Inside the International Space Station.
A blinding light suddenly flared on Earth's surface. Even through the filtering layers of the viewport glass, it was bright enough to make everyone instinctively squint.
Several astronauts performing routine maintenance in the laboratory module stopped working almost simultaneously, their gazes drawn to the blazing white point of light rising from the surface of the blue planet.
An astronaut from the Bald Eagle Nation was the first to set down his wrench. He floated toward the viewport, his brow furrowed as he watched the rapidly expanding sphere of light.
Moments later, several astronauts from other countries drifted over from their respective modules. They crowded around a single viewport, watching what was happening on Earth through the radiation-shielding glass.
"Wh-where... where are the coordinates?" An astronaut named Johnny broke the silence.
The other astronauts quickly drifted back, grabbing the edge of the command console to steady themselves while bringing up the positioning data flashing across the navigation screen.
At the console, an astronaut responsible for orbital monitoring tapped rapidly on the control panel, his eyes fixed on the changing latitude and longitude readings.
A few seconds later, he looked up, his voice stiff as though it had frozen solid. "The explosion coordinates... the coordinates are... 38°53′22″N, 77°2′7″W-!!!"
"It's-the capital-!" A female astronaut's voice trembled with sobs. She covered her mouth with her fingers, her eyes wide and bloodshot as tears spilled uncontrollably.
Outside the viewport, a red mushroom cloud was rising from the ground.
The column of smoke shot skyward from the center of the explosion, billowing into an enormous umbrella-shaped cloud at high altitude. Even from an orbit hundreds of kilometers above, its ever-expanding mushroom outline was clearly visible.
Refracted sunlight gave the edges of the mushroom cloud a faint blue sheen, like some eerie