space is deep but the ship is small

space is deep but the ship is small

fiction
edward w pritchard

It's hard to avoid periodic contact with one that one has been intimate with when far across the galaxy on a journey of exploration. Space is deep but the ship we travel on is small in the vastness of the expanding universe.

This vessel owed by Rand corporation bringing rare minerals back to Earth is seven earth miles long and nearly two earth miles deep with over sixteen thousand quadri-deck levels transporting along with all the economic cargo several thousand scientists, Doctors, engineers and at least one attractive lady lawyers among the crew and personnel. In such proximate quarters and habit I am bound to bump into my former mate now and then.

It's awkward for me because Rand personnel number 27,888 refuses to follow standard space travel protocol rules 28 to 32 when we randomly meet. At such times I often become distracted on my mission to the mystic source. Later recriminations and regrets interrupt annual six month deep sleep suspended animation patterns sometimes for hours at a time.