The switch was flipped. Several things happened at once.
First was that Hotaru Tomoe became an orphan.
It would be much later that others would determine that the new High-Energy Physics lab was the epicenter and the explosion occurred with the equivelant of four kilotons of TNT.
The people walking by in the campus, the security guards yawning from another uneventful all-nighter, the swimmers out getting early-morning exercises, the various classes in progress, and so on - didn't register anything much at all before the fireball consumed them.
The white hot ball of plasma burned everything in its path. Buildings, bugs, people, children, cars, dogs, bicycles, and all the other things that tended to accumulate around such places.
The shockwave went even further. Trees that had lined parkways before World War II were blown away by the blast. Cars stopped in the usual urban slowdown made sudden and unexpected accelerations in directions not normally achieved, some attaining altitudes of nearly a half mile.
The joggers along the fence saw the flash and heard the boom before they too became airborne projectiles.
There were satellites and detectors that were watched. On seeing what LOOKED like a nuclear weapon going off in Japan, some reactions normally flowed from that.
Despite the fears of some, the immediate response was not for everyone to start lobbing nuclear weapons at everyone else. The American satellites were watched by military people whose first priority was summed up in a single word - verify.
The LACK of radiation was determined within a VERY tense minute of the explosion, though radiation levels were monitored for some time thereafter just in case.
AEGIS headquarters, Tokyo. 7:15am
"What have we got on it?" asked the Director. "Summary."
"The newschannels are going on about it being nuclear and from North Korea," said Professor Iwasawa. "This is, of course, completely wrong."
"Your reasoning?" asked the Director.
"No radiation, no EMP," said Iwasawa. "We have been in communication with the Americans, our own government, and the UN - so the news is out there. It could not have been a nuclear device OR a meteor strike. The crater would not be a perfect circle in either case."
"Agreed," said the Director. "That was the conclusion here as well. So what IS it?"
"We're sending a Gatekeeper team in by helicopter," said Professor Iwasawa.
Toyohashi Crater, April 7, 1991. 9:15am
Lieutenant Miyuki Haneda was one of several pilots who'd been bounced around since the devastation of last year's Invasion. If she ever saw a zombie or a penguin again it would be too soon.
Flying a HH-60G "Pave Hawk" was not all that different from a number of other missions she'd had. The JSDF cooperated with AEGIS on a regular basis after all.
"Still nothing, no indication of radiation. No indication of biological or chemical agents," said a voice in her headset.
"Right, Isurugi-san," said Haneda, checking readings. "Coming up on the epicenter... what's THAT?!"
"It's a BLACK HOLE! Oh, wait. No, that couldn't be right," said Isurugi's voice. "Hold steady, I'm adjusting the camera."
"Why can't it be a black hole?" asked Haneda. "It's black. Sort of."
"More of a dark gray, I think," said Isurugi.
"Something's coming out," said Haneda. "It's-"
(Posted Sun, 29 Jul 2007 00:23)
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