by Larry LaVoie
“Okay, I’m in.” Lisa said. “I’ll do a hard sell on Blake, but if he has football, he’ll come.”
“Good, make certain you get Mom to agree. Dad didn’t seem too sure.”
After he hung up he realized he was committed to his family. What if Lisa backed out? Too late for that, now. He couldn’t wait any longer. He called Lisa again.
“I had to send some info off the internet to Dad,” Lisa said.
“Good news, I hope.”
“He’s going to try and talk Mom into it.”
“I have reservations at Old Faithful Lodge, December 21 through December 26. I can’t believe how excited I am about this.”
“Me, too,” Lisa said. “It will be so good to get away from all this mess.”
“Mess?”
“You know. I’ve been stressed out over this asteroid but getting away from the observatory for a while will do me good. I think Martin did me a favor when he took over all communication with the public.”
“Let’s make sure this happens, then,” Cody said.
Cody left his cabin on the snowmobile and headed to the office. When he reached the edge of Mammoth Hot Springs the roads were plowed smooth. About four inches of packed snow paved the road and a berm on the sides told him the streets had been freshly plowed. The bleak sky indicated they were in for more snowfall, but that wasn’t unusual. In fact, they were a little on the shy side for snowfall this year. He went into Park Headquarters and saw his contractor sitting in the lobby. “Jim, I hope you haven’t been waiting too long.”
“You know what they say, ‘Time is money’.”
“You’re not charging me right now, I hope,” Cody said kidding. “Thanks for fixing that damage so quickly.”
“You’re all right with it?”
“Good as new.”
Jim handed him a bill. “Give this to your insurance agent. What did the sheriff find out about the guy who broke in?”
“It’s a crazy story, but I haven’t got time right now. If you’re still around tonight I’ll buy you a beer at Mammoth Hotel. I’m meeting Elliott and Catherine to tell them about my Christmas plans.”
Jim checked his watch. “I might stick around if the drinks are on you.”
“I said a beer. You should be buying, I’m the customer.”
“See you there.”
The office felt empty without Doug and the others. He looked at his desk and saw the box of records Doug had scanned into the computer, still sitting on the floor. When they had analyzed the data, they saw the average altitude in the park had stayed constant on average, with some areas rising and others falling. The information he and Doug had collected from the West Thumb area had happened so recently it had not been included in the data. He was certain it would change the numbers, possibly making them support his theory that the ground was rising and falling in a land tide, but he had no idea what that would mean. He added the numbers to Doug’s data and looked at the average altitude for the caldera. Overall the numbers still showed only a modest two-inch rise in the caldera over the past ten years. In fact, compared to five years earlier the average was lower. He thought of how disappointed Doug was when the West Thumb Basin had started receding. In spite of Doug’s disappointment, he had been relieved. Cody had felt the public was in danger. In November the staff at Yellowstone dropped to about 500 and the visitors to less than 20,000, and visitors would stay at that level through April. He pulled up the latest information on West Thumb Basin and saw the ground was beginning to rise again. He shook his head. He would check it daily and leave a note for his replacement; the area definitely needed watching. He was planning on wrapping things up before his family arrived, making December 20 his last official day as Yellowstone Park geologist.
Keck Observatory, Hawaii
“Congratulations, I just got word the names you submitted are accepted, the Latin spelling of course,” Lisa said to Ashlar. “Are you planning on staying here over the holidays?”
“My family doesn’t celebrate Christmas,” Ashlar said. “I think I’ll just hang around and keep my eye on the sky. I’m going to see if I can get a picture of Dark Angel and Demon as they pass by the moon.” He smiled. “It may be something I show my children someday.”
“You might coordinate the photo op with the radio telescope crew. I heard they were planning on doing the same thing. JPL also has eyes on it. Even a non-event like this will be an opportunity to see how objects passing that close to our moon react.”
“Someday I am going to be famous like you, Dr. Wilson,” Ashlar said.
