For the first time, the four men began to grasp the full implications of what could happen. Up to now they had felt an air of unreality about the whole affair, a sense that it wasn’t really happening, that they were dreaming. They were standing on the threshold of an experience they had never even thought possible. And never had they felt so helpless. If only they could name a human enemy, most of the horror they felt would disappear. They would at least be able to focus on something within the realm of their understanding.

  Gregson swallowed. For the first time in many years his imagination was at work, and he did not enjoy the fact. He swallowed again. ‘There is one point I would like to raise.’ ‘Yes?’

  ‘This—this is a fantastic affair. So I want to put a fantastic question. Could this attack—if it is an attack—be launched from another planet? Or from an artificial satellite?*

  ‘The idea had occurred to me,’ Warburton admitted. I checked with our radar defence chain. According to the information they gave me, there is no artificial satellite or unknown body moving anywhere near the earth. If there were, they would be able to trace and track it. As for the attack coming from some other planet, I would say not. The way in which these islands have been singled out seems to me to suggest an earthly enemy.’

  ‘What do you propose we should do?*

  ‘There is only one thing to be done. Find the source of the snow. If we can do that, maybe we can stop the snow. We shall be faced with openly declared war; but we have no choice. Tomorrow morning I am meeting the heads of all our Research Establishments. One of them may be able to suggest a way to combat this menace. I have spoken with the President of the United States. He is sending us his top artificial-weather scientists, so we may learn something from them. If any other measure occurs to me, I shall put it into operation. In the meantime, we must wait and see what develops.’

  2

  Warburton’s meeting with the heads of the scientific establishments opened briskly. He gave the three men, Garrett, from Farncroft; Doctor Brennar, Controller of the Cambridge Research Laboratories; and Doctor Pinkerson, of the Bristol Research Establishment, a summary of the events up to the moment.

  The situation had changed very little from the previous day; the only notable change being that the mean temperature over the whole of the British Isles had dropped to forty degrees Fahrenheit, and it was still slowly going down. The Prime Minister outlined the major problems that would confront the authorities, should the temperature drop below freezing-point.

  ‘But there is one main problem,’ he continued, ‘and that is why I have called you to this meeting. Once we have located the source of the snow, then we shall merely have a straightforward military matter on our hands. We are not unaccustomed to dealing with such matters, and I should have no doubts as to the outcome. But first, we’ve got to find the cause. Have any of you a suggestion?’

  Doctor Brennar stroked the huge walrus moustache that was his secret pride. ‘It had occurred to me that possibly a chemical is being released into the upper atmosphere scores, maybe hundreds, of miles away from our shores, and that it is carried here by the prevailing winds.’

  He shook his head gloomily. ‘It is a pretty theory but, unfortunately, it won’t do. It would be impossible to control the area of precipitation as closely as it appears to be controlled, by setting free some sort of chemical dust in the atmosphere and leaving it to the mercy of the winds. Snow would, under such circumstances, fall in various areas, in varying amounts.’

  The Bristol scientist was scribbling a series of lines and circles on the blotting-pad in front of him. ‘There is another reason for discounting that idea,’ he said. ‘We fitted a squadron of jet fighters with filter boxes on their wings. They went up, exposing the plates in the filters every five thousand feet from ground lever to fifty-five thousand feet. The only thing they got on the filters was snow. Just common or garden snow; nothing less, nothing more.*

  Warburton praised him warmly. ‘That was quick work, Pinkerson.*

  ‘Unfortunately, Prime Minister, it didn’t get us anywhere.’ Garrett spoke for the first time. ‘The fact is, we have nothing to give us a lead. We are blind men, searching for something we wouldn’t recognize if we found it.’

  The Prime Minister leaned forward. ‘That was one of the points I was going to raise. I may have something that will give you a pointer.’ He paused. ‘It’s a faint chance, but I’m ready to grasp at straws.’ He paused again, the three scientists watching him closely. At last he spoke. ‘Some years ago a scientist told me, in confidence, that he had succeeded in producing an artificial fall of snow, with the help of radio waves. Frankly, I thought he was lying—that he was trying to impress me with his cleverness. But now I am not so sure, because the name of the man was Bruderhof… . Hans Bruderhof. ’

  The name produced the effect of a small explosion. His listeners jumped; they had all known Hans Bruderhof, they had all worked with him before his disappearance, a few years before.

  Hans Bruderhof had been one of the world’s leading scientists. An Austrian, with degrees from half a dozen Continental universities, he was brilliant, but unstable. So small as to be almost a dwarf, with his head twisted permanently over his left shoulder, Bruderhof was no lover of normal mankind. Forced into exile before the last war, he had carried on his work in France. Only at the last minute had he been saved from the Germans and brought over to work in England. He had been given a free hand at Cambridge, where Garrett had, for a time, been his first assistant.

  After the war, Bruderhof had apparently chosen to stay in England for the rest of his life. But one day he had left bis rooms, ostensibly to go up to London to attend a conference, and since that day he had never been seen. It is not easy for anyone, particularly a man of Bruderhof’s appearance, to vanish without trace. But despite the most thorough investigations, not only in Britain, but also on the Continent and in North America, not a single clue as to his possible whereabouts had been uncovered.

