The Pedrolo Year in Hélice Sara Martin Alegre © Sara Martín Alegre, 2018 © Sara Martín Alegre, for the intro- duction and the translation, 2018 Hélice joins the celebrations of the Pedrolo civilization, lost to an extraterrestrial attack, Year, centennial anniversary of the birth of in “Civilizations Are Mortal” two young Manuel de Pedrolo (1918-1990), with the pub- Americans, detective Jim Sekrat and an un- lication of the short story «Les civilitzacions named girl, face the mysterious disappear- són mortals» in translation into Spanish and ance of their fellow human beings, after a English, both by Sara Martín. A major figure strange event that can only be called meta- of Catalan Literature, and the prolific author physical, before setting in motion a ‘second of 128 volumes in all genres, Pedrolo deserves origin’. Both texts are linked by the Pedrolian to be much better known, both among Cata- conviction that no human civilization is eter- lan speakers and among the reading public in nal, even when they are very different from other languages. one another, and that one must always be The story selected, originally published in ready for the unexpected. the collection Crèdits humans [Human Cred- The short story and the translations are its] (Barcelona: Editorial Selecta, 1957, 171- here published with permission from Edicions 190) is an extremely interesting example of 62 and Fundació Pedrolo, for which we are the fantastic produced by Pedrolo. Although grateful. it is not science fiction, the genre that Hélice is devoted to, we have decided to highlight it among the author’s extensive production be- cause its theme announces the plot developed in Pedrolo’s best-known work, Mecanoscrit Any Pedrolo, http://cultura.gencat.cat/ca/any del segon origen (1974), a masterpiece of Cat- manueldepedrolo/inici/ alan sf (translated as Typescript of the second Fundació Pedrolo, http://www.fundaciopedrolo- origin also by Sara Martín). .cat/ While in this novel two Catalan children, Manuel de Pedrolo (AELC), https://www.es- fourteen-year-old Alba and nine-year-old Dí- criptors.cat/autors/pedrolomde/pagina.php dac, prepare to rebuild (and renew) human ?id_sec=1873 REVISTA HÉLICE: Número 11. Volumen IV 16  OTOÑO-INVIERNO 2019 Civilizations are mortal Manuel de Pedrolo It was late, maybe a little past ten. Jim newspaper, with a typical American dyna- Sekrat could afford this luxury, though: he mism. To be specific, he did not quite read the was a sort of national institution. As he whole paper; just the headlines. If they ever boasted. He knew almost by heart the com- spoke about him, that was different. His van- plete works—so far—of Mickey Spillane, ity, quite natural, forced him then to miss not Mikey Roscoe, and Adam Knight, among oth- a single word. Today, in any case, his name ers, which, of course, afforded him a great was nowhere to be seen and the paper was perspective on his work as a private eye. All soon done with. Sekrat rose, went to the that, however, turned out to be useless on kitchenette and served himself another cup of that day. coffee. He drank it voluptuously. After taking a shower and shaving meticu- Then, he took a glance at the clock and de- lously, he toasted some bread, boiled an egg, cided it was time to visit the office on Transit and, once he got some cups of coffee ready, he Avenue. Before that, though, he had to make enjoyed an unhurried breakfast during which a professional call and, not to waste any more he lit the first cigarette of the day. To be pre- time, he took the phone and dialed the num- cise he had smoked the first one around ber for his office. Molly should have been al- three, before going to bed. But for Jim Sekrat, ready for a while behind her typewriter. with much sense, the day started when he got Nobody answered his call, however. Ap- up and finished when he dove into the sheets. parently, he was wrong: Molly was not in the The radiant light of a cloudless day, abso- office, something unprecedented. He deter- lutely spring-like, entered through the un- mined, nonetheless, not to worry, hanged up shuttered window on Right Street. Across the the phone, put on his jacket and left the small street, one could glimpse many open windows apartment on the fifth floor. through which the rooms soaked up the vege- He never had the patience to wait for the table breath oozing from the trees planted elevator and, so, as he did every day he along the sidewalks. climbed down the stairs, taking two steps at a It must be said, though, that Sekrat paid time, because he was still young and full of no attention to the visual spectacle, quite dull energy. after all, nor to the habitual smells. As he Once downstairs, he crossed the empty