A New Country

a short story

It was surprising that the blind spot was, not on the vast nothingness of the pacific ocean, but in the middle of the atlantic. The thousands of satellites that covered the earth had missed it, but as soon as the portuguese satellite, the last european country to have one, reached the heavens they saw, just southwest of the azores, the beginnings of an island. At first they believed it was a smudge on the window and tried to clean it, but then, even though there could be no mistake, they exclaimed, It can’t be, in english, yes, for they weren’t portuguese natives and had learned only the bare minimum of the language to gain citizenship before the expedition, and so, as is only natural in moments of surprise, they resorted to the more familiar language. Then adjusting their very accurate lenses on their very expensive telescopes, they saw the rest. An island roughly in the shape of a cross, with each arm having a little peninsula, almost like a hand or a foot connected by a thin wrist or ankle, though its orientation between europe and north america in the most common maps made it look like an x.

Lest the reader accuse us of reporting false information due to the unlikeliness of such a discovery in this day and age, a day and an age which, however prodigious its accomplishments, could not in the least be described as one of discovery, certainly not of this type, no, that glory belongs to a previous age, and yet that previous age failed to discover precisely this, and so, as we were saying, lest the reader accuse us of lying, plain and simple, we will reveal now, rather than later, how it was possible that this country, this cross shaped island in the middle of the atlantic ocean, that most explored of oceans, remained unknown all this time.

For centuries sailors had been driven away from it by strong currents, thereby failing to discover the island even during that age we mentioned early so fruitful in discoveries of this type, and those same currents had made it impossible for the vessels of the natives to venture beyond the vicinity of the island, or to make it back alive on those rare occasions where they did venture, or for the few castaways that made it there to ever return to their homelands to tell about it. As for the last century, and the possibility of planes flying over the island, they too had stayed away from the area as the wind equivalent of the strong sea currents always surrounded the airspace of the island and thus made it unsafe to fly over. As for the natives, they had not invented airplanes, but were in fact in a stage of development that we would perhaps, with all allowance for cultural disparities and excusing ourselves for a bit of european chauvinism, call medieval, even though, as we know, the word denotes a middle age, and as far as the natives of the cross shaped island were concerned, they were not in any middle age but in fact living in the last one they ever knew. And lastly, how the satellites had missed it was simple, everyone who had caught sight of it believed it was that previously mentioned smudge, but never thought to clean it, after all, they were astronauts, not janitors. The astronauts of the portuguese satellite were more humble, and they had to be for they had been rejected by the space programs of their native countries, and so they didn’t think twice about attempting to clean the smudge and then finding it was not a smudge at all.

Now that the country had been found, the physical constraints that had left it unknown by everyone else for so long were conquered without much trouble at all by the advanced machines of the modern world. Besides governments and corporations, christian missionaries were the first to arrive on the island, and they were surprised when they found Jesus already there, so to speak. The people knew the story and even had their own version of the spells of god, as they called the collections of sayings from the godman, as according to them he had visited the island shortly after his resurrection. For this reason, and also because first contact was made on easter sunday, it was a considerable and understandable shock to the natives and also the visitors. For the natives because, unlike their christian counterparts everywhere else, they did not expect their god to return, since he had made it clear that his job on the earth was done, now it was up to them and he had other things to do, yet at the same time, and much like the natives of the continent to the west of the island before them, they first mistook the visitors for gods and were thus shocked, and then a little later, when they understood these were not gods but mere men with what they surmised were very advanced tools, utterly confused. For the christian missionaries it was both shocking and confusing because none of their textbooks prepared them for such an encounter, these were not remote tribes living in the stone age or adherents to another well known religion, and so they were not prepared for the fact that they were already christian, and worst still, that despite this they had no organized clergy or church hierarchy, and worst of all was that they seemed, to use the disgusted expression of a missionary, So very pagan.

Placed as it was in the middle of the atlantic ocean, and if not for its cultural isolation the country would almost certainly be counted as within the sphere of influence of europe, or at the very least north america, which in the end amounts to almost the same thing, it was no great surprise that the natives were, for lack of a better word, racially european, somewhere between celtic and nordic, for the most part. Pale skins, blonde and auburn hairs, blues and greens for eyes, some slightly darker shades too of course, but unmistakably european nonetheless. Also not quite surprising was the fact that their language almost certainly belonged to the indo-european family, though strangely one that contained a not insignificant amount of vocabulary with a clear hebrew provenance. Communication was thus possible, even if difficult at first. We almost forgot to mention, but take the opportunity now, that there was one piece of information about the land and its people that was not surprising in the least once it was revealed. The name of the country was atlantis. And yes, the native stories all reported that it had once sunk, but later, through the grace of god, resurfaced.

