按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页，按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页，按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部！
————未阅读完？加入书签已便下次继续阅读！
Feeling neither remorse nor sadness but rather a kind of contentment； Pitt placed the empty box under one arm and the shovel over his shoulder and set a course for the village of Umkono。
Behind him； the four bougainvillea plants arched their blossoms to…ward the African sun。
Omega
South Pacific…January 1989
Rongelo Island…actually a tiny atoll； an island in name only…was a solitary fragment of land floating in isolation on 160；000 square miles of Pacific。 Its mass rose only six feet above the glitter of the ocean； so low it was impossible to see from ten miles away。 Driven by wind and tide； the waves burst on the fragile reef surrounding the narrow strand of bone…white beach； and then closed ranks on the other side； marching on for hundreds of miles before making the next landfall。
The island was barren except for a few rotting coconut palms that had been battered to stumps by typhoon waves。 In the middle of its highest point the skeletons of Dr。 Vetterly and his assistants； turned bleached and porous over the years； lay on the jagged coral； the empty eye sockets of their skulls turned skyward； as though waiting for deliverance。
At sunset the thunderclouds behind Rongelo caught the diminishing rays of light and glowed a flaring gold as the missile dropped silently from space； the thunder of its passage through the atmosphere left far behind。
Suddenly a blue…white blaze lighted the sea for hundreds of miles； and a great fireball swallowed the atoll。 In less than a second the fiery mass erupted and swelled like a monstrous spastic bubble。 The blinding colors on its surface melted from orange to pink and finally to deep purple。 The shock wave lashed across the water like a lightning bolt； flattening the rolling swells。
Then the fireball released its hold on the surface and boiled toward the sky； digesting millions of tons of coral before spitting it out in a swirling geyser of steam and rubble。 The mass inflated to a diameter of five miles； and in less than a minute the inferno reached an altitude of 115；000 feet。 There it hung； gradually cooling into an immense dark cloud that slowly drifted to the north。
Rongelo Island had disappeared。 All that remained was a depression three hundred feet deep and two miles across。 Quickly the sea rushed in and covered any trace of the gaping wound。 The sun was tinted an eerie yellow…green as it stole below the horizon。
The Quick Death organism had ceased to be。
1