Nuclear Midnight Read Free

their posts to join the rush for food and supplies. During the night, Harrods department store burnt to the ground, unattended by any emergency services.
    The British government gagged the more sensational news outlets, tightening its grip on the media, so that only official government statements could be broadcast. The Prime Minister appeared briefly on television appealing for calm and explaining the necessity for invoking very wide powers. These included an indefinite freezing of petrol and food supplies, control of essential services including fuel depots, power stations, major industries and factories, and a temporary cut in gas and electricity, so as not to trigger any more fires.
    Then, thirteen hours before the Moscow deadline, Washington issued the following statement: ‘Negotiations at the highest level have been going on between Washington and Moscow since the Russian ultimatum. Both countries have agreed to suspend all space arms research in the hope of negotiating a peaceful solution to the arms race in space.’
    The news swept through the streets of London, sparking off impromptu street parties. The dancing and celebrating lasted well into the night and the next day. The power came on again and the Prime Minister went on television and announced several days' holiday and, with a broad smile, that this would mark a turning point in relations. The press, who had already dubbed it the ‘Star Wars Crisis’, reinforced the Prime Minister's sentiments with sparkling commentaries on the delicate behind the scenes negotiations that had achieved this success. The tabloids meanwhile focused on the suicide and crime rates. Figures were bandied about suggesting as much as a twenty-fold increase in crime and an eight-fold increase in suicides. The general feeling was that the world had been through the most critical forty eight hours of its history. They had been brought to the brink, but they had drawn back in time.
    Alex and Jason had spent these fraught two days in a backpacker’s hostel near Victoria Station. After it had become apparent that conflict had been avoided, Alex bought several of the major newspapers and both sat down to read through them. Alex's paper had the headline: ‘48 HOURS OF TERROR’. After a brief article stating that the talks were making good progress it went on to focus on domestic news, recounting several family tragedies which had arisen as a result of the crisis. In one, the parents had administered lethal doses of tranquillisers to their children before dosing themselves and going to bed. Another man had shot dead his neighbour's family and stolen their food after an argument in a super-market.
    In other news, control of the essential services had not been relinquished and the press still suffered censorship restrictions. The official campaign, centred round the 'Protect and Survive' pamphlets, had been cancelled, but the standard warnings on protecting your home still continued to appear in the media. Re stocking of the supermarkets had begun, but was painfully slow, and petrol supplies were still being limited.
    Alex paused in his reading and looked up. Jason was deep into a dense article covering the lead up to the crisis. The writer concluded by saying that both sides would need to make significant concessions on the issue of arming space if a lasting peace was to be established. He grunted at that and glanced up.
    ‘It seems,’ he pondered, ‘that there will have to be compromises by both America and Russia. They say here that this should take place over the next week.’
    ‘Do you think they can reach an agreement?’ Alex asked.
    ‘Uh? Yes, of course they can,’ the reply came back sharply.
    ‘What I mean,’ Alex continued, deciding to risk Jason's anger, ‘is that neither power has made any compromises yet. They've just agreed to start talking again.’
    ‘They've hardly had much time, have they?’ Jason answered irritably. ‘Arms limitation agreements can't be