Given a unital C * -algebra A and a right C * -module X over A, we consider the problem of finding short smooth curves in the sphere S X = {x ∈ X :< x, x >= 1}. Curves in S X are measured considering the Finsler metric which consists of the norm of X at each tangent space of S X . The initial value problem is solved, for the case when A is a von Neumann algebra and X is selfdual: for any element x 0 ∈ S X and any tangent vector v at x 0 , there exists a curve γ(t) = e tZ (x 0 ), Z ∈ L A (X ), Z * = −Z and Z ≤ π, such that γ(0) = x 0 andγ(0) = v, which is minimizing along its path for t ∈ [0, 1]. The existence of such Z is linked to the extension problem of selfadjoint operators. Such minimal curves need not be unique. Also we consider the boundary value problem: given x 0 , x 1 ∈ S X , find a curve of minimal length which joins them. We give several partial answers to this question. For instance, let us denoteb