by Bobby Akart
The woman was still unconvinced, but she finally succumbed to the pressure. She looked to Chuck and shrugged. “Fine. Pull up a couple of seats.”
“We’ll stand, thank you,” said Jake brusquely.
Ashby managed a slight smile. From this point, Ashby would have to wing it.
“Give me the current status of the fourth drill site. The president expressed concern about your progress.”
The woman began reeling off dig depths, time frames, and predictions of completion. “At this point, the well has been drilled both vertically and horizontally to a depth of twelve miles below the surface. In fact, the big drill rigs were pulled out just last week after the horizontal curve was completed and sloped to its present depth. They are currently in the process of casing and cementing, which will take another few weeks.”
“Were there any difficulties during the drilling process?”
“The vertical dig experienced a hiccup at six and a half miles. They burned up quite a few of those leftover pink drill bits before they cracked their way through.”
“Pink?” asked Ashby.
“Yeah. The manufacturer of the drill bits, Baker-Hughes in Houston, manufactured a thousand of them to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation years ago. They gave one hundred thousand to Komen for breast cancer awareness. It caused a big old uproar. The drill bits were distributed to oil and gas companies, but environmental groups gave them flack because they were used to frack, pardon the pun.”
Ashby chuckled. Overall, she was pleased that the woman was so forthcoming.
“Were the pink bits constructed differently, which might account for the damage?” asked Ashby.
The woman hesitated. “I shouldn’t say. Your question is more appropriate for Mr. Younger. He’s a geologist, you know.”
“I do and he’s a busy man. Have the drill engineers confided in you? I mean, we could fly out to the Cave Falls site and take a look around, but I’d hate to disrupt the operation.”
She quickly replied to Ashby, “Oh, no. They’re already behind schedule, according to Mr. Younger. He was just here yesterday reading everyone the riot act. Some say it was the crust while others say the bits deformed from the magma.”
Ashby took a deep breath. This was worse than she imagined. “Thank you so much for answering my questions. I’ll let you both get back to it.”
“Sure.”
Ashby turned and started toward the door. She suddenly stopped and spun around. “One more question. Did the engineers have the same difficulty at the third drill site? What’s the name of that area?”
“Bridger-Teton?”
Ashby shot Jake a glance. “Yes, over in the Bridger-Teton Forest. Did they have the same difficulties there?”
“As a matter of fact, they did. It required a much deeper dig. Fifteen miles, I think. Am I right, Chuck?”
“Yes, fifteen. But it’s producing now. Our best producer, in fact. Mr. Younger knew all along that six miles wouldn’t cut it. But hey, we’ve got the first two at roughly twelve miles, now another at fifteen. Go deep or go home!” The two employees of Project Hydro had a good laugh as Ashby balled her fists. She took a slight step toward them when Jake intervened.
“Dr. Donovan, we need to stay on schedule, please.”
Superstorm Ashby whirled around and stormed outside.
Chapter 56
Jake’s Cabin
Yellowstone
That evening, Yellowstone was getting pounded by severe thunderstorms. Since most of the park was at an elevation of six thousand feet or higher, unpredictability characterized Yellowstone’s weather. Big temperature swings, heavy rains, and even snow throughout the year was possible. The incessant downpour and temporary loss of power from downed trees didn’t put a damper on the group’s spirits.
“It’s a good thing we don’t have cell phone service up here,” quipped Dusty. “You know Younger has been speed-dialing your phone hundreds of times today.”
“I’ll have to face him at some point,” said Ashby, who took a sip of beer. “But not tonight.”
Rita returned from the kitchen with another candle to place on the dining table. The flickering light cast an orangish glow in the room. “That was a lot of paperwork to go through. After we compared it to our own findings, Dusty and I agree their monitoring is similar to ours although they haven’t placed the focus on Norris like we have.”
“Well, it sounds like we need to spend more time near these two drill sites, right, Doc?” asked Dusty.
