The Secret (short story)

Infobox short story |
name = The Secret
author = Arthur C. Clarke
country = United Kingdom
language = English
genre = Science fiction
published_in = This Week
publication_type =
publisher =
media_type =
pub_date = August 11, 1963

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

Plot summary

"The Secret" tells the story of a science reporter, named Henery Cooper, coming to the Moon in 2017 to write a series of publicity articles for the U.N.S.A 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.S.A 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. A few days later he is being taken by his friend, the police commissioner, to a remote lab.

In the lab he confronts one of the head scientists, who becomes convinced that the only way to keep the reporter silent is to bring him in on the secret. The secret, the scientist 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. On Earth the human heart pumps - over several decades - many gallons of blood up stream. Gravity tucks and pulls on the organs and tissues. On the moon, however, everything is six times lighter than on earth. 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.