21st Century Bogatyr

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

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

7 Chickens, Jews Harps & Cronyism

http://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/07/cronyism.html

8 Dovid's Neshumeh

http://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/07/dovids-neshumeh.html

9 The Octogenarian and the Youngster

http://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-octogenarian-and-youngster.html

10 An Otherworldly Havdalah

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/08/an-otherworldly-havdalah.html

11 The Courtship & Marriage of Bathseba

http://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-courtship-marriage-of-bathseba.html

12 A Job, an Apartment & Two Honeymoons

http://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/08/a-job-apartment-two-honeymoons.html

13 The Pathway Into the Stars

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-pathway-into-stars.html

14 Abi Guzunt

http://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/08/abi-guzunt.html

15 A Dozen or So…

http://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/10/a-dozen-or-so.html

16 Tamar's Sketchbook

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/11/tamars-sketchbook.html?m=1

17 An Apologetic Interlude in the Galactic Tale

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/11/an-apologetic-interlude-in-galactic-tale.html?m=1

18 Tamar's Mushrooms

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/11/tamars-mushrooms.html?m=1

19 Intergalactic Travel Can Not Be Done on the Cheap

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/12/intergalactic-travel-can-not-be-done-on.html?m=1

20 Unauthorized Fire on Planet Birobidzhan

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/12/unauthorized-fire-on-planet-birobidzhan.html?m=1

21 Tamar and the Klezmorim of Planet Birobidzhan

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/12/tamar-and-klezmorim-of-planet.html

22 Heresy, Flimflam and Death

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/12/heresy-flimflam-and-death.html?m=1

23 On a Distant Planet, An Apartment in the City by the Sea

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2023/01/on-distant-planet-apartment-in-city-by.html?m=1

24 The Girl with a Fiddle on Planet Birobidzhan

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-girl-with-fiddle-on-planet.html

25 Tamar and the Scholars of Planet Birobidzhan

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2023/01/tamar-and-scholars-of-planet-birobidzhan.html

26 The Tropics of Planet Birobidzhan

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-tropics-of-planet-birobidzhan.html

27 The Beaches and Coastal Shtetls of Planet Birobidzhan

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-beaches-and-coastal-shtetls-of.html

28 A Pre-launch Reunion

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2023/01/a-pre-launch-reunion.html

29 The Launch Was Imminent

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-launch-was-imminent.html

30 Liftoff Into the Unknown

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2023/01/liftoff-into-unknown.html

31 Across the Void, Down a Wormhole & Into the Snow

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2023/01/across-void-down-wormhole-into-snow.html

32 Flourishing on Planet Shney

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2023/01/flourishing-on-planet-shney.html

Monday, January 23, 2023

Across the Void, Down a Wormhole & Into the Snow

by Zvi Baranoff

A few weeks after the Hatikvah left the Planet Birobidzhan behind, Tamar gave birth to twin boys. They emerged, each crying voluminously, healthy and strong. She named her sons Perez and Zerah.

From their first breathing day, Perez and Zerah competed for Tamar's emotional attention, as well as the nutritional sustenance that flowed through her when they suckled. Tamar continued to speak with the twins as she had when they were in her womb.

Tamar told Perez that his father is a yeshiva bocher named Baruch. She told Zerah that his father's name is Shmuli. She would tell her newborns that their fathers were busy with their studies but would no doubt seek them out, anywhere in the universe, when they finished their education.

Tamar was the first to use the birthing room of the Hatikvah clinic. Over the next few years, there were quite a few births in the ship's clinic, keeping the Hatikvah's team of midwives fairly busy.

On the Home Planet and on Planet Birobidzhan, children would run and play in the fields, forests, playgrounds and streets. For several hours of every day, even in inclement weather, on Planet Birobidzhan, and probably still on Planet Earth, most children are outdoors.

On an intergalactic ship traveling through the void, there is no outdoor play for children. The Hatikvah had designated play areas for the ever increasing hoards of kinder but the children didn't confine themselves to the spielplat. The sounds of children crying, laughing, running and sometimes fighting filled the ship.

Long before Perez and Zerah learned to walk or talk, the brothers were already fighting over everything and nothing. When together, they would pull each other's hair, bite and scratch. When separated, they would cry and each would seek out the other. They were inseparable and irreconcilable. Tamar would say that they are just like their fathers.

