I saw that I had lost some weight. I took off my shirt and decided that my body looked more muscular and slimmer around the waist. That was pleasing, as I realized that my food wasn’t the healthiest - lots of fat and few vitamins.
This morning’s routine check with the Geiger counter showed that radiation was at a minimal level in all directions, with the exception of the northeast. For the first time since I started doing these daily radiation measurements did the number of ticks go up to almost double the background, and only in that particular direction. I repeated the measurement from the roof of the truck. The signal peaked reproducibly. Through the binoculars I inspected the landscape. Towards the northeast it seemed to consist exclusively of forests. No factories, towns or even single houses were visible.
Pensively I climbed down from the roof of the truck.
The emergency transmitter was still beeping away its MOB signal. The receiver picked up three emergency signals. The strongest signal came from the west, ahead on the road. Later I found out that it originated from a capsized truck a few miles farther on, the dead driver inside.
The second signal was much weaker and came from the south.
The third signal was the weakest of the three. It seemed to be aligned with the radioactive signal - both came from the approximate same direction.
A measurement of the ground and the surface of the truck did not reveal any increased levels of radiation. Strange: a direct signal could be measured but no trace of radioactive fallout on the ground… there was no sense to it. I was getting slightly worried and tried to reactivate all my knowledge of radiation - I had worked with radioactive isotopes at university and I understood the basic physics.
From TWO JOURNEYS - the Syberian Chapters
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