Prometheus and the Dragon (Atlas and the Winds Book 2) by Eric Michael Craig

their now almost opaque visors they could see what was happening. The six beams had run for several seconds, and then they too shut down. The glow that faded was enough to show the entire crater floor. It looked like a thin ball of multicolored plasma dissipating as it expanded away from the ends of the guns. A ridge of dust blew outward in a circle looking very much like an earthly windstorm.
    And then they heard it: a growling thunder traveled up through the soles of their feet until it rattled their teeth together. Eerie and disconcerting in its hollow screaming rage.
    They both sat down on small rocks and shook.
    ***
     
    Mount Weather, Virginia:
     
    “What the hell happened?” President Hutton bellowed across the intercom.
    “We’ve lost the signal from New Hope,” the technician said. “We’re attempting to get it back.”
    She looked over at the other screen that showed Dr. Danielson’s face. He sat there unmoving, his mouth hanging open in shock. “What happened?” she asked him.
    “I don’t know any more than you do at this moment,” he said. “We’ve lost contact with the colony, and all but one of the remote camera positions.”
    “Please tell me it didn’t blow up,” she said, an icy hand crushing her heart.
    “I don’t see how it could have,” he said, but she could tell he was more than a little concerned.
    “Is it possible it’s just electromagnetic interference?” Donna Jacoby said from her chair beside the President.
    “The guns themselves were shielded against RF emission,” Danielson said, scratching his ear and trying to consider what else it could have been. “I hope that’s all it is.”
    “If there was sufficient gas around the beam, wouldn’t it generate a plasma that could have RF properties?” Dr. Jacoby asked.
    “Maybe,” he said, still not looking overly hopeful.
    ***
     
    Chang Er Prefecture, Tycho:
     
    “All sensing equipment just went offline,” Lin-Tzu said. “We’ve got no data coming in at this point.”
    “Are they jamming the signal?” General Wan asked.
    “We can’t be sure,” she said, “but if they were intending to block our signal, I would assume they would have started before the test and not at the moment it started.”
    “Then is it possible they’ve had some sort of catastrophic explosion?” he asked.
    “We will be able to detect that on our seismographs in the next few minutes,” she said, opening a link to the geology lab. “This is Major Yao in Operations. Are you detecting any seismic activity?”
    “Yes Major,” the tech said. “Just now.”
    “Does it look like an explosion?” she asked.
    “Not really,” she said. “There is no primary shock. I don’t know what could cause this type of activity.”
    ***
     
    New Hope Colony, Plato:
     
    “What the hell happened?” Susan said, looking at Carter, who just shrugged.
    “I’m not sure, but I think we just found out what it feels like to be sitting inside a nuclear explosion,” he said.
    “Holy shit,” she said. “If that’s going to happen every time we try to use this, then I think we built the colony too close.” Her hands were shaking, and she grabbed the windowsill to steady them.
    “I certainly hope not,” Carter said. His radar screen was coming back, and he studied it intently. “Well, at least it looks like we hit the target. It’s gone.”
    “I thought you weren’t trying to destroy it,” she said.
    “We weren’t,” he admitted. “The first pulse was supposed to graze the side, and then the second pulse from the main guns was supposed to detonate the plasma and kick it sideways.”
    “But you blew it up instead?” she said. “I guess that’s better than missing it entirely.”
    “Operations to Prometheus Control, are you guys all right out there?” Tony Baker said, worry obvious in his voice.
    “Yeah, we’re ok Tony,” Susan said. “Carter’s trying to figure out exactly what happened, but at least it looks like nothing melted in