“Harrumph.” He cleared his throat and shuffled the papers he was holding until he came to the one he was looking for.
“The local area,” he began, “has a contamination level that will allow an individual to stay out for five or six hours. But the two hot spots are north of Chilmark, around Hindon and the RAF base. These should be avoided at all costs. As you have been informed before, the levels of radiation in the town of Chilmark are dropping slowly, but I would advise that the labour force is only out in the open for a few hours a day to start with, increasing the time as and when I get more positive updates. One of our key tasks is to find any livestock and corral them close to our chosen site, particularly any potential milk herds.”
“Will we be able to drink the milk?” asked Edward Cox, the deputy PO.
“There is no doubt that the cattle, or goats for that matter, will have eaten contaminated fodder, whether in a barn or grass in the fields. Those that have survived, that is. Many will have died from the initial high levels of radiation. But it has been decided that we should use the milk rather than discard it.”
“Won’t it affect us?” asked an astounded representative from the Department of Transport.
“Undoubtedly, but food is going to be so scarce we have little option. It will be many years before the levels drop back to anywhere near pre-strike levels.”
“What about the animals themselves?” queried Kate Worth, the head of MAFF.
“Yes, they will have suffered injuries, and tens of thousands will have been killed. Those that have survived can still die, and there will be an increase in malignant skin tumours, particularly in white-coated and piebald animals.”
“Crops?”
“Well, with an anticipated tenfold increase in ultraviolet B, soya beans and wheat have been and will continue to be affected marginally, whereas others, peas and onions for example, have probably all been scorched and likely killed.”
Rupert held up a sheet of paper. “I have a list of what can possibly be harvested now if available, and a list of those crops that should be planted if we are to see out another year.”
Somebody in the group groaned.
“We must not despair,” the PO encouraged. “Those people out there are depending on us. We have the knowledge, the resources and the means to get through this, providing we strive for that same purpose and work together. Rupert, continue please.”
“You need to understand the bigger picture. It’s estimated that 3,000 megatons of nuclear weapons will have been released across the world, and the UK will have received over 300 megatons of that. There have probably been huge forest fires in some parts of the world, and there is the potential for thousands of oil wells burning away furiously. This will… is having a major impact on our weather, in the northern hemisphere at least. Our industrial network, power stations, hospitals, water provision and other centrally provided services will have been decimated. Very little will have survived, including our homes. Three quarters of the housing stock in the UK will have been within the strike zones, and will now be roofless and windowless. In some of the larger towns, there would have been a raging inferno, fuelled by the plentiful material available and high winds, destroying everything in its path. We—”
“I think we get the message, Rupert. Cliff, what’s the status of our current food stocks?”
Cliff, the Food officer, pulled a notebook from his pocket, running his tongue across his crooked teeth as he consulted it. “Well, based on our present food programme of a bowl of soup in the morning and one main hot meal in the evening, and assuming numbers will remain at the 4,000 mark, we have three days at the camp, less than one day here, as an emergency that is, and three to four months at the two warehouses — notwithstanding the fact that feeding a workforce will require an increase in rations though.”
“Yes, but that will be countered by a reduction in rations for those not working,” interjected Dylan Wright.
“And there will be many more deaths yet,” added the chief scientist. “Many with wounds or injuries may yet succumb, and we could all potentially be exposed to disease and other infections.”
“I understand that. Nevertheless, we do need to restock our supplies soon though. Three to four months will go by pretty quickly.”
“Thank you, Cliff. We do intend to implement a major scavenging operation along with starting to clear up the mess out there.”
“You mean Chilmark, PO?” asked Colonel Bannister.
“Yes, Colonel,” responded Elliot. “We need to clear the streets so we have access, dispose of the bodies, then repair the houses and make them habitable again. We can’t live in this dungeon forever, and neither can the population live in tents like some Third World country.”
“That’s pretty much what we are currently,” cautioned Alan.
“That’s as maybe, Captain. But I have no intention of letting it remain so. Right, last briefing before we finish the meeting. Dylan, your employment and workforce plan please.”
“Thank you, PO.” Dylan adjusted one of the sheets attached to his clipboard and peered at the information through his half-moon reading glasses. “I’ll start off with a breakdown of the population that is under our protection. We have managed some form of census, but with the population shifting around all the time, it’s not completely accurate.”
“That will be resolved when meal chits are issued to the labour force,” suggested the Colonel.
“So-so That will certainly help. The count I have is 3,909. They have been subcategorised into adult males over the age of fifteen, adult females over the age of fifteen, and those below that age. We have 1,701 males, of which 685 are sick or dying, 1,910 females, 409 sick or dying, 112 female children and 186 male children. When I refer to the sick, I mean those that will not survive. But many of those that have been categorised as available for work are far from fit.”
“Malnutrition?” asked the PO.
“In some cases, yes. But many of the fit, and I use that term lightly, have wounds and injuries that have shown improvement, but are far from healing properly. There are not enough medicines to treat them, and they’ll always be susceptible to infection, relapses and possibly death. Recruiting them for our labour force will just speed that up.”
There was a moment of silence, those present recognising the cold truth of the position the country was in, eventually broken by Elliot, the principal officer.
“Listen.” Hands, palms up, held out in front of him, and his voice a mix of pleading and determination, he made eye contact with as many of those present as he possibly could. “Civilisation, as we have become used to for the duration of our lives to date, has gone. Prior to this post, I was a senior administrator, a public servant, who had access to funds, electricity, a workforce, rules, both primary support and leisure facilities, a wife and two sons. My wife is dead, my two sons were killed in the Ukraine fighting the Russians, and I am now the leader of some 4,000 people. I have been on courses run by the Government, but none of them have even come close to preparing me or any of you here to survive the devastation that has struck our nation and many others around the world.”
His tone changed, and his demeanour stiffened. “If you think things are bad now then you’re in for a shock. Because if we don’t gear up, to use one of the terms I’ve heard you use, Captain Redfern… ” Alan smiled and the tension in the room eased slightly, “…if we don’t gear up to provide the population food, shelter and medical facilities, they will die. And if they die, it’s likely that we will slip into that same void with them. We are the fortunate few in that we have our health, are fortunate that we have good food, and an environment that is far better than some are living in out there.” He flung an arm in the direction of the roof of the bunker. “I am absolutely sure though that none of us want to spend the rest of our lives in this smelly box, especially as the luxuries of tea and biscuits and soap run out. We have to lead those people out there, and I will not accept half-hearted efforts. Everyone is either with me or I will replace them with someone else. Is that clear?”