Short stories and novellas

The Interchange

  We are in the year 2019, nineteen years after the discovery of
the new millennium and the new life, the life in  space.  I can 
feel now how my actions and decisions have changed the way I'm 
seeing everything now, and I know that I would change not a 
single one of my past actions even if I could.
  The truth is that a lot of things have happened to me in the 
course of the years; however, the most important thing was one I
will always remember.
  Everything happened in the year 1998.  I was 32 years old.  By 
that time I thought that I had all the knowledge I could ever 
need. I was wrong.
  My son and I were working at NASA.  He was an astronaut but I 
wasn't; I was a space scientist, a kind of career where you 
can work studying space but you can't go there. Why?  Maybe 
because I was too scared to think about going in to  space.  My 
son was not afraid of that; maybe that's why he chose to be an 
astronaut.
  What happened was that by chance we were working by that time
in the same project.  While the team on Earth, with me as one of
them, was working to design and build everything necessary for 
some tests, the team on the space station, my son and other 
astronauts, was conducting experiments in  space.
  The project was basically about the consequences of not having
gravity in space.  To prove some theories we created in the 
laboratory an artificial genetic structure (DNA), creating 
consequently a new life form.
  Well, I should say that it was not really new because it had 
been created before; however, for an unknown reason that earlier
project was cancelled and everything classified as top secret. To 
make things worse, the veterinarian/biologist who had been in 
charge of the original team, a really important and well known 
biologist, disappeared mysteriously after the death of the 
prestigious doctor who had worked with him.  Two years later the
project was canceled. 
  All our work was based on our own experience.  It was like 
starting everything from scratch because of the secrecy of the 
preceding project.



  By the fifth of October the space capsule was supposed to touch 
down, but it didn't.  I was wondering what was happening, so I 
went to the transport department to get an explanation.   The 
answer was that a problem with the life support system required 
postponing for five days the departure of the capsule.  That was
a good reason and I stayed calm.
  Those five days passed.  My concern was that this extra time 
could disturb the results of the experiments.  But the big 
problem was that the capsule didn't touch down again.  Now I was
seriously worried.  To get better news I asked to talk with the 
sector's director; just looking at his face I saw that something
was wrong.
  
  Director: "I have bad news to tell you.  I know that your son 
is up there and that you believed that nothing could go wrong, 
but it has."   

  With only that information I started to think that some problem
had happened to the ship, and that there could be a way to repair 
whatever was wrong or send somebody who could repair it.   But 
after I heard his explanation of the facts I knew that there was
no way to repair anything for a simple reason: nothing was broken.

  Director:"Astronaut Jane communicated with us and told us that 
apparently your son showed some symptoms of a cold and that they
gave him medication, but today they found him unconscious on the
ship's departure section."
  
  Until now everything was not terribly wrong but...

  Director:"We don't know exactly what's wrong, but we asked the
medical researchers and they said that it could be an unknown 
disease.  They are working right now to identify it.  Maybe this
afternoon they will tell us something... I hope you aren't too 
worried because of this.  If you feel like doing so, please resume
your work."

  Obviously I couldn't keep on with what I had been doing.  As a 
result, I decided to stop working and to try to forget all those
things that kept running around in my mind .  That didn't work 
either but it at least kept me busy until the afternoon when I 
had to talk with the sector's director again.  The news couldn't
have been worse:

Director:"Your son is seriously sick with a disease that we don't 
know anything about. Some of the rest of the crew is infected too,
but it seems that all the others but your son are fine.  We are 
asking for help from medical researchers in other places, but there
is not much hope.  What we know for sure is that we are not going
to send anybody from here because of the risk of contagion."

  I would like to know what you would do in a situation like this 
because when you see things from a distant point of view it's 
easy to see the solution to that problem; however, when you are 
inside, feelings disturb the clear thoughts you could otherwise
have and the facts collapse because of the weight of the emotion.
  I asked friends of mine who are medical doctors if they could 
give me some answers,
but their knowledge of infectious diseases like this one, I mean,
in space, was not enough to give any kind of hope.  
  What is true is that when you feel hopeless you will do things
you would normally never think about doing.  In fact, I was so 
desparate that the only thing I could think to do was spiritual: 
go to a church and pray.
  I used to go to one place in times like this one: the Saint Telm
Cathedral.  Why? Maybe because the peace I could always find there
helped me to think more clearly.  But this time was different: as 
always I was looking at the statue of Saint Anne and thinking ...
But it seems that I might have been saying aloud what I was 
thinking because an old man got close to me and said:

Old man:"It seems that your son is in trouble."