Lisa smiled. “I’m sure you will. By the way, I’m leaving on December 20 for a trip home with my family in Portland. I’ll be on my mobile phone and I’ll have my computer with me. Don’t be afraid to call if you need anything.” She looked at the others in the room. “I’m leaving Ashlar in charge.” She turned to Ashlar. “You’re in charge, so you break it, you buy it, understand?”
Ashlar smiled. “We are still three weeks away, but thank you in advance for placing the responsibility on me.”
Lisa nodded. “Next call that comes in from Martin Downing, you take it. It will be good training for you.” Lisa turned away and grinned. I don’t care if I ever talk to him again.
Yellowstone Park, December 5
Cody entered the Mammoth Hotel bar and looked around. The park was nearly empty. The week after Thanksgiving was the slowest in the year. The winter crew was getting ready for the cross-country skiers and the winter vacationers in the park. Through the winter about 600 people a day would be visiting; most of them during daylight hours. A few would rent rooms in lodges and cabins that stayed open. All roads in the park were closed and travel in anything other than a snow-cat or snowmobile was forbidden between November and April except along the road connecting the two north entrances. Mammoth was on that road, but it was nearly vacant today.
Cody greeted Chase, the bartender who looked so much like Li’l Abner, a comic strip character, only old timers remembered and dared call him. Dressed in a red flannel shirt, blue jeans held up with broad band suspenders, Cody wondered if he had worked in the woods or it was a new fashion trend for millennials. Most of the timber industry had been on the decline for years. Cody checked his watch and ordered a Scotch on the rocks.
Chase set the glass on the bar. “You’re Cody Street, aren’t you,” Chase said.
Cody had talked to him before, but was surprised he knew his name. Chase had a nametag, like most of the hired help in Yellowstone. Cody had his name on his official USGS shirt, but he wasn’t wearing it today.
“That’s right,” Cody said.
“I recognized your picture from the paper,” Chase said. “You could have been killed. Most home invasions that happen around here are from a wild animal.”
“Looks like that theory is busted,” Cody said. “I’m looking for Catherine and Elliott, you seen them?”
“Been quiet. Too quiet.” Chase went back to wiping down the bar and polishing glasses. Cody had finished his first Scotch on the rocks when he saw Jim come through the door. He hailed him over and Jim took a seat on a stool at the bar. “You’re late,” Cody said.
“Didn’t you say you were going to meet Elliott and Catherine here?” Jim asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“On the way over here, I heard a call on the two-way. Elliott’s plane made a hard landing. He wasn’t hurt, but he broke a strut, so he won’t be flying out soon.”
“That just happened?”
“About an hour ago. You gonna tell me about that intruder?”
Cody saw Catherine come in and stomp the snow off her boots. Elliott was right behind her. “Chase we’re going to grab a table. Bring all of them whatever they like on my tab.” He got up and waved them to a table. This time of year, Yellowstone was like a family. The holdovers all knew each other. Jim was a contractor from Cody, Wyoming, but he was in the park doing repairs on a regular basis and knew many of the regulars.
“Hea
rd you hit the ground too hard,” Cody said to Elliott.
“News travels fast,” Elliott said. “I’m embarrassed to say it, but I shouldn’t have flown today. I coated my wings with ethylene glycol in Bozeman but I iced up bad anyway. I’m lucky I didn’t go down in the mountains.”
“I told him not to fly in on account of me,” Catherine said. She slugged Elliott on the shoulder. “Damn fool could have killed himself.”
Chase set the drinks on the table. Cody lifted his glass, “Here’s to perfect landings.”
They all clinked their glasses and sipped their drinks.
“I see you made the local fish wrapper,” Elliott said. “Personally, I think you’re better looking in person.”
“I saw it in the Bozeman Chronical,” Jim said. “You made the front page.”
“That’s where I saw it,” Elliott said. “You think it was her boyfriend?”