smoked and ate breakfast, he could still use lobby, and reached the street. The problem his hands to turn the pages of the hefty was... REVISTA HÉLICE: Número 11. Volumen IV 17  OTOÑO-INVIERNO 2019 MISCELÁNEA  Civilizations are mortal There was no street! then, that way. The worst thing was that he He stopped in his tracks, and found him- was alone, there was nobody there, absolutely self inside another lobby very similar to the nobody to share this strange state of affairs one he had just left, for all the buildings in with if only to make some remark, which is the street were almost identical. He turned always comforting. He was alone, as if every- around instinctively and looked... anywhere! one else had disappeared. Not even the eleva- That was peculiar: between him and the tor operator was there, he noticed then. lobby of the building were he lived, there was ‘I need to make sure’, he suddenly whis- just the threshold, which was at the same pered, taking a decision. time the threshold of the building he had just He entered the lift and set it going. A few entered. Inexplicable. seconds later he rushed like the wind out of Since it was indeed so, he took the packet the landing on his floor and into his room. of Camels from his pocket and put a cigarette And he was right: the room was full of light. in his mouth, without lighting it, as he tried He approached the window, opened it, to think, desperately. One needn’t think hard, and leaned out. Absolutely: there, a few though. The thing was quite clear: the street yards below, was the street, and across it was missing! the houses on the opposite side, all neat and ‘Let’s see, let’s see!’, he told himself, to normal, like every day... Or not. Not really. calm down. There was something quite different: no one Because, of course, that was impossible. was passing through the street, either vehi- You could not just leave the house where you cles or pedestrians. It was simply stripped, live and find yourself next in the lobby of the something he had never ever seen, for Right building across the street. Evidence, though, Street was an important artery, animated was evidence. And, unless all his senses de- day and night. ceived him... But, well, that was relatively unim- He moved some steps back and found him- portant. What really mattered was that the self again in his own lobby. Nothing, not even essential things still existed in the same re- the suspicion of a street between the two en- assuring way as usual. His house, the street, trances. ‘But the street is there’, he told him- and the other buildings. self. Although he had not intentionally ob- What had happened, then? served this, he knew very well that, while he He threw away the cigarette, unlit in his had breakfast, there was daylight in his room, mouth, and left the room again. The elevator and even a small ray of sunshine. That meant was still on his landing and this time he rode that there was an open space behind the win- it downstairs. dow. A truly open space since the opposite A few seconds later, crossing the lobby, he building was as tall as the one he lived in. understood, taking into account the light Therefore, if the two buildings had been as seeping in from the door, that the situation close as they appeared to be now, he should down here had not changed at all. And he no- have seen no light at all: his room should have ticed something he had first missed: the en- been in the dark... trance was illuminated because the electric His puzzlement kept him there, unable to light was on. make up his mind, looking this way and, Hesitant, but yet certain about what REVISTA HÉLICE: Número 11. Volumen IV 18  OTOÑO-INVIERNO 2019 MISCELÁNEA  Civilizations are mortal would happen, he moved once more towards The key to this affair must be behind that the door. There he stopped again, seeing a but. She, however, seemed reluctant: girl in the lobby of the opposite house. He ‘These things’, she noted, ‘cannot happen.’ didn’t recall having seen her before, but soon ‘Perhaps’, he granted. ‘The question, found her quite pleasing. Her expression, though, is that we cannot get out... Just a though, was far less pleasant. She, it seemed, second!’ he exclaimed. ‘I forgot the back had just also discovered the absence of the door...’ street between the houses. With no need for previous discussion, both When she noticed him, she turned round walked that way. They went round the eleva- and now both regarded each other. After a tor’s box, down the corridor that led into the few silent moments, she asked: entrails of the house, and, after turning right, ‘But what’s going on?’ they reached the back door. As usual, it was Possibly other words were needed to ex- closed, but it could be opened easily from the press properly the singularity of that situa- inside. tion. But, then, its very enormity made react- Apparently, nobody in the building oppo- ing with less trite words practically site theirs had thought of this alternative impossible; her words were simply the ones since their door was closed. Of course, there we use when something feels weird rather was no space at all between the two houses than wonderful. He replied with the same that could be called a street. The buildings simplicity: were joined together. ‘I don’t know’. ‘That’s peculiar...’, Sekrat said. They looked around, as if they had lost As he used a thoughtful tone but looked something, until she said: nonchalant, the girl watched him attentively: ‘And the street?’ ‘Do you think so?’ she asked. He shrugged his shoulders. ‘Yes’, he said. ‘As you can see, here there ‘I should think that the street is in the are two doors, though the houses are at- same place’, he explained after a pause. ‘At tached: our door, now open, and that of the least, if you look from the window...’ opposite building, closed...’ The girl regarded him as if she didn’t un- ‘And so.’ derstand. ‘And so, on the other side’, and he pointed ‘You mean that...’ at the main entrance, ‘there is only one. That ‘Yes, I have just put my head through the is to say, there is no door, just one threshold, window and I have seen the street...’ the same for both buildings... I wonder ‘Then... How do you explain this?’ whether this means anything...’ ‘I don’t’. But she had no patience and was in no And that was the truth. mood for these speculations. ‘But’, she insisted, ‘if it exists from above, ‘Who cares? We need to find out how to get it must also exist here, down below...’ out of here. This is some trap...’ ‘Usually, it should.’ He pondered this for a long time with a ‘What do you mean, usually?’ brain trained to discover the exit out of the ‘I mean that you’re right, the street cannot most complex mazes. exist and not exist at the same time. But...’ ‘As I have told you’, he finally said, ‘I have REVISTA HÉLICE: Número 11. Volumen IV 19  OTOÑO-INVIERNO 2019 MISCELÁNEA  Civilizations are mortal seen the street from the window. I wonder ‘But we lose nothing trying’, Sekrat re- now whether it exists again if someone plied. looks... I mean down here. For, obviously, as I He was right and she knew it. While she looked through the window I was upstairs walked to the front door, he again rode the and have no idea about what was going on elevator to his floor. Once again, he rushed to here...’ the window; the street was there, down be- He stopped, for the girl was breathing low, as lifeless as before. with difficulty. An instant later, he spotted a person: the ‘Listen’, he continued, ‘there is something girl. That was correct, then! The street could we could do: stay down here and I’ll look not deny itself to onlookers. again through the window...’ She raised her head and scanned the win- The girl didn’t seem too keen. She was dows until she found him. He leaned out and perhaps a bit afraid of being left on her own raised his arm. She saw him then and waved in that apparently deserted building. back. Sekrat signaled that he was going ‘You don’t like the idea?’ he asked. ‘If the downstairs. Then he left his room and rode street reappears you can get out then...’ the elevator again. ‘All right’, she said. ‘But what about you?’ Downstairs, though, a bitter disappoint- He was up to scratch: ment awaited: the street was gone again. Af- ‘Don’t worry about me, I’m used to all ter the success of the first part of the plan, he kinds of things. Besides, one of us should get was so convinced that all would be as he ex- outside rather than neither... Oh, now that I pected that the setback left him truly frus- think about it, perhaps you might help me!’ trated. ‘How?’ For a long time he remained by the ‘When I looked through the window a threshold, uncertain about what to do or while ago, I saw there was nobody on the plan. He didn’t move until he realized that street...’ the girl must be still waiting for him in the She opened her mouth. street. ‘What!?’ He then took the route back to his room. ‘That’s right: there was no one. It occurs to ‘Perhaps she’s gone’, he told himself as he me that if this street reappears while some- approached the window. one is looking it might also be the case that it But no. She was faithfully standing on the is still present when someone walks on it, do sidewalk, now looking towards the main door, you understand?’ that door that didn’t exist from the inside. The girl was now very excited. To call her attention, Sekrat started ‘Yes, yes, of course!’ she said. ‘You mean shouting, but it seemed that his voice didn’t that I could stay on the street so that it still reach down below as she did not turn her exists when you come back down...’ head. Then the young man withdrew into the ‘Exactly!’ room and looked around. He took the first ob- Her enthusiasm, though, waned as quickly ject he noticed: a glass ashtray, actually quite as it appeared. heavy. ‘But this cannot be’, she said. ‘Neither one With this object in his hand, he leaned thing nor the other.’ again outside the window. Checking that she REVISTA HÉLICE: Número 11. Volumen IV 20  OTOÑO-INVIERNO 2019 MISCELÁNEA  Civilizations are mortal was once more staring at the door, he He knocked but nobody answered. He in- dropped the ashtray. sisted, with the same result. He turned then He saw how startled she was by the noise. the knob. The door opened and Sekrat, fol- The aim of the maneuver was accomplished: lowed by the girl, entered the apartment. she looked up. ‘Mijauhull!’ he shouted. ‘Mijauhull!’ He signaled to her that he could not get But Mijauhull was not there, as he con- out, and she must have understood perfectly, vinced himself after checking all the rooms. for at once she marched towards the main In silence, they left and started searching door. the whole building. They were definitely the ‘No, no!’ he shouted, understanding what only neighbors left. she intended. ‘I don’t get it!’ Sekrat had to exclaim But the girl had already gone inside. again. ‘Unless...’ Sekrat again rushed down. A few moments He checked his watch, now pointing half later, they were both together by the thresh- past eleven. old. ‘Unless...’ she said. ‘What happened?’ she asked. ‘It’s a bit late’, the young man explained. ‘I could not leave. But you shouldn’t have ‘Usually, by this time of the day, what am I returned...’ saying?!, by the time I got up, past ten, eve- ‘Why not? One of us can always leave...’ ryone is at work...’ she said, sensibly. ‘But not everyone has a job...’ she ob- ‘Yes, of course. But now... Listen!’ he said. served. ‘And Mijauhull should be here. And ‘What happened when you went in?’ the elevator operator...’ ‘What do you mean, what happened?’ ‘Yes, sure’, Sekrat replied. ‘They should be ‘Yes. Did you see the street vanish, the here, of course...’ houses get fastened together...?’ A reply, on the other hand, of no use at all She shook her head. to solve the mystery. ‘I’ve seen nothing. The moment I set foot ‘But...’ inside everything was as before, as if the He had to stop for he didn’t even know street had never existed...’ what he wanted to say. He wiped his forehead and took another ‘We could check the other house’, she sug- cigarette. He offered one to his companion gested then. and both lit them. ‘Sure.’ ‘I don’t know what to think’, he finally said. There was this hope. That is, hope of what? ‘What’s really odd’, she said then, ‘is that I Perhaps not of finding out anything but of mak- should think we are alone in the building, ing sure that they were not the only two vic- perhaps even in the city...’ tims. A hope, in any case, that was shattered ‘Yes’, he agreed. ‘I hadn’t thought about it one hour later, when they found no trace of any but it’s true that... Perhaps something has living being in the whole building next door. happened to them!’ he blurted out. ‘And now?’ she said once the search was He suddenly turned round and strode to- over. wards the first door you could see: the jani- He was so exasperated that he started tor’s. laughing. REVISTA HÉLICE: Número 11. Volumen IV 21  OTOÑO-INVIERNO 2019 MISCELÁNEA  Civilizations are mortal ‘And to think that my job consists of solv- He decided to ask her later, when he re- ing enigmas!’ turned, and started moving along the street. Since she was looking at him puzzled, he He was the only passerby. He could spot no added: one else at the window, just the girl. The ‘I’m a private detective...’ shops on his side were closed. The city looked ‘Why don’t we try something else?’ the girl dead. It had just died, for it didn’t show yet suggested. ‘I look through the window and any signs of decay. you leave the building...’ Regarding the doors of the buildings, some ‘And what good is that? In that case, you’ll were open, some close, at random. Half-way be a prisoner.’ through the street, he stopped before an open ‘But, once outside, you might discover door but dared not go inside and just peered something that explains this mystery... You’ll in, standing on the sidewalk. As he expected, always do better than me!’ there was nobody. He was quickly seduced by her idea. ‘But what the hell happened to all the ‘Sure, why not?’ he said. ‘Fine then, I’ll go people?’ out. But, won’t you be afraid all alone?’ This was most marvelous, even consider- She shrugged her shoulders. ing the whole range of prodigies. If the natu- ‘I’ll manage’, she said. ral order of things had been altered and peo- ‘Wonderful girl! Don’t leave the window’, ple had disappeared, why on Earth had he he warned her then, ‘and in about one hour, and the girl been spared? ok?, I’ll be back whether I have discovered He turned round to check whether she was the reason for all this or not...’ still at the window. There she was, a consol- Later, while she went up to her room on ing figure in those moments. the third floor, he stood before the door, ready ‘Perhaps we are alone in the world’, he not to miss any detail of the transformation thought. that would soon take place the moment she He stopped again because he had reached looked outside her window. a side street. This was also empty. For a few Despite his concentration, however, he seconds, he hesitated whether to go that way could discern no prodigy. Perhaps because or keep to the street he was on. But what did very foolishly he had stayed inside the build- it matter? He shrugged his shoulders. ing. The fact is that time was running and Just then he heard a shout. Excited im- nothing was happening. Impatient, he took a mediately, he looked up and down. Nothing. step forward, crossing the threshold. Nobody. He heard the shout again as he scru- And then he found himself on the street, tinized the windows. just like that. He had to strain his neck to finally see, on He called himself all kinds of names, but a sixth floor, the unidentifiable face of a man the mistake could not be undone. Then he leaning outside a window, his upper body raised his head to seek the girl out. As he had hovering dangerously above the void. done, she waved and he waved back. Then he He waved to signal that he had seen him. thought of something which had nothing to But once he did that, what next? How could do at all with the situation: he help him? ‘I don’t know her name...’ he mused. The other, though, evidently full of confi- REVISTA HÉLICE: Número 11. Volumen IV 22  OTOÑO-INVIERNO 2019 MISCELÁNEA  Civilizations are mortal dence now that he had found out he was not ‘No’, the voice said. alone, had already left the window. Sekrat ‘What can you see before you?’ easily guessed that he must be going down ‘The house across the street...’ towards the main door. ‘Go there...’ He located the entrance corresponding to Silence followed. the building and stood outside. He felt the im- ‘Are you there?’Sekrat asked then. pulse to go inside but checked it because it There was no reply. might be impossible to leave. He, thus, just ‘Of course’ he told himself’, if he’s gone to waited for the man to appear on the other side. the other house... Only, this didn’t happen. He could clearly He crossed the street and rushed towards see the lobby and the interior of the building it. but the other seemed to have vanished on the ‘Are you there?’ he asked when reaching way down. Nonetheless, he was quite con- the entrance. vinced that the man was in the entrance ‘Yes, I did as you told me.’ waiting, as he himself was. Sekrat was mystified. The man had He approached the door. crossed the street without neither of them no- ‘Are you there?’ he asked. ticing a thing. And, yet, the street existed, he ‘Yes, yes’, someone replied though the could see it, was walking on it... man’s powerful voice, strong enough to be ‘We’ll try something else’ he said. ‘I’ll lock heard from a sixth floor, now seemed to come the door of the other building and then you from a far away place. can try to get out...’ ‘Who else is there in the building?’ ‘But how?’ ‘None else, I’m alone. But where are you? I ‘I don’t know how. Just try to get out. can’t see you...’ Simply move forward, ok?’ ‘I can’t see you, either. Strange things are ‘Well....’ the other one said, not too sure. happening’, he added childishly, as if the oth- Sekrat crossed the street again and, er man didn’t know first hand. stretching his hand careful not to step out of ‘I haven’t seen anyone the whole morning’, the street, he took one of the metal bars of the man said. ‘Where do you come from?’ the door and, with great effort, managed to ‘It’s a long story’, he said. ‘Listen, I’ll try to close it. He crossed again. get you out of here. I’ll get one hand inside ‘Done. Can you see it?’ the building. You take it...’ ‘Yes.’ He did that but time passed and he felt no ‘Ok, then, try to cross.’ touch. He waited, in tension, almost apprehen- ‘What are you doing?’ he asked. sive. ‘What do you mean, what am I doing? I’m ‘I can’t’, the man finally said. ‘Since the waiting for your hand...’ door is locked...’ ‘But it’s here!’ ‘But there’s the street...’ ‘Well, I don’t see it...’ ‘Not from here’, the man said pitifully. Sekrat pulled it back. ‘I see...’ ‘Don’t’ worry’, he said; ‘we’ll find some oth- But then he had an idea that excited him er way... Listen, have you moved at all?’ mightily. Since the man had crossed from REVISTA HÉLICE: Número 11. Volumen IV 23  OTOÑO-INVIERNO 2019 MISCELÁNEA  Civilizations are mortal building to building he was now in the same Sekrat went back to the side street. The block where he and the girl lived. If he could man had followed his orders. When seeing manage to get them together passing through the young man his face, until then distorted the buildings from the inside... by anxiety, recovered the lost balance of its ‘Listen’, he told the man. ‘Go up to one of features. the apartments and lean outside the window. ‘Not even ten minutes!’ Sekrat shouted. Wait for me there until I return. About ten The other was at a first-floor window, and minutes...’ could hear him well. ‘But...’ ‘Now what?’ he asked. ‘Do as I tell you.’ ‘We need to wait for a while. Don’t leave ‘Tell me what this is about’, the other said. the window.’ ‘Let’s see...’, but he stopped because he ‘Easy for you to order me about, being out- quickly realized that, if that was the way to side!’ he protested. help the girl to get out the man had to remain ‘I’ll do all I can to get you out’, Sekrat of necessity inside. The two of them could not promised. leave together. ‘I can’t waste time explaining. ‘But I don’t see what we lose... Hey, hey!’ Just go to the window and stay there.’ he suddenly shouted. ‘And how do I know you’ll be back?’ The girl, fast as a hare, was already leav- ‘Haven’t I tried to help you get out?’ ing the entrance of this house. The first thing ‘Yes’, the other granted. ‘All right, then.’ she did was to start laughing. ‘It won’t take more than ten minutes’, he ‘Oh, isn’t this wonderful!...’ repeated, and left as fast as he could. ‘Hey, hey!’ the man insisted. ‘What’s this? The girl was where he had left her, gazing How come she’s out?’ at the street. He made a friendly, cheery mo- Waiting for no answer he abandoned the tion and, without thinking twice, he entered window hastily. the house. ‘Wait, wait!’ the young man cried. When he left the elevator he found her on But it was no use. The other could not the landing. hear him. ‘It seems there are other people in the ‘He might do something foolish’, Sekrat same situation, after all’, he told her. Then he said. ‘He’s seen you get outside and since he explained what he intended to do. knows nothing about this matter of the win- ‘Go up to the rooftop and start crossing the dow...’ buildings until you reach the second one on ‘You haven’t explained?’ Clorys Street. It’s there. Go down, straight ‘I haven’t, as you can understand. First, I onto the street, just in case he... Then we’ll wanted you to get out...’ try to get him out.’ ‘Well, anyway, when he realizes it is im- The girl understood at once the situation, possible, he’ll go back.’ also his new familiarity with her. ‘If...’ A few moments later, once the window He could never finish the sentence because maneuver was finished, Sekrat was once the noise of a heavy body hitting a solid ob- more outside and she was climbing the stairs ject interrupted it. towards the rooftop. ‘What was that?’ the girl asked. REVISTA HÉLICE: Número 11. Volumen IV 24  OTOÑO-INVIERNO 2019 MISCELÁNEA  Civilizations are mortal Sekrat ran towards the building. ‘But he can be badly hurt. He hurled him- ‘I told you he’d do something stupid...’ self against the closed door...’ He waited some seconds, crossed the She, peering inside the lobby, took his arm street, approached the other door and opened and pressed it. it. No other noise could be heard. He crossed ‘Look!’ she said. again. Sekrat did as she requested. Then he saw ‘Hey!’ he yelled. that the man was lying on the floor by the There was no reply. door, motionless. ‘He must have returned upstairs’, the girl He took one step but she held him back. said. ‘No, no!’ she urged. ‘Can’t you see he’s dead?’ They waited. They waited for a long time. ‘How do you know?’ he asked. Yet nobody showed up at the window. No one ‘First we could not see him...’ she just ex- replied to their cries, either, when they ap- plained. proached the two doors, each of them one. He nodded his head. ‘What could have happened to him?’ the Two minutes later, holding hands, they girl asked. left the city together. They trusted they ‘I don’t know. I’ll get in and check...’ would find other living cities. If there were ‘No, no!’ she exclaimed anxiously. ‘And none, they still had the countryside. And the what if you can’t get out then?’ two of them, to begin again. REVISTA HÉLICE: Número 11. Volumen IV 25  OTOÑO-INVIERNO 2019