“They’ve certainly overstepped their congressional approvals unless they’ve circumvented the law somehow. Whether it’s the cause of the recent activity is still subject to debate. It’s always been my belief that Yellowstone has been building to this for decades. And our research at Norris proves that the hot spot has shifted or even expanded. Either way, it changes everything.”
Jake retrieved another round of beers for the group and took his seat next to Ashby. “Would you explain this whole hot-spot thing? Are you saying everything aboveground is moving, but what’s underneath is not?”
“Kind of,” replied Ashby. She reached into the center of the table and pulled a candle over so that it was positioned between them. She rested her elbows on the table and looked at Jake. “May I have your hand?”
“Are you a palm reader too?”
“No. Will you trust me for a moment?”
Jake smiled. “Always.”
He gave her his left hand and she took it in hers. She turned it parallel to the table and began to pull it toward the candle. Jake tensed up, making it more difficult.
“Loosen, Jake. I won’t hurt you.”
Jake glanced at Dusty, who shrugged. He turned his attention back to Ashby and relaxed.
Ashby explained, “Below the Yellowstone Caldera is a massive chamber of molten rock called a hot spot. Now, this hot spot, represented by the candle flame, stays in a relatively stationary location under the Earth’s crust. But the Earth’s surface does not remain in one place.
“Continents are made up of many tectonic plates, which float on the planet’s mantle. Sometimes they zigzag against each other, which causes earthquakes. Other times, they just float along on this gigantic sea of molten rock, or magma. In the case of the North American tectonic plate, it has been shifting toward the southwest throughout the millennia at the rate of about an inch per year.”
Ashby took Jake’s hand and placed it well above the flame, but close enough to prove her point. As she continued, she slowly moved his hand across the flame until it traveled from his palm to his index finger.
“Seventeen million years ago, when this hot spot first appeared, it broke through the crust of the region north of Reno, Nevada. Over time, the North American Plate continued to move in a southwesterly direction. With each successive volcanic eruption, over hundreds of thousands of years, the hot spot built up more energy and the tectonic plate shifted farther. Now, I believe the hot spot is under the Norris Area. In several hundred thousand years, it will be under Billings, Montana, Rita’s hometown.”
Their hands lingered together before Ashby finally released Jake’s. Dusty and Rita glanced at one another and smiled. There was definitely chemistry between them.
“This hot spot is the lair of a fire-breathing dragon,” said Dusty, who enjoyed playing Ego Draconosis, an interactive online video game.
“Yes, and it wreaks havoc every so often,” added Ashby. “The first time was at the seventeen-million-year-old McDermitt Caldera at the Oregon-Nevada-Idaho border, and more recently at Yellowstone, which created the Lava Creek Tuff.”
“How does what we learned today, or these past two weeks, for that matter, play into all of this?” asked Jake.
“The major indicators of trouble are appearing outside the caldera rim, except for the earthquakes, which are occurring along traditional fault lines. The signs uncovered at Bridger to the south and Cave Falls to the west may be a direct result of the activity by Project Hydro. Wha
t we’ve learned at the Norris Area are attributable to the shifting hot spot.”
“What are we waiting for? What will trigger the eruption?” Jake asked.
“Quake activity, but on a larger scale than the two we’ve recently experienced,” replied Dusty. “Doc thinks the first two were foreshocks because they were small.”
“How big of an earthquake will it take to set things off?”
“A seven-point-five like at West Yellowstone in 1959,” replied Dusty. “Even the six-point-one at Norris in ’75 wouldn’t do it.”
Rita leaned forward and placed her thumb over the top of her beer bottle and shook it vigorously. She let a small amount of beer spew over the top and onto a napkin on the table. “Or a minor volcanic eruption could destabilize the entire region,” she proposed.
“At Norris?” asked Jake.
“No, Norris will be the big guy,” replied Dusty. “A minor eruption could occur anywhere in the region near the caldera rim.”
