Covid One

(With apologies to C S Lewis for the poor reflection of his Trilogy)

Once upon a time there was a planet called Rehat with a major problem called Covid 1.  Unlike Covid 19, it was not a pandemic which would appear from nowhere, last a certain period of time and then disappear, and during its passage only affect a percentage of the Rehatlings.  It was instead an endemic, affecting every Rehatling from birth, and transferred in the DNA to every succeeding generation.  It was also worse than Covid 19 in that it not only affected the Rehatlings themselves, but infected everything they touched. On the other hand, there were some similarities – a minority of Rehatlings were severely affected, while the majority only showed relatively mild symptoms and some were even asymptomatic.

At the extreme other end of the universe was the planet Enhave.   It had never been affected by Covid 1, so the Enhavites who knew of Rehat were very aware that they had nothing to trigger anti-bodies or to develop immunity.   However, the distance between the two planets was so immense that there was no way Rehatlings would ever find their way there.  Which, of course, is the way it should be!

BUT, one day shock and amazement filled Enhave. Its emperor had found a way to become a Covid-free Rehatling (much too complicated to try to explain here).  So he travelled to Rehat, lived 33 years there without contracting the virus, and offered the Rehatlings a way to become virus-free like him. It would entail a total transfer of DNA between him and them. He then arranged a day when a transporter from Enhave would arrive to collect all those (and, of course, only those) who had undergone this transfer, and to transport them to Enhave. 

Before the transporter arrived, those who had received this transfer were commissioned to spread the news.  The responses were surprising: many did not believe that Enhave existed, many more insisted that Rehatlings who were asymptomatic or just mildly affected would be allowed on board the transporter.  Typical of the Rehatlings: to think they know better than the emperor about how Enhave orders its affairs!

But some did believe the emperor, and were busy spreading the word whether people listened or not.  Like the man who attended every AAG match he could to remind people of the message: “No-one can see the kingdom of Enhave unless they are born again, with virus-free DNA.”

Are you a Rehatling? Have you heard the message? Do you believe it? What have you done about it?

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