INTRODUCTION
José M. Codó was a possibly Spanish translator and author, who translated a number of detective stories for several Mexican magazines, namely "Misterio", "Detectives y banditos" and "Selections of Detectives and Mystery" ("Selecciones Policiacas y de Misterio"). He authored a detective story, "The Case of the Short Sonata" ("El caso de la sonatina"), which appeared in issue #87 of "Selecciones". He is also credited with translating seven stories for Los Cuentos Fantásticos, which include: Robert Heinlein - "Destination Moon" (#30); John B. Michel and Robert A. W. Lowndes - "The Inheritors" (#28); E. Everett Evans - "Conflict in Space" (this is the literal translation of the Spanish title; I'm unsure what the original was, or if it was ever published in English) (#31); Zona Gale - "Bridal Pond" (#32); James V. Taurasi - "La "Ka-Vance" de Koray'" (#31); H. G. Wells - "In the Abyss" (#36); E. Everett Evans - "Sa’antha" (#36).
"F3-Wg" appeared in issue April 1952 issue of Los Cuentos Fantásticos (#38) and is the only story he wrote for the magazine. This translation is based off of the original Los Cuentos Fantásticos publication. Many thanks to Antonio from Proyecto F for supplying the text.
For more information on Codó's non-sf translation work, other LCF authors, and Mexican detective fiction in general from this time period, see: Jorge Palafox Cabrera - "Letras asesinas: Historia de la literatura policial mexicana (1930-1960)", Vicente Francisco Torres - "Mueros de papel: Un paseo por la narrativa policial mexicana", Gabriela Orozco Hidalgo - "Selecciones Policiacas y de Misterio - Origenes de la literature policiaca en Mexico (1946-1961)" and Amelia Simpson - "Detective Fiction from Latin America".
F3-Wg
The captain scratched his cylindrical nose, and asked:
- "Where's the Earth?"
Some said forward, others said backward, but nobody knew. The situation was terrible.
- "We only have enough fuel to last forever!" the chief engineer shouted, a three-month-old infant whose intelligence was prematurely developed by uranium injections.
- "Supplies are no longer being reproduced!" exclaimed the skinnyfat grocer. "We need another captain!" someone suggested.
Suddenly, the interstellar ship collided with something and exploded in space, but another ship was soon assembled and the journey continued normally.
A hand of Martian poker was played to choose the new captain. The spiderweb-wielding man won, and immediately ordered:
- "Turn, helmsman!"
The helmsman ignored him, and the ship continued to aimlessly advance towards the zone of cubic planets.
* * *
THREE eternities later, the ship cut through Mnemosyne's ellipse and plunged toward the surface of the starsteroid, but was stopped when it was still two hundred circular meters from touching the ground, remaining suspended in the black, pestilent air.
- "What's happening?" the captain shouted.
The engineer explained:
- "Exercise! The peripheral coefficient failed, and the ambidextrous expansion neutralizes the movement of diffuse concentration."
- "How can we fix that?"
The engineer began to calculate, but since he used Roman numerals, it took him a very long time.
It was necessary to wait until the starsteroid died from age and disintegrated in space for the exploratory ship to be freed.
- "Where are we going, captain?"
- "To the zenith, via the nadir. We have to look at the map."
During that part of the voyage, several new worlds were added to the celestial chart, and possession was taken of them in the name of the United States of the Solar System, planting the flag of the Eleven Stars on each one, since two other planets were already birthed beyond Pluto. In microcentury X-278, peace reigned in our system. The final touches were now, yes, being applied to the Korean armistice, and the OUP (Organization of United Planets) was working even less than before.
* * *
The conquest of the constellation of Cassiopeia was easy. Only the planet Betelgeuse put up a brief resistance, inhabited by very intelligent spherical beings who traveled in cars with oval wheels to make the rides more undulating. One Thursday afternoon the zenith was reached, and the lookout shouted:
- "We've reached the end of Infinity! Since there's nothing further ahead, we had to brake quickly to avoid going into a place that doesn't exist."
Suddenly, sinister looking coffins paraded along the side of the bow.
- "Projectiles to eternity," a compact voice murmured.
- "...ity," - the echo said, after having reflected off a starboard star.
