‘Carl,’ said Granger, ‘I’m not sure that anybody’s talking sense. The whole darn world’s gone out of its head.’

Nine

In a special newsflash on Wednesday evening, at nine o’clock Central Time, the President of the United States confirmed that ‘all food produce containing cereals — and that includes processed meats, breads, cookies, pastas, beers, and spirits – must now come under suspicion of having been contaminated with heavy cobalt radiation. As a general rule, foodstuffs produced more than three weeks ago can be considered safe – provided, of course, they are canned, or frozen, or still fresh. But if you are in doubt, a more detailed explanation will be broadcast immediately after this message on your local television station, and on your local radio. You will also be able to obtain leaflets from your City Hall or local citizens’ centre.’

The President, looking twenty years older than he had the previous week, and with a pronounced stutter, went on to say that ‘everybody should stay at home unless essential business takes them out.’

He was asked if he could now confirm that there was a Communist plot to overthrow the United States by ‘starving us out.’ He said tiredly: ‘I can neither confirm nor deny such a plot at this stage of the crisis.’

After the newsflash, the President was called urgently back to the Oval Office. A top-secret report had just arrived from the office of the Secretary of Health and Scientific Affairs. The President read the report slowly, watched by his two closest friends and personal aides. When he had finished reading it, at 10.13 p.m., he said: ‘I—’ and collapsed. He was rushed at once to the Walter Reed Army Medical Centre where he was confined to an oxygen tent. His doctors agreed that he was suffering from ‘overwork, high blood pressure and severe stress.’

The health report revealed that there had been thirty-five cases of fatal botulism throughout the preceding forty-eight hours. They had occurred all over the continent, from New Jersey to Arizona, from Texas to Alaska. In each case, the carrier had been a canned food product – not necessarily from the same manufacturer, and not necessarily the same variety of foodstuff. But every can that had been inspected by government health researchers had been punctured by a tiny hole – so small that the contents did not even leak – and in some cases the hole had been resealed by a dab of candle-wax.

The Secretary of Health concluded that ‘it must be beyond serious doubt that some malevolent agency has deliberately and in a calculated manner introduced Clostridium botulinum into a random variety of canned foods throughout the nation. Therefore – as grave as I realise the implications of such a recommendation must be – I have to put forward the urgent suggestion that the sale of all canned foods in the United States be immediately suspended pending more detailed investigation.’