Hell Shard and the flaming whip
For one thing, Norton's first instinct was that the enormous illusory figure was warning them.
Even if he was wrong, launching an attack under these circumstances would be unwise.
Something else occurred to Norton, and he hurriedly called his team over.
"Sir, come take a look. We need to expand the perimeter immediately."
One of his subordinates brought out a computer displaying a data model, a simulation of the Bevo Community and the sky above it.
The young blond man pointed to locations on the screen with his mouse.
"This is the epicenter, this is the Bayview District, and this is the range over which the tremors weaken. Our perimeter is directly beneath the longitudinal seismic wavelength. I ran a comparative analysis using the principles of explosive shock waves. At this altitude..."
A slanted line appeared on the model directly above the perimeter, with its angle marked as 49 degrees.
The area indicated by the slanted line extended far beyond their perimeter.
"In other words, we have to expand the perimeter!"
The model made it painfully clear. Their preparations were nowhere near enough.
Norton glanced at the conspicuous phantom in the sky.
"Issue a red alert. Evacuate every civilian within two kilometers beyond the perimeter. Prepare to evacuate the entire city if necessary."
"Then what do we do about those reporters? That phantom in the sky is so obvious, plenty of people have probably photographed it already."
That was a rather tricky problem.
"No! I don't think anyone has captured it!"
A female team member held her phone up for Norton and the others to see.
The screen showed ripples in space, but the conspicuous red figure was absent. In its place was a red glow resembling a shifting aurora.
"Expand the perimeter. Tell