The men cheered. Mark looked relieved. The tension under which he had been operating quickly released. His face wrinkled up and tears began to flow down his cheeks.
Then the bare hum began to build. It turned into a whine, and then into a shriek. The floor began to shudder. Mark wiped his eyes and stared at the screen.
“The reaction is starting, but the energy level is climbing much faster than it should! Something’s wrong! Something’s wrong!!”
The men began to hear small explosions. There was a popping sound as a flexible tube burst a few yards away. Tinkling glass rained down in several places as light bulbs popped with the influx of too much energy. Mark began to flip rapidly through files on the screen.
All at once a panel a hundred yards away blew out in a monstrous explosion. A burst of brilliant white light blinded the men momentarily. As their eyes returned to normal a loud hiss cut through the air and continued to build. Yellow and orange sparks erupted in a spectacular shower from the damaged panel. Mark turned toward the site with a look of panic. Without warning a connector at the panel lit up with a coruscating orange color. Unable to handle the power surge, it began to melt and fragment. In less than a second, the damage shot through the connector and came to where it entered the computer terminal. There was a sickening, deep “brrzzz” sound, and the screen went dark.
Mark slumped toward the floor. Madera grabbed the Starman before he fell and eased him to the iron deck. Joe ran forward.
21: The Asteroid Over Vanuatu
ZIP was already hunched over Mark when Joe came to the front of the crowd. A few of the men hovered nearby, which others ran to the site of the explosion. Most stayed in place, looking around nervously.
“Is he...?” stammered Joe.
“He sustained a powerful shock,” said Madera. “The energy was too much for that panel and it backed up to the terminal here. Mark had his hand on the keyboard.”