetry? – Burton asked.

– There will be nothing left of poetry if you use dry, not expressive words.

– I think it is all going to stay. People will cherish all the good and valuable. Culture will remain a culture. This is the basis of everything. If there are no values, then what to protect. The history of life on Earth will remain in the memories of subsequent generations. All the best and bright will be passed down from generation to generation. Somewhere in a new place, everything will be restored or at least as possible. Future generations will need to know their homeland, their homeland of origin, development, formation.

– Commander, – Ivan asked. We are already in the Coiper Belt. Have you already chosen the landing site?

– Yes, – Scan replied. Our stop on Dysnomia, Eris’s satellite.

– Is that the one behind Pluto – Ivan said.

– Are the sizes of Dysnomia good for us? – It is somewhat big.

– What to do, we did not have much choice, – Scan agreed.