The Extinction Series | Book 1 | Point of Extinction

by Ellis, Tara

  Not only did Mads need to persuade him to accept her wild hypothesis, she needed to make sure it was clear she was still valuable. People who had used up their worth with ICONS tended to disappear.

  “I’ll start with the eruption,” Mads began, going straight to the topic. There was no further need for foreplay.

  “We’re well aware of the mechanism behind the seafloor collapse and subsequent phreatic eruption,” the suit whined. “We didn’t come here for a schoolroom lecture over information already discussed.”

  Mads nostrils flared as she yanked a paper from the board and stuck it under the assistant’s face, before handing it to Kabir. “This image was taken during your flight here, after I gained access to a military satellite orbiting over the Indian Ocean. ICONS reach continues to impress me,” she added without a smile.

  Kabir only glanced at the picture before giving it back. “I’m afraid my talents don’t extend to interpreting geographical anomalies, Dr. Schaefer. If you wouldn’t mind explaining what it is we’re looking at.”

  “The initial collapse hasn’t stopped,” she said bluntly, leaning back on the table and bracing her hands to either side of her thighs. She wanted to sit on them, to control any other nervous gestures, but it would have to do. “The imaging process used, when studied in conjunction with the USGS seismic mapping, paints a solid picture. While I believe the original magma pocket involved was isolated, the failure of the seafloor is not. It’s impossible to know why, though I suspect it has something to do with the unknown composition of the Mohorovicic Discontinuity and the thinness of the crust at the Atlantis Bank.”

  “Which was precisely why you were brought on board as a special consultant in this endeavor over two years ago,” Kabir pointed out. He waved a hand in the air. “And you’ve been compensated nicely for it.”

  Mads blanched. “You can’t possibly be suggesting I should have been able to predict this?” Her emotions threatened to override her larger goal and she fought to reel them in. Gritting her teeth together, she refused to take the bait. “The collapse now measures over twenty miles, radiating out from where MOHO Island used to be. An additional branch, for lack of a better term, is headed north toward Madagascar, which is why the region is continuing to experience increasing seismic activity.”

  Kabir didn’t miss a beat. “Do you have control of the local assets?”

  Madeline methodically replaced the paper on the board, taking the opportunity to press her lips together and breath slowly through her nose. “I’m working on it.”

  “Enough with the geology lesson, Dr. Schaefer,” Kabir said without any emotion. “Tell me why we’re here.”

  Mads faced the two men again. “For you to understand that, I need you to first grasp the scope of the mechanism involved in what I’m suggesting,” Mads said, doing her best to sound rational. Kabir clearly wasn’t a hands-on sort of learner, so she simply pointed to the earthquake report by her shoulder. “Approximately one hour after the initial event, one of the largest recorded earthquakes in history occurred along the Cascadian Subduction Zone, in Washington State. In the four hours since then, a succession of destructive quakes has been rapidly popping off in a counter-clockwise motion along what we refer to as the “Ring of Fire” in the Pacific Ocean. This border delineates the edge of a nearly continuous series of plate movement, oceanic trenches and volcanic belts.”

  “That’s on the other side of the world,” Kabir scoffed. “It’s nothing more than a coincidence.”

  “On a normal day, I’d agree with you.” Mads said quickly, not wanting to lose any momentum. “Any reputable seismologist would admonish the notion that an exchange of energy on one plate could affect the movement on another. Even on the same plate, in most circumstances. However, this collapse is unprecedented, Mr. Bakshi. The sonic wave, pyroclastic flow, methane release and ash plume are all dwarfing anything ever before witnessed. And it isn’t stopping. Africa will all but be wiped out as the gas is carried across it by the trade winds. There isn’t the time or the means to evacuate any more than a small percentage of the population. The whole of the Eastern Hemisphere is threatened by the expanse of the unstable seafloor.”

  When the silence persisted for more than a few heartbeats, Mads continued, encouraged. “Less than half-an-hour after the initial event, there was a spectacular geyser eruption at a geothermal pool in South America called the Libi Nati.”

