The four clock faces of the great tower had long since fallen, leaving gaping holes like eye sockets in a skull staring blindly at desolation.

Wind and ice had eroded the brick fabric of the building. Acid rain corroded the cast iron bell supports and ate into the mortar of the brickwork.

Finally, the iron beam securing the great bell, fractured, and sixteen tons of bronze plunged three hundred feet down through the weakened brick and stone of the clock tower. It bounced back and forth between the four walls and with each destructive impact the once familiar chime thundered a death knell. Big Ben collapsed.

The great bell’s chime, the last manmade sound on earth, faded away, unheard. The dust cloud dispersed, unseen. Only the wind sighed.