Richard made an impatient gesture toward the monitor. “Let’s look at the video.”
They gathered around the monitor. Kevin pointed the remote at the camera and started the replay. They watched for the same interminable thirty seconds or so, punctuated by Kevin’s recorded background comment. The coin seemed to fade out of focus and then back in, but as two coins.
“Well, I’m feeling pretty smug,” Richard said, smiling.
Then the monitor showed the bang, flash, and movement of the whole assembly.
“So what the heck was that?” Matt asked.
“Don’t know,” Richard answered. “But it almost acted like it got pulled off focus. I’ll have a look at the logs later. I guess we need to tweak our design a bit.”
Richard frowned. “And, let’s keep this quiet okay? I do not want to have to share this, and I don’t want it to get out prematurely.”
He nodded in Matt’s direction. “Meanwhile, Matt and I will refine the control system so we can lock onto something and stay locked. Matt, I’ll send you an email with specs. Bill, I wonder if I could borrow your engineering skills again to build a bigger and more robust gate. Maybe without the decorations?”
“Well, how can I resist a request like that?” Bill said with a smile. “The engineering department isn’t quite as deserted as Physics—it turns out we’re bigger nerds than you guys— but I’m pretty sure I can get away with some more light, off-hours metalwork.”
“Couple of days?” Richard looked at Matt and Bill. Seeing no argument, he continued, “Well, okay then. We’ll plan on another run on Friday.”
Matt and Bill left together, leaving Richard and Kevin to the tedious process of post-experiment analysis.
As they walked down the hall, Bill turned to Matt. “Let’s keep this quiet?”
Matt rolled his eyes. “Rogue physicist. Good grief.”
Yellowstone Activity
Erin and the three other students in her group, Ted, Sheila, and Cassandra, were assigned to work with Doug Reed on the third day. Doug was a geologist with Yellowstone, and he discussed his job with Erin and her classmates as they walked.
“You get out of university, and you expect to spend all your time hiking around, looking at the scenery, checking and measuring and digging. Then reality hits. You spend so much of your time on paperwork and meetings. The level of bureaucracy is just staggering.”
Doug shook his head. “Then there are the PR duties. You guys would not believe how much time I spend, in person or on the phone or via email, reassuring people about the probability of eruptions or explaining why we can’t do anything about the volcano. Like I’m supposed to hose it down or something.” He grinned at them.
“And of course, we give tours to the public. Those can be good or bad, depending on the group. Sometimes I find myself wondering why I pushed myself through university just to listen to some kid whining about how his feet hurt from walking around in his flip-flops.” He swiped two fingers across his forehead, right to left. “Tourista!”
Doug put on a sorrowful expression, and the students chuckled. They had learned that people wandering around Yellowstone with wildly inappropriate and inadequate clothing and gear was a standard gag with the park staff.
Doug stopped and turned to the others. “One time, we walked to the top of Mammoth Hot Springs, and there was a lady up there in a dress and five inch stilettos! How…?”
After a pause, he continued in a happier tone. “Anyway, these tours with students like you are the best. I get to do the stuff I came here to do in the first place, and I get to talk about it with people who won’t go catatonic on me.”
They had started at Frog Rock and hiked to Blacktail Ponds Lake, checking setups on the way. At each stop Doug unlocked the boxes, performed some basic diagnostics, and discussed the purpose of the setup and some of the readings. It was routine work, but the whole process fascinated Erin. She promised herself that when she graduated she would be aiming for Yellowstone.
As they walked up a small rise near the lake, the ground shook for several seconds.
“Whoa! Did you feel that?” Erin asked.
“Yeah. About a three, three point five,” Doug replied. “No biggie. We get dozens of quakes per day, although you don’t notice most of them. The trees barely moved on that one.”
Ted did not look reassured. “Er, we’re not in any danger are we?”