  The suit sighed and shifted in his chair, the leather creaking under him. “I fail to see how this is pertinent to anything concerning ICONS --”

  Kabir raised a finger. Just one, and effectively cut his assistant off. “The source of these springs?”

  “Unknown,” Mads said with some satisfaction. “The site has been a mystery and part of an on-going investigation for decades.”

  Kabir slowly interlaced his steepled fingers and pressed them against his mouth as he continued to stare at Mads, deep in thought.

  “More coincidences,” the assistant retorted. “I don’t see how our coming here to entertain your preposterous theories is a rational use of our time.”

  “You can only have so many coincidences before you must accept they are no longer random,” Mads said, pulling upon the last of her patience.

  “Let’s say they aren’t,” Kabir interjected. “Random, that is. So long as our involvement at the MOHO site is kept in check, why would any of this be our concern?”

  Mads was disappointed. She had hoped Kabir was more intelligent but it was clear he needed additional prodding. Pushing off from the table, she went to the bookcase behind her desk and took down her prized, antique globe. Handling it delicately, she placed it on the floor in front of the two men.

  Putting her right index finger on the area of the MOHO site in the Indian Ocean, she then stuck her left on the coast of Washington. They were almost exactly opposite of each other. Mads then stretched her left thumb onto the area of the Amazon where the thermal pools were. With her right thumb, she reached it out to hover over Western Asia. “What’s next?” she whispered.

  When Kabir stared at her silently, she grasped the globe between her hands and set it spinning on its platform. “The Mohorovicic Discontinuity is a layer between the crust and the mantle that spans the entire Earth, gentlemen.”

  “What are you implying?” Kabir asked. “Could site number two be in jeopardy? If we’re looking at a restructuring then we need to get ahead of this.”

  Mads paused. It was lined up, but she still had to get them to fall into place. “I’m suggesting that you aren’t taking in the entirety of this situation or its true scale. Mr. Bakshi,” she said with a hint of earnestness. “We need to be thinking beyond protecting ourselves from ICONS activities at the MOHO. As you are well aware since you entered into this venture under the guise of reaching it to find out, we don’t know what’s really down there.”

  Kabir eased forward, his face coming within inches of Mads. “Tell me then, Doctor Schaefer.”

  Mads leaned back on her heels and put a hand on the globe, stopping it. “I have no idea, but everything points to us finding out very soon. But, unless we can stay ahead of it, there isn’t going to be much left to restructure.”

  Chapter 20

  JESS

  Amazon Jungle near Kumalu, Suriname

  Northeast interior of South America

  Jess leaned back into the pile of pillows in her window seat and clutched the old photo album to her chest. After Ash had gone running to his dad to blab about Goldie and the birds, any plans she’d been making about going after the monkey were immediately crushed by her dad.

  Ordered to the confines of the house until God only knew when, Jess had retreated to her room without ever having eaten a real lunch. Four hours later and she was already regretting it. Checking her watch, she confirmed it was only two thirty in the afternoon. How was that possible? It felt like days since she’d happily ran through the jungle on her way to the Libi Nati.

  Six hours. That was all th
e time that had passed since everything stopped making sense. Jess had retrieved her phone before hiding away in her room and spent more than an hour watching both the local and world news. It really didn’t help to make her feel better. While she got more of an understanding about what had happened out in the ocean near Africa, most of the information was all jumbled up and different, depending on which news source was reporting it.

  The big earthquake in the states was making some headlines, especially on the major networks. Although it would normally be a super big deal, the MOHO was still the main story. Jess couldn’t find a whole lot about the gas and one reporter she was watching live said how information coming out of Africa was scarce, due to those who had heard about it panicking, and trying to leave the continent. She turned her phone off then, not wanting to hear anymore. The sweat that broke out on her palms made the phone slip from her hand, and she wiped them on her jeans while looking nervously around her room. She needed a distraction.

