Level 7

JUNE 27

They are still driving on and reporting, though they complain of fatigue.

This morning they came across a Level 1 shelter, a rather shallow and relatively small one. It must have been a good way from a ground zero, but there were cracks in the concrete roof. They tried to get into the shelter, but the entrance was blocked by big chunks of concrete and steel, so they had to give up. There was nobody still alive there, of course. Still, it would have been interesting to know whether the people inside had died of blast, burns or radiation.

As the couple go on their reports are becoming less frequent. Because they feel tired, and because there is nothing to report.

People down here are rather disappointed. This trip to the surface seems to be a very boring affair, even more boring than life underground!

The people who thought the whole idea rather silly at the outset have started calling them cranks again. “Fools, to be more precise,” said P when we met this afternoon. “Fancy paying for such a boring trip with twenty-five years of life! Behaviour like that isn’t just neurotic, it’s plain folly.”

Interest in the escapade wanes steadily. It is still the main topic of conversation, but it is no longer discussed with quite the same fervour as before.

If their trip goes on for a few more days, people will probably give up listening to their scanty reports altogether. They will die for us even before they are really dead.