Transition

In order to save themselves from the impending collision of earth with matter from the other universe, Joshua created a ship that maneavoured a billion people out of destruction. This story is of journey of a billion conciousness that avoids getting burnt in the next big bang that will end this universe.

The occupants of the TatRath space vehicle had to take a vow. They would not mate or reproduce without permission of Joshua, who was the sole alpha male of the ship and who alone had the right to create offspring. Ship was shape of an a thousand feet long and four hundred feet thick egg inside it were arrays of power and control equipment. Nintety percent of the 20,000 ton weight of the ship was Thorium whose fusion created a magnetic field in which density of matter grows rapidly to further fusion. This mechanism was conceived to gain a possibly perpetual fuel throughout the journey. The ideas was to use any matter available in path of the TatRath as fuel. Mechanical arms would capture flying rocks and feed into the fusion stomach that disintegrates the rocky matter to energy. The consumption of Thorium was estimated to last for a Billion years as jets will be used only to change direction, to accelerate or to decellerate the velocity of the Rath.

In centre of the egg was the 100 feet cuboidal machine gallery and cockpit. The machine gallery is an organized array of devices conneted to the central Atma9 computer that simulated the perceived world for the billion conciousness stored in the Read Only Memory. Initially Joshua promised a disease free life for the passengers and they would live until they choose. But later it was found that Joshua deliberately culled existence of a few by switching oddful circumstances of accidents.

Since the general people did not have right to reproduce, each passenger typically wanted to live long. Applicants were required to provide the age one would want to live upto if time slowed elongating the experience and the body does not get fatigued. One gentleman born on the eighteenth of september ninteen seventy eight was willing to retire at 3852 AD! He was however concerned on the exact methods of departure from conciousness. He was invited then to a lab where- for a temporary time, his soul was transported from his body onto a robot with just two legs and one eye. Having experienced what is it like in a body less athletic than a human, the old desired he die a natural death but was yet afraid of pain. Then it was arranged that to his final day he would not suffer from pain but a metabolism that does not grow better. It would indeed mean that the old man would not be able to add strength but should be able to retain much of it by exercise.

Nandita, Suhasini's cousin had enrolled for the program thinking this would make her an astronout. Joshua explained her that the program will not let her differentiate her current and later existence. She was lonely after her husband drew likes of another female. She had attended seminars those explained how conciousness can be transported from a body to other, however memory of such transportations is usually regulated to avoid confrontation towards an individuals present- from the past experiences.

The tender

A tender is out to reserve spaces in this ship on AD 2009 fifteenth october. Suhasini, Joshuas maid had been serving answers from his phone since a week now. She became determined to become Joshua's wife after the Declaration of Home Soil which lead India to sponsor the space program. According to the memorandum, human life was Insured towards calamitic loss wherein passengers would relinquish their real world assetts to Joshua as trading to a lifestyle in the virtual world- inside Atma9- the computer.