Doug stopped and turned to him. “Listen, Ted, you’re walking around in the caldera of a former supervolcano, which is very much not extinct. Of course it’s dangerous. But to put it into perspective, statistically you’re more likely to die walking around downtown Lincoln.”
Ted looked even less reassured. “Okay, but what are the chances—”
He was cut off by a loud grinding sound and another quake, this one strong enough to make several people lose their balance. The pines swayed back and forth as if gripped in a tornado. In the distance, there was a crack and a crashing sound, just as the shaking stopped. The smell of damp dust hung in the air, and a shower of needles fell from the trees.
“Ow, my butt,” Sheila said, massaging the injured area. “That’s not part of the tour. This is unacceptable. Who do I complain to?” She smiled at Doug, obviously flirting a bit.
Doug grinned back. “That was more like a five.” He lost the smile. “I think it took down a tree.”
Ted tried again. “So the chances—”
With no buildup, the ground shook hard enough to toss the students off their feet. The quake was accompanied by a grinding, thudding sound like a fully loaded dump truck making an emergency stop on gravel.
“Holy—” Doug yelled, as trees began to topple. “—Shit—”. Someone screamed, and Erin thought it might have been her. “—That’s—”. Tree after tree lost the battle with gravity. Loose rocks skittered down the slope, and a cloud of dust rose several feet off the ground.
After a few more seconds, this latest earthquake stopped. “—getting upwards to a seven,” Doug finished, his eyes wide and staring.
The group picked themselves up off the ground, hands spread out defensively, ready to abort if there were another quake. There was a loud sloshing sound, which Erin realized was the lake pouring back into its basin. As she looked around, she could see that a significant number of trees had gone down. In many cases, the shaking had produced a domino effect, with each tree leaning on the next.
Doug finished examining the changed scenery, looked at his charges, and said, “I, uh, think we’d maybe better cut this short.”
No one argued, so they did an about-face and hiked back to where they had parked. On the way, Doug’s phone rang. He flipped it open and put it to his ear. “Hey. Uh huh. You’re kidding. Wow, that bad? Yeah, I understand. No, no, we’re on our way. Kay bye.”
He turned to the group. “Bad news, kiddies. Vacation has been canceled. This quake was a seven plus. It’s opened some fissures, and we’re getting honest to God lava flows. Not big, but still… Anyway, several of your classmates were injured, and your prof is pulling the plug.”
“Aw crap!” Erin exclaimed. “Just when it was getting interesting!”
Ted looked at her as if she’d just grown an extra head.
***
It took a few hours for everyone to get back to the field office.
Professor Collins finished his third head-count and said, “Okay, everyone’s here that isn’t in the infirmary. I’ll fill them in later. Folks, I’m not a lawyer, thank God, but even I know that a release form isn’t worth diddley if I knowingly take you all out into a more dangerous situation than you signed up for. I’ve been discussing things with the USGS folks here—“ He indicated one of the onlookers with a tilt of his head, “And this is not business as usual. Uplift in the caldera just increased by thirty centimeters. For those who have forgotten, it’s risen by less than two centimeters in the previous six months. In fact, Dr. Lowenstern has informed me that, based on today, he’s going to ratchet up the Curre
nt Volcano Alert Level from Normal straight up to Warning. And I remind you that the next level up from Warning is Oh Shit!”
That got laughs, even from the USGS rep, who had been looking very solemn through most of the professor’s speech.
“Anyway, I’ve checked with the charter company, and they can take us home early. You’ll get full credit regardless, but I’m going to change the thesis requirements a little to allow you to put in some personal observations of your experiences today.”
Erin found Sheila and Cassandra in the crowd of students. “Hey, Sheila. Did you get your butt-cast?” Erin teased.
“Hah hah. You are too funny,” Sheila replied with an answering smile. She continued in a more serious tone, “I feel a little sorry for the people who got injured. Hell of a way to start the summer.”
“No kidding,” Cassandra chimed in. “Two broken wrists, a broken arm, and two sprained ankles. Not a good day.”
