head-hunter might have made a bad button-pusher, and the button-pusher a poor infantryman. But killing is killing, whatever way it is done. Once you allow the death of one person, the way is open for the massacre of a million.
And yet, and yet—the development of the atomic rocket did make a difference. A merely technical difference, perhaps, but with results… results which go far beyond technology.
There is a difference between limited destruction and total annihilation.
SEPTEMBER 20
They seem to be doomed—all of them. All three levels, 3, 4 and 5.
In some shelters the sickness has entered its final stages, in others it is not so far advanced. But according to our medical experts it is only a matter of time: the severity and universality of the symptoms make it quite clear that the civilian levels do not have long to live.
And they know it. But they cannot do anything about it. They wait for their caves to turn into mass graves.
All this has happened so quickly. It is strange that the water supplies of all the different shelters became poisoned at roughly the same time. Within the short space of three days the sickness had spread throughout the three levels.
How this happened is hard to explain. Perhaps all the shelters were built in geologically similar areas, in places where the ground was fairly soft. To dig deep shelters through rock would have been very difficult. It could have been done given plenty of time, but time was short. And perhaps it was not polluted rain water that penetrated and poisoned the water supplies of the shelters, but some capillary water in the ground.
Be that as it may, it happened. It happened quickly and on all three civilian levels.
Levels 6 and 7 seem to be safe. The experts say so. The shelters are deep enough for the filtering process to do its work. Even so, their water supplies are regularly checked for possible radioactivity. If this had been done on the higher levels, they might have been able to take precautions in time, though the job of distilling enough water for everybody without the proper equipment, would have been almost impossible. People would probably have died from thirst. One of the broadcasts received today said that on Level 4 some people had given up hope of getting enough clean water and were quenching their thirst with the freely flowing supply of poison.
I dare say they have given up trying to purify the water now. It is too late to do any good. And probably there is nobody left to work their makeshift distilleries.
SEPTEMBER 21
Broadcasts from the civilian levels are few and far between. They do not care whether we are fully informed or not. Or else it is hard to find anyone to operate the transmitter. Whatever the reason, they are mostly silent.
It is curious how this radioactive death silences people even before the life actually leaves their bodies. Though perhaps death usually works that way.
But what is the difference? They are fated to die. Some went yesterday, some are going today. More will go tomorrow and the day after. Supposing some survive for another week or two? That will not be life. Just an extended agony.
So the world is shrinking once again. Our part of it used to have about 622,500 inhabitants. Soon the number will be down to 2,500.
Death works fast. In a second it can kill a man, a thousand men, a million men. A thousand millions it can kill in one second. The pushing of a button can do it.
Perhaps I exaggerate: in the deep caves, radioactive death comes more slowly. But it comes just as surely.
SEPTEMBER 22
This morning we picked up a radio message from the enemy suggesting that we should conclude a peace treaty. It also informed us that the entire civilian population over there, including the government and its various officials, is gone. They were all killed at one time or another by blast, fire or, finally radiation. All that is left is the military level—about a thousand people, self-sufficient for centuries.
As a reason for making peace they pointed out that there was no longer anything to dispute: no territory, no strategic positions, no wealth, no markets, no uncommitted areas—nothing. “And,” they added, “peaceful relations may add some fun to life underground, which is not very interesting.”
So the enemy’s lot is similar to ours. We have not been told exactly what their system of shelters was, but they are all graves except for the military one, which must correspond to our Level 7. Our enemy has shrunk even more than we!
And now we should make peace for the fun of it. As good a reason as any, though it is the queerest political motive I have ever struck!
After lunch today we were told that our radio staff were trying to get in touch with Level 5. They were asking for instructions.
On Level 7 there is no recognised authority to decide matters of such moment as peace treaties. We waged the war at the command of a gadget, except for the two orders which had to be given locally for purely military reasons. We could have been told what to do by the political leaders on Level 5—who may
Level 7’s internal affairs are managed on Level 7, naturally. Our own administrative officers deal with such things as timetables for the use of the lounge, marriage arrangements and so forth. But they cannot take any political responsibility.
So we are trying to get instructions from Level 5. They may have heard the enemy’s radio message themselves, of course, though it was addressed to “Our comrades in pushbutton war on the other side of the globe.” That is why we have taken the initiative in the matter of the peace treaty —in case Level 5 does not take it.
SEPTEMBER 23
No, Level 5 does nothing about it. They have not replied at all. Perhaps they cannot. There are no authorities left, maybe, or nobody to receive radio messages.
Somebody on Level 6 or 7 will have to make the decision. But who?
The general loudspeaker system has just announced that Level 7’s three chief administrators have decided to hold a referendum. The peace treaty question is to be decided by a majority vote. A truly democratic answer.
Voters are instructed to press a red button, identify themselves and say whether or not they want peace. Level 6 will be asked to participate, of course, their votes being added to the democratic pool.
I am in favour of peace, and I intend to record my vote as soon as I have finished writing this entry. I am sure most people will feel the same way. Down here on Level 7, at least. I do not know how Level 6 will react. Up there they are
