Caldera

by Larry LaVoie

  “We need at least a week to get the tunnels deep enough,” Montgomery said as if they could magically give him more time.

  The team took seats around the table. Jason glanced at the door to see if Carlene was near, but decided to go ahead without her. Jason leaned his elbows on the table. Across from him was Dr. Thomas Kelly nervously fingering his fiery beard. “You seemed pretty intent on beating information out of that computer, Tom. Anything to report?”

  “Nothing’s working. I haven’t been able to bring up any information in the past hour. This ash cloud has shut down our satellite link.”

  “How about you, Paul?” Jason eyed Dr. Preston.

  Preston spread a roll of graph paper the length of the table. “The seismographs have been pegged for three hours solid. “We’re sitting on a keg of dynamite.”

  “Jean?” Jason asked.

  “The last Co-spec run I made was sixteen hours ago. You’ve seen it outside. We’re in the middle of a nuclear winter. No pilot is going to fly in this.”

  “Sorry, I’m late,” Carlene said noisily entering the room. Then seeing General Montgomery, she put her hand over her mouth and slunk down in a chair next to Jason. “They found Billy and he’s all right,” she whispered.

  “Thank God,” Jason said. He turned back to the group. “We were deciding if it’s time to evacuate. You have a vote in this.”

  “Carlene glanced at each of them. “I’m ready.”

  “You heard them, general,” Jason said.

  “We haven’t got the Red Zone cleared yet,” Montgomery said.

  “I can’t stop this thing,” Jason said. “While you’re at it add another hundred miles to the red Zone. I think this is going to be worse than we first thought.” He got up from his chair. “We’re going to Level Four.”

  “How much time do I have to get my men out?” Montgomery asked.

  “If you can’t fly through this how the hell are you going to get us out? Jason asked.”

  “It’s only temporary until the rain lets up. This stuff chews up turbines like a meat grinder.”

  “We need to get out of here right now,” Preston said.

  Jason expected as much from Preston. He had once disappeared in the middle of an eruption claiming he was sick. Jason found him twenty miles away in the hotel lobby downing scotch and water. “Can you provide an escort, General? We’ll drive out.”

  “I’ll have two Humvees up here in an hour. We can escort you to the pad by the tunnels and airlift you from there. I told you I needed six hours to evacuate my crew?”

  Jason studied his watch. He had no way of reading the mountain anymore. Communication with the satellites was cut off. The seismographs were pegged. “You’ve got exactly six hours, General.”

  “You better be right,” Montgomery said heading for the door. He stopped and turned back to them. “You’re the most unorganized bunch of civilians I’ve ever had the displeasure of working with.”

  “What was that about,” Carlene said.

  “I don’t think he likes us,” Preston said. “I sure hope he sends that escort.” He turned to Jason. “How did you come up with six hours?”

  Jason grinned. “That’s what the general wanted to hear. We better get packed.” At that moment a wall of water from the lake crashed through the front door of the hotel.

  Joseph Talant cursed at the radio. The area they were evacuating was larger than he’d first heard. Three hundred miles would include evacuating the populations of Billings Montana, Idaho Falls and Pocatello. Still there were no large cities within the Red Zone. From the sound of the news the evacuation was proceeding in an orderly manner. He wondered if the devastation would be as widespread as it had been in the past. What would Telska do if this thing fizzled? The ramifications for the organization were too great. All of their resources were dedicated to this one cause. They had waited nearly forty years for an event such as this to occur. Failure was not an option. He forced the thought from his mind. The earthquakes were coming rapidly and reports of people feeling them as much as a hundred miles away filled the news of local stations. Talant watched the expanding circles on his computer as it calculated the expected fallout area. Denver, Omaha, Des Moines, Albuquerque, Oklahoma City, Kansas City, and Dallas, all within the expected fallout zone. Once Yellowstone erupted travel within the elliptical area would be impossible. He sent a message to Telska, his leader.

