{{Pause=2}} CHAPTER 3 {{PAUSE=1}}Lethal Belt Around the Planet {{Pause=2}} 22 April 1975 I did not ask for it-nor did I even think about it, but nevertheless I am traveling in the spaceship with Lya. I had gone to participate in a conference on the theme of effective neutralizers for anesthesia, that afternoon I felt particularly exhausted. I had been speaking for almost two hours without interruption. At the end of the lecture I still had, among my notes, several unanswered questions. Some students and I went out into the corridor, still talking a little as we parted and went our separate ways. As I headed for the parking lot. I scarcely imagined that Lya was waiting for me in the car. She smiled candidly, my expression of surprise must have seemed amusing. "Hello, Are you in much of a hurry?" "No, it is only that I want to rest", I said. "Would you like to go on a mission as copilot?" I introduced the key into the doorlock, still without answering. I placed my papers and my portfolios in the rear seat and sat down. I started the motor and turned to look at her. "Today has been an especially tiring day. All morning at the University, lunch at midday, and all afternoon in conference... Couldn’t this be another day?" I asked almost pleading. It was quiet for a moment and I turned to look toward the exit. In a low voice she said: "It is important. I cannot assure you that you will have another opportunity like this." "And this mission, is it very far?" I asked. "That depends very much on how your concepts of time and space are developed. "Very Well', I said as I locked the door... "if it is not too far, I accept." How far it was I could not imagine since for her, time and distance do not exist; nor had she considered whether it was too late or too early to undertake some action. I never saw her look at a watch. Nor did I know that neither space nor distance needed any hurry. Lya... her people, her folk and perhaps beings of other worlds with the same characteristics as her, do not know the limitations of this so-called time, distance or space. For her, to exist is it, simply, without the units of timetable or distance. Lya lived at entire liberty. Enroute, while I was stopped for a red light semaphore, she said to me: "Close your eyes." I obeyed. I felt her hand touch my forehead. At that instant the muscles of my face relaxed, my head cleared, my mind concentrated and my body little by little began to recover its vigor, all this at the contact of her hand. "There it is", she said signaling the light turned green, "Let us go." "Toward where?" I asked "Go toward the north, I will guide you." After 2 hours and a half this way, we came to a trunk route between Hidalgo and Queretaro. We stopped at a separated place where there was an abundance of cactus. It was quite late. I looked at my watch: 9:30 p.m. Now I began to feel anxiety about the prospect of a possible assault. Again I was tired, or could it be nervousness? Again the hand on my forehead. Once more the vigor recuperated. All was silent. "We are going to park here." She said indicating a place to one side of the road. "We're going to get out here?" I asked in surprise, "To leave the car in this place could be dangerous for you and for me too." I said, admitting my cowardice. "We have to walk toward there." "She said while her finger indicated a place that could not be distinguished in the dark. "But, Lya, this car is my major possession, and if it is stolen, how will we return?" "You don't have to worry. We have avoided anybody being able to see your car from any angle." I put my hand down on the car. She took my hand at the wrist and I began to experience a genuine confidence, I let go of my fears, my worries, even the most hidden, or those of distant times that live in the most profound regions of my psyche. At that moment I felt an indescribable happiness. We began to walk. "To where do we go?" I asked. "We will fly around your world." She responded. I looked at her, trying to discover if this was some kind of a joke. Her face had acquired an unusual seriousness for her. "Now?" I asked, stuttering. "Yes, now." "Couldn't this wait?" "What you will see today... cannot wait, professor." It was unusual that I would go at the hand of Lya, always with me behind her, bewildered more that it was dark, and opening my eyes wider at each step. For her it was routine; for me everything was surprising. A round object of more or less three meters diameter was some meters in front of us. Lya took out an apparatus of metal that was like a small box of cigarettes and pressed a button. At that moment the door of that ship opened itself from below and we went through into the interior by means of a small ladder. We sat down. There were only two seats. She sat down before what would be a computer console with bars of colors (illuminated as if they were in operation). She touched a small lever with various buttons and pressed one. The ladder retracted through the small port and