“He was a stalker,” Cody said. “Melissa, the girl that was killed had refused to date him. Doug, my assistant for the summer knew her a lot better than I did. He said she got calls from the guy all the time and she had threatened to call the police.”
“Why was he after you?”
Cody shrugged. “Melissa’s death hit all of us really hard. I guess he felt I owed him something.”
“We’re glad you’re safe,” Catherine said, lifting her glass.
Cody was anxious to change the subject. “Hey, I’ve got good news,” he said. “I have reservations at Old Faithful Lodge for my family and Lisa’s parents over Christmas.”
“I was wondering when I was going to be able to meet her,” Catherine said.
“Yeah, we need to get her aside and give her the lowdown on you,” Elliott said.
“Says the man who can’t land an airplane,” Cody said, grinning. “Did I tell you she is a pilot?”
“Seriously,” Catherine said, “we’re going to be here over Christmas. We should all get together.”
“Only if you promise to be on your best behavior,” Cody said. “I’m trying to impress her.”
“You got a lot of balls inviting her parents up here,” Elliott said. “My first wife and I stayed as far away from the in-laws as we could, especially during the holidays. You want to ruin your chances with this chick, inviting her parents up here is the best way to do it.”
“Maybe that’s why your marriage didn’t last,” Jim said. “My in-laws and I get along just fine.”
“You’re taking his side because he still owes you money,” Elliott said. “I’m telling you it could end up a disaster.”
“Hey, Jim is already paid off,” Cody objected. “Speaking of disasters, Lisa said we skirted one. The asteroid that was supposed to hit the moon is going to miss it by a mile or so.”
“You trust the government to let us know what’s really happening,” Elliott said. “I, for one, think they wouldn’t tell us if it was going to crash on top of us.”
Catherine gave Elliott a sideways glance. “Give him another beer and he’ll tell us what he really thinks.”
“Okay,” Cody said, “everyone who trusts the government to tell us if an asteroid is going to impact the earth raise your hand. Come on, this is an antidotal poll.” Cody raised his hand. He looked around the table. “Really? I’m the only one who thinks the government would level with us?”
“There’s plenty of evidence the government wouldn’t let us in on a major disaster, especially if they couldn’t do anything about it,” Jim said.
“Give me an example.” Cody challenged.
“I’ll give you an example,” Elliott butted in leaning into the table “World War Two. The Japanese sent incendiary bombs across the Pacific to the United States using balloons. We now know they were successful, but at the time, the government didn’t want the public to panic and kept the information quiet. What was even more of a cover up, it was later learned the Japanese were experimenting with biological weapons, which were designed to be launched by balloon. There was a Japanese balloon found after the war that had a payload of something other than incendiary devices, but that news has been kept buried for years.”
“Okay, I’ll concede there have been times the government didn’t admit things right away, but that was in wartime. Right now, something as critical as an asteroid impact isn’t going to go unnoticed. NASA has agencies set up just for the purpose of warning the public. You can go to their site and see impending threats.”
“You’re assuming they have identified a threat they can do something about,” Elliott said. “What if an asteroid wasn’t discovered in time to do something about it. Say an extinction event just pops up out of nowhere and there isn’t time to react. Would it be better to let the public know and have widespread panic or keep it a secret and let it happen?”
“Who would make that decision?” Cody asked.
“Exactly,” Elliott said. “It would be a human, probably the President or the head of a Government agency, if they got the report.”
“You’re telling us the information might not reach the responsible Government agency,” Jim said.
“In the real world, it might be considered classified and be stopped before anyone in the public got wind of it.”
“All conjecture,” Cody said.
“Well, did you know the Army and the Navy both tested the effectiveness of airborne viruses when they found out balloons with biological agents on them had reached the United States? That information has only been declassified recently. Government secrets are often hidden for fifty years or more.”
“Wow,” Cody said sarcastically, “we have a real conspiracy nut sitting with us.”
