THEY had given me the bleeper the day Americans went Saudi Arabia. They must have known then something was likely to happen. Not that I was particularly worried. was the third time they had given me bleeper. On the two occasions they had taken it back after a couple of days. So I was getting used to it, the novelty was wearing off.
Besides, I was quite pleased in a way. Being given the bleeper was confirmation that I was still an important person, in the one per cent elite whose would be required when it happened. But then, I was Britain's leading authority on radiation sickness, so I was only being given my due.
I had half tried to get to Saudi Arabla. It was the neutron bombs had ever been used, so it would have been useful to see their effect at first hand. That might sound callous, you're a doctor there are times when feelings become a luxury you just can't afford.
Anyway, when I made a few polite inquiries about going to Saudi Arabia I was warned off. Despite the bombs there were still thousands of insurgents roaming around, still intent on fighting the civil war to its grisly end. Not that there was any evidence people on the TV shots. shown pictures after the neutron bombs had been 'deployed'. was eerie. Nothing moved, just the oil wells stood there, alone but secure.
'Our vital interests protected' the US president had said afterwards. 'And the legally constituted government return once the area has been cleansed. For the moment the American people remain proud to play host to the Royal family of Saudi Arabia.
Certainly, when they showed the Princes on the box they didn't look exactly keen to return. But then, who would have?
So they had bleeper. Like the other when they wrapped it around my wrists they told me there would be three short bleeps, ten seconds apart. Then it was up to me to get to the shelter. They would have around 15 minutes.
I was in the toilet, believe, when the first bleep sounded. I just started at the round little dial on my left wrist. I couldn't believe it, it must be a mistake I told myself. Then came the second bleep. My mouth went dry, I could feel myself shaking. the third bleep. This can't be happening, I told myself. But it was.
Afterwards I heard someone blame the Russians. ment they had issued after the Saudi business was as ambigious as ever. 'A challenge to peaceloving people everywhere, which suppose we will ever know, but anyway the US president wasn't Socialist Challenge 22 October 1981 Page 8 the into that It the other services nuclear first time but when of live They had Changing around to find It this is to be the big one, get in first:
remain US.
will heat wave have vaporised.
degrees. somehow the blast wave.
given me the times told me I would you Then The stateout. If he must have decided, he was going to get in first. Or rather, Europe should unal way the war theatre might not spread to the Those at the centre of the blast would have had no hope. The would have hit them first. So hot that metals would Temperatures would be as high as 10 million Anyone who had survived that would have been killed, mercifully so, by out.
Nuclear bombs have three effects, I explained: heat, blast and radiation. Within three or four miles from the centre of the blast there would be no survivors, not a human, not an animal, building. Some I told this to, didn't believe me. 'But surely someone could have lived, surely there's a small, small chance. Miracles can happen, after all', I was asked. 'There are no miracles in a nuclear war', I replied.
To escape the clamour I walked over to the window and stared But there was no through the window either. Out in the distance I could see what I recognised as the black rain, the legendary fall-out radiation and dust. not a would settle on people, animals and buildings. would be blood coming from their mouths, their noses, bowels. Fish would float to the surface of rivers, as if trapped in some great oil slick. black substance would not be oil.
bumped into me. She pinned me to the window with her hands on escape my arms. She just started talking, mixture of I knew it And then there their give Only this As I turned away a woman He had as if she had to.
'We'd done what they said We were even lucky.' She smile at that. 'Lucky to be in the sheltel when it came. Because there wa: no warning you know. I alway thought there was a four minut siren somewhere, which would chance. But ther wasn't, you know.
"Still we were in the shelter insisted we buy though I thought then it was a waste of time. But there we were checking things. Then we heard
supplies in the shelter were bandages and aspirins. thought they would be that unprepared. So they said I should try to get to the hospital, which was just under three miles nearer the centre of London, which probably meant the same distance nearer the centre of the blast. They told me I would probably be all right and that the hospital would still be standing. They gave me a bicycle to get there.
Outside, ing. Huge winds had swept the area. There was hardly a building left standing. on the road that hospital. The further I cycled the more awful it became. The bodies became more and more charred, more and more unrecognisable as human forms. A few black remnants of what had once been trees still poked up from the brown grassless fields. I thought I smelt burnt flesh, but maybe that was just my imagination.
The hospital was damaged, but was still there. By now it must have been about six hours after the blast. At the hospital entrance there order. The police and army, wearing bloated radioactive suits were outside it carrying guns. were groups of people just standing around watching them.
I tried to avoid looking at them, at their scarred bodies the pools of vomit in which they were standing, at their diarrhoea which around them. didn't even notice me, they were too much in shock. But a few did shout a half-protest as the army let me through the cordon and into the hospital.
The contrast scene at the hospital gate and inside the building was amazing.
'NDP?' never hospital, radiation there, Wing at it. 'Radiation proof".
over the fires were still ragshots There were bodies the cordon, led to the through helicopter, semblance of There river's banks.
at been. tiny lakes Most of them between the burning.
'Non-disposable personnel', he explained, grinning He took me to the top of the gave me an suit and put one on himself. There was a helicopter although I'd never seen anything like it. He saw me star'Like it?' he asked.
As 1 walked over to it 1 looked Proof to the hospital gates. I had heard noises coming from that direction. They were Obviously some of the crowd outside had tried to storm desperate for treatment as they must have been. They were being machine-gunned as I watched. I looked over to the army officer. He shouted at me This radiation mask 'Afraid they're not NDPs, old boy'. I couldn't see his face, but I sensed he was grinning again.
stepped into the and within ten minutes were over what had been the centre of London. There was a huge crater below, a couple of hundred feet wide. It was surrounded by fires. There was no fire in the crater because that was full of water that had once been in the River Thames. An enormous tidal wave must have burst the On the water could make out tiny specks, floating there. They were like a giant swarm of tadpoles. They were, of course, people. Or had As we flew to the other side of what had been one of the heaviest populated cities in the western world there was no relief for the eyes. All the houses within a ten miles radius were flattened. The metal bridges, half melted, formed a series of grotesque shapes. There were still thousands of fires There were no