Perez and Zerah, being the first of the kinder born on the ship, were the de facto leaders of the pack of vilde khius that were the children of the Hatikvah. Under the influence of these two, the younger children picked up tendencies that are disturbing to most adults and potentially harmful to other children. This was before any of these kinder born to the Hatikvah were even old enough for cheder.

Of course, being the first children born on the Hatikvah, Perez and Zerah were the first of the transit born to enter cheder. It did not take long for the two to test the patience of the melamed and push his tolerance beyond capacity.

The twins required two classrooms separated by the length of the ship and each their own teacher. Individually, each of the yingelas wore a teacher out.

Dovid and Hannah Leah doted over their grandsons. They showered them with affection and care. The boys showed love and even Derekh Eretz under the watchful eyes of the grandparents. Perez and Zerah would calm for an hour or two at a time when with their Bubbie and Zeida.

Hannah Leah would bake kikhlekh and sometimes sing songs. Dovid would tell the boys long winding and totally unbelievable stories about Moishe Pipik, a little boy that builds a spaceship from junk he finds. Often, the boys spent the night with Hannah Leah and Dovid. Around the time that the boys began their schooling, they began living with their grandparents full time.

Tamar rarely slept through the night. She would eat majoun and play soulful music on her violin late into the night. Then, through the void, she would engage in extensive conversations with Baruch and Shmuli. Of course, she had left the yeshiva bochers behind in Seaside Mea Shearim, New New York, on Planet Birobidzhan. The conversations, however, were very real for Tamar.

The Hatikvah proceeded, unencumbered on a set trajectory through the void. The people on board lived their lives and grew older.

Years transpired before the Hatikvah came within range of the wormhole. Everyone was aware that going into a wormhole would likely be a horrendous experience.

The emigrants also were aware that traveling through this wormhole was an unavoidable necessity.

A fold in space/time opens up totally new vistas and presents unknown constellations. The actual search for habitable planets could only begin in earnest after transpiring through the wormhole.

There was much warranted anxiety before the drop. The emigrants aboard the Hatikvah prepared themselves as they each saw fit. Some prayed and fasted. Others took a more proactive approach to warding off the discomfort that they reasonably expected. There was an awful lot of schnapps consumed in the days leading up to the drop into the wormhole.

Nothing anyone did made the transition through the fold of space/time any easier. There was a lot of physical discomfort, much puking and several spontaneous abortions.

Emerging from the wormhole left the mentshn aboard the Hatikvah discomforted for days. A melancholy overtook the ship and it was hard to shake. Like a period of bad weather, a cloud hung over the Hatikvah. And, like the weather, the cloud that hung over the emigrants eventually lifted and spirits improved.

Several months after emerging from the wormhole, the first planet that showed potential for supporting life was detected by the Hatikvah's computer. The technicians named that planet Rishon, Hebrew for first. After a closer examination, they had determined that it was not worthy of settlement.

When the ship's sensor alerted the technicians of a second possibly livable world, they all tried to temper their optimism. They named this second planet Shneya, meaning second.

As the Hatikvah came closer within range of Shneya, all of the computer analysis continued to be positive. It certainly seemed that the emigrants from Planet Birobidzhan had found themselves a world to live on.

The planet has breathable air with a slightly richer oxygen mixture than Planet Birobidzhan. It is a bit larger resulting in stronger gravity pull, making everything seem slightly heavier. There is plenty of potable water. It rains heavily in the spring and summer.

Snow falls frequently beginning in early autumn and throughout the winter. There are deep and wide rivers that run year round except when they freeze over.

The average temperatures on this planet are significantly lower than on Planet Birobidzhan. The higher mountains have snow all the time.

Summers are cooler than the spring or autumn on Planet Birobidzhan. Occasionally snow or hail will occur even in the summer.

The sheep thrive on this planet. Their wool grows thicker and they are meatier than any sheep that are raised on Planet Birobidzhan.

The emigrants found adapting to the cold difficult, although wool clothing certainly helped. The children born in transit, however, made a fairly smooth transition.

The parents, born and raised on Planet Birobidzhan, wore multiple layers of clothing and never seemed quite comfortable. The children run barefoot even in winter and readily shed their clothing in the summertime.

The irony that the Hebrew word for "second" sounds so similar to the Yiddish word for "snow" was lost on no one. It was not long after landing that the new settlers all began calling the place Planet Shney rather than Planet Shneya.