“You can make fun of it,” Elliott said, “but if you really want to look, the evidence is there. A cover-up is convenient if it’s considered in the public interest at the time. I’m saying if there is a human involved, then the truth getting out is a fifty-fifty gamble. Take a poll, who would want to know if they were going to die tomorrow. Come on, don’t be bashful. If you knew for certain an asteroid would strike the earth and you couldn’t escape it, would you want to know?”
Catherine raised her hand. “I wouldn’t want to know. I’d rather be terrified a second before it happens than to be terrified for days or months.”
“Okay, we’ll make you president,” Elliott said. “Your top scientific minds knock on your door and say, ‘Mrs. President, you have to tell the people they are all going to die tomorrow and you can’t do a damn thing to protect them’.” Elliott laughed. “Your job, Mrs. President is to protect and preserve the Constitution of the United States. You must follow us, so we can put you in a bunker and keep you from harm while the rest of the world gets wiped out.”
“I think I’ve heard enough,” Cody said. “It’s almost Christmas, we can find something better to discuss.”
“Chase,” Elliott raised his hand. “Bring us another round.” He finished his drink and asked, “Who wants a new airplane for Christmas?” He raised his hand, looked around the table, and smiled. “Just in case any of you were thinking about playing Santa.”
The next round arrived and they lifted their drinks in a toast to the coming week. “More snow, fewer visitors, and a Merry Christmas to all,” Catherine said.
“To a warm and safe holiday, if I don’t see you before Christmas,” Cody said.
“I’m going to be upset if you keep Lisa hidden from us,” Catherine said.
“We’re going to be in the Upper Geyser Basin, it’s not like we can just hop over and see you all,” Cody said.
“Then be prepared to have visitors at Old Faithful Lodge.”
“Fine. If you make it to the lodge, I’ll buy you all a hot toddy.” Cody downed the rest of his drink, brought the glass down and stood. Something about the data he had been gathering didn’t seem right. He decided to go through the numbers once again. “I’ve got to go. If I don’t see you around. Merry Christmas.” He paid the tab and went out into the night.
“That was rude,” Catherine said.
“Give him a break,” Elliott said. “He has a lot on his mind.”
“I hate to break up the party, but I need to get out of here before this storm closes the road into Wyoming.” Jim got up and left.
“That just leaves you and me, babe,” Elliott said.
“You want another one?” Catherine asked.
“I can’t fly, but I can still walk,” Elliott said. He raised his hand. “Hey Chase, start a new tab.”
Chapter 15
Yellowstone Park, December 19
Cody checked the West Thumb Basin data as soon as he got into his office. He had seen a steady rise in elevation, but it hadn’t reached the level of the earlier readings that had concerned him. He knew that raising any alarm before it reached the previous high would be met with little concern. He knew he wouldn’t be on top of things for the rest of the year and sent an e-mail to Calvin Baker telling him he had seen a slight rise in the ground and today would be his last day on the job. He wished his boss a Merry Christmas and said he would call him in January. He didn’t mention he was spending the next week in Yellowstone with his family. Better he doesn’t know and turn my vacation time into a working session, he thought. It had happened before.
He pushed the send button and turned when he heard a knock on the door. “Calvin, I just sent you an e-mail.”
“My ears must have been burning,” his boss said. “I wanted to come by and give you a heads up.”
“I’m just wrapping things up,” Cody said.
“Are you going home for the holidays?”
Cody grimaced. “Actually, I’m having my family here for Christmas. Kind of a farewell to my years in the park. I have reservations at Old Faithful Lodge.”
“That’s what I want to talk to you about,” Calvin said. He pulled out a chair from a table and sat in it. “I wanted to tell you in person, but I was too upset to meet with you. I know how much you love the place and it wasn’t my decision. Did Jerry tell you, you still have a job at USGS?”
“I understand the politics of it,” Cody said. “I don’t agree with it, but cutting me made the family happy, I guess that was the prudent thing to do.”
