In the early days after the blasts I heard rumours that in the southern hemisphere things were normal, there had been no fallout. In the beginning there was hope that rescue parties and international aid would be sent from the unaffected regions. But when the weeks passed it became obvious that nobody would come. And why would they have come? After all Europe alone has over 700 million people of which the majority would die within days or weeks. And thinking about it more, after what I've seen, I am sure the southern hemisphere did not stay unaffected for long.

What originally happened is anybody's guess. Some people said that the Russian nuclear weapons system had gone haywire, and the French system never got information about the missile firing being an accident. Others say it was a US Army experiment in the Mediterranean gone horribly wrong. These are all rumours; none of them have any importance now. It is a nightmare and I am awake.