The distance between my home planet Tryxxop and my destination Xaara was 7.6 billion light years. This would mean that if my spacecraft travelled at the speed of light, it would take seven point six billion years. But the craft was not travelling at the speed of light. It was much faster!
Xaara was a semi advanced planet, as far away from home that I could find. Not only was it distant, but was well out of trade routes. I hoped to remain away from the eyes of Galactic Security this way
The space craft took six months to travel this distance. Three to get out to a vacant point in space, and three to gradually navigate to Xaara. The actual seven point six billion light years distance was covered in an instant, because the ship deployed a faster than light mode: FTL; where time remains static and suspended
It took ninety days at below light speeds both for take off and landing. Lucky first class passengers could of course enjoy the spectacular view from the observatory
I, of course; was travelling in economy class and would be asleep all the time. The economy class passengers used the STP- Sophoric travel protocol!
An awake person occupies three hundred and sixty times more space that a Sophoric capsule. No wonder, first class travel cost two hundred times economy tickets.
Each economy module had five hundred Sophoric capsules stacked tight, each containing a passenger. The feeding and excretion was through tubes. Individual computers monitored each parameter diligently. STP fatalities were less than half a percent! I could definitely not afford to be a part of this small percentage
Not that I could not afford first class. But in this , you meet people, leave clues, and are likely o be remembered. I could not afford to leave leads and a trail for Galactic Security to sniff around.
I woke up gradually and found myself facing a Medical Robot with its stupid metallic grin. I tried to move my hands and feet , but found that they were encased in molten lead. Even my eyelids were really heavy!
“Please relax and be patient sir. The Sophoric Recovery Process is almost complete. The body belts will unwrap soon, but please remain in your place, take deep breaths, and compose yourself…..” The stupid robot continued to drone in its mechanical voice. I was well aware of the awakening protocols and hardly paid any attention. I was more worried about my body