Manuel de Pedrolo
The Limit
1955
So far there had been no trail, only the sand filling the four sides of the horizon. It stretched in an endless plain, hardly interrupted by mild dunes, small and still waves that seemed to be fixed, one would say, once and for all. The undulations of that desert resembled the tiles of rooftops. Not a bush, not a tree did break the monotony: the desolation was infinite. All had the quality of an abstract thing, lifeless, ideal. It did not lack some beauty, though; a truly terrible and annihilating beauty.
However, the two explorers advanced. They came from so far away that they could hardly be surprised by the absence of traces; yet, they were a bit surprised, as they knew that extension had at some point been crossed by other adventurous beings. They knew that in one place or another they would end up finding the traces they were looking for. But where? And if they found them, how would they interpret them? They did not ignore the fact that some questions would be raised then. And among them there would be an essential one: where had their precursors departed from?
But it could also be the case that no one, truly no one, had ever ventured to that desert. Then, all the knowledge that had prompted them to start exploring would be false, probably a product of a excessive imagination. But this was not possible, there are things that can not be invented. Someone had to be there at some point.
With their eyes looking down to the floor, they kept on going. Before leaving they had said almost all there was to be said, and now they no longer needed words. No, at least while they were searching.
Above them the sky rested heavily, another boundless desert, an exact replica of the first. A strange light, however, shed from it. A clarity of dawn in its first and shy phase. This did not worry them, a they knew it could not be otherwise. They knew so many things, that their knowledge, all hypothetical at the same time, was almost a handicap. Thus, they expected with joy the opportunity to rectify many of their views. That had been the exact reason to undertake such a painful adventure.