Contdown to midnight ver.., p.28
Contdown to Midnight vers 2,
p.28
Except for the few from France, no weapons have arrived. Day is not surprised and neither is Ramo.
Ramo is saddened to hear that several hundred people were killed in panicky evacuations, in Tokyo, Bombay and Khartoum. Evacuation of London is proceeding in an orderly manner. Washington is under martial law. In New York and Paris a few rushed out and most people are just sitting tight. A lot of people in Akron have decided to see what’s happening in Cleveland.
20 - Noon
President’s intercom buzzes. “We found Ramo’s man. sir.”
“I suppose you searched him. Send him in.”
A man in shirt sleeves walks in between two uniformed MP’s. He is a hawk-faced dark man with a sardonic expression.
“This is rather premature, Mr. President. I was supposed to—”
“Sit down.”
He flops into an easy chair. “—supposed to call on you at 3:30 this afternoon.”
“You no doubt have some sort of a deal to offer.”
The man looks at his watch. “You must be hungry, Mr. President. Take a long lunch hour, maybe a nap. I’ll have plenty to say at—”
“You—”
“Don’t worry about me, I’ve already eaten. I’ll wait here.”
“We can be very hard on you.”
He rolls up his left sleeve. Two small boxes and some wiring are taped securely to his forearm. “No, you can’t. Not for three days—you can’t kill me or even cause me a lot of pain. You can’t drug me or hypnotize me.” (This last, a lie.) “Even if you could, it wouldn’t bring any good to you.”
“I believe it would.”
“We can discuss that at 3:30.” He leans back and closes his eyes.
“What are you?”
He opens one eye. “A professional gambler.” That is also a lie. Back when he had to work for a living, he ran a curious kind of a lathe.
21 - 3:30 P.M.
The President comes through a side door and sits at his desk. “All right, you have your say.”
The man nods and straightens up slowly. “First off, let me explain my function.”
“Reasonable.”
“I am a gadfly, a source of tension.”
“That is obvious.”
“I can also answer certain questions about that bomb in your backyard.”
“Here’s one: how can we disarm it?”
“That I can’t tell you.”
“I believe we can convince—”
“No, you don’t understand. I don’t know how to turn it off. That’s somebody else’s job.” Third lie. “I do know How to blow it up—hurt me or kill me or move me more than ten miles from ground zero. Or I can just pull this little wire.” He touches a wire and the President flinches.
“All right. What else are you here for?”
“That’s all. Keep an eye on you, I guess.”
“You don’t have any sort of… message, any—”
“Ob, no. You’ve already got the message. Through the Polish embassy, I think.”
“Come on now. I’m not naive.”
The man looked at him curiously. “Maybe that’s your problem. Mr. Ramo’s demands are not negotiable—he really is doing what he says, taking the atomic weapons away from all of you … strange people.
“What sort of a deal do you think you could offer an 80-year-old millionaire? Ex-billionaire. How would you propose to threaten him?”
“We can kill him.”
“That’s right.”
“In three days we can kill you.”
The man laughs politely. “Now you are being naive.”
The President flips a switch on his intercom. “Send in Carson and Major Anfel and the two MP’s.” The four men come in immediately.
“Take this man somewhere and talk to him. Don’t hurt him.”
“Not yet,” Carson says.
“Come on,” one MP says to the man.
“I don’t think so,” the man says. He stares at the President. “I’d like a glass of water.”
22 -15 October 1975
The only nuclear weapons in the United States are located in Colorado. Texas, Florida, and, of course, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Akron, Ohio.
23 - 16 October 1975
2:30 A.M.
The only nuclear weapons in the United States are located in Colorado, Texas, Florida, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. There is no Akron, Ohio.
Of the 139 who perished in the blast, 138 were very gutsy looters.
10:00 A.M.
Only San Francisco and Washington now. The others are on their way to Reykjavik.
The man who was named Andre Charvat walks down a deserted 14th Street with a 9-volt battery in his hand. A civilian and two volunteer MP‘s walk with him.
He walks straight up to the Econoline’s rear bumper and touches the terminals of the battery to two inconspicuous rivets. There is a small spark and a click like the sound of a pinball machine, tilting.
“That’s all. It’s controlled by Reykjavik now.”
“And Reykjavik is half controlled by Communists. And worse, traitors,” Carson said huskily.
He doesn’t answer but walks on down the street, alone. Amnesty.
In a few minutes a heavy truck rumbles up, and men in plain coveralls construct a box of boiler plate around die Econoline. People start coming back into Washington, and a large crowd gathers, watching them as they cover the box with a marble facade and affix a bronze plaque to the front.
The man who owned the parking lot received a generous check from the Nuclear Arms Control Board, in kroner.
24 - Quote
“NUCLEAR WARFARE . . , This article consists of the following sections:
I. Introduction
II. Basic Principles
1. Fission Weapons
2. Fusion Weapons
III. Destructive Effects
1. Theoretical
2. Hiroshima and Nagaski
3. Akron and Novosibirsk
IV. History
1. World War II
2. “Cold War”
3. Treaty of Reykjavik
V. Conversion to Peaceful Uses
1. Theory and Engineering
2. Administration Under NACB
3. Inspection Procedures
I (For related articles, see: DAY, RONALD R.; EINSTEIN, ALBERT; ENERGY; FERMI, ENRICO; NUCLEAR SCIENCES (several articles); RAMO, HOWARD K.; VALE. PHILIP; WARFARE. HISTORY OF.”
—Copyright €> 2020 by Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Unknown Author, Contdown to Midnight vers 2
