Level 7 is a 1959 science fiction novel by the American writer
Mordecai RoshwaldMordecai Roshwald is an American academic and writer. Born in Poland, he later emigrated to Israel. His most famous work is the novel Level 7, a post-apocalyptic science-fiction novel...
. It is told from the first person perspective (diary) of a modern soldier X-127 living in the underground military complex Level 7, where he was expected to reside permanently, fulfilling the role of commanding his nation's nuclear weapons.
During his forced residence, X-127 is ordered to push the bomb buttons to begin
World War IIIWorld War III denotes a hypothetical successor to World War II that would be on a global scale, with common speculation that it would likely be nuclear and devastating in nature....
(which lasts a total of 2 hours and 58 minutes).
Level 7 is a 1959 science fiction novel by the American writer
Mordecai RoshwaldMordecai Roshwald is an American academic and writer. Born in Poland, he later emigrated to Israel. His most famous work is the novel Level 7, a post-apocalyptic science-fiction novel...
. It is told from the first person perspective (diary) of a modern soldier X-127 living in the underground military complex Level 7, where he was expected to reside permanently, fulfilling the role of commanding his nation's nuclear weapons.
Plot summary
During his forced residence, X-127 is ordered to push the bomb buttons to begin
World War IIIWorld War III denotes a hypothetical successor to World War II that would be on a global scale, with common speculation that it would likely be nuclear and devastating in nature....
(which lasts a total of 2 hours and 58 minutes). From that point, all civilian life (for military personnel already occupy Level 6 and 7) moves from the surface of the earth to a collection of underground shelter complexes (levels 1 - 5). It later emerges that the orders given had been wholly automatic, and the war had taken place as a series of electronic responses to an initial accident. Toward the end of the novel, the inhabitants of the surviving shelters gradually die, as the surface contamination makes its way down past air filters and into ground water sources. In the end, the inhabitants of "Level 7" are exterminated by a malfunction in their nuclear power pile.
Structure
The book is written in such a way so as to make it impossible to determine which side is which. References to
democracyDemocracy is a system of government in which either the actual governing is carried out by the people governed , or the power to do so is granted by them...
are structured as to be just as applicable to the statements made about democracy by the Soviet government of the time. The book contains no geographical references or individual names. The theme of the book is the dehumanisation and abstraction of nuclear warfare, and the danger that this leads to when combined with the destructive potential of the weapons involved. The novel thus acts as a warning against the nuclear
arms raceThe term arms race, in its original usage, describes a competition between two or more parties for real or apparent military supremacy. Each party competes to produce larger numbers of weapons, greater armies, or superior military technology in a technological escalation...
, as the original (but removed) postscript makes clear:
Originally, the manuscript contained a preface by
MartianAs an adjective, the term "martian" is used to describe anything pertaining to the planet Mars.However, a Martian is more usually a hypothetical or fictional native inhabitant of the planet Mars. Historically, life on Mars has often been hypothesized, although there is currently no solid evidence...
archaeologists, who discover the diary amongst the ruins of a destroyed Earth. However, this was removed in editions earlier than 2003, because it was felt that it spoiled the ending of the book.
Level 7 was adapted by
J. B. PriestleyJohn Boynton Priestley, OM was an English novelist, playwright and broadcaster.-Early years:Priestley was born in what he described as an "ultra-respectable" suburb of Bradford...
for a 1966 episode of the
BBC2
television science-fiction drama programme
Out of the UnknownOut of the Unknown is a British television science fiction anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Each episode was an independent dramatisation of a separate science fiction short story...
.