  Joseph Talant pulled the van up to the guard station at the north Yellowstone entrance. “Let me do the talking,” he said to Vladimir Mishenka. He stopped the van and handed a slip of paper to the uniform with MP on his sleeve. “I’m here for a meeting with Dr. Jason Trask.”

  The guard consulted a roster and checked inside the van. “I have you on the list, Dr. Kelly, but it says you’re already in the park.

  “Now that can’t be if I’m sitting here. We need to get to the volcano watch station.”

  “I’ll let them know you’re on your way.” The MP got on the radio in the guard shack. Two other soldiers with automatic rifles stood alert at both sides of the van.

  From the corner of his eye, Talant saw Vladimir slowly moved his right hand to the 9mm Imez pistol holstered on his right ankle. There was a “click” as he flipped off the safety.

  The MP returned. “I can’t reach the volcano watch. The ash has disrupted radio singles.”

  “That’s okay,” Talant said. “We’ll surprise him.”

  “Just a moment, sir.” The MP disappeared again.

  Vladimir glanced around nervously. He slid the pistol up his leg. The soldier on Vladimir’s side of the van lifted his weapon and moved toward the front of the vehicle. The other soldier fixed his eyes on Joseph Talant.

  Talant moved his hand over and touched the leg of Vladimir and shook his head almost imperceptibly.

  When the MP returned he leaned in the window. “The Tower road is closed, sir. It’ll take better than an hour to reach the Lake Area. If I can make radio contact I’ll let him know you’re on your way. Good luck.” He motioned for the two guards to move the barrier so they could pass.

  “I was ready if they asked for identification,” Vladimir said returning the pistol to his holster.

  “These National Guard troops are stationed here to protect the public. We are not a perceived threat to them. That is why we will win our cause. I told you I could get us in, didn’t I?”

  “My way would have worked, too,” Vladimir said flipping the safety on his weapon.

  Talant drove through the deserted streets of Mammoth Hot Springs headed toward Norris Geyser Basin. The road was clear giving him opportunity to make up time. He remembered Yellowstone from thirty-five years earlier and’ other than better roads, it still looked pretty much as he remembered it.

  “Look at the sky over there,” Vladimir said. “You’re not going to drive into that.”

  Talant smiled at him. “That is the direction we are headed.”

  At Canyon Village Vladimir heard radio traffic on his portable scanner. “Listen to this. It sounds like they are evacuating the observatory.”

  As they continued south the sky grew black, and a heavy rain made the road slippery with ash-laden mud. The windshield wipers smeared the muck reducing visibility further. The trees along the road became a black wall. They were driving into a black abyss.

  “What’s going on,” Vladimir said nervously.

  Talant had slowed to a crawl. It was almost comical to see Vladimir afraid. The man had faced death many times staring into the eyes the enemy as he executed them and now a little bad weather frightened him.

  “A minor annoyance,” Talant said. “We’re almost there.” The words barely passed his lips when he slammed on the brakes and slid to within a foot of the rear end of a Hummer. “This isn’t a goddamned war zone. Turn on your lights,” Talant yelled, but the lights of the military vehicle were already on.

  Vladimir had his pistol out of its holster and at the ready.

  “Cool it,” Talant s
aid motioning for Vladimir to lower his weapon. We are the last thing they are expecting out here.” He turned off his headlights and stayed on the tail of the vehicle. “They’re going to escort us right to the scientists. Then we’ll make our move.”

  Jason and his team were suddenly standing in a foot of water. The lights blinked and the room turned dark. Jason considered the lake level. A tidal wave that reached the lower level of the hotel would certainly reduce the level of the lake. That could bring a disaster. If the water level dropped a mere ten feet there would be enough pressure drop to allow the superheated water in the hydro thermal vents under the lake to catastrophically explode. He remembered a study of the hydrothermal explosions in the past and didn’t like the prospect of being inside the hotel if the lake level was dropping. He thought it odd that the water was warm, but only for a second. There may already be magma welling up under the water, he thought. “Carlene, Is there a lake level marker outside?” he called across the room.

  The water in the room was receding as it found the path of least resistance and flowed back out the exits.

