Because the mushroom cloud was still rapidly cooling, what had been a slender "stalk" also began to rapidly expand and thicken. The surface was a tumult of gas mixed with massive amounts of dust, like the aftereffect of an eruption, where semi-fluid lava reveals a scorchingly hot core emitting a bright, white light through the cracks.
The cloud layer only reached halfway up the stalk of this mushroom cloud, which stood tall, propping up the entire fire-red sky. The sun was merely an unremarkable ornament against this backdrop.
The sky was fire-red, and the ocean was merely a reflection of the sky, with the whole world filled with a fire-red mixed with black, as if one had come to another world entirely.
Musk's eyes were temporarily blinded by the brilliant light at the moment of the explosion — or perhaps it was just that the intense light occupied his entire field of vision. In any case, for a good 10 seconds, all he saw was a vast expanse of white.