  Instead of escaping into a book like she usually would, she dug out the photo album. Jess wanted to be reminded of the good, ordinary things in her life. The most recent picture was of her and Akuba at the Libi Nati. Goldie was seated at her feet, eating some mango. It had been a good day, just a few weeks earlier. They’d finished cleaning out the pool and the Lokono’s were getting ready to practice for the ceremony. Her dad had come by to take some readings and had his camera with him.

  Jess was glad how old-school her dad was and that he still used a real camera. At least, that was what Kofi called him, during one of the times he was teasing his friend about his age. She knew her father was old to have a fourteen-year-old daughter, though it’d never really been anything she gave much thought. Growing up at the research center on the plantation, she had very little else to compare it to. Watching television and going on trips a couple times a year wasn’t enough to weigh against the rest of her life.

  Jess looked back down at the picture again and traced her finger along Goldie’s outline. She wished she were brave enough to sneak out after dark to go find him. That’s what one of the characters in the stories she made up would do.

  A knock at her bedroom door made Jess jump. She scowled at her cowardice as her dad pushed the heavy wooden door open. Some hero she would make.

  Flipping to the front of the album, Jess stopped on an old, faded image of a woman she’d never known. Tall and skinny except for a very large stomach, she had the same color of red hair and crooked smile as Jess. She didn’t want to talk to her dad about Goldie, but she was always wanting to know more about her mother.

  Eric Davies took several steps into the room and then stood looking down at his daughter with a mixture of sorrow and frustration on his face. “Jess, I’m sorry about Goldie. It’s just that I can’t have you out there right now. Not until I’ve got a better handle on what’s going on around here.”

  When Jess didn’t look up to meet his gaze, her dad approached her and she scooted over to make room for him on the bench. As he sat down, he saw the pictures and pointed to the one of her mom.

  “I remember when I took this.”

  Though Jess was pleased with how well her plan had worked, she immediately felt guilty over the pain she could hear in her dad’s voice. “You told me before that you took the picture here, right? She was pregnant with me?”

  Eric nodded and took the photo album onto his own lap. “It took some convincing to get your mother to stay here. It was a sacrifice for her, but ultimately she came to love this place as much as I did, and then I couldn’t talk her out of it.” He chuckled, and flipped the page, revealing the only newborn image that existed of Jess. Akuba was holding her.

  There was a heavy silence and Jess couldn’t stand it. With the weight of everything else it was too much to breathe under. “Tell me the story again about how you met,” she said impulsively. He normally didn’t like to talk about her mom, and she’d only heard about their chance meeting once before. For whatever reason, Jess needed to hear it again, in that moment.

  To her surprise, her father cleared his throat and then smiled at her, closing the book. “Corrine was teaching medicine at UCLA when we met. She was incredibly young for a professor and I initially mistook her for a student.”

  “You were giving a speech or something,” Jess offered, when he paused and stared out the window with a faraway look.

  “Or something,” Eric laughed. Removing his glasses, he used the edge of his t-shirt to wipe them off. It was such a common gesture that Jess took comfort in it, and together with the whimsical story, she could feel it becoming easier to take a deep breath.

  “It was called a guest lecture,” her dad corrected. “I’d recently succeeded in procuring enough benefactors for the preserve. I could finally purchase the land I’d been leasing, and commit to a long-term program. I was going to be in Wyoming visiting your grandparents and took the university up on their request to give a talk on the newly mapped geothermal pools.”

  Jess frowned. She hadn’t thought about her grandparents and how close they might be to the earthquake. They were in their late seventies and lived in a retirement community, so she didn’t see them more than once every couple of years. “They’re a long way from Washington, right?”

  “Huh?” It took a moment to follow his daughters train of thought, but then Eric smiled reassuringly. “Yeah, Jess. Jackson Hole is well over five-hundred miles from the Washington Coast. You know where it’s at on the map.”

  Jess put a pillow on her lap to replace the photo album and squeezed it while resting her chin on it. “I know, it’s just that if the MOHO can kill so many people so far away in Africa, I thought maybe a big earthquake might be able to do the same thing.”

