by John Day
“Oh! That is a nuisance,” replied Sam. “How long do you think you will be away?”
“Well, it could be as much as a month because my team and I have to replace the detectors and instruments there or possibly recalibrate them, it looks like they have all gone haywire together.”
“A bit unusual for that to happen isn’t it?” Queried Sam.
“Yes, it is, but there can be no other reason we can think of, the solar energy pack is definitely faulty, the voltage is way down, probably bird crap on the panels. I will keep you posted on progress as soon as I know what is involved.”
“Thanks replied Sam.”
“By the way, what do you want me for anyway?” queried Pete.
“We have a new field of manganese nodules for you to look at in the Pacific, off El Salvador. Max and Carla found them when they brought the US1 back.”
“I heard about the trouble you had, some drug smugglers tried to steal it, didn’t they?” queried Pete.
“Something like that,” replied Sam, slightly embarrassed. “Still the positive gains are what count,” he parried.
Pete gave Sam his Satellite phone number for future reference, and hung up.
Chapter - Volcano of death.
After setting up the base camp near the rim of the volcano, Pete Lewis and his team checked over the equipment and instruments. The fault they were looking for was likely to occur in the next few hours if the past events were a guide. Every forty-eight hours or so, within a tolerance of 30 minutes, at about midnight, the instruments showed the same abnormal readings. Against the usual background of seismic fluctuations, the radiation detector would jump full scale for a few seconds followed by a sudden explosion peak. This would die away over the following few hours, but the general background remained elevated. The radiation level was typically very low, just 0.2 Gy but briefly shot up to the full scale of 1 Gy. Although no upper limit could be deduced, it was terribly dangerous to be nearby at those times.
The team replaced the battery packs, cleaned the solar array, no bird crap present, though, put on their protective clothing and waited for the event to occur. They concluded that if the ionising radiation was high enough, that was the probable cause of the damaged equipment.
The peace and quiet of the island at night and boredom, waiting for an event that might not ever happen again, took its toll. The men were divided in their opinions about the cause of the odd readings. Some thought changing the equipment was the answer, so they would be keyed up and tense for ages, then nothing would happen. The others were far less convinced the problem had gone away. The seething pit of lava was definitely becoming far more active, bubbling and fuming way below in the crater. They were alarmed about the radiation blip. 1 Gy was not a problem for a few seconds, but 10 or 100 or more for the same short time was on a scale of serious to fatal. The consensus was that it could not be more than 1 Gy, there was no reason for it to be.
Sporadic conversation broke out at midnight; everyone was tightly wound up now. Readings were being checked, and double checked, all was normal.
The wind had risen quite strongly over the last 4 hours and presented a strong headwind to the approaching aircraft, delaying their arrival by minutes. Over the rumble of the volcano, no one heard the Condor droning high above, in a circular holding pattern. The smaller control plane calculated the optimum drop position, from hidden ground instruments.
The ground beneath the men began to move, almost imperceptibly at first, gathering speed and amplitude as the volcano awoke. Instruments around the world began to register the disturbance, and would continue to do so over the next few days. The spectacular red spray of lava shot high into the air and rained down on the team. Thrown off their feet by the unexpected movement of the ground and the mild torrent of fiery molten rock around them, they staggered and fell repeatedly as they made their escape down the slope to safety. The volcano had just burped slightly.
The long cylindrical containers of ionising nuclear waste dropped almost noiselessly from the sky into the spewing and bubbling lava pool below. As they fell, contra-rotating rotor blades lifted like outstretched arms by the slipstream and spun. The control aircraft used these like the rotors on a helicopter to slow the descent and steer them to the small, orange red target, the lava, below.
As nine objects slipped deep into the magma, one after another, all hell broke loose as the volcano belched searing gas, white hot lava, and pyroclastic flow, high into the sky. The control aircraft banked away steeply and lost sight and control of the tenth and final descending container. The volcano had reached its limit of being force-fed, and an almighty explosion blew half the rim away.
The team could not outrun the pyroclastic flow, the searing 550° C gas and dust, travelling down the slope at 200 Km/hr.
The men were all killed, and buried for eternity, within seconds.
Whisked up high into the sky, like a dandelion seed in a breeze, the tenth container dropped through the calm eye of the explosion and landed precariously, on the inner slope of the crater. Embedded at its tip in the viscous, cooling lava, its tail tipped slowly towards the lava, below. The thin metal casing drew heat from the lava, sufficiently for it to solidify, and just support the container, preventing it from plunging into the lava.
