Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and analyzes the source text’s depiction of death by euthanasia in adults and children.

Peter Holmes lives in Falmouth, Australia, with his wife, Mary, and their infant daughter, Jennifer. Peter awakens on December 27, 1962, anxious for his meeting in Melbourne with the Royal Australian Naval Department as he hopes to receive new orders. Peter returned home seven months ago from a three-month war involving the entire Northern Hemisphere. The war caused an oil shortage, and since Australians depend on the Northern Hemisphere for oil, Peter and his wife now use a bicycle with an attached trailer instead of their car. He uses the bicycle to get their daily milk from the local farmer. The farmer admires the tires on his trailer and asks if Peter can find him a set. In exchange, the farmer offers to deliver milk directly to their home once the Navy deploys Peter, which will help Mary. The two men lament the fuel shortage but are thankful coal still allows them electricity, though they wonder how the government affords it.

Peter rides the bike to the train station. On the train ride, Peter wonders what position the Navy will give him; they drastically reduced the size of their fleet after the war since there wasn’t enough fuel to power the warships.