Level 7 (Mordecai Roshwald) читать бесплатно онлайн полную версию книги

OCTOBER 8

This morning the loudspeaker gave some official information about the source of trouble.

Something went wrong with the reactor. If it had happened on the surface the reactor could have been stopped, isolated and repaired at leisure. If necessary, people could have been moved to a safe distance. But here on Level 7 there was no choice. The reactor had to be repaired where it was, and quickly, even with the danger of lethal radiation. Without light, the plants would have stopped supplying oxygen; and we would soon have died.

So the AE officers risked their lives and partly succeeded: the energy supply will continue. Unfortunately, so will the lethal radiation. The reactor will go on working simultaneously as a source of life and a source of death.

Precisely how and why, I do not know. And I do not care. There are some ‘technical reasons’. That is enough explanation for me. It seems to be enough for others too.