“Looked one hell of a lot like one where I was standing,” the XO replied, his brow crinkling. “Big flash, mushroom cloud, hell of a bang. Nuke.”

“No radiation and no EMP, sir,” Crichton said, shaking his head.

“No EMP?” the battalion commander said. “Are you sure?”

“What…” the Charlie Company commander said, then shook his head. “I know I’m supposed to know this, damnit, but I don’t. What in the hell is… what was it you said?”

“EMP, sir,” Crichton replied. “Electromagnetic pulse. Basically, a nuke makes like a giant magnetic generator along with everything else.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. “I called my mom to tell her I was okay and not to worry. Didn’t think about it…”

“That’s okay,” the battalion commander said. “Everybody did the same thing.”

“Yes, sir,” Crichton replied. “But I meant I didn’t think about it until I hung up. Nuke that size, sir, the EMP should have shut down every electronic device in East Orlando. I mean everything that wasn’t shielded. Phones, computers, cars. But everything works. Ergo, it was not a nuke.”

“Look, Crichton, I got a call, a personal call, from the Chief of Staff,” the battalion commander said. “I mean the Army Chief of Staff. There’s a NEST team on the way to check this out, but he wants data now. What do I tell him?”

Crichton cringed at that. The Chief of Staff was going to tell whatever he said to somebody even higher up. Probably the President. If he got it wrong…

“Right now this… event is not consonant with a nuclear attack, sir,” the specialist said, firmly. “There is no evidence of EMP or radiation. Nor…” He paused and then squared his shoulders. “Nor does it appear to be an asteroid strike.”

“A what?” the operations officer asked.

“Look,” Crichton said, thinking fast. “Sir, you ever see a movie called Armageddon? Or Asteroid?”