text: When he was born, the first thing he did was scream. But, unlike other babies, he stopped as soon as the scream reached his ear. Doctors and nurses quickly came and checked on him, flashing their instruments, probing him with their green-gloved hands, directing blinding beams of light at him. But all that did not make him scream. It was all the sound, filling the room, reaching every corner and covering every surface. The humming and buzzing of the machines, the quick footsteps on the floor, the agitated chatter and the little screams of preoccupation. He started to scream again, adding even more sound to the cacophony, making him scream even louder. That day, he started his quest for silence. He grew up in a big city, the streets filled with old cars, new cars, people shouting, trucks crashing, music pouring out of every shop and house. He grew up to be a calm and silent boy, always seeking the quietest corner of the small apartment. But he could not find it, so he told his parents he wanted to move away, to some quiet place. The following week, they left the city and moved to a farm. Silence at last! No cars could be heard driving, no people shouting. But after a few days, the farm became too loud, too crowded for him. The hammering engine of the tractor, the hoofclaps of the horses, the infernal mooing of the cows, the savage rushing of the wind. So he decided to seek the silence, wherever it could have hidden. He studied, became a successful businessman and spent all his money on the science of sound and silence. Finally he learned that only up there in the cold space there was no sound, that sound needed air. Everything he had he invested in a journey to the stars, closer to the absolute silence. And finally he went to to the stars. And when he left the shuttle in his spacesuit, total silence surrounded him. He was truly happy, until he became aware of his own heartbeat, of the blood rushing in his ears, the million small sounds of a living body. He wept, having lost the silence, beat at his suit, his heart, his body, commanding himself in vain to be quiet. In blind despair he finally ripped away his helmet, releasing the air inside and letting in the perfect silence, the total nothing and with it, finally, pure joy. A moment later, only the silence remained.