  Her dad reached out and ran a hand down her braid before giving it a playful tug, another affectionate ritual he’d developed over the years. “The earthquake in the states is a lot different than what happened with the MOHO. It’s bad, of course, but won’t cause nearly as much damage.”

  Jess nodded, happy to have it confirmed. “So, Mom liked your speech?” she pressed, moving the conversation back around to something more uplifting.

  “I suppose she must have,” Eric confirmed, smiling again. “She stuck around afterward and asked me several questions.”

  “And it was love at first sight!”

  Laughing, her dad handed the album back to her before standing. “Not exactly, though it was the start to something very special. I didn’t know Corrine for nearly long enough, but she was the sort of person who had a contagious sort of energy. Much like you do.”

  Jess toyed with a frayed edge of the album. “I wish I’d met her.”

  “You did, Jess.” When she didn’t answer or look up from her suddenly important task of smoothing down the edges of the book, her dad went back to the door. Before leaving, he turned back to her. “I’m sorry about Goldie.”

  “Goldie’s fine,” she muttered. The weight was instantly back and Jess wished they could keep pretending like things were okay.

  “Ashok seemed to be fairly certain the monkey was ill,” Eric said softly. “I think it best if you stay away from the jungle for the time being.”

  “Ash doesn’t know what he’s talking about!” Jess cried. “Goldie was… scared. That’s all. The whole jungle is scared, Dad. Can’t you feel it?”

  “Yes.”

  His blunt answer and the way he said it was enough to make Jess stop and really look at him. His shoulders were slouched, hands buried deep into the pockets of his khakis. His foot was tapping nervously against the hardwood floor and his eyes kept flitting up to the large window behind Jess. “There was another geyser eruption at the Libi Nati,” he finally admitted.

  Jess hugged the pillow tighter and wished he hadn’t told her. Maybe he was right and she was still just a kid who needed to be tucked away in her room while the world crumbled around her. It would be so much easier if she didn’t know.

  “Not as big as the first one,” he went
on to explain. “But enough to get Kendal all worked up over it. He’s coming over again, after dinner. God only knows what the man expects me to say. We’re not likely to get anyone out here to study it properly anytime soon, given what’s currently happening elsewhere.”

  The conflicting news stories began to tumble around in Jess’s head. It was hard to know what to believe. “Are we safe, Dad?”

  Doctor Eric Davies opened his mouth and then shut it again. He removed his glasses and wiped at the clean lenses while looking past Jess and at the jungle he’d come to call home for over two decades. “I’ll always do whatever’s necessary to make sure you’re safe.”

  After the door closed behind him, Jess slid off the window seat and scampered across her room to the large, built-in bookcase that dominated a whole wall. After carefully re-shelving the photo album, she stood staring at her collection for a moment, deep in thought.

  Her hand hovered over The Hunger Games first and then, deciding she needed something lighter, instead took out her prized first edition Nancy Drew. The way things were going, she might need to brush up on her sleuthing skills.

  Jess was almost back to her reading spot when a flash of movement in the yard caught her attention. Drawn to the window which faced the backyard, she watched as a Bush Dog ran by. It was a carnivore found only in the northern end of South America, and looked like a large fox without the bushy tail. In its mouth was a long, brown snake. Jess figured it was the same baby boa she’d protected from Ash earlier in the day.

  Turning away from the window, she couldn’t help but feel a little like the snake. Her dad might try to protect her, but one thing Jess learned at a young age was that in the jungle, there was no such thing as fair.

  Chapter 21

  MASIMBA

  Zimbabwe, Africa

  Masimba walked along the northern edge of his farm again, feeling uneasy. He stared intensely at the dark wall of corn that defined the beginning of the fields that rolled for hundreds of acres along the side of their mountain and down to the plains. All appeared normal under the weak glow of the rising moon, except that the small sliver sliding up above the ridgeline had an odd, reddish hue.