The quadrangular night emanated impermeable effluvia. A mystifying flutter made the iris shudder in rhythm with the imposing radiations, and the imponderable contraction of a nightmare shone in blue on the downcast horizon.
It was a solemn moment.
- "Let's go back," the captain ordered. Everyone crossed themselves in the Orthodox style.
They studied the three possible routes: the top, the bottom, and the middle.
- "Both three are good," the pilot opined.
The grammarian on board threw himself into the void. He was a very friendly Latino, whom his friends familiarly called Don Pisotón. The mourning lasted five heterogeneous days.
On the sixth, an invisible ship appeared that was advancing towards them from the opposite direction. The pilot, co-pilot and cosmopilot deliberated.
- "The coordinates say we'll collide."
- "Depends on the fullmoon magnetism."
- "And the retrospective molecules."
- "What'll we do?"
- "Cross our legs and heroically wait."
The two ships collided violently, resulting in the death of the pilot, the Persian and the chief saboteur on board.
- "Poor pilot," commented an aerine (an aerial marine) who always walked backwards. "He was the captain's left hand."
- "Left?"
- "Yes. The captain is left-handed."
* * *
The principal objectives of the voyage having been achieved, the exploratory ship set out on its return to Earth, passing through the antipodes. Space seemed like a lake, and the updown helmsman moved his triangular eyes in a sort of refractory swoon. The rectilinear spiral gravitation extended to zero minus four.
Two aerines were chatting amicably, their backs together.
- "It's a pleasure to travel like this. There hasn't been an accident for three megamonths."
- "Certainly. See that conical planet?"
- "Where?"
- "In front of me."
- "I can't see it because my back's turned."
- "Your logic disgusts me. Well, the thing is, there's Don Pisotón. He landed headfirst on top of the cone and got stuck. I can see him shaking his legs."
As they passed by, a lasso was thrown around the professor and he was pulled on board. He said he felt a little uncomfortable in that position, and that he was fed up with playing literary characters.
- "This is the third time my creator's tried to kill me, and I fear the condemned will eventually succeed."
The pilot's spirit, who was still hovering around the ship, said:
- "He did worse to me. It was my first time working for him, and he screwed me over in that collision with the other ship."
- "There's no guarantee in our profession; we're at the mercy of bloodthirsty authors. What's the name of the one who wrote this bad story?"
- "I don't agree that it's bad. It's true that he treats us characters very badly, but he was commissioned to write a FANTASTIC story, and he's making it as fantastic as he can. That way he'll get paid better. I think he's a very clever guy."[Translator's note: "Fantastic story", "cuento fantastico", as in a play on the magazine.]
* * *
A five-dimensional silence reigned in the three hovels. Lucifer and Pardaillan were weaving the dreamlike fabric of their euphonic scales. Jet-black slugs defied the eternal insult of defeated solitude, like cities besieged by transparent mud. Immanis pecoris custos, immanior ipse. Lasciate ogni speranza. Siquitibún alabim bom ba. The ship was an unreal point in dormant space.[Translator's note: Latin, "of a monstrous flock a herder even more monstrous.", initially a chapter from Victor Hugo's "Notre-Dame de Paris" parodying Virgil, but later used by Jules Verne in "Journey to the Center of the Earth". Italian, from Dante, "Abandon all hope". "Siquitibún...", a common cheer.]
The crew was sleeping.
* * *
The sun's ace of gold scattered the swords of its rays over the clubs of the militarily organized crew.
- "I can't! I really can't!"
The co-pilot made a knowing gesture to the telegraph operator in charge of the grotesque messages. The crewman in charge of serious messages started hitting his stomach with his elbows.
The crew understood instantly. The aerines drew lots, and the lucky one was in charge of turning the compass upside down.
The rest of the night passed uneventfully.
At dawn, the ship arrived at the point where Earth should have been, but Earth was no longer there. It had been murdered the day before by Venus, its twin sister.
The captain didn't hesitate. He attracted two nearby suns, one red and burning, the other white and gentle, and brought them into contact. A few hours later, in the same place where the murdered planet had been, another Earth was born, more round and more beautiful. The two suns were smiling, off to retire, having been penetrated by each other's rays.
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