the opening closed. The ship silently rose into the air. In front of us a "window" opened as if someone parted a veil, and there appeared in front of my surprised eyes the lights of the cities. After that tiny points and supposedly oceans. From that I deduced that we were flying at a fantastic velocity. The Earth withdrew more and more and thus I could contemplate the night, the stars, and later dozens of satellites of all types orbiting the Earth. Far beyond was a light of pale blue or lilac that marked the line that divides night and day, and I understood that all is not completely dark nor is all absolutely light on my world. I looked at Lya who, absorbed, seemed to be looking likewise at me. "This is a voyage of exploration, not precisely routing - though to you it might seem so." She said, grinning. "To me it seems like a trip out of the world beyond my comprehension." Within me I thought, this is the single most surprising trip in my life. In that instant I understood many things. Looking at the planet, there came to my mind a succession of strange ideas to my own understanding. The blue planet, as Lya had one time called the Earth, had thousands of millions of years in it's existence, but it is not easy for the human being to comprehend why and fear what purpose it floats in the universe renewing one by one those cycles of life implanted in the world. In this immensity I asked several times, looking at the planer surrounded by objects with antennas. Why? Why is man? Why is the Earth? Why such pride, vanity, arrogance and hate? To understand life as I have lived it plus the years that I propose to live it, I could contemplate for only a moment. "Look below." she suddenly said. I looked and saw the planet in all it's magnitude, on the sunlit side showing Asia. "Adjust the light refractor", that is the blue limit. Can you perceive anything?" "Some satellites in orbit and... " "Observe well and you will see some thing like a rosey halo, like a belt that expands. At first sight you may not be able to notice it, but with the refractor, yes. Have you noticed that the same refractor takes on the inverse effect of the light, first violet, red, and then blue. In the other manner one cannot detect the elements that make up the belt. Our refractor computes an analysis of the chemical components of that halo. Can you see it?" "Oh yes, I can see it." "The button also activates the ultrasensor in a manner that if we approach and enter the influence of the belt, you should be able to hear even the sounds or the atoms in movement. Normally it is not perceived by any sound. Moreover, the small blue button that is on the band also functions as a sensor for detection of the metals of which it is composed and the gases that unite the conjunction of elements. Any mineral united with another produces some type of gas whether it is perceptible or not. The murmur made by the atoms when they graze one another, slight as it is, can be heard clearly through the sensor. The friction of one atom with another produces a tiny explosion." "Why is that?" "I will explain. In these latest years, the characteristics of the atmosphere around the Earth has been modified to such a point that those experts have been forced to examine different theories at international level to try to interpret these changes, and to try to discover comparative parameters with the objective of exploring its origins. Almost all countries have suffered climactic changes. Rains in torrents raise the rivers, flooding lakes and artificial water reservoirs; meters of snow fall that not only cover the houses and roads, but which chill the Earth, the air also, and the temperatures rise and fall out of control. Very well, you are observing the principal cause of this climactic reaction that provokes a thermic involvement on the Earth. The manner is such that when it is cold it is sharp, and when the sun's rays penetrate these gases, they are sharpened and concentrated. Look well at the belt which surrounds the Earth. All that is a product of many circumstances. One of them, the nuclear chemical tests, has succeeded in neutralizing the ozone gas protector from the solar rays. Due to this the atmosphere suffers a severe ionization loss, which itself provokes the gasified molecules to stimulation by the ultraviolet rays. The condensation of water together with gases provokes alterations, produces cyclones, hurricanes, etc. The snowfalls lash the cities as well as the small towns, though they receive no frequent precipitation, it has not manifested yet, but you will come to suffer very sharp climactic changes on your Earth. Due to these phenomena it is very likely that arid zones will change and that soon vegetation will abound in these areas. This will also facilitate the solar rays, which now fall directly on the Earth, to precipitate with greater intensity on zones such as the north or south poles and provoke important thaws. This also, as I have told you before, will generate