“The President made a speech an hour ago warning people that the possibility of radiation could be a little more serious than originally expected and suggesting they don't remain outside. Even if they listen, it won't matter unless they find a cave fast.”

To RJ, the one hour and forty-seven minutes seemed to take weeks to pass. In the command center, Brad paced quietly the whole time. Amy disappeared and didn't return until there were only two minutes left.

On the large screen was an image of space being transmitted from a large ground-based telescope to Washington and relayed back to the mountain. “There it is,” Fitch's voice came through the communications console. They all stared at the monitor and could clearly see the object getting larger by the second.

There were different views on each of the other screens. One of the cameras on the top of the mountain caught a fantastic sight. It was still dark in the Midwest, and as the comet came into view, it lit up the whole sky. Witnesses said that it was as bright as daylight for the few seconds that the comet itself was visible. Because of its massive length, the tail of the comet remained visible for several minutes. In the mountain, they stared at the different views. It was one of the most beautiful things Brad thought he'd ever seen. Then as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone.

On one of the TV monitors, the NBC anchor was showing scenes of massive celebrations occurring all over the world. In one European city, people were running through the streets, waving banners in an unrecognized language and shouting joyfully.

RJ pondered over the images she'd just witnessed. There was nothing remotely menacing about what she'd just seen. Yet she knew that soon, the whole world would stop talking about the beauty of the comet.

Twenty minutes passed quietly, and Amy remembered her earlier thoughts about this being a big false alarm. She wished it had been true.

There was sudden commotion on the monitor screen receiving a live feed from the situation room at the White House. After what seemed like an eternity, General Fitch came and spoke to the transmitter so they could hear him. “Did you hear any of that?”

“No Matt, what's going on?” RJ questioned.

“We received a call from Ramstein Air Force base in Germany. Their ground-based radiation detectors are squawking like crazy. Looks like radiation levels are steadily and rapidly rising over there. It makes sense, as the comet approached, Western Europe was one of the first places to have it travel directly overhead.

Over the next hour, radiation detectors across the United States, Europe, and Japan began sounding a warning. Tracking the radiation wasn't difficult, and it was clear it was spreading swiftly throughout the atmosphere.