I had not been far wrong. There was a steady stream of traffic in both
directions--not only trucks but buses and private cars, everything from
late-model gyromaxions to ancient piston-driven farm trucks.
Zorchi heard me move, and turned toward me with a hooded expression. I
pointed to the window.
"What's up?" I asked.
He said levelly, "The end of the world. It is now official; it has been
on the television. Oh, they do not say it in just so many words, but it
is there."
I turned to the television set and flicked off the tape-relay
switch--apparently the opera had been recorded. Zorchi glared, but
didn't try to stop me as I hunted on the broadcast bands for a news
announcer.
I didn't have far to hunt. Every channel was the same: The Company was
issuing orders and instructions. Every man, woman and child was to be
ready within ten days for commitment to the clinic....
I tried to imagine the scenes of panic and turmoil that would be going
on in downtown Naples at that moment.
* * * * *
The newscaster was saying: "Remember, if your Basic Blue Bolt policy
number begins with the letters A, B or C--if it begins with the letters
A, B or C--you are to report to the local first aid or emergency post
at six hundred hours tomorrow. There is no danger. I repeat, there is
no danger. This is merely a precaution taken by the Company for your
protection." He didn't really look as though there were no danger,
however. He looked like a man confronted by a ghost.
I switched to another channel. An equally harried-looking announcer:
"--reported by a team of four physicists from the Royal University to
have produced a serious concentration of radioactive byproducts in the
upper atmosphere. It is hoped that the cloud of dangerous gases will
veer southward and pass harmlessly through the Eastern Mediterranean;
however, strictly as a precautionary measure, it is essential that
every person in this area be placed in a safety zone during the danger
period, the peak of which is estimated to come within the next fourteen
days. If there is any damage, it will be only local and confined to
livestock--for which you will be reimbursed under your Blue Bolt
coverage."
I switched to another channel. _Local_ damage! Local to the face of the
Earth!