The volcano went quiet again.
Chapter - Darrow calls for help.
News reports early the next morning sent Sam Leighton to his office immediately, and he dialled Pete Lewis’s number. Sam got no reply! He later called the government department who sent Pete and his team to the volcano and asked about their situation. An aerial recognisance suggested the team were all dead and that when the volcano had stabilised, a new team would be sent to investigate. Probably in a week or so, but they had a greater priority, evacuating the surrounding islands, just in case the volcano decided to blow.
Robert Darrow called Sam. “I need to discuss something of a highly confidential nature with you face to face, Sam. It absolutely cannot wait.”
Sam could tell from the tense and slight quaver in Robert’s voice that the issue was serious.
“Can you give me some idea what it is about?”
A moment’s thoughtful pause, “I made a mistake that could blow up out of all proportion.”
Sam stiffened, “Is this to do with an imminent evacuation?”
“I am afraid so”
“OK, I will be with you tomorrow, ” said Sam and ended the call.
Sam thought for a moment and made an internal call to his secretary. “I need you to lay on an immediate flight to Egypt; I have to see Robert Darrow. Get Max and Carla there immediately as well, they are returning on the US1, no expense to be spared! Thank you.”
Sam’s blood ran cold at the thought of a connection with The Organisation, dumping waste down the throat of an active volcano. Who would be so stupid? It couldn’t be Robert Darrow; he is just not that sort of man. Then he reflected, Governments do stupid things all the time. They deliberately built early power stations, to produce plutonium for bombs, the electricity was a by-product. History has proved there is no safe way to handle nuclear power and its resulting waste.
Governments are people in power without adequate knowledge. They are like children with a loaded gun, they know it’s dangerous, yet rather than lock it away, they must play with it. A professional with a gun will take extraordinary care to prevent an accident, but even they sometimes shoot themselves.
Sam arrived at the C.N.W.D. and went straight in to Robert Darrow’s office.
Without pleasantries, Sam asked in a matter of fact tone, “Am I to understand you have been dumping waste into the volcano at Montserrat?” The long pause told Sam he was right.
“The Russian Mafia forced me to dispose of hundreds of tons of their worst nuclear waste, they have my family and will kill them if I don’t get rid of it for them,” came back Darrow’s quavering voice.
“From what I understand, you might have done that yourself, along with everyone e
lse on the planet,” Sam shouted back.
Another pause, Robert Darrow sat still, staring vacantly ahead.
Sam heard a faint metallic clicking coming from Roberts lap. Before Sam could move or shout, Robert put a handgun in his open mouth and fired. The sound of the shot rang in Sam’s ears.
“Well, you have done it this time, Robert!” Sam said quietly to the corpse, as blood and brain matter slid down the bullet starred glazing, behind it.
A security man rushed into the office and stared horrified at the ghastly sight. Sam told him to stay in the room and call the head of security immediately. When the man arrived, Sam explained. “Robert just killed himself in front of me and the matter must be kept quiet for the moment. Robert claimed the Russian Mafia had been operating from the plant, did security know about it?”
“We knew something was going on, the waste flown in was flown out again within hours, and this has been going on for a month now. Robert gave me strict instructions, not to disturb them in any way.”
“Well, I want them arrested, and anyone else who has had contact with them. You should also take precautions in case they are contaminated, with chemical or nuclear waste. Also, arrange for Robert’s body to be taken to the medical facility, he can’t stay where he is in this climate. Clean up and get the glazing fixed.”
The head of security and his subordinate left to get the body and plant secured.
Chapter - Max is sent to the volcano.
Hearing that Max had arrived at the C.N.W.D., Sam sent for him. “We have a problem Max, and I need your help. A friend of mine was killed in the volcanic explosion at Montserrat. It appears someone has been dumping industrial waste into the volcano, and it is extremely serious, that is why Robert Darrow has committed suicide.
The various Governments don’t know about this, and I don’t want them to find out because The Organisation is unwittingly involved. I need you and a small team to go to the volcano and find any evidence linking it to us. You should be able to report back with your findings so we can get the appropriate clean up done, before anyone else lands there. I have arranged transport from the C.N.W.D airstrip.
I would also prefer it if you didn’t go into details of the mission with Carla, you will not be gone long so no need to worry her unnecessarily.”
