Short story: Electric Sheep

Ancient history

Do I want to stop thinking?

That was the question, wasn't it?

Amadene sil Vanir, third officer of the Caldari colony starship Shiigeru, pondered that question as she stared at the metal box that would put her in a dreamless sleep for the five hundred years (and half that number in light-years) to the ship's destination.

What am I thinking about now?

Reefersleep, deep cold, cryo; the process has had many names over the years. Many appearances too – a simple bed, or a glass capsule, or a metal box. The purpose is the same though. A high-tech coffin so you can live forever.

What if I don't start thinking again?

The ship nudged her mind, questioning. She reassured it, and again contemplated the coffin. Sleep for a nothingth of a second, or wake for half a thousand years? Hardly an alternative, but...

Will I know if the coffin fails?

An electronic voice echoed through the sleeper bay – the starship's ESSENCE computer, announcing five minutes to acceleration. Barely enough time to go under before the engines fired and crushed her against the aft bulkhead.

You don't dream, do you?

Amadene pulled herself together, slipped on the sensor harness, and climbed into the coffin. The blank grey lid closed with a whirr, and everything went dark and cold.

Shiigeru tore through space at 150,000 kilometres per second, a trail of glowing exhaust reaching out behind it towards the receding sun of Luminaire. Five hundred years later, the sleeper ship would reach the distant star Jita, and found what would become one of the most important colonies of the newborn Caldari State.

Amadene didn't dream.