‘What about the nuclear winter?’
Pippa was relentless, but she was entitled to answers. ‘The heat from nuclear explosions starts thousands of fires, and the smoke and soot rise high into the atmosphere and block the sunlight. If hundreds of bombs go off, even thousands, the darkening of the sun will cool the Earth and reduce rainfall. Some of our biggest farming regions may become too cold or dry to grow crops. Therefore, many of the people who survived the blast and the heat and the radiation will end up starving to death.’
‘So it’s the end of the human race?’
‘Probably not, if Russia stays out of the war. Even in the worst case, a few people will probably live on in places where there is sunshine and rain. But in any scenario it’s the end of the civilization that we know.’
‘I wonder what life will be like then?’
‘There are a thousand novels about that, and each one tells a different story. The truth is that no one knows.’
‘It would be better if nobody had nuclear weapons.’
‘Which isn’t going to happen. It’s like asking Texans to give up their guns.’
‘Maybe we could all just have not so many.’
‘That’s called arms control.’ Pauline kissed Pippa. ‘And that, my clever daughter, is the beginning of wisdom.’ She had spent a long time explaining life to Pippa, but she had to take care of all the other Americans too. She picked up the remote for the TV. ‘Let’s watch the news.’
An anchor said: ‘Millions of American homes and workplaces are without electricity this morning after faults developed in the computers of several different power providers. Some commentators suspect that the faults have all been caused by the release of a single software virus.’
Pauline said: ‘It’s the Chinese.’
‘Can they do that?’
‘Yes. And we’re probably doing similar things to them. It’s called cyber warfare.’
‘Lucky we’re okay here.’
‘This place has an independent power supply.’
‘I wonder why they decided to attack the power to ordinary homes?’
‘It’s one of a dozen different things they will have tried. Ideally they want to sabotage military communications, so that we can’t launch missiles and scramble planes. But our military software is heavily defended. Civilian security systems aren’t as good.’
Pippa looked hard at Pauline and said perceptively: ‘Your words are reassuring but your face is worried.’
‘You’re right, honey. I think we can survive the cyberattack. But something else is worrying me. In Chinese military philosophy the cyberattack is a prelude. What follows is real war.’
*
Abdul drove out of Nice heading west along the coast, with Kiah beside him and Naji strapped into a child seat in the back. He had bought a small two-door family car, three years old. The driving position was a bit cramped for his tall frame but it was all right for short distances.
The road ran beside deserted Mediterranean beaches and restaurants shuttered for winter. There were traffic jams in Paris and other big cities as frightened people headed for the countryside, but the C?te d’Azur was an unlikely nuclear target, and although people here were scared they could not think of anywhere safer to go.
Kiah had little knowledge of global politics and was only vaguely aware of nuclear weapons, so she did not appreciate the awfulness of what might happen, and Abdul did not enlighten her.
He stopped the car at a large marina in a small town. He checked a device in his pocket and was reassured by a signal the same as the one he had picked up on his first visit here, two days earlier.
He parked the little car and he and Kiah got out and inhaled the bracing sea air. They put on the new winter coats they had bought in Galeries Lafayette. The sun was warm, but there was a breeze, and for people used to the Sahara Desert this was cold weather. Kiah had picked a tailored black cloth coat with a fur collar that made her look like a princess. Abdul had a blue reefer jacket that gave him a nautical air.
Kiah got Naji into his new down coat and knitted hat. Abdul unfolded the stroller and they made Naji comfortable in it. ‘I’ll push him,’ Kiah said.
‘I’ll do it, I don’t mind.’
‘It’s demeaning for a man. I don’t want people to think you’re henpecked.’
Abdul smiled. ‘French people don’t think like that.’
‘Have you looked around? There are thousands of Arabs in this part of the world.’