Walter Nunez

Magellans

I. Deafening Silence Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. And so I used to believe. I used to believe sound wouldn’t carry in space. Our ears are sensitive to the vibrations of air. When someone speaks, their voice vibrates the air in waves to whoever listens. This is communication, as we know it, here on Earth. Without air - or a medium for the sound to travel through - there can be no sound at all. But what is sound to a human? It’s an understanding based on sensation – a feeling. Could a feeling bypass the medium of air, going straight from one person’s lips to the ears without traveling through sound? Can the brain understand the preliminary motions and translate it to the end effect?