The Secret (short story)

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Arthur C. Clarke wrote The Secret.

"The Secret" is a short science fiction story by Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1963. It was first titled "The Secret of the Men on the Moon", and saw light on The Week magazine. It was collected in The Wind From the Sun.

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The Secret tells the story of science reporter, coming to the moon to write a series of publicity articles for the U.N. space division. In this time the moon is scarcely inhabited by a small community consisting mostly of scientists, researchers and their families. Although he was invited by the U.N. to provide favorable articles that might sway public opinion before the beginning of the budget deliberations, he finds that he is much less welcomed than he was on his last trips there. He begins to suspect that a secret is being kept from him, and becomes increasingly curious. That curiosity increases once we find out that the passing few month saw an increasing number of mental breakdowns in the medical division. The reporter contacts the police commissioner of the moon, a long time friend of his, and asks him to snoop around. A few days later he is being taken by his friend to a remote lab. In the lab, which is also kind of a small zoo, he confronts one of the head scientists, that becomes convinced that the only way to keep him silence is to bring him in on the secret. The secret, he explains, is rather obvious when you come to think about it, and it's a wonder human kind hasn't thought of it in advance. A little time after the small zoo was opened, the operators noticed a little abnormality - some of the short lived animals didn't die when they were supposed to. The zoo now harbors a few ten year old hamsters - an animal which rarely reaches the age of three. On earth, the scientist explains, the human heart pumps - over several decades - god-knows-how-many gallons of blood up stream. Gravity tucks and pulls on the organs and tissues. How much of the wear and tear of old age is caused by that? On the moon, however, everything is six times lighter. The erosion of gravity is six times weaker. Who knows, concludes the scientist, how many years that might add to the human life expectancy? The reporter is then confronted with the sheer numbers of earth's population - over ten billions huddled together with not enough food and not enough space. What will they do when they'll hear that the moon offers longevity? How could the moon support them?

The story ends with the sounds of a baby monkey being born.