Caldera

by Larry LaVoie

  He had spent hours poring over the data Bainbridge had left behind. With additional readings he and Carlene had gathered he believed he had improved the accuracy of the numbers. Everything pointed to an eruption sooner rather than later. The big question was——how soon? He hoped he could find out by up-close observation.

  There was another reason for asking Carlene along. Initially they had decided to go directly to the media, but with the death of Senator Lake, Jason was not sure Carlene wanted to continue with the plan. If they were going to the media, time was running out. It was a long shot and without the backing of Sanders not likely to be very effective. Why Sanders was refusing to listen to them was still a mystery. Was it too risky for USGS to sanction, or was there another reason? Whatever the rationalization, he needed to know if Carlene was willing to stand up to Sanders when he was certain to discredit their findings.

  There was one other thing that he’d come across in Bainbridge’s computer, something that sent a chill through him when he’d first read it. Their lives might be in danger for mentioning anything at all to the media. Sanders might have been warning them that they were in over their heads. “I came across a file in Bainbridge’s computer,” he told Carlene as she got into the Jeep. Bainbridge thought someone was following him.”

  “What!” Carlene was incredulous. “Did you call the FBI?”

  “You know that man they asked about?”

  “Talant, wasn’t it?”

  “I’m not sure it’s the same guy, but Bainbridge had a note about a man on the airplane after the visit to the White House in one of his files.”

  “You need to report it.”

  “I will, but first I need to gather some samples. Maybe we can use this information to get some attention.”

  They pulled out onto the main road that looped around the park.

  “I’d like to take the long way around,” Jason said. The drive would take several hours, difficult to do in a single day in the middle of tourist season. If they didn’t stop for too many attractions it would still take the better part of a day, but he wanted to see the park as it was and he wanted the time to plan their next move.

  It had been too long since he had taken the trip simply to view the beauty of the park. Unfortunately he knew his inquisitive mind would not rest just because he wanted to remember the park for its splendor. Yellowstone was acting too much like a volcano and he hated volcanoes. Intuitively he knew he was sitting in the collapsed cone of an active volcano, but it bluntly hit home when he had seen the bodies being hauled up from the lake the day before. It was impossible for him to remember the park as a tourist, the way he had as a child.

  From the campground they drove south to West Thumb and continued along Yellowstone Lake. They turned into Grant Village. The barrier that had been erected to block tourists had been removed. Jason stopped and looked out the window at the water. “It was steaming the last time I was here,” he said to Carlene. “The road was covered right up to here.” He put the Jeep in gear and continued up the road. Off to the right the same sow bear he had encountered on his last trip lumbered through the trees. A park ranger sitting in his pickup waved as they passed his rig. Poor bastard doesn’t have a clue, Jason thought.

  Carlene stared out the window. “Looks like the ground lifted. I can see a crack in the pavement.”

  “It’s done this before.” The dome had grown for years and then entered a dormant period where it receded at the same rate it had grown. Though no one knew why, he thought it might be due to the constant venting of the many geysers within the Yellowstone caldera. Their ability to relieve the pressure might delay an eruption. “Wishful thinking,” he said and didn’t bother to explain his comment to Carlene. “Let’s head up to Old Faithful,” he said to her quizzical look.

  “You’re the tour guide,” she said cheerfully.

  They turned left at the junction and headed toward the Continental Divide passing through the point in the mountains where a single source of water is said to flow into both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

  Several tour buses were parked in the lot at Old Faithful. They fought their way through people milling around the restroom and continued up the boardwalk to where Old Faithful sat idle. In the background both Beehive and Grand Geyser were sending up columns of steaming water at the same time. The group sitting in front of Old Faithful was grumbling and Jason overheard one of the tourists complaining about the delay. “How long have you been waiting?” Jason asked the heavyset woman in a red coat.

  “Over an hour,” the woman protested. “Isn’t this thing supposed to go off every hour?”

  Jason checked his watch. “It’ll erupt within the next fifteen minutes,” Jason said.

  Carlene added, “Time the duration of the next eruption. If it’s less than two-and-a-half minutes the following eruption will be in thirty-eight minutes. If it’s longer, the next eruption won’t be for ninety-one minutes.”

  “Really?” The woman smiled and sat back down on the bench.

  “Something I learned from Bainbridge,” Carlene said to Jason.

  “Seems like a lot of people for this hour,” Jason said. He was hoping they would have the area to themselves. He pulled his jacket tight against the wind and zipped up the front.

  Carlene pulled up the hood of her parka. “This breeze has a bite to it,” she said.

  Jason gently touched her arm. “Let’s walk.” They took the path across the Fire Hole River. “In a few more weeks this place will be a madhouse of activity,” Jason said. “Crowds will be trying to position themselves in front of the geysers to get the best picture. My father brought the family here when I was seven. It was about this time of year, but before the park officially opened.”

  Carlene looked up at him. His gaze was distant. “It must have had an impact on you,” she said taking his arm.

  “It’s one of my favorite memories of him. He was tall and rugged. He called Yellowstone ‘God’s secret.’”

