The Civilization Born of a Slap

What if the difference between birth and death amounted to just a few seconds?

Imagine this: following a genetic catastrophe — a virus or nuclear war — babies on a distant planet began to be born dead. At first, they were stillborn, and no medical device or technology could help. Doctors recorded the date and time of birth and death as one and the same.

Thousands of babies died before ever truly being born — or were born already dead. Those who hadn’t lost hope no longer cared whether they had a boy or a girl. They just wanted their child to be born alive. But the harsh reality was stronger than their hopes.

This continued for many years. Cemeteries grew larger than cities, and cities turned into cemeteries. Death rates had long surpassed birth rates, and the few remaining survivors refused to start families or have children. Life on the planet had lost its meaning. People stopped trusting conventional medicine. Even IVF brought no results. They began to believe in magic. Medicine and science as a whole fell into decline.

The few who still clung to hope conceived children, and women gave birth with the help of midwives. But even they could not change the outcome. The planet was nearly extinct. It had no legacy left. It stood at the brink of ceasing to exist.

The last couple on the planet turned to the last remaining midwife. As she pulled yet another lifeless newborn from the mother's womb, in a moment of frustration — before handing the baby to the mother as tradition demanded — she slapped the infant gently on its soft bottom.

Suddenly, the baby shuddered and cried. Then she opened her eyes. She was alive and breathing. It was a girl. They named her Hope. The time between death and birth was only a few seconds.

A few years later, the couple had a boy. They named him Future.

Afterward, the midwife died, but before her passing, she managed to teach the children’s mother her craft.

Years later, as part of a galactic government resettlement program for dying worlds, the first settlers arrived on the planet — a young couple with two children, a boy and a girl.

Life on the planet, which had to be rebuilt by eight hands, did not attract new settlers, no matter how generous the Galactic Government’s grants were.

Twenty years later, only eight people still lived on the planet.

Soon, the children of both couples married and started their own families. The births were attended by the native woman trained by the last midwife.

To her great surprise, both couples had healthy, living firstborns — thanks to the strong genes brought by the settlers. The planet revived. Science was reborn, especially medicine. Hope became a doctor. Future became an engineer.

No longer did anyone on the planet write identical birth and death dates just seconds apart.