  Carlene sloshed over to him. “I can get a pretty good idea from the deck. She moved to the window overlooking the lake. “Good lord!”

  They watched as another wave made its way toward the hotel. The deck overlooking the lake collapsed before they could reach the back door. As the wave crashed through the lobby behind them they slipped out onto the concrete rear porch and stood out of the way as the water rushed through the doors into the parking lot. Jason quickly glanced around. All of them had made it out.

  “Where are you going?” Carlene asked pulling on his arm.

  Jason was heading back into the hotel. ”I need to check the lake level.

  “You’re worried about Lisa Morgan’s report?” she asked. Dr. Lisa Morgan had done an extensive study of Yellowstone Lake bottom and found as much geological activity under the lake as around it. The bottom of the lake was pockmarked with craters from past hydrothermal explosions. Some were the size of several football fields.

  “The lake drops too far and none of us will make it out of here today, Jason said.”

  “So you want to risk getting washed away by a tsunami just to find out where the lake level is?”

  “If I’m going to die in a hydrothermal blast I want to know its coming.”

  “Where the hell are the evacuation vehicles?” Carlene asked.

  The rain continued to fall mixing with the ash in the air, casting the parking lot of the Lake Hotel in gloomy darkness. Even the lights from the hotel entrance where the anxious scientists waited were swallowed by the darkness. There were no others remaining at the hotel except for the five-person volcano watch team. Jason Trask, Carlene Carlson, Thomas Kelly, Jean Randolph, and Paul Preston crowded under the shelter of the hotel overhang hearing nothing but the timbre of the ash-laden rain. They all looked up as the low rumble of gasoline engines broke out of the darkness.

  “I think that’s our ride,” Jason said, nodding toward two faint beams of light. Two vehicles pulled up to the back porch of the hotel and stopped. A soldier got out of the lead vehicle. “Dr. Jason Trask?” he asked looking at the group.

  Jason tugged on his duffel bag and raised his hand. “I was beginning to wonder if you’d make it.” There had been anxious discussions among the team about what they would do if the vehicles failed to arrive. Jason read the name Andrews, M. on the soldier’s fatigues. The man had an accent and was a little old for a soldier, but in superb physical shape, he observed. Today’s army he concluded. “Thanks for coming, Corporal Andrews,” Jason said.

  Andrews said, “The road is washed out, barely passable. We have a change of orders. You must leave your personal vehicles and ride with us. We will be evacuating through the north entrance.”

  There was that accent again. He couldn’t place it. Today’s army is widely diversified, he reminded himself again.

  “What happened to the helicopters at the east entrance?” Jason asked.

  “The ash cloud became too heavy. They had to be moved.”

  Jason looked at Carlene. “You’re going to need that insurance on your motor home.”

  “How about the Jeep?”

  “It’s a rental. I’m sure they have insurance to cover an emergency like this.” They both laughed at the sick humor. When the volcano erupted in earnest there wouldn’t be an insurance company in the country that would remain solvent.

  Jason waved the others ahead. “We’ll go in the second vehicle,” he said looking at Carlene for approval.

  The two vehicle caravan crawled along through the dark storm. Corporal Andrews was driving the lead vehicle with Thomas Kelly, Jean Randolph, and Paul Preston. Jason and Carlene had loaded their things into the second Hummer and were buckled in the back seat. Jason stared to the front, barely able to make out the tail lights of the lead vehicle.

  “What’s your name soldier?” Jason asked the driver.

  “Corporal Godfrey, sir.”

  His voice was older than it should have been. Jason strained to make out the driver’s features. Too dark. “You know your way around the park, Godfrey?” Jason asked.

  The driver glanced over his shoulder. “No sir. My first time here.”

  Jason frowned. There it was again. The soldier’s voice was not young. Maybe they saved their old-timers to do the dirty work. “Don’t worry, you’ve got two of the best park guides riding with you,” he said in an encouraging tone.

  “Thanks,” the driver said.

  Carlene squeezed Jason’s hand anxiously. “You think we stayed too long?”