“It will be a one-two punch, Jake,” interjected Ashby. “The earthquake will hit us, and the volcano will erupt shortly thereafter. We have to be diligent and not take any of these tremors lightly.”
Chapter 57
Grant Village
Yellowstone
The next morning, Jake and Ashby rode into the YVO together. They were in a lighthearted mood despite the fact that Ashby fully expected a tongue-lashing from Younger. Jake was dressed in his full uniform, as he had the day before. As they parked at the YVO, Jake hopped out of the truck and hustled around to the rear door. He opened it and reached for his M16.
“Please let me escort you inside,” said Jake with a chuckle as he revealed the weapon to Ashby. “I’m pretty sure Younger will be a lot more humble than usual with me by your side.”
Ashby laughed and playfully shoved him. “You sit out here, lawman. This isn’t going to take long. I’ll gladly accept my tongue-lashing from Younger. As long as NASA doesn’t fire me, I don’t care.”
“Well, I’ll put on the sunglasses, lean against the hood of the truck, and look menacing, just in case.”
“You’re so sweet, Jake,” Ashby said as she casually brushed past him. “I’ve got this. If he won’t arrange another conference call with the president, or at least the top dogs at the USGS, then we’ll use the nuclear option.”
“A bomb?”
Ashby laughed and walked off. She shouted over her shoulder, “No, the media.”
Jake patiently waited, observing his surroundings at Grant Village. There were no sounds of chirping birds. Ordinarily, the high-pitched whine of fishing boats could be heard on the water at this time of the morning. Today, it was silent. The rainstorms had moved out, leaving a fresh pine scent in the air. He was contemplating the fact that he’d have to return to work in a few days when the front door to the YVO swung open.
Ashby strutted out, leaving a red-faced Younger in the entry. “Don’t even bother to come back here, Donovan! I’ve had enough of you!”
“No problem,” she replied sarcastically before she raised her right hand and gave the scientist-in-charge a well-deserved middle finger.
Jake was grinning when she joined him at the truck. “I take it you two aren’t BFFs anymore.”
Ashby laughed. “Ya got that right. Oh, by the way, he knows about you. Did you have your name badge on yesterday, too?”
“Oh, crap! I did. I totally forgot.”
Ashby walked around to the passenger door, and Jake quickly hopped in the driver’s seat.
“He knew who you were,” said Ashby. “You might catch some heat from your people.”
“I’m not worried. My guys hate Younger. Besides, they can’t fire me. I work for the government.”
“That’s true. Let’s find Ella. I need to fill her in, and then I’m going to suggest she leave right away.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely. I did learn from overhearing conversations in the YVO that an earthquake swarm hit the Idaho-Wyoming border this morning, just west of Cave Falls. The geologists couldn’t find a record of that happening in the last hundred years.”
Jake nodded and spun his tires in the loose gravel as he drove the short distance to Bear Lodge, where Ella and Simon were staying. They pulled up just as Simon was packing their gear in the rental vehicle.
Jake rolled down his window. “Where are you headed today?”
“Back to LA. The BBC wants to pull us out and get us closer to home.”
“Why?”
Ella heard Jake’s question as she walked through some parked cars. “Jake, Ashby, good morning.”
“Good morning, Ella,” greeted Ashby, who had leaned over onto the truck’s console. “Why are you guys being pulled?”
Ella approached the driver’s side window and rested her elbow on the door frame. “You two should really turn on the news once in a while. Do you even read my blog?”
“Every day, and then we close off the world,” replied Jake.
“I’m sorry to inform you that parts of America are in chaos. Most of your Midwestern states can’t control the mid- to large-sized cities. There are so many people fleeing to the south all the major roads are gridlocked. There’s talk of Texas closing its borders to nonresidents.”
“Wouldn’t surprise me,” interrupted Jake. “Ella, nothing has happened yet.”
“I know. That hasn’t stopped the major media outlets from picking up the story in the last twenty-four hours. I would expect you to see large mobile news trucks arriving throughout the day. Ashby, your name has been included often.”
