by Gheorghe Săsărman
Translated from the Romanian by Monica Cure
*** Editors’ note: We continue publishing the missing entries from Săsărman’s groundbreaking 1975 urban fantasies’ cycle. The original collection of imaginary cities was censored in Communist Romania, and appeared in various states of incompleteness in other languages, incl. translated into English by Ursula K. Le Guin. We are grateful to Monica Cure for her faithful translation of the remaining pieces of the puzzle, hitherto unavailable in English language. For more information, read the introductory note to Motopia, the first entry in the series. ***
Before building the immense transparent cupola, the people hadn’t given much thought to what use it might have, nor what the effects of raising it might be. The cupola had to be built for the simple fact that it had been invented and because it surpassed the like of all that the human mind had conceived of until then. Once it was built, however, the group who invented it continued to add improvements which, imperceptibly, set off unexpected consequences.
History hasn’t preserved the initial name of the city that, along with a vast neighboring territory, was covered by the plastic spherical dome. In time, however, it came to be called Protopolis, and that’s what it was known as until our days. It simply being covered wouldn’t have had, probably, very significant effects; rainfall—already quite rare at that latitude—now blocked by the cupola, had been replaced by a sprinkler system that periodically, uniformly watered the groves and green spaces. Then, through the application, by helicopter, of an extremely fine dust on the surface of the dome, the intensity of solar radiation was lowered to an acceptable limit. One after the other, they introduced a maintenance system to keep the temperature and humidity within an optimal range; the sterovac process for destroying pathogens; “clean” methods for disposing of household waste, of street sweeping, and of the interment of bodies; both dry and wet techniques for the containment of dust; the use of ultrasound to exterminate insects and all other pests, etc.
The Protopolitan population quickly became marked for its excellent state of health, the reduction to almost zero of general morbidities, the elimination of infant mortality, and the increase of longevity. In order to protect this most praise-worthy evolution, any foreigner—a virtual carrier of pathogens—was subject to quarantine and a bothersome treatment before being allowed to enter the city; as for locals, they could no longer leave Protopolis since they had lost all resistance to disease and wouldn’t be able to survive contact with the outside world. Soon, the isolation of the metropolis under the plastic cupola became total.
The Protopolitans did not seem to be too affected by this situation. In order to adapt to the requirements of an autarchic economy, they limited the scope of their production to what was strictly necessary for daily living. And since the comprehensive conditioning of the topoclimate permitted it, they gave up clothing. Then, they abandoned their houses, allowing them to fall into ruin, because they found that living outdoors, in parks and forests, was more comfortable and healthier. The forests stretched out freely over the debris, invading the streets and deserted squares. The people gained an increasingly athletic build, they learned to run effortlessly, to agilely climb trees, in search of forest fruits, to hurl themselves from branch to branch in formidable jumps.
For a while, the cultivation of the fields, left to the care of women and children, still seemed profitable to them. The men spent their time hunting and fishing, because the animals in the forests and bodies of water had increased and they constituted the most reliable source of food. Later, the wheat and corn were left to grow as they would, and the cattle, pigs, sheep, and goats that had been turned loose became wild. Chased out of their cages in the zoo, the wild animals, famished, set out to find food for themselves.
The one source of diversion still remaining for the Protopolitans was making babies. And we have to admit that they were wonderfully skilled at it, they even seemed to hit the mark every time. It is true that the choosing and especially the winning of favored women gave rise to disputes and bloody fights among the heated males, each desiring the one who was most attractive; and though such conflicts ended more than once in the strangulation of the weakest, the fecundity of the species more than compensated for the losses. At one point, the population even became troublingly large, in relation to the increasingly modest means of subsistence. Divided into packs, the people then began to wage war for hunting and fishing grounds, for the forests that were richest in edible fruit. At first in secret, then with great pomp, the prisoners were consumed by the victors. Their mandibles grew, their foreheads flattened, necks shortened, chests puffed out, shoulders widened, arms lengthened and, in the end, the people of Protopolis learned how to grab onto branches with their toes; they routinely alternated between bipedal and quadrupedal positions.
The rest of humanity watched the sensational unfolding of the events with vivid curiosity. From beyond the cupola, they filmed using a powerful zoom, they started thrilling live transmissions. And at the betting exchange, the largest share of bets by far was registered for predictions on the question: When will the Protopolitans start growing tails?
~
