"In an unspecified nation, the nameless officer X-127 is taken to an ultra-secret installation called Level 7. He has been chosen to be one of four "Push Button Command" officers, whose task is to fire the nation's arsenal of missiles in the event of war.
Level 7 is 4,400 feet down, and there is no way out. 500 people are there forever, with food and water and power to last 1000 years. They aren't told of the one-way nature of the assignment until they are actually in Level 7, however, and some of them don't take well to their situation.
PBX Officer X-127 decides to write a diary of his experiences, and the book takes the shape of this diary.
Little things begin to cause stress; X-127 is obsessed with the fact that he will never see sunlight again, and others become depressed when the music tape played over the omnipresent Loudspeakers turns out to be limited to a 12 day loop.
The Loudspeaker, source of all information and entertainment, announces that marriages will be allowed.
After some self-debate, X-127 marries P-867, a psychologist.
He doesn't love her but thinks being married to her will help him cope.
X-127 muses on the social stratification of Level 7 and those above, deciding that they have found "perfect democracy."
At last, the Loudspeaker orders the PBX officers to carry out their function: a keyboard of buttons labelled A, B, C and 1-4 are set to fire missiles of varying range and yield, starting with A1 and ending with massive dirty bombs launched by buttons 4.
Unstable officer X-117 freezes up as the war is carried out, and must be replaced.
All the buttons are pressed, and in 2 hours 58 minutes the world is eradicated.
Shelters at Level 1 and 2 are mostly destroyed, the rest dying of radiation soon after.
Overcome with guilt, X-117 kills himself.
A couple from Level 3 go out to report on conditions, and are dead within 5 days, finding nothing but ash and darkness.
Now, radio contact with The Enemy's shelter continues the war, as both sides claim victory and trade tirades against each other, with neutral nations blaming both.
However, something is wrong. People begin dying on the middle levels. No one knows how or why, but radiation is getting to the supposedly safe havens.
The Enemy radio falls silent, presumably dead.
At last it is discovered that the reactor which fuels Level 7 has leaked, and that the whole population is doomed despite all the precautions.
X-127 is the last human being on Earth, as he writes, "a distinction amid extinction."
His last words are incoherent scrawl as he slowly dies of radiation poisoning, leaving Level 7 itself as the last funtioning "life" on Earth."
tiepilot912, Resident Mordecai Roshwald Scholar
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Overall Review
Our unique search engine breaks down books and movies into
dozens of literary elements, all of which are searchable.
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30% Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40% Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 30%
Tone of book
- depressing/sad
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION?
- science fiction story
Explore/1st contact/ enviro story
Yes
Plotlets:
- surviving a post environmental/nuclear disaster
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- infantry soldier
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- society
Age:
- long-lived adults
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a little/some
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Setting
Terrain
- Domed/Underground City
Earth setting:
- 20th century
Takes place on Earth?
Yes
Style
Person?
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
scientific jargon? (SF only)
- a moderate amount of scientific explanation
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references only
How much dialogue?
- significantly more descript than dialog