Ashby sighed and looked to Jake. “I need to spend a little while with Ella. Do you mind?”
“Not at all. I’ll talk with Simon about our favorite subject—drinking.”
Jake and Simon spoke while they loaded up the news team’s gear. Ashby opened up the Expedition’s tailgate and began to lay out all of the details of her team’s findings. After they finished the conversation, Ashby promised to email all the details to Ella, and to stay in touch by telephone.
“Ella, I need you to continue reporting on this for me,” said Ashby as they wound up their conversation. “I have no allies in the government except maybe the president, and Younger is blocking my path to the White House.”
“You tell me what to report, and I’ll get it out there as best I can,” said Ella.
“Here’s the bottom line. All of the signs are there indicating a potential minor eruption. It is my belief that a super eruption is imminent and simply needs to be triggered. Ella, we are looking at a domino effect, which most likely started with the irresponsible drilling at Project Hydro. The word needs to get out about their drilling deeper than mandated by Congress. If we have to blow my cover, then so be it. It has to be stopped before it’s too late.”
Ella gave Ashby a hug and then said her goodbyes to Jake. As they drove off, Ashby said, “That’s one determined young woman.”
Jake put his arm around Ashby’s shoulders and added, “You both are.”
Chapter 58
Jake’s Cabin
Yellowstone
Ashby had been scouring the internet looking for stories about the seismic activity at Yellowstone. Ella had immediately prepared a scathing article about Project Hydro. She used another image she found of the Cave Falls build site, where the fourth water-injection project was about to come online. Pulling testimony from Younger’s appearance before Congress, she successfully exposed the violations of their mandate for the project.
What frustrated Ashby was that none of the American mainstream media had picked up on the Project Hydro aspect of the story. To be sure, websites like InfoWars, Zero Hedge, and Drudge were all over it. In the UK, the usual websites like the UK Express and Independent reprinted the BBC piece Ella wrote; otherwise, it didn’t appear. The media seemed to focus on the societal collapse occurring in the Midwest.
Dusty did his best to lighten the mood that evening. He’d disappeared into the cabin, and when he returned,
he was wearing a tinfoil hat and was carrying his MacBook.
“Wait, wait! I’m picking up on something.” He stifled a laugh of his own as he approached everyone on the back deck. A light sprinkle of rain had fallen since dusk, but it had a springtime freshness about it, which led everyone outside for the evening.
“You’re an idiot,” sniped Rita.
“No, hold on, Rita. Yes, reports are coming in. We have confirmation. It’s giant gnomes. Yes, indeed. The mythical Knockers are much larger than the Welsh ever imagined. They have on their mining gear. Oh, they’re digging for underground treasure underneath Yellowstone.”
“Shut up!” grumbled Rita.
“You don’t understand,” Dusty continued undeterred. “Everything we’ve discovered for two weeks has been interpreted. The increased seismic activity. Unexplained fissures. Poisonous gases seeping through the earth. Animals acting all crazy-like. Superheated hot pots and streams. Oh, the lava. Don’t forget the lava. None of this has anything to do with the obvious. No sirree, Bob. It’s the gnomes. The Heinzelmännchen, if you’re from Germany. I knew it all along.”
It was a rare show of sarcasm by Dusty, who generally kept things lighthearted. The frustration was getting to him as well.
Ashby stood and snatched the tinfoil hat off Dusty’s head. She tried it on and gave her best teenage-girl-selfie pout, you know, the one that makes an otherwise pretty girl’s smile get replaced by an absurd protruding of the lips to look like a duck.
“How do I look?”
“Cute,” said Jake.
“Just ducky!” added Dusty.
Rita didn’t respond as she stared intensely at her laptop’s screen. She glanced up momentarily and remarked how the rain had stopped and the skies were clearing. Rita abandoned her computer and set it on the table in front of her. She was drawn to the spectacle.
