  The interaction of the unboundedly blue-shifted photons of the cosmic
microwave background radiation with a physical object falling towards the inner
horizon of a Reissner-Nordstrom black hole is analyzed. To evaluate this
interaction we consider the QED effects up to the second order in the
perturbation expansion. We then extrapolate the QED effects up to a cutoff,
which we introduce at the Planckian level. (Our results are not sensitive to
the cutoff energy.) We find that the energy absorbed by an infalling observer
is finite, and for typical parameters would not lead to a catastrophic heating.
However, this interaction would almost certainly be fatal for a human being, or
other living organism of similar size. On the other hand, we find that smaller
objects may survive the interaction. Our results do not provide support to the
idea that the Cauchy horizon is to be regarded as the boundary of spacetime.