Max thought the whole thing rather odd. Sam was not his usual, in control, self and going to an unstable volcano was not a wise life choice, also, when did Sam ever care about Carla’s feelings?
Max got up and left for the airstrip to meet his team.
The flight took off and later, Max and his team parachuted into the sea, a short way from Montserrat. From there, their small rubber dingy bucked its way through the surf to the south shore of Montserrat, near Germans Bay. Away in the distance, Max could see the red glow from the crater. It was reflected back from the underside of the billowing smoke cloud, towering into the blackness of the night sky. Frequent bursts of lava shot high into the dark cloud like a firework display, and then arced back to earth as fiery rain.
I’ve been to better holiday resorts, joked Max with his second in command. The young technician was not amused, he wondered how he would die here, burnt to death or poisoned by fumes. None of them dared contemplate the nuclear waste hazards.
On the way up the long climb, over cooling pumice and ash to the remains of the low crater rim, they stumbled across the scorched bodies of Pete Lewis and his men in the thick layer of ash. Their contorted facial expressions and limbs in pugilistic poses showed it had been a terrible, agonising death. The smell of sulphur could not surmount the stench of the burnt flesh, similar to roast beef, convincing Max and his team to become vegans.
Even with a gentle breeze blowing smoke and fumes away from them, the hot air and their protective clothes made the climb unbearable, the men would have gladly abandoned the mission, had Max faltered in his resolve.
The Organisation had made a terrible mistake this time thought Max, but on balance, they had done more good for humanity, than any other group in history. He did not intend to be the one to let them down.
Chapter - Max glimpses hell.
Max and his team reached the lower rim, left after the explosion that killed Pete, and anxiously peered over.
He knew then he was looking straight into hell. The heat drove straight through his protective clothing, and soon, even the rivulets of sweat running down his face dried up. The breathing equipment may have filtered the poisonous fumes, but did nothing to cool the air. His mouth was dry, and his laboured breathing rasped his throat, how long could he continue with this mission, he thought. Perhaps there would be no evidence for them to find, down in the crater, more likely it would be under the thick blanket of ash covering the island.
Then he saw it, glinting in the orange, red glow, it was a large bent tube of scorched metal.
The weird shapes of twisted, jagged rock and solidified lava formed an alien landscape where any form was possible, even this impossibly long, horizontal column of rock, stuck out of the crater wall like a giant ship's spar. At that moment, a piece of lava, soft like hot toffee, slid off the cylinder, revealing the metal underneath. But what the hell was it?
There was that word hell again!
Max called out to his men, I have found something that shouldn’t be here, come and help me!
They joined him and could not decide what it might be, with so much covering lava and poor light. The black crater one side contrasting with blinding yellow and white the other. What was the true shape and extent of the metal object?
Max took several photos and sent them by satellite phone, to Sam.
A message came back telling him to leave at once; a team of scientists from America were on their way, they must not find him and his team on the island.
Max thought for a moment, the whole point of him being here was to find anything that would incriminate The Organisation. The metal object, at least, would probably do that, where would that leave him and Carla?
Max said to his team, “Do you think we could get up to the rim and push some lumps of lava down, to dislodge the metal object, so it falls deep into the magma?”
“No, we are leaving now like we have been told,” said the others in the team.
“Ok!” Said Max. “I will do it myself and catch you up. Don’t wait for me, I will find a way back.”
He climbed around the outside of the rim and further up the steep crumbling slope, sweat poured off his body with the heat from the ground and exhaustion. The occasional explosion of molten lava dropped, sizzling around him.
He peered over the rim, a bit further round, he thought, and then I will be directly above the object. Now he was much nearer he could see the twisted rotor blades and the contents inside the split open cylinder. There was an eerie bluish glow, almost like electrical arcing inside. The nuclear material was ionising the surrounding air, making it glow. Max had been irradiated with a massive dose of energy and just like an x-ray, he never felt it.
The volcano gave a massive belch of seething hot gasses and sprays of viscous lava, tipped the object over, so it slipped slowly into the white hot, bubbling mass.
Spumes of incandescent lava and gasses, exploded around the object, as it sank below the surface. A small but violent eruption started, spewing a colossal flood of glowing yellow lava over the lower rim and onto Max’s team. There was nothing he could do for the men. They were in the wrong place at that time.
Max set off down a more westerly part of the slope, as fast as he could, in the hope of getting to the flimsy rubber dingy before the