Prologue

"Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds..."
J. Robert Oppenheimer, Father of the Atomic Bomb

Location: Near the Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands

Timedate: November 2054

The surface of an infinite blue ocean, the Pacific, stood still and rippleless, reflecting the clear blue sky and bright sun. It could be a photo, nothing moved. Nature was at peace. Then, the jaws of a monster sliced through the peaceful surf. It was the carved wood prow of a CANOE; one of hundreds like it, lashed together in a ceremonial flotilla, draped in flower leis. A grand festival was in progress.

Tattooed islanders rowed to the rhythm of deep bass drums. Countless women and children chanted joyously from the pristine atoll beach, celebrating this life in Paradise. But slowly, an enormous crystallised underwater. The dark form of some leviathan. Women and children spot the beast and shout from shore. But it was too late, the whole lagoon began to churn and bulge as a dark form rose from the depths. Canoes listed violently and capsized, as panicked islanders were dragged under by the maelstrom.

Then the source of the bulge revealed itself: A massive submarine donned in cold-steel grey clothes of brass and small hairs of brown. On its side was the name, P.S. BELLADONNA, stenciled in thick, bold white. The mighty ship breached the surface with a last of spray just before its top-hatch swung open and up flied a flag closely resembling that of the United Nations.

Shortly later at a stilt village, pandemonium was abound, as countless sailors stormed the peaceful village, barking broken Marshallese on megaphones. Islanders were dragged from shanties as they were forced to evacuate their homes.

Meanwhile at a near sandbar jetty, more hurried work as cages of "Test Animals" were off-loaded to the shore; sheep, horses, cattle, pigs. Technicians in lab coats prepped up equipment, directing the installation of steel-frame detonation tower. Sailors in grey tight yet weary uniforms hoisted up a huge aluminium cylinder with a crudely painted decal on its side; the shape of a giant reptile standing in a set of cross-hairs, then they bolted the object into place: The Bomb.

A Geiger counter started to clack, as one of the bomb technicians aimed its sensor out to sea. Eagle-eyed, he glimpsed a strange wave rising from beneath the troubled horizon. He knew something was coming from the ocean.

"Hurry up, hurry up!" he shouted at the crew.

Countless minutes went by before they became a whole hour. The sun slowly descended to the edge of dusk as another ship, the P.S. Pyrrha, an escort carrier floated several miles away. From here, Bikini Atoll was just a smudge on the horizon. Officers and crew gathered tensely around a sonar sweep-screen. A large green dot was closing in upon the Atoll.

Geiger counters were clacking faster; dials spike to red. The ground rumbled once, in the distance. Then a second time. Even the caged test animals sensed what was coming: Horses whinnied in terror, cattle snorted, and hogs screamed in rising dread.

"Okay, let's go, let's go!" another cry emitted from the head technician.

Once the installation finished, the whole technician team ran and crowded, one by one, onto a heavy VTOL transport aircraft. The tiny island was left deserted. The bomb's beacon soon blinked from green to yellow, armed and ready for its predetermined fate.

"It's now thirty seconds to zero time, please put on goggles..." the tannoy speakers rang and called.

Each and every individual crew member did as ordered.

"Minus fifteen seconds..."

A TIMER NEEDLE swept down.

"Minus ten, niner, eight, seven, six..."

The animals continued to panic and grew more and more wilder. The Geiger counters were eventually spiking off the charts. The steady rumbles were getting louder, and closer.

"Fiver, four, three..."

As the whole lagoon lifted upward with a massive swell.

"Two, one..."

A series of ginormous spiky dorsal plates rose up like a living waterfall, completely shrouded by a torrent of cascading surf. Fa away, the people could only barely, briefly glimpse his silhouette, just before a flash of blinding light consumed nearly all. All but silence, and whiteness.

Then slowly, almost gracefully, an epic mushroom cloud unfurled into Nature's pure blue peaceful sky. It was a long, strangely quiet moment before a bone-rattling shockwave crashed in, sending anything and everything within a close proximity to utter oblivion.

To be continued...