They paused for a few seconds of sympathetic silence. Then Erin said, “Did you hear what the ranger said, though? Actual lava flows. Someone said there might have been a hydrothermal explosion!” Erin couldn’t hide her enthusiasm.
“Okay, Geology Girl. Time to change back into mild-mannered Erin Savard. Sadly, we are out of here.”
Erin sighed. Sadly, Sheila was right.
Erin waved to Professor Collins as he walked by. “Professor, any chance we can see the lava flows?”
Professor Collins looked at her with a surprised expression. “Not on foot, no. Sorry, Erin, but this is where the university starts to get weird about liability issues. I doubt the park rangers would be any more understanding, either. I’ll tell you what though. I’ll talk to the pilot before we take off and see if he can come anywhere near the area. An aerial view might even be more interesting. Certainly safer.” The professor raised his eyebrows, inviting a response.
Erin clapped her hands with enthusiasm. “That’d be great!”
Sheila shook her head. “Brain damage.”
Unexpected Results
Bill looked around the lab. “You know, it was a better secret lair when it was a rat’s nest of equipment and cables.”
Richard glared at Bill but otherwise didn’t react.
Crap, Bill thought. Losing my touch.
Richard looked directly at Matt and waved a hand at the equipment. “We’ve made some more improvements. We’ve also improved the tuning stabilization, thanks to your software mods. Once we get a strong match, the device should home in on it and lock on. I won’t have to feel like I’m wrestling a greased snake.”
Bill smiled. Matt just looked impatient.
The day was hot, even for summer in Nebraska, and all the windows were open as far as they would go. It helped a little that this side of the building had been in shade for a while, but everyone was still wilting. Kevin fanned himself with a Sky and Telescope magazine.
Richard looked at the group. “Right. Okay. Let’s do this then.”
They went through the same sequence as last time. Kevin placed the coin-flipping device inside the cage. He placed the video cameras in the usual spots. This time they moved the monitor farther from the portal assembly. No one wanted to be too close to the device in case the ‘bang’ happened again.
“My heart won’t take another one,” Bill commented, trying for his best B-movie overacting.
Preparations completed, Kevin activated the flipper, called out, “Ten seconds,” and walked back to join the others at the monitor.
Richard worked the tablet, tuning the portal. “Here we go,” he said and hit OK.
There was a loud roar and a jet of yellowish gas spewed out of the gate, blistering a spot in the far wall. The room heated up to an intolerable level, as if someone had opened a door to a blast furnace. The table with the control hardware spun 180 degrees, while the table with the test apparatus rocked back on two legs and almost went over. A bright spark shot from an electrical short. The equipment shut down, and the gate closed, cutting off the stream.
As the gas spread through the room, everyone stampeded out the door, coughing and gagging. Once out in the hallway and breathing clear air, they turned and looked at each other, shock written clearly on their faces.
For perhaps half a minute, no one spoke. As one, they stared at the lab door, each waiting for someone else to make the first move.
Finally regaining his composure, Bill cautiously opened the door to the lab. The odor and the heat were dissipating out the windows, and the room was becoming tolerable. After a brief hesitation, he walked in.
Matt followed him in and went over to examine the blistered spot on the wall. It was still warm. The paint was discolored and bubbled, and the drywall had crumbled up in patches.
“Well, that was fun. We must do that again sometime.” Bill smirked, but his wide-eyed stare belied his attempt at flippancy. He glared at Matt. “What was it exactly you were wishing for? Happy now?”
Matt shrugged and managed to look both smug and embarrassed at the same time.
Bill spent a few minutes examining the equipment, and soon found the smoldering cables that had ended the fireworks.
“That was… what?” Richard asked, playing with the tablet menus. “Did anyone get a good look?”
“No, but that’s why we have cameras,” Kevin said, returning with the three cameras in hand. One of them looked much worse for wear.
