Under the Dome

In Washington, Colonel James O. Cox said, 'Final approach, people. Hang onto your false teeth.'

The Fasthawk found Little Bitch Road and dropped almost to ground-level, still blasting at near-Mach 2 speed, reading every hill and turn, its tail burning too brightly to look at, leaving a toxic stench of propellant in its wake. It tore leaves from the trees, even ignited some. It imploded a roadside stand in Tarker's Hollow, sending boards and smashed pumpkins flying into the sky.The boom followed, causing people to fall to the floor with their hands over their heads.

This is going to work, Cox thought. How can it not?

19

In Dipper's, there were now eight hundred people crammed together. No one spoke, although Lissa Jamieson's lips moved soundlessly as she prayed to whatever New Age oversoul happened to be currently claiming her attention. She clutched a crystal in one hand; the Reverend Piper Libby was holding her mother's cross against her lips.

Ernie Calvert said, 'Here it comes.'

'Where?' Marty Arsenault demanded. 'I don't: see noth—'

'Listen? Brenda Perkins said.

Th^y heard it come: a growing otherworldly hum from the western edge of town, a mmmm that rose to MMMMMM in a space of seconds. On the big-screen TV they saw almost nothing, until half an hour later, long after the missile had failed. For those still remaining in the roadhouse, Benny Drake was able to slow the recording down until it was advancing frame by frame. They saw the missile come slewing around what was known as Little Bitch Bend. It was no more than four feet off the ground, almost kissing its own blurred shadow. In the next frame the Fasthawk, tipped with a blast-fragmentation warhead designed to explode on contact, was frozen in midair about where the Marines' bivouac had been.

In the next frames, the screen filled with a white so bright it made the watchers shade their eyes.Then, as the white began to fade, they saw the missile fragments—so many black dashes against the diminishing blast—and a huge scorch mark where the red X had been. The missile had hit its spot exactly.

After that, the people in Dipper's watched the woods on the Tarker's side of the Dome burst into flame. They watched the asphalt on that side first buckle and then begin to melt.

20

'Fire the other one,' Cox said dully, and Gene Ray did. It broke more windows and scared more people in eastern New Hampshire and western Maine.

Otherwise, the result was the same.

IN THE FRAME

1

At 19 Mill Street, home of the McClatchey family, there was a moment of silence when the recording ended. Then Norrie Calvert burst into fresh tears. Benny Drake and Joe McClatchey, after looking at each other over her bowed head with identical What do I do now expressions, put their arms around her quaking shoulders and gripped each other's wrists in a kind of soul shake.

'That's it?' Claire McClatchey asked unbelievingly. Joe's mother wasn't crying, but she was close; her eyes glistened. She was holding her husband's picture in her hands, had taken it off the wall shortly after Joe and his friends had come in with the DVD. 'That's all?'

No one answered. Barbie was perched on the arm of the easy chair where Julia was sitting. I could be in big trouble here, he thought. But it wasn't his first thought; that had been that the town was in big trouble.

Mrs McClatchey got to her feet. She still held her husband's picture. Sam had gone to the flea market that ran at Oxford Speedway each Saturday until the weather got too cold. His hobby was refin-ishing furniture, and he often found good stuff at the stalls there. Three days later he was still in Oxford, sharing space at the Raceway Motel with several platoons of reporters and TV people; he and Claire couldn't speak to each other on the phone, but had been able to stay in touch by e-mail. So far.

'What happened to your computer, Joey?' she asked. 'Did it blow up?'

Joe, his arm still around Norrie's shoulders, his hand still gripping Benny's wrist, shook his head. 'I don't think so,' he said. 'It probably just melted.' He turned to Barbie. 'The heat might set the woods on fire out there. Someone ought to do something about that.'

'I don't think there are any fire engines in town,' Benny said. 'Well, maybe one or two old ones.'

'Let me see what I can do about that,'Julia said. Claire McClatchey towered over her; it was easy enough to see where Joe had gotten his height. 'Barbie, it would probably be best if I handled this on my own.'

'Why?' Claire looked bewildered. One of her tears finally over-spilled and ran down her cheek. 'Joe said the government put you in charge, Mr Barbara—the President himself!'