After the initial shock for both the natives and the rest of the world, it was expected that the new country and population be incorporated into the global economy and culture, and several diplomatic missions from all the powerful countries were dispatched. Technically the country that had discovered it was portugal, not an unheard of feat, and so the insignificant coastal nation tried to claim the territory, or at least some kind of privilege for getting there first, but everyone laughed at the proposal and then the big countries went on to the real business. The natives weren’t too interested in the religious efforts of the missionaries, but they were, as is only natural, very curious about all the machinery and all the apparent blessings it seemed to bestow. Still, once all the presentations were made, and all the meetings held, and all the offers clarified, the king of the new country was not convinced, in his best newly learned english he said, It seems to us that the benefits of this progress you speak of are not worth the costs. Wise king, but his use of the plural, us, could mean himself and his subjects, but it certainly did not include his court, which was easily seduced by the promises of that very progress, especially once it was explained that the land possessed untold mineral riches that had thus far remained unexploited, and so they wanted to have the king assassinated at the earliest possible date. But the king, being wise, perceived the greed in his subordinates, and evaded their attempts, for the time being.

Since persuasion was not successful, intimidation needed to follow, but what kind. The country was economically self sufficient. Poor, of course, by modern standards, but by medieval standards they were a prosperous nation, having survived alone all this time, embargoes and sanctions would mean nothing. And so the next best thing was pursued. Boats paid for and operated by non governmental organizations started to pick up desperate people from the most desperate parts of the world, and then taking them to the shores of atlantis. The massive increase in population, and of this population in particular, would make the adoption of modern means inevitable. The expectation was that, being technically christian, the natives would feel compelled to save these unfortunates from certain death in the turbulent waters that surrounded the island. But they were mistaken. Lacking the history which made them prone to manipulation into irrational guilt, once the natives understood what was being attempted, they dealt with the boats as any normal country would have, by preventing them from landing, and when prevention did not succeed, by sinking them. This, however, was a possibility for which those who orchestrated the plan were prepared, and it too served their goals, for it made for spectacularly compelling propaganda against atlantis. Soon the media of europe and america was calling for war, an all out invasion to right this incredible wrong. The satellite pictures of the island were even doctored for the evening news so that the island’s shape would be perceived, not as any cross, but as that most hated of crosses, the swastika. Still, it was too much too soon, and the polls among the populations of europe and north america showed no great support for an invasion of the country, and in fact, if anything, the way the atlanteans dealt with the situation seemed to be awakening certain dangerous ideas, for example, that there was this other way of dealing with similar arrivals on european and american shores or borders, rather than letting everyone in, all the time, for any reason whatsoever. And so the pressure was eased, the leaders of the developed nations were led into a retreat, for a time.

And then one day the king had what the official reports said was an unfortunate hunting accident, and soon after his heir died from an unknown disease, and with the king and his heir out of the picture, it was the court who took charge, conducting the business of transition with the utmost speed. All the machinery of the modern world entered the cross shaped country and ravaged it as it had once ravaged every other, clearing forests, leveling mountains, damming rivers, and after a generation the country was almost completely indistinguishable from every other modern european country, a story of success if there ever was one. The temples and palaces that were not tore down were now overshadowed by apartment buildings, valleys became shopping malls, plains became parking lots. The population density had always been small, but now with all the advancements there were fewer births, so arrangements were made to start importing foreigners from africa and asia and south america to fill in those gaps left by the trees and mountains and rivers, and finally, the transformation would be complete, a modern european country, at last.

But before the plan could be put to action the earth started to quake. The cross started to revolve counterclockwise upon the sea, and then began slowly sinking into the ocean. The oldest generation was not surprised, they remembered the stories, some had even tried to warn of the impending disaster, but the younger generations wanted to hear nothing of it, that was the past and they wanted the future. And now the future was here, the country was sinking and, according to most calculations, it would be completely underwater by this time next year. And so the natives made a desperate plea, to be accepted as refugees elsewhere before they were swallowed by the ocean. But given the paleness of their skins, the lightness of their eyes and hairs, no one would take them, and so they all drowned.