Level 7

Anyway, we can now listen to their broadcasts. They accuse both sides of lack of humanity. Sometimes what they say resembles the criticism which comes down from the cranks on Level 2.

But who can be blamed for the damage that has been caused? If global war is waged with intercontinental missiles equipped with thermonuclear warheads, the relatively small neutral countries cannot help getting hurt.

Besides, why should they be spared suffering, if the major powers are destroyed? Are they any better? They are certainly a lot weaker!

JUNE 16

The neutrals go on reproaching the two great powers. They claim that the big two are morally responsible for the annihilation of their respective allies. And they say the big two had no right to drag neutral countries into the abyss of destruction.

Our broadcasting service on Level 5 answers some of the charges. It says that we acted purely in self-defence, and that all the blame should be laid at the enemy’s door. “Everybody has the right to survive,” said the head of our government earlier today, “and that is precisely the reason why we had to defend ourselves against the treacherous assault of the enemy. For the right to survival implies the right to self-defence!”

The neutral broadcaster took up this argument, drawing opposite conclusions: “In the atomic age,” he said, “survival cannot be safeguarded by self-defence: for self-defence with thermonuclear weapons means total destruction.”

There are other neutral countries which do not join in these discussions, but broadcast accounts of the destruction. Some stress the human angle, going on incessantly about the great suffering caused, the number of people assumed dead all over the world. “Humanity has been decimated,” one speaker said. “Indeed, ‘decimated’ is not the word for it: out of a world population of about three thousand million people, the estimated number of survivors is only a few millions. Perhaps twenty million, perhaps fifteen or ten. And even these are condemned to live in caves!”

These were pretty gloomy statements, but somehow I did not feel as sorry for humanity as the speaker seemed to. ‘All right,’ I thought, ‘so there will be less human beings on earth. What difference does that make? Why is it better to have more people rather than less? And as for living in caves, well, I’ve grown to accept the life I’m forced to live down here, so why should other people expect to be able to walk in the sunshine? That wouldn’t be fair, would it?’

Other neutrals bewail, not the decease of a large number of human beings, but what they call “the catastrophic decline of civilisation”: “Libraries and museums, works of art, institutes of learning, houses, monuments, railways, roads, factories—all these are a thing of the past. What remains now and for the future is shelters, caves, bare minimal existence for the few survivors.” Another one added: “The toil of centuries, the traditions of generations, the wisdom of ages—all blown away in a few split seconds of atomic blast. This is the suicide of civilisation!”

This kind of talk is rather alien to my way of thinking. Perhaps I have become biased by living so long underground. Or perhaps the psychological treatment did something to make me immune to such appeals. For one reason or another, all these descriptions and arguments mean nothing to me.

Libraries have been destroyed. So what? Museums are in ashes. Who wants to visit a museum anyway? The traditions of centuries perished in a moment. Who cares about traditions?

Maybe I was not so unfeeling when I still lived on the surface, though I was picked for my job because I was pretty unsociable. Up there I might have felt differently. But down here—who cares?

It could be that this is one of the reasons why PBX Command was placed underground. I think that even if it had been possible to construct a safe shelter outside—a round dome of thick glass, say, which would allow us to see the world—it would have been a very unwise thing to do. For psychological reasons, as well as for physical security, we had to be sent below if our performance was to be reliable.

Who knows?—if I had been able to see the world and the destruction I was causing, I might have recoiled from pushing the buttons, just as X-117 did when it came to A4, B4 and C4.

No news of him, incidentally.

JUNE 17

The neutral countries have been asking us and the enemy to tell them what metals were used for the casings of the rigged bombs. They want to know so that they can estimate the time they will have to spend in their shelters. Radioactivity can last anything from a few seconds to milleniums, depending on the material; so the knowledge of what metals were used may certainly be of practical significance. What they are anxious to find out is whether they will be able to go up fairly soon, or have to stay underground indefinitely.