Interstellar Love

Together with Rama, we were lying on the grass under the apple trees. We haven't put the name of our relationship for years; we were not in a hurry.

Those who designed the Starship Orient didn't think passengers would want to spend time in the apple orchard. The first generation members did not even think of using this area, which was the size of a basketball court, for picnics. They have carried the dazzling business tempo of the world to Orient, which made life easier for our generation. I have to submit their rights; this is a solid generation. After more than 45 years of leaving Earth, they were all alive. There were 96 people from the first generation, 34 from our generation, and 7 from the third generation in the Starship.

I took an apple from the branch that was bent on us and handed it to Rama.

"Is this a forbidden apple?" she asked.

"It's completely organic. You can eat it peacefully," I replied.

"I admire your comfort," she said after biting the apple with an appetite.

"I admire many aspects of you," I replied. Rama was aware of the fact that I liked her. She had straight black hair, a broad forehead, and big eyes. She was intelligent, sensitive, and affectionate. I thought Rama had all the good qualities that a woman should have.

I do not understand the nature of relationships, but I knew that women were making decisions on affairs; I hoped that Rama would give me a signal when she was ready to name our relationship.

A few minutes later, we received an urgent call that all colony members should be gathered in the conference room. Rama, as if waiting for this news, immediately stood up. When I noticed her excitement, I stirred up after her.

The colony members were ready in the conference room in a few minutes. Dr. Han Wansuh began to explain the situation after he greeted the audience. Starship Captain Dave Shelley died of a heart attack about half an hour ago. Immediately after the heart attack, the intervention was started, but he could not be saved despite all the efforts.
It was a great shock for the colonial members who hadn't faced death in years. Rama seemed to have been affected by this news; tears were drawn from her eyes as she watched the scene. Rama, the youngest executive board member on the Starship, not only lost her captain but a close colleague she loved like his father.

Assistant captain Haruki Oe, who spoke after Dr. Han Wansuh, expressed his great sorrow for the death of Captain Dave Shelley. He then announced that he was taking over the command as he was the oldest member of the executive committee. There was nothing to worry about in terms of management. There would be a captain's election shortly.
Rama was born two years before me, and we grew up together on the Starship. We were among a few people in the colony who had no spouse or lover. We didn't have much choice, so we had to deal together. More precisely, I had to deal with Rama because there was a vast difference between her and other women of my age. Rama had an additional option like Antonio. In fact, Peter and Wilhelm admired her, but I was not considering them as challenging rivals.

The 32-year-old Rama was among the presidential candidates. I was worried that Rama would come out of my life, which I couldn't see very often in recent years because she was a workaholic.

I was a scientist who followed the significant scientific developments in the world and reported to the scientific and executive committee. I believed I was doing my job right, and I had a lot of free time, so I guess I wasn't as determined as Rama.

The Starship Orient was a place that allowed the crew plenty of free time. The ship's main computer, Arthur, took decisions about the drive and inspected all the ship's automated systems. We had lots of robots that carry out simple jobs.

Maybe you won't believe it, but I had a happy childhood in Orient. The first generation, that my parents were involved in were perfect parents and teachers. After all, they were selected among the thousands of candidates from different parts of the world. It should be noted that Captain Dave Shelley had a significant role in forming a whole fraternity spirit in the colony.

Now our captain was dead, and we've received another news that has created a great disappointment before even a day passes. 17 years after the Orient, a new starship moved from Earth and caught us a few months ago. In less than a year, they were expected to reach the SRP-3 planet suitable for life in the Sirius star system. Captain Dave Shelley had received this information months ago, but he decided not to share it with the colonial members. The ship's central computer, Arthur, transferred the interview records with the world to our temporary president after the captain died, and the temporary captain shared this information with us.

This news had a shocking effect on the colony. In particular, the first generation consisted of highly competitive people, and they knew perfectly well that no one remembers the second. The number of people trying to be optimistic like me was pretty small.

To comfort people up, I was saying that we were the first to fold the interstellar space and for a while to travel the farthest from Earth, and now on planet SRP-3, there would be a sister colony that could share the burden with us. After all, they were carrying out a mission organized by the United Nations just like us.

This sensational news has become the first agenda item of the captain's election. The Orient had started to slow down, and we were going to reach SRP-3 eleven months later. The new captain would carry out relations with the other colony and the world. Although we were unable to hear the current directions of the Earth due to the distance of eight light-years, there had to be many radio messages going on to reach us in interstellar space.

The second Starship's journey was led by mathematical discoveries in northwest Europe. A few months apart, new mathematical formulas were found in Norway, Switzerland, and Germany, allowing artificial intelligence agents to dissolve within each other without losing their individual characteristics. Two months later, a French mathematician of Algerian origin found that these three equations were identical in a higher dimension. Through this new mathematics, artificial intelligence models were able to share their insights in real-time. Newly developed artificial intelligence agents began to have a deep sense of intuition. These new beings acted with the understanding of the unity of beings.

The emergence of a second colony led to confusion on our Starship. Although we were far from Earth, members of the first generation regarded themselves as representatives of their country alliances. The Starship Orient was positioned as the symbol of the equal representation of the East and the West in SRP-3. At the same time, the other Starship was regarded as a symbol of Western Europe's new hegemony. Rama objected to this view, arguing that such a separation is not essential. Rama didn't seem to be worried about the new colony that would be a shareholder of the planet, and she argued that the planet was big enough for everyone.

The discussions in the selection of the new captain were very instructive for me. Some argued that the inventory of weapons onboard and the production of new weapons in workshops were needed. It was exciting that the majority of the members of my generation defended such a confrontational idea. The intellectual capacity of the second generation was relatively low compared to the first generation.

Rama established the election campaign on the basis that we should trust ourselves and the members of the other colony, which we don't know much about. Power could now only be achieved by acquiring knowledge and being creative. Investing in physical weaponry should not be a priority choice. Even though some accused her of naivety, Rama was able to win the election because of her birthright charisma.

We were going to have our first meeting with the other colony members in the meeting room reserved for our new captain, Rama. I was pretty excited to see Rama and members of the other colony. As I was afraid, we'd never see each other face to face after Rama became the captain.

The captain of the other Starship was a woman in a white dress with a crown of violets on her head. She was tall, had a long face and silver hair.

"Hello, Orient passengers, I salute you with love and respect. My name Is Umay. I'm a member of the next generation of artificial intelligence agents, known as fairies or ghosts. I want to thank Captain Rama, who expressed her confidence in the election held in Orient. In our discussions with her during the election process, I stated that we wanted to establish a relationship with your community based on equality. As I believe in the equality of all conscious beings wholeheartedly, we don't have a choice. The exercise of our relationship based on equality was clearly stated in the mandate of the United Nations."

"Hello, Captain Umay. Thank you for clarifying the relationship that our colony is susceptible to. We felt sorry for the emergence of a second - colony that would share our discovery first, but I began to think it was a chance for us. As our science advisor, Arma said, the SRP-3 is a planet with enough capacity for all of us, and cooperation will make it easy for both colonies," Rama said.

"Your faces and names are alike, are you brothers?" Captain Umay asked, surprising everyone.

Rama looked at me and said, "We grew up together, but we are not relatives. We are lovers."

Image Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/galaxy-star-infinity-cosmos-dark-3608029/