Are you ready ?" In the darkness Joanne's left hand had sought John's.

It clung to his tightly.

He could feel a little shiver run through her.
"Yes," she whispered.
"Then--if you please--press the button!" Slowly Joanne's right hand crept out, while the fingers of her left clung tighter to Aldous.

She touched the button--thrust it over.

A little cry that fell from between her tense lips told them she had done the work, and a silence like that of death fell on those who waited.
A half a minute--perhaps three quarters--and a shiver ran under their feet, but there was no sound; and then a black pall, darker than the night, seemed to rise up out of the mountain, and with that, a second later, came the explosion.