  Old Faithful, true to form, roared into life and Jason pushed the stopwatch function on his wristwatch to time the burst. “The shortest eruption I’ve ever recorded is 87 seconds,” Jason said. “This one seems like it’s going to be longer.” The spray dissipated in the wind in their direction.

  “It’s going higher than I remember,” Carlene said.

  Jason pulled her closer to him in a protective gesture. They both stared at the plume shooting high in the air. Suddenly he said, “My father didn’t die on Mount St. Helens.”

  For a moment Carlene didn’t respond. “I thought—”

  “The package Greg dropped off,” Jason said. “My father deserted the family. He just happened to pick the day St. Helens erupted to do it.”

  “You’re sure?”

  Jason nodded. “Bainbridge knew about it and kept it from the family.”

  “Why would he do that?” Carlene backed away and stood to the side of the boardwalk letting a pedestrian pass.

  Jason shook his head. “I wish I knew. Mom will be devastated when she finds out.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t tell her.”

  “Maybe she already knows,” Jason said. It was a thought that had been haunting him. What if it was his mother that was trying to protect him and his sister? What good would it do to confront her?

  Carlene remained silent. She couldn’t imagine what impact this would have on Jason. He had worshipped his father all these years and now he was wondering if his mother had betrayed him also.

  “Come on let’s get back,” Jason said. “Everything seems normal here.”

  As they walked back along the path Jason stopped to fill a bottle with water from a bubbling pool. “Last time I checked this it had a pH of three point five.”

  “Acid,” Carlene said.

  Jason capped the bottle and jotted the source on the label.

  Carlene was staring in the direction of Old Faithful, which was still erupting. “Isn’t this a little unusual for Old Faithful?”

 
“Probably nothing,” Jason said. He checked the timer on his watch. The eruption was longer than any he had ever recorded. “Most people have been complaining the eruptions are smaller than they remembered. My theory is they were here for a large eruption and they expect all of them to be the same.”

  “Still this one is gigantic.”

  The eruption ended abruptly then gave a final belch. He’d never seen it do that before. “I wonder what made it do that.” Jason said.

  “God’s secret,” Carlene said.

  He laughed and they turned toward each other. He enjoyed her company. He felt comfortable around her. She had become a friend as well as someone he felt close to. He wished they were not tangled up in the turmoil of Yellowstone. He wondered if their friendship would have a chance to grow into a serious relationship. Breaking his thoughts, he said, “We’ve got to go public with news that the park is going to erupt. It could get pretty rough.”

  Carlene backed away. “You’re not thinking of doing that yet? I thought you needed more data.”

  “We’re gathering data every day. This quiet spell has me worried.”

  She gazed up at him. “How bad is it going to be?”

  “You mean Sanders or the government?”

  “Both.”

  “I can see why the government doesn’t want the public to know. Last time Yellowstone erupted animals in Nebraska were buried in six feet of ash.”

  Then Carlene said something that stunned Jason. “Why should I trust your data any more than Dr. Bainbridge? You said it yourself; Yellowstone has had signs like this before. Why panic everyone when we could be wrong?”

  He grabbed her arms and stared angrily into her eyes. “I don’t blame you if you want to bow out on this. If I stick my neck out there’s nothing that says you have to go along with me, but I want to know up front.” The sound of a rifle shot penetrated the air. Jason cocked his head. “Did you hear that?”

  “A rifle shot?”

  “Yeah.”

  Carlene backed away from him, worry in her voice. “Something’s seriously wrong. That’s why you brought me out here.”

  Jason wished he could tell her to head for Canada, but he needed her. Old Faithful started to gush and roar as if it had endless energy.

  “This system’s all screwed up,” Jason said. “It’s been less than five minutes since it last erupted. Let’s see what the other geysers are doing.”

  “I’m not going anywhere unless you tell me the real reason we’re out here, and I don’t want to hear about how beautiful this place was when you were a kid.”

  Jason stood facing her. He reached out with both hands and held her shoulders looking into her eyes again, this time with concern. “I’m trying to give you some information. I’m pretty sure of what’s going on with the volcano. There’s nothing I’d rather do than tell you Dr. Bainbridge was wrong, but he knew something he wasn’t sharing with us.”

  “What?”

  “He thought the government wanted to keep this a secret because they were going to try and stop the eruption. I found another file on his meeting with the President and a general named Montgomery.” Jason dropped his hands. “Montgomery thought this thing could be stopped somehow. Bainbridge referred to him as an idiot. He said the President didn’t have any intention of telling the public. Said he’d been treated like a mad scientist. He also said he’d called Sanders and he didn’t ask him about his meeting with the President.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning Sanders already knew what the President was going to do.” Jason took her arm. “Come on I’ll finish this up in the car.”

  As he started the engine Old Faithful was still roaring.

  “I’ve never seen Old Faithful do this before,” Carlene said looking off in the distance at the erupting geyser. “Would the government really let things go on as usual if they thought the park would erupt?” she asked.

  “Bainbridge thought so. Sanders as much as said it.” Jason waved at a ranger and wondered if this person’s name would be engraved on a plaque some day. Would his family come to this spot to see where he and hundreds of others had vanished? Or would they all be lost with the millions who would perish. Too many to count; too many for an overtaxed government to keep up with.