  He could barely make out the outline of her face, but she sounded scared. Of course there was no way of knowing the answer to her question. He squeezed her hand, not saying anything.

  They ambled along in a blackness that obscured the surrounding terrain. The driver had an impossible job knowing where to go. Jason leaned forward peering through the ash-smeared windshield. The vehicle ahead of them could not be seen. The lead vehicle’s tracks through the layer of pumice on the road were filling fast reminding Jason of a heavy snowstorm. Unlike snow, the gray blanket soaked up the light with the energy of a black hole. Godfrey kept fiddling with the radio. “What’s the matter with the radio?” Jason asked.

  “Communications are gone. I can’t raise headquarters or anyone else.”

  Doubts entered Jason’s mind. Had the army evacuated without them? He tried to see some landmarks, anything that he recognized, but it was impossible. The visibility decreased with every swipe of the wiper blades. Soon the wipers stalled.

  Godfrey pulled to a stop. “This will only take a minute,” he said getting out. He brushed the ash from the window and snapped the wipers to free them from the muck.

  In the headlights Jason could see steam rising from the hood. “I don’t like this,” he mumbled.

  Carlene peered out the side window. “We’re almost to the Fishing Bridge junction.”

  The pit in the middle of Jason’s stomach grew larger. Why had they abandoned the plan to evacuate by helicopter from the east entrance? It didn’t make sense to travel all the way to the north entrance. Again he put aside his doubts. General Montgomery had determined this was a safer route. God knows the general was better informed than he at this moment.

  Carlene snuggled up to him and whispered, “What’s the chance we stop at headquarters on the way through and I clean out my office.”

  “Fat chance,” Jason said. “Something about our driver makes me nervous.”

  “You too. I thought it was me. Isn’t he a little old to be doing this?”

  Godfrey climbed back in. The vehicle lurched forward and they were on their way again.

  “You sure it’s better to go to the north entrance?” Jason asked Godfrey as they passed the junction and turned north. A few minutes passed and they came to a stop again.

  “What’s the matter now?” Jason asked. He began to think this whole idea was a government plan literally gone
amuck.

  “Sorry sir,” Godfrey said. “The engine stalled.”

  Godfrey picked up a flashlight and got out. The ash was falling with increased vengeance. Periodically lightning flashed.

  “The eruption is creating its own weather system,” Jason said.

  “That’s supposed to make me feel better?” Carlene said squeezing Jason’s hand.

  Godfrey lifted the hood and peered inside.

  “Hand me that umbrella,” Jason said to Carlene. “We may have to walk out of here.” He opened the door and popped the umbrella. A heavy cloud of steam was coming from the radiator.

  “These things aren’t made for this kind of abuse,” Jason said. “We’ll be better turning around and using the east entrance.”

  “The helicopters are waiting at the north entrance,” Godfrey protested.

  “If they’re still there they aren’t flying,” Jason said. “It looks to me like we’re driving right into the brunt of the fallout.”

  “I have my orders,” the soldier said. He pulled a pistol and pointed it at Jason. “You and the woman are staying with me.”

  Jason exhaled slowly trying to keep his cool. In the headlights he could see the driver of the lead vehicle walking toward them. “Godfrey or whoever the hell you are. Clean the ash from the radiator, turn this thing around and head to the east entrance before we all end up here permanently.”

  “Forget it, I’m the one in charge and we’re going to the north entrance. I have a plane waiting.” He waved the gun. “While you are out here you may as well help. Brush the ash from the radiator.”

  “Everything to plan, Joseph?” The lead driver asked as he approached them.

  “Right on target,” Godfrey said. “Dr. Trask is just going to brush the ash from the radiator.” He checked his watch. “You are early. Where are your passengers?”

  Jason was using his hand to brush the fine ash from the front of the radiator. The mud was wet and hot enough to burn. It was then he noticed the steam was rising from the wet ash and not from the radiator. It’s a set up, he thought. But why? Hearing the voice of the other man, Jason spun around. He immediately recognized the silhouette in the headlights. Now he recognized the accent. It was Russian and much heavier than before.