  For a single moment I thought "What does this man have to do 
with this?"  But when I looked at him more closely I saw a man 
whose face radiated so much peace and tranquility that I thought
 "who can be a better listener than a person whom you don't know 
anything about who is with you inside a cathedral?"
  The problem was that he would have to be blessed with a divine 
patience because my explanation of the facts, as a scientist that
I am, was complete with all the scientific details I could give
and with an exact explanation of what happened each day.  Best of
all was his answer.

  Old man:"With the information you just gave to me, we can think
about the possibility that the sickness of your son can be related
to the experiment, don't you think?"

  The idea was so clear in my mind that its bright light didn't 
allow me to see any other thoughts.  I also forgot to ask him his
name before I left.  
  Once I was in the lab I asked to talk with the director again.
His face turned disciplined and instead of telling me if I was 
right or not, he said:

  Director: "Where did you get that?  Who told you that the sickness
had anything to do with the experiment? "  

  Oviously I thought that if I told him that I had gotten that 
from an old man inside a cathedral, he would not believe me, so I 
told him that I had thought of that by myself.

  Director: "All right...I believe you... You know that it's not
possible because of the fact that the animals were disinfected and
brought to the capsule in total isolation; we made tests of all 
kinds to see if they had any kind of viruses.  As you can see, 
there is no way that your idea could be true, so forget the whole 
thing, okay?" 

  Of course, with that kind of answer I was not feeling like 
trying to say anything else. However, I knew that I was right. I
went back to the cathedral, to look for the old man, and on the 
way back I saw in the rearview mirror that somebody was following
me.  I got a little scared, but my desire to meet that man again
made me forget my bad feelings.  I arrived at the cathedral and 
there he was, as if he were waiting for me.  I got close to him.

  John: "You were right.  The problem is that they don't want to
listen to me.  They don't want me to be involved in their business.
Oh, also, I forgot to ask you your name. My name is John."
  Old man: "My name is Louis Aster."
  At that moment the name sounded familiar to me but I was not 
able to recognize it.
  Louis: "I'm a doctor, retired now.  That's why I thought about 
the possibility of contagion."
  John: "I've already explained to the program's director about
this possibility; however, he said that the animals they used 
were proved to be free of any infection."
  Louis: "But that was when they were on Earth.  At the moment 
they left the Earth and the atmosphere that surrounds it, the 
conditions changed.  The radiation level always increases even
inside the ship because the protection is not enough compared
with the atmosphere of the Earth."
  John: "What are you trying to say?"
  Louis: "You should know as a scientist that radiation in high
levels can cause mutations, but  in  lower  levels  it  is  not 
dangerous..."
  John: " So? "
  Louis: " So, in space this level increases enough to change the
body of a human or an animal."
  John: "But I can't see what this has to do with the sickness.
The tests we did on the animals demonstrated that they where not
infected by any virus or bacteria."
  Louis: " You are wrong about that.  The kind of analysis we use 
give us information about any kind of infection that our body can
have.  We are talking then about any infection that has been 
recognized by the body.  However, if the body doesn't recognize
the infection as that, an infection, we won't be able to detect
with this kind of test a strain of virus or bacteria which has been
accepted by the body because it is not active."  
  John: " But if the virus is not active, it cannot cause symptoms,
and certainly not a coma."
  Louis: " Not if it's inactive, but yes it can if for some reason
it becomes active, like if something has changed."
  John: " I don't know what could change..." " Ah, of course! The 
radiation!  The radiation level that we find in  space is much 
higher than on Earth!"
  Louis: " That's true! That's what happened: the body of the 
animal you brought up there is not the same body that it was when 
it was on Earth.  In fact, the body changed enough so the virus 
could then act.  The problem is that your son has been there longer
than the other astronauts because he was the chief of the space 
team  and this has caused his illness to be worse.  This was the
big mistake of the comand center."
  John: " What do you mean by 'mistake'?"
  Louis: " I mean that they knew the risk."
  John:  " They knew that my son could get an unknown illness and 
they didn't say anything?"
  Louis: " There was no way they could say anything because of 
the precedent, the other experiment that failed and which they
kept as a top secret.  Right now their big problem is thatyou 
know too much about this..."
  John: " Do you think that I could have any serious problem?"
  Louis: " Not really, but if I were you I would go again to the
center, explain all you know and try to do something about their
intention of keeping your son up there."
  John: " You have to go with me and tell them what you just told 
me."
  Louis: " Sorry, but I can't.  Once something similar happened 
to me and I don't want to have those feelings again.  You'll have
to go alone.  If you are brave enough you will succeed and they
will listen.  You have to trust yourself."
  John: " Okay, you've already helped me enough. I will always 
thank you, Mr..."
  Louis: " Louis Aster."
  I wondered for just a second about how I could have forgotten 
his name, but I was so worried about what to say to the director 
and what they would say to me that I didn't think about this
anymore.