  His main work had been concerned with the propagation of Ultra High Frequency Radio waves. This was also Garrett’s particular branch of science, and it had earned him the chance to work with the Austrian. But it was no secret that Bruderhof was also interested in the possibilities of artificial weather control. The subject was a hobby with him; often he had stated his belief that, in the not too far distant future, mankind would be able to choose whatever climatic conditions he required.

  Bruderhof’s disappearance had created world-wide excitement. At first, before many details were known, it was suggested that he had been kidnapped. But when it was discovered that he had either destroyed or removed all his papers from the secret files where they were kept, the affair took on a different complexion. Apparently he had disappeared because he chose to.

  Garrett’s thin face showed a trace of excitement.

  ‘That certainly gives me a lead,’ he said. His own work at Farncroft was an extension of the work he had been carrying out under the Austrian’s guidance. At present, the Malvern Establishment was working on the propagation of Extra Ultra High Frequency Radio waves. The work was not nearly completed; there was much to be done before Garrett would be able to prove his theories of propagation. But it might well be that he was working towards something the Austrian had stumbled upon.

  The others were waiting impatiently for him to explain. Before he had a chance to speak, the Prime Minister started to question him. For a few minutes the politician listened intently. Finally he nodded his head with satisfaction. ‘It will give us something to do, I agree. But I’m thinking of the more immediate problem. Would any of you offer a suggestion as to where we should start looking for whatever apparatus is causing the snow?’

  Nobody answered him. Warburton smiled grimly. ‘I’m asking the impossible, is that it?’

  Brennar took it upon himself to act as spokesman. ‘We are up against something unknown, Prime Minister. If we offered any opinions they would be, at best, wild guesses. And we do not encourage wild guesses in our profession.’

  Warburton made up his mind. ‘Very well, then. As I see it, we have one clue: Bruderhof. Doctor Garrett, I am going to give you and your work top priority. If there is anything you want; money, equipment, workers, you shall have them for the asking. I understand you are on the threshold of finding the answers you have been seeking ever since you worked with Bruderhof. If material assistance can help speed you to your goal, I will see to it that you are stinted for nothing/

  Garrett smiled wryly. For years he had been fighting a losing battle against the administrators who questioned and cut down on every penny of expenditure. ‘I hope I shall be able to produce the answer you want, Prime Minister,’ he said. ‘But I could not allow there to be the smallest possibility of misunderstanding. There may be absolutely no connection between the work I am doing, and the production of artificial weather conditions. In fact, quite honestly, I cannot for the life of me see how there can be any link!’

  It was quite true. He was concerned solely with the problems of propagating radio waves of hitherto unheard-of wavelengths. In the field of radar, the micro-wave technique had been developed during the last war. Radar equipment, using micro-waves, had been one of the major weapons. But the equipment was bulky. It was Garrett’s belief that he would one day produce a micro-wave Transmitter/Receiver which could comfortably be carried by one man; and that such a set would give an accuracy greater than anything ever before achieved. Only the curvature of the earth would limit the set’s use, because radio waves of Ultra High Frequencies travel in straight lines.

  The Premier was speaking again. ‘Time. That’s the crux of the matter, gentlemen. Time. How much time have we got before the temperature falls to a point where the snow begins to settle? Once that happens, the country may well be brought to a standstill within a matter of weeks. And so, although I appreciate your objections, I must insist that you make suggestions as to what we should do in order to combat this threat.’

  By the time the three scientists had each offered an idea, Warburton nodded with satisfaction. At least he would now be able to start some positive action. The first suggestion was that extra interference might have been noted by the B.B.C. Monitor Units. If the snow was being caused by some form of radio, then it was possible that unusual forms of interference might have been noted by the broadcasting authorities.

  Because there was a chance that the snow might come from a source within the British Isles, a house-to-house search was to be organized at the first possible moment. The armed forces, working in co-operation with the police, would be responsible for the search. Any suspicious-looking equipment would be confiscated until it could be examined by an expert. Every house and building in Great Britain was to be searched; there was to be nothing overlooked. But before the search could take place, there would have to be special powers granted to Parliament.

  ’The more you look at this business,’ the Premier said, ’the more complicated it becomes. Every move we make is pure experiment; there is no precedent.’ He looked at his watch. ‘I am expecting the leader of the Opposition and a few members of the Cabinet,’ he said. ‘I want you gentlemen to talk with us all. My Ministers have their own problems concerning this matter, and they would probably welcome the opportunity to air them.’

  The eight men, scientists and politicians, had just settled themselves round the oval table when the telephone at the Prime Minister’s elbow rang. He picked up the receiver. ‘I gave instructions that I was not to be disturbed,’ he barked into the instrument. ‘Do you-What! What’s that!’ They saw his cheeks blanch. ‘Good God!’ He listened intently. The room was absolutely silent as the men waited for the Prime Minister to finish.

  Warburton put the receiver down. His face was grey; his cheeks sagging. He had aged ten years in ten seconds. Tensely they watched him. He seemed to be trying to speak, but it was a minute before he could control his lips and tongue. ‘That was the University of Birmingham,’ he said at last. ‘Professor Leadbetter.’ He cleared his throat. ‘The Professor has just informed me that the snow is radio-active!’

