story by Sameer Raote
Life of Arishi Pradhan
Arishi Pradhan has lived a very very long life considering the species she belongs to. Credit for that goes to partially to the technological advancements of the time she is living in and partially to her genes.
Arishi was born in the 98th century of the Yuvian calendar in a metro city of planet Saki. The Pradhan family comes from a lineage of beings who live extraordinarily long life. That’s because many millennia ago an ancestor of Arishi by the name Parvati Pradhan managed to extend her lifespan by a process called Sinusoidal ageing.
While this ability was not limited to a specific gene pool, not many were able to perfect the procedure of prolonged life at will. So while common people had their lifespans increased from 60 years to 250 – 300 years, the Pradhans could in theory lived for eternity if they wanted to and had the resources for it.
Having said that, most of the people of this family willingly accepted death when their time came. This was not the case with Arishi. She wanted to live for eternity and she had a plan for that.
Arishi as a growing child was inclined towards the field of science and technology. Especially the space travel based research. In those times interplanetary travel was a very common thing as the Yuv species had colonized the three habitable planets and had space stations all over their solar system. The obvious next step was interstellar travel. Many companies were working on it including the one Arishi worked in.
A couple of centuries went by as she worked there. Arishi was a very professional woman. While she had many romantic relationships in this time, none were good enough for her to get married to. Over this time Arishi rose through the ranks. Out of her shear long lifespan and intelligence she managed to reach the very top.
Since Arishi wasn’t going away any time soon she took an opportunity to re-brand the company as her own. Further her company was reaching a technological breakthrough in the field of interstellar travel. The timing was just right to make a lot of money. Their first trip was to the nearest habitable planet in another solar system called Pampar.
This new planet was beautiful and very much habitable but Arishi had eyes on a different place, i.e. one of the two moons of this planet. She called it Antari. When asked the world organisations weren’t willing to let her own a planet but they were okay to give her the moon. Oh yes, she was wealthy enough to own a moon.
Arishi did not physically travel to this new solar system until the moon’s deal was done. Then at one point she did. During the century long interstellar travel most of the passengers understandably chose to stay in hibernation. This made her travel a very isolating experience. Since Arishi was essentially immortal there was no need for her to sleep to conserve her age. Also she had a big company to run so long slumber was not an option.
During this journey Arishi felt the urge to fall in love and so she did. The captain of the spaceship she traveled in had a duty of waking up from time to time make sure that everything in this ship is functioning properly. It is during those time they bonded Arishi had a relationship with him. She trusted him enough to have a child with him.
When there were twelve more Yugae years (need to specific since the duration of a year varies from place to place.) to reach the destination the captain woke up to meet his son. During his last slumber Arishi had given birth to a cute little baby boy. The first of her species to be born in interstellar space. Overwhelmed by joy the captain did not go to hibernation again.
The three of them spent a blissful family life in this huge well equipped spaceship. When they reached the Pampar, Arishi decided to get settled on the planet among other people. For the first time in her long life she was open to whole heartedly connect with other people. It was a beautiful phase of her life, unfortunately it didn’t last long.
She knew her husband wasn’t going to live as long as she was. But she expected her son to be with her. Sadly that did not happen. Somehow conceiving a child outside their home solar system led to alteration in gene chemistry. Arishi was that sad mother who had to witness the passing of her only child due to old age.
Arishi’s son was the last thing that kept her social. After his demise she disconnected from the society and finally moved to the moon she owned. There she setup a world of her own. Since the time Arishi arrived to this solar system she started terra-forming the moon to support life. Air, water, food and everything needed to protect her from harmful elements of space was available there.
There Arishi started living like a queen. Due to advancement in droid technology and Artificial Intelligence technology she was able to create an army of people who would simulate human experience. Arishi became comfortable living with them since they would exist eternally as she would.
Arishi created two special droids in the image of her husband and her son. This not the ideal situation but she was happy with it. Arishi lived as long as life on this moon was possible. She was perfectly okay with staying in a sort of isolation and managing her company from there.
END
written by Sameer Raote