Level 7

“So,” he went on, “to be picked for these levels is a real privilege. To be included in Levels 3 and 4, let alone Level 5, you’d have to belong to the pick of society—or else be married to the right person or have the right parents. Then if people are going to bring their families down with them, I suppose they’ll want to stay together and live something like a normal civilian life.” X-107 shook his head doubtfully. “That’s not nearly as orderly and rational as our system. I’m sure there will be awful complications.”

I smiled at his seriousness and said, with some mischief: “But what will an élite do when it’s all on its own. If an élite hasn’t a crowd to contrast itself with, what will happen to it? I think living by themselves may prove hard for our select civilians—and not only the honoured few on Level 5.”

X-107 thought this might indeed be an interesting sociological problem. He suggested that, under the pressure of seclusion, each group would develop new fine grades of social distinction within itself, so that before long each underground unit would form a little social pyramid of its own.

I found this idea fascinating. “Who do you think would come out on the very top in a cave of, say, 5,000 top people?” I asked. “It couldn’t be the statesmen, because down here there won’t be much in the way of international politics.”

X-107 disagreed: he thought that international matters could be negotiated from the caves by means of radio.

“Even if that’s so,” I retorted, “they won’t have so much national politics to talk about. There will surely be very little going on the international sphere after an atomic war. Radioactivity will keep everybody below ground for a long time, and they won’t have a chance to build more atomic rockets to replace the ones we’ve fired. No more rockets, no more wars. There will be no point in making alliances either. No alliances, no wars—politics won’t be politics any more.”

“There’s still something else they can do,” X-107 replied a little wistfully. “They can abuse each other over the radio.”

“If they’re not too busy washing their grandchildren’s diapers,” I added.

This made X-107 laugh. “Maybe this will be the new social yardstick on the civilian levels,” he said. “The person who proves to be most useful, best adjusted, cleverest at improvising things and solving day-to-day problems—he’ll rise in status. The rest will go down.”

“Not down,” I replied jokingly. “To be down is the greatest privilege. Look at us!”

MAY 22

Today P persuaded me to join her again in the little room in the psychology department, as we both happened to be free at the same time. I was not eager to go, but I could think of no excuse on the spur of the moment and so I agreed.

I lay down on the couch as usual, while P took the chair behind me and started to chatter. I hardly listened and really had no idea what she was saying, for my mind was moving around Levels 5, 4 and 3.

I was wondering how closely the enemy’s underground shelters resembled our own. The shelters for civilians, I mean. There seemed little doubt that the deepest levels would be reserved for the push-button military forces, as ours were. Ways of life and ideologies might differ, but bottom-level priority for the armed forces was an obvious military necessity.

But how about the civilian levels? What were the differences there? It seemed to me again that the enemy’s arrangements were probably very much like ours: who was more likely to be on their lowest civilian level than the politicians, administrators and retired generals? As for the other levels, there might be the difference that in one country the rich got better shelter, and in another country the mighty.

But was this really such a big difference? I wondered. The rich were mighty and the mighty were rich. And atomic scientists and technicians and engineers fitted both categories: nowadays they were well-off and influential in any part of the world.

Taken all in all, I decided, whatever the differences in ideology on the surface, the inside might look very similar. (I mean the surface and the inside of the earth, of course. Or do I?)

I became aware that P was trying to get me to answer a question. She repeated it several times until I grasped it: “Which do you like best, our official privacy room or this one?”

Still only half with her, I answered: “Oh, they look much the same.”

MAY 23

The ‘Know Other Levels’ talks have reached Levels 2 and 1.

These form another group, distinct not only from the military levels but also from 5, 4 and 3. They are to house ordinary civilians, not an élite. Eventually there will be enough shelters on these levels for everybody, but that goal is still some way off.

The technical arrangements on Levels 2 and 1 are different from those on all the previous levels.