inundations. Look, by the middle of the 80s and still beyond into the 90s, will fall ever worse rains and snows." We are now passing right over Kansk, a city in Siberia. Open your refractor. Press the yellow button, it will give you data on the climate. In these times the thermometer, in recent years, has read -60 degrees Centigrade. Now it is only -40 degrees Centigrade, also the climate is modifying, and some parts that were only ice begin to bring forth vegetation. The solar rays, the same that stimulate the changes on Earth, in the waters and in the air, also modify the life of the flora and the fauna. At the root of this the calamities proliferate, the organic action suffers stimulation in it's molecules, and those organisms are going to develop themselves in these places where all of these phenomena occur with greater frequency. The solar rays are energy, an energy out of control without the natural filtration of the ozone which reacts directly on all types of molecules. At the same time they stimulate the production of greater growth. The flies, bees, and insects of all kind are suffering organic changes. Imagine the changes they suffer and compare that with a ship that flies at great velocity in space, and I can tell you that that is the velocity that not only the flora, but also the fauna, and man as well, are suffering important changes at the organic level, and consequently also at a mental level.' "That belt, is it a danger to humanity?" "Yes, it’s components are in general mineral solids that emerge as a consequence of fusioned gases and which in time are reencountering their true origin and they crystallize until they form into new gases due to the alloying with other metals, which, by attraction, continue adhering one by one making each time more dense the belt, whose force is great and accordingly condenses even more. This, beyond the softening of the filtering of the solar rays, now condenses than. If, as is supposed, the nuclear tests continue, the circle soon will be closed surrounding the Earth. It is already contaminating your plants, accelerating the life of the animals as well as that of man." "The belt is the nuclear byproduct of Earth?" "Yes, but in addition to the nuclear residues you also have inorganic residues of other forms of breakdown, for example the contamination of the cities. Remember that the more gases are heated, the more they rise... " "Is there any solution to this?" I asked truly worried. This is a latent threat, still, when man decides not to carry out any further nuclear tests, from that hour on it will take more than 40 years for this gaseous mineral belt to disperse. In the same manner, the oldest of the satellites still will not lose their danger even after 2075. Of course in some manner the scientists of your planet could discover some kind of antidote for that which you are thinking, but this also will take plenty of time, of your time." "How would you resolve this situation?" "We possess a delicate system of recollecting the space waste. It is a work that must be carried out continuously. If not it accumulates in enormous quantities of residue material above us. I must clarify to you that we on our planet do not produce this waste material, those who travel in space, because we have discovered a way to neutralize it. The belt that surrounds your planet has been converted to a magnet that draws all kinds of bodies in space. These could be gaseous or organic bodies as well as minerals. A time will come when it will be practically impossible to eliminate. Only with a powerful neutralizer can you reduce to a minimum the capacity or danger. "You do not use combustibles?" "Our combustible does not contain elements like yours. We use inertia for power and hydrogen for energy. ’ "The situation is better from here which is there below, (don’t you think Lya?" "Why?" "Look", I said, indicating the American Continent "there below the sun begins to appear. Such is life. Some times it is dark, other times rain, and after that the sun comes out. I have confidence that sometimes the sun illuminates the Earth like resplendid knowledge in the minds of all these men who rule the destinies of the various countries." "We will arrive almost at dawn by your solar watch." Said Lya... as if wanting to pass my words unanswered. "Yes.' I answered. We descended abruptly. A lethal belt is the only thing we lack in this hazardous world. The automobile was exactly in the place where we had left it. Lya said goodbye to me and, embarrassed to the last fibre of my being, got in the car and headed for my house, the road on the return was different, I did not feel tired. All the problems that before had robbed tranquility from my life seemed miniscule compared to that which I had observed. That was when I decided to write this down, if not for my generation, then for posterity, which, still unusual for me, had been lived at the side of that beautiful woman of space... the enchanting Lya. {{PAUSE=2}}