  ‘God help us!’ Gregson started to his feet, looking at the Prime Minister in horror.

  The Foreign Secretary tugged at his collar, which had suddenly become too tight. Every man felt for a brief second the flare of panic. They looked round the room which had, for a moment, seemed a tomb.

  ‘At the moment, it is all right,’ Warburton assured them. ‘The degree of radio-activity is too small to be harmful.’ ‘But did he say if it would stop like that?’

  ‘No, Clare, he could offer no opinion.’

  Doctor Brennar’s voice made itself heard. ‘I think it possible that you may be unduly distressed, Prime Minister. You may not be aware of the fact that the University of Birmingham has several times recorded radio-active rain falling. I believe I am right in saying that on four occasions, radio-active rain has fallen on the city of Birmingham. It was as a result of the American atomic explosion experiments in the Pacific.’

  ‘You mean it was harmless?’

  ‘Quite harmless.’

  ‘Suppose, Doctor, suppose the degree of radio-activity increased every day?’

  ‘In that case, sir, if the increase were sufficient, all life would be burned from these islands.’

  Warburton slumped in his chair, his mind racing. The picture conjured up by the scientist’s words was too dreadful to contemplate. The threat of the snow had been terrible. But this …

  The leader of the Opposition wiped the cold sweat from his face. ‘What do you intend to do about the people, Prime Minister? Are you going to tell them of the possible doom that is about us? I must warn you that if you do, in my opinion there will be such panic that it would lead to catastrophic loss of life.’

  ‘I am afraid,’ the Prime Minister said slowly, ‘I am afraid that there is nothing we can do to avoid a catastrophe. There is one solution: find the cause of the snow. How much time we have, remains to be seen; but our one hope of life, of the continuation of our very existence, depends on the success of our search. How ironic the situation is, gentlemen, how very ironic! For years we have spent scores of millions of pounds in making weapons of war—guns, tanks, planes, warships, atomic weapons. For years we have been training men and women to cope with the results of fire and explosion. And now, without one single explosion taking place, without one single casualty from fire, we face extinction.’

  3

  During the next few days, those people who knew of the snow’s radio-activity lived in a state of constant strain. For the first day the Prime Minister was informed every hour of the prevailing conditions. Only when he had received a constant stream of reports that the degree of radio-activity was not increasing, did he relax. He issued fresh instructions. He was to be notified, whatever the time of day or night, the instant there was any change. Gradually his sense of tension eased; the volume of the snowfall was increasing, but the radio-activity remained at an insignificant level.

  By Thursday the temperature was down to thirty-six degrees, and a pall of green fog kept the British Isles in semidarkness throughout the day. It was on the same day that the first breakdown occurred in the electric supply system. As was usual at the time of year, approximately one-third of all the generating plant in England and Scotland was out of action, stripped down for its annual overhaul. The remaining plant was unable to cope with the extra demands for light and heat.

  The grid system failed, plunging into darkness and cold most of England south of a line from Bristol to Southend.

  The failure would undoubtedly have occurred earlier in the week but for the fact that most engineering works were closed for the annual holidays. Those members of the Cabinet who had been away when the snow started had been recalled to London. A full Cabinet meeting was in session when the power failure occurred. Warburton acted with speed. He issued orders that the overhaul of generating equipment was to be abandoned, and all generators brought back into service without waste of time. Fuel stocks at the generating stations were to be trebled; and in order to move the extra coal, British Railways were instructed to cut their programme of August Bank Holiday trains by seventy-five per cent. Fuel and food were to be the railways main freight.

  So far, there had not been any indication for the people that the Government considered the situation serious. All the Government’s preparations had been made in secret, but now they came out into the open. A State of Emergency was declared; extraordinary powers being granted to the newly-formed Coalition. The first move was to bring the armed forces to a state of instant readiness; all reserves were called to the colours. The Army was given two major tasks to carry out in conjunction with the police.

  All known enemies of the State were to be taken into custody. Every building in the country was to be searched for any unusual machinery. In addition, the Army was to ensure that there was no waste of electric light or heat.

  The harsh penalties listed under the Emergency Act told the people for the first time that they were faced with a major disaster. At first they were inclined to treat it as a joke. But a wave of hysteria, born of the fantastic rumours which sprang from nowhere, turned the mood of the public. In the north of England there were a number of public demonstrations against the Act, and one or two ugly incidents occurred. In Sheffield and Newcastle, only the tact of the local police averted bloodshed.

  Because of the bitter reactions, Warburton made a personal broadcast to the nation.

  ‘We do not know,’ he said in the middle of his talk, ‘we do not know whether the snow is caused by a freakish circumstance in weather conditions, or—and this is a possibility—if it is caused by man. It may be that this unwelcome visitation will cease by tomorrow. But it may go on for several days—even for weeks or months! If it does continue for some considerable period, then we shall have to adjust our individual lives in order to combat the difficulties that will arise. You have my most profound assurance that we in the government are doing everything within our power to meet the situation.’