Low Flying Aircraft

SOLVEIG NORDLUND

Based on a story by the Science fiction writer J.G. Ballard, who became famous for "EMPIRE OF THE SUN" made into a film by Steven Spielberg and "CRASH" adapted to film by David Cronenberg.

Story:
It’s not too far in the future, and the world looks much the same as it does today. Except for one thing… There are very few people. And no children at all. It seems that the human race is dying. Perhaps the genetic material has just worn out? Perhaps tampering with the food we eat has played a part?

Very few women are getting pregnant and nobody seems to give birth to normal healthy babies. Judith Foster is a physiotherapist, married to Richard. He’s a civil servant, working for the EU. Judith is still fertile: she has conceived on six occasions already. Each time however pregnancy tests have shown that the child is a mutant, and Judith has been forced, by the law, to abort. Now she conceives again and she thinks - suppose the elaborate tests on the foetus have the effect of causing the mutation to occur? Richard is horrified. He thinks Judith’s argument is nonsense, but his love for her overcomes his resistance.

With the help of a friend, Van Dorn, he obtains the necessary forged papers and takes Judith away from the city to a hotel in a tiny, decaying seaside resort on the fringes of the European continent, where there are no police, no laws. Here Judith will be in the care of the enigmatic Doctor Gould, who seems to accept Judith’s belief that her baby is not a mutation. A rapport springs up between them and Richard begins to become jealous. He is also suspicious of Gould’s other activities - particularly the frequent flights he makes in his small aircraft. Where is Gould going? What is he doing?

And Judith herself becomes increasingly alarmed about her baby. It kicks so powerfully in the womb, as if it wants to harm her. She begins to fear that she’s carrying a monster, begins to hate the baby, begins to hope that it will die………..