21st Century Bogatyr: Flourishing on Planet Shney

by Zvi Baranoff

If the Hatikvah had orbited that planet in the winter, it is likely that it never would have landed. However, in very early summer, much of that world looked quite appealing.

The air is good. The soil is fertile. There are extensive mineral deposits. There is an abundance of creatures similar to the beavers of Planet Earth with pelts that make excellent fur. There are large docile herds of a bovine sort whose flesh provides a high quality kosher meat. Wide swaths of this world are forests that offer up an abundance of lumber.

There is much to love about this place. The first few months were enjoyable for everyone.

The emigrants appreciated disembarking, having a change of scenery, and becoming pioneer settlers. The Hatikvah had the potential to shelter the emigrants but to become settlers required moving beyond the ship.

A small shtot was designed and the first houses were built. Extensive gardens were planted. Chicken coops were built. The sheep and goats were allowed to graze and seemed very happy to do so.

Tamar had been self absorbed and socially awkward when she was aboard the Hatikvah. After the landing, however, she came out of her shell, for a while.

Tamar offered a new design for the mushroom cultivation facility and she oversaw the construction. This was built with hinged doors that made access easier. The transfer was made from the Hatikvah to the spacious structure that was built on the outer edge of the planned shtot.

Once the facility was completed, Tamar kept a close observation of the growing until the first full cycle was completed. When the first harvest was done, Tamar packed her rucksack and her violin and headed off, tsufus and alone, into the uncharted wilderness of Planet Shney.

When winter set in, the fortitude of the settlers was sorely tested. The first year was very difficult. It was very hard for the Yidden from the temperate Planet Birobidzhan to adapt to the physical conditions of Planet Shney.

But for the vastness of the void stretching outwards in all directions, these Yidden may have been inclined to reboard the Hatikvah and seek out a more comfortable place. Facing such a Hobson's choice of perhaps an endless search of space or making do, the emigrants from Planet Birobidzhan built for themselves and their children a flourishing existence from what was available on Planet Shney.

All told, the trip from Planet Birobidzhan to Planet Shney took just under a decade, which is around half the traveling time of the Hatikvah's initial voyage two centuries earlier from Planet Earth to Planet Birobidzhan.

During the decade of transit, Dovid tinkered with calculations and perfected designs to improve space travel. He came up with several innovations that could significantly reduce transit time and cut production costs, with certain caveats and considerations.

The first winter, when Dovid was essentially snowed in on Planet Shney, he fine tuned his design to a point where he believed it was worthy of sharing.

Dovid determined that a much smaller vehicle could be built that would need far less fuel for liftoff. Assuming that the vehicle could be refueled at its destination, far less fuel carrying capacity would be required.

Dovid also calculated that food production and preparation space could be significantly reduced if passengers would rely on prepared vacuum sealed and dried meals.

A smaller vehicle would travel quicker and more efficiently than a lumbering ship such as the Hatikvah. The vehicle that he envisioned would carry no more than one hundred passengers and ideally less. With a predetermined route, such a vehicle could be fully automated and need no pilot or technicians.

According to Dovid's calculations, such a vehicle could be built on Planet Birobidzhan and the travel time to Planet Shney could be reduced to under five years. Of course, this presumed that there was interest on Planet Birobidzhan for travel to Planet Shney.

The passengers would be charged for their transportation with the profits going towards reimbursement of the investors on Planet Birobidzhan. On the return voyage, the ship would carry trade goods, initially furs, to be sold on Planet Birobidzhan with those profits also returned to the earlier investors.

Dovid prepared a drone ship for an unmanned excursion. The drone was programmed to land at the First Landing airport with a signal that would alert the Planet Birobidzhan Pilot Association on arrival.

Dovid packed into the tiny vehicle an extensive description of Planet Shney, his completed design for the pared down transit vehicle, and his business proposal. He also included samples of the fine furs made from Planet Shney's beaver-like creatures. The drone was launched in early spring.

Neither Perez nor Zerah showed much interest in academic pursuits. Both of the boys did seem to have an affinity and aptitude for caring for the sheep.

Perez and Zerah liked being outdoors and were quite willing to sleep under the stars for days on end. The boys also had certain volatile and violent tendencies that could be channeled into protecting the sheep from the predators of Planet Shney. Being shepherds fit their temperament.

Sometimes at night, while camping under the stars, the boys would hear soulful violin music wafting from a distance. On occasion, Tamar would approach their encampment and sit with her sons.

When Tamar was inclined to talk, she would tell the boys about Baruch and Shmuli. Tamar would assure Perez and Zerah that their fathers were now learned rabbis on Planet Birobidzhan. Tamar would say that someday soon the rabbis Baruch and Shmuli will come to be with their sons.

The Mushrooms of Planet Birobidzhan thrived on Planet Shney. The hinged doors of Tamar's newly designed growing facility gave the mushrooms a vector to the outside and the Mushrooms of Planet Birobidzhan took full advantage of the opportunity.

The Mushrooms of Planet Birobidzhan were soon growing and rapidly reproducing in the woods on the edge of the shtot near the growing facility. The wind carried the spores and the mushrooms spread for many kilometers that first year on Planet Shney and much further in subsequent years. They grew very well in the dark moisture of the forests that cover much of Planet Shney.

Almost twelve years to the day after the Hatikvah had landed on Planet Shney, the first of the ships built to Dovid's specifications arrived on Planet Shney from Planet Birobidzhan.

The door of the ship opened automatically and a gangplank lowered to allow the weary travelers to disembark.

The first people off the ship were a pair of rabbis in their forties. They were immersed in a Halachic debate and apparently oblivious of their surroundings. They gesticulated wildly as they argued and their payos blew about in the wind.

The rabbis paid scarce attention to this new world that they had landed on until the soulful sounds of a violin playing interrupted their Halachic argument. Baruch and Shmuli each stopped speaking in mid sentence as they looked about for the girl with the violin.

This is not a Jewish story. It is, however, a story about Jews. One does not need to be Jewish to read this tale any more than one needs to be a Hobbit or an Elf to read Lord of the Rings.

This story is a work of fiction. The setting for this tale is in the distant future, on the far away Planet Birobidzhan. This planet was settled by Jewish exiles from Planet Earth.

The population of Planet Birobidzhan has been cut off from the Home Planet for a long time. They have developed their own unique culture, traditions and linguistics.

The language spoken on Planet Birobidzhan is primarily Yiddish. I have sprinkled a significant number of Yiddish words and phrases throughout the telling of the tale. I also refer to various Jewish religious and cultural touchstones.

To make this story more accessible, I have included a glossary of words and phrases in Yiddish and Hebrew that are used as well as some explanations of religious terms and holidays.

I hope that readers find this to be useful.

The link to the Glossary is here:

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2023/01/a-useful-guide-glossary-to-planet.html?m=1

פּלאַנעט ביראָבידזשאַן

Do you want to read more about Planet Birobidzhan? Here are all the installments so far, in the order that they were posted. Just click your way through the story!

1 On A Planet Safe for Yidden

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/02/on-planet-safe-for-yidden.html

2 Yenne Velt: A History of Planet Birobidzhan

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/02/yenne-velt-history-of-planet-birobidzhan.html

3 Another Globe, Perhaps?

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/02/another-globe-perhaps.html

4 Bereshis: The Transport & Transformation of the Founders

http://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/03/bereshis-transport-transformation-of.html

5 The Town of First Landing

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-town-of-first-landing.html

6 A Personal History of an Early Settler on Planet Birobidzhan

http://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/05/a-personal-history-of-early-settler-on.html