  My legs couldn't run as fast my mind asked them do.  Only when 
I left the cathedral did I remember to check if those who had been
following me when I went there were still following me, but I didn't
see anybody, so I thought that it could be that they were busy 
asking the old man questions, in case they had found me talking
with him.
  With all this crossing my mind, I arrived at the lab.  I searched
for the director, whose face changed immediately after hearing my
explanation of the facts.  He looked so shocked that it took a 
while until he could say anything.  What he said was.

  Director " How did you come to that conclusion?"
  John: " A friend who is a doctor helped me to get this idea."
  Director: " Then he is a good doctor because it's just what is
happening.  What I'm sorry about is that there's nothing we can 
do about it."
  John: " You have to bring them down again."
  Director: " Sorry, we can't.  If we let them come to  Earth 
again, the possibility of contagion is too high.  We can't afford
the possibility of an epidemic on a global scale."
  John: " But you have to understand that that will never happen;
this infection will only happen in space."
  Director: " We don't have proof of that."
  John: " If we keep them quarantined in a safe place for enough
time they will cure themselves. I mean, their bodies will fight
against the virus, which will not be strong enough to strike back 
because the conditions will not be the same as in space."
  Director: " We're not sure about this.  Maybe it won't work."
  John: " If you don't try it, you'll never know.  What happened
is that you have been playing with fire, and now that the fire is
out of control you don't want to fight it, whatever the consequences
may be.  If we don't do anything about a situation like this, we
will never solve this problem which it's more than possible we'll
find again in future missions.  Imagine the consequences if we 
had to cancel future missions because of this problem..."
  Director: " All right, all right.  Keep for yourself this 
discussion of moral science -- you've convinced me.  I will try
to talk with the President and explain to him what you've told me;
if he says yes...Then, you'll have won."


  Thank God the approval was given.  In two months we were able 
to kill the virus rrom the astronauts here on Earth.  It was then
that I knew that two animals which had been in the space station
half a month longer than my son, had died. We were all very lucky
--and especially me-- to bring them back just in time.
  Naturally you will think that the whole solution was not really
my idea and that I should have said who really told it to me.  I 
did that!  What happened is when they asked me again who had told
me all that, I said " Louis Aster "  Their shocked faces gave me
the idea that something was wrong, and it was: Louis Aster was 
the doctor who had conducted the first experiment.  His daugther-
in-law, who was the head of the team of astronauts on the space
station, died from this same sickness.  Shortly after that, Louis 
Aster, grieving for his daughter-in-law, himself died.
  I decided then that I could not tell anybody about this again 
if I didn't want people to regard me as a crazy person.  I also
understood then why the secret police who were following me all
the time had never said anything about a man in the cathedral 
talking to me.  They didn't see anybody with me in there, only me 
talking, apparently, with the statue of Saint Anne.  Only you and
I know the truth.
  I knew then that one soul which was in pain, was no more, because
he could save the life of my son as he could not save the life of 
his daughter-in-law.
  
  Thanks, Louis, with all my heart.  I know that I will meet you
when life is finished for me too.

                    

          THE END.   



  This English version is  dedicated  to  Peggy Stinson,  who  
helped and encouraged me  to  translate it to this wonderful 
language. 


Francesc Beltran
Translated from the Catalan by Peggy Stinson and Francisco 
Beltran, 1993.
Copyright: Francisco Beltran, 1993