  “Or you could be wrong and they know it. Would you blame them if you could be proven wrong?”

  Her persistence to ignore the obvious gritted at Jason. They drove in silence. Finally he turned to her and said, “Look, Bainbridge knew how the government was going to handle this.”

  Carlene glared at him. “Why does everything have to be a conspiracy?”

  Jason swallowed hard. “Dr. Bainbridge was keeping a secret file on Sanders. I found a file with the name Joseph Talant and it’s no wonder the FBI wanted to know if we knew him.”

  “Who is he?”

  “A radical connected with a Russian rightwing group called Nicolai. Translated it means victory for the people. They’re determined to see Russia rise from the ashes and become the dominant power in the world.”

  “What’s this got to do with Sanders or Bainbridge for that matter?”

  From the frustration in her voice Jason could tell he was losing her. He pulled to the side of the road and stopped. “Sanders is connected with Joseph Talant somehow. They think the eruption of Yellowstone could weaken the country to the breaking point. The fact is it could. There isn’t a government in the world prepared to deal with the eruption of a volcano the size of Yellowstone.”

  Carlene gripped her seat belt by the shoulder strap and held it away from her. “I don’t know much about politics, but this doesn’t make a bit of sense. If the FBI knows about Talant and they think he’s up to no good why don’t they just arrest him?”

  “I don’t know,” Jason said. He threw his hands up in a gesture of defeat. “Sanders won’t back us. If he is helping Nicolai all he has to do is refute our data. The government is playing right into their hands.”

  Carlene’s voice broke, “Sanders is going to leave us here right up to the end.”

  “The government doesn’t want to panic its citizens. For some reason Sanders is backing them. Meanwhile this Talant guy is getting Russia ready to move once the country is on its knees.”

  “Oh my god.” Carlene stared out the side window. “There’s nothing we can do?”

  Jason remained silent. He needed to know more, yet all the information in the world wouldn’t change what was happening.

  The earth shook and Jason grabbed the steering wheel and jammed his foot on the brake. He glanced at Carlene and saw her fear. The Jeep vibrated in an arc and came to rest sideways on the road. There was a loud rumble and a small avalanche of trees and rocks unleashed by the quake swept down the mountainside.

  A dust cloud engulfed the Jeep and rocks and debris pummeled the vehicle. In a minute it was over and everything was quiet. Jason wiped the dust from his face and started the Jeep. He maneuvered around a large rock and headed up the road. “We’d better get back to base.”

  Carlene nodded. “I need to warn my family. I can’t watch this happen and not let them know they’re in danger. And Billy is somewhere in the park. I’ve got to find Billy.”

  Hardly hearing her, Jason said, “I’m going to call the FBI as soon as we get back.”

  Carlene stared at a crack in the windshield. “This is too much. I’m no martyr. If you know when the mountain is going to erupt, tell me. I’m going to find my brother and go home.”

  “I can’t tell you when it’s going to erupt. Why don’t you have them move to Oregon? They’ll be as safe there as anywhere.”

  Old Faithful was not the only geyser that was acting strangely. As they approached Norris Junction they encountered a barricade with a park vehicle blocking the road.

  Jason slowed to a stop and waved at the ranger. “What’s happening?”

  The ranger approached and leaned down. “You’ll have to move on. Norris Geyser Basin is closed.”

  Jason intro
duced himself and Carlene, giving a brief explanation of the encounter he’d had at Nupher Lake earlier. The ranger looked relieved.

  “Maybe you can explain what’s going on,” she said.

  “Sure,” Jason said. He told about the earlier gas rising that killed the people.

  “I’m not talking about that,” the ranger said. “The geysers are blowing up.”

  “Damn. It’s started,” Jason said. “It might get a lot worse before it gets better. I’m going to call a meeting with the park director and see if we can get the entire park evacuated.”

  They raced off taking the road toward Mammoth toward park headquarters.

  “Sanders isn’t going to buy this,” Carlene said.

  “To hell with Sanders. He’s as much the problem as the mountain.”

  “What if they don’t close the park?” Carlene asked.

  “I don’t expect them to, but every time the ground shakes it’s going to make them wonder. Eventually they’ll come around.”

  Chapter 20

  It was late afternoon and the sun was high in the western sky. Jason and Carlene pulled into the gravel parking lot behind park headquarters. Peter Frank was not in so Jason talked to his assistant, James Dittmer, a young man who looked like he was fresh out of college. Thin blonde hair, medium height and fair skin, he looked more like an accountant than someone who would be overseeing a wilderness area.

  Jason waved for Carlene to join them. She had stopped to talk to one of the employees. The three stood in the hall while Jason gave a rundown of the events that led to his conclusion it was not safe for tourists to be running around in the park. To Jason’s surprise the man was attentive and showed genuine concern.

  “How can I help?” Dittmer asked.

  “Convince your boss to shut the gates until we can assess the situation further. We may be headed for a full scale eruption,” Jason said.

  Dittmer nodded as if he agreed, and then said, “I’ll talk to him, but he’s going to need more information.”