Abstract
What would you do if you were responsible for following orders, and giving the command to start World War III? In this work of cold-war-era philosophical short story fiction, Comrade Lt. Colonel Petrov is at work on his day off. He is in charge of the USSR’s most cutting-edge satellite monitoring system when an alarm sounds that five nuclear missiles are on their way from the US to the USSR. The call comes from command to confirm the launch. While everyone at his station sees the missiles, he refuses to confirm the launch has occurred. Why five missiles? Wouldn’t a launch against the USSR be massive? It just doesn’t make sense. Petrov refuses to report what the screens clearly show and, it turns out, prevents a retaliatory strike based on incorrect information. He goes home to his wife, unable to tell her how his top secret day went.
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