Colonization of Planets: A Generational Ship. Episode 2. Space Science Fiction. Audiobook

*"Between Life and Eternity: the price of Star dreams"* 2117-2119 The Earth, the Moon, and the orbital stations.
Igor and Anna, whose dreams of freedom and spaciousness seemed so close to Gliza-531, face a cruel paradox of progress. Their story turns into a tragedy, where love and hope are intertwined with ethical disasters and technologies that blur the boundaries between man and machine.
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#### *Key themes of the episode:*
1. *"A dream for two" — the illusion of escape from reality*
Having achieved a joint cryocapsule, Anna sees hibernation as a romantic gesture — "a fairy tale about a sleeping prince and princess." But behind her dreams of green plains and clear skies lies the desperation of a resident of an overpopulated Land, where even vertical farms and skyscrapers-forests do not replace the lost nature. Igor, on the contrary, realizes that the colonization of Gliza is not an escape to paradise, but the hard work of thousands of people who "will share even the air."
2. *An accident in orbit: the price of human error*
The fatal training of cadets turns into a disaster. A shuttle launched from the Moon crashes due to a technical malfunction, and Igor, like other pilots, dies in outer space. His last thought is not fear, but bitterness: Anna will be left alone, and their shared ticket to Gliza will turn into a ticket to nowhere...
3. * "Life after death" is a neuroexperiment nightmare*
Igor "wakes up" in Professor Chan's laboratory, where his consciousness is connected to sensors, and his body replaces his brain in a sphere with a non-Newtonian fluid. Here, among dozens of the same "processors", he learns the truth: 3 years have passed since the accident, Anna flew to Gliza, and his mission is to become a "biological AI" to control the Bering generation ship. The ethical horror of von Braun's project—using human brains as living processors—raises the question: what makes a person human? .
4. * "Bering" — the ghost ship and its crew*
Igor, deprived of his body but retaining his emotions, becomes the "brain" of Bering. His companions are adapts, genetically modified "children of space", cold and arrogant. Igor's journey to the planet Elbrus (174 years for the colonists) shrinks into months thanks to the Gate network, but turns into an eternity of loneliness. He controls the systems, studies the stars, but cannot sense the wind or the smell of rain — only sensor data.
5. *Elbrus: a new Land or a mirror of old mistakes?*
Arriving at Elbrus, a planet with green plains and snow—capped mountains, becomes a challenge. Captain Maximilian, awakened from hibernation, sees Igor as only a "tool", and the colonists, disembarking, repeat the mistakes of the Earth: they build skyscraper sectors, cut down forests for factories. Igor, watching through drones, wonders: will this world become a home — or a new cage?
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#### *Philosophical questions of the episode:*
* Can a brain remain human without a body? Igor, devoid of tactile sensations, but who retains dreams of the stars, seeks meaning in serving humanity — or avenges a stolen life.
* The ethics of immortality:* Nanorobots have been supporting the brain for millennia, but are they turning consciousness into a perpetual motion machine for ships? .
*The cost of colonization: Adaptations created for space despise "organics"; people on Elbrus repeat the ecological mistakes of the Earth.

To be continued...