Kevin connected the dented and abused camera to the monitor and pressed PLAY. The video showed the snow-globe losing focus for a moment, then a chaotic series of frames, ending with a blurry image of the floor and some table legs.
“I think we’ll have to retire that particular camera,” Richard observed. “The optics look pretty much done for.”
Kevin connected one of the other cameras. This time, the image showed a faint plume of yellowish gas fountaining from the gate. The effect lasted less than two seconds before it was cut off. They restarted the video and played it one frame at a time.
When they had the plume in full view, Bill commented, “Damned if it doesn’t actually look like the jet that comes out when a stargate starts up. I almost regret decorating the gate now. Almost.” He grinned at Matt, who rolled his eyes in reply.
They looked at the video from the third camera, but other than being from a different angle, it didn’t provide any additional information. The only difference worth noting was six frames of Richard in mid-jump, looking very alarmed. Bill took the remote from Kevin and played the frames through several times, grinning.
“Okay, funny boy, enough,” Richard said, after the third replay.
Richard stared into space for a few seconds. “Well, we’re going to have to try that again, but maybe with a little more preparation. Bill, can you come up with anything that could maintain a sealed atmosphere around the gate?”
Bill thought for a few seconds. “There are a couple of things in the engineering department that could be adapted, I think. Depends on how much pressure we need to hold.”
“Probably not a huge amount. The jet didn’t come out like a pressure washer spray.”
“Hmm, OK, let me think about it for a few minutes.” Bill sat down and stared into space.
Matt examined the equipment and the room, looking for any other damage. Kevin sat down and went into math mode. After about ten minutes, they all came together in the lab to compare notes.
“I had a quick look at the logs,” Richard said. “The lock-in worked, it just didn’t lock in to what we were trying for.”
“What I think that means,” Kevin added, “is that there is an alternate reality that is more ‘real’ than our flipped coin. The experiment tuned in on that instead.”
“So what was it? Venus? Did we invent a teleporter to hell?” Bill asked.
“I don’t think Venus fits the bill,” Kevin replied. “First, the atmospheric pressure at the surface of Venus is like 90 atmospheres, and second, it’s hot enough to melt lead. Pretty sure we’d be dead, and the building would be demo
lished.”
“But,” he continued, “I went back and looked at the first camera in single-frame, right when the event started. Have a look.” He motioned back to the monitor. They all moved to get a close view. Frozen on the monitor, distorted by the beginnings of the gas plume, they could see a small number of dark distorted objects.
“That’s not the flipper,” Matt said. “Any idea what those are?”
“No,” Bill answered. “But they’re not from around here.”
Richard cleared his throat to get attention. “Yeah. Okay, look, we’re going to revamp this setup inside a pressure vessel of some kind. Bill thinks he has something that might work—” He glanced at Bill. “—if we can borrow it and get it back with nobody noticing. Couple more days, and we’re trying again. You might want to bring some body armor next time. And spare underwear.”
Eaux de Volcano
Erin threw her hoodie to the floor and flopped down on Matt’s couch. “That was… interesting,” she exclaimed. “I suppose I should be more upset that the trip was cut short, but to be honest, I’m happy to get out of there with all my body parts!”
“Well, I’m glad you’re back, parts and all.” Matt replied. “We’ll do inventory later,” he added, earning a laugh. Matt privately admitted that he was relieved to have her back. Her email had been very detailed, and Matt couldn’t shake the feeling that Erin had been in more danger than she let on.
He sat and put his arms around her, and Erin snuggled in.
A moment later, she sat up straight, wrinkling her nose. “Y’know, I guess the stuff got into my skin or something. It’s like I can still smell the sulfur dioxide.”
Erin smelled her arm, frowned, and looked around. “No, that’s not me. And it’s not my imagination either.” She got up, wandered around for a few seconds, then picked up one of Matt’s tee-shirts that had been draped over a chair. “Matt, why does your shirt smell like a fumarole?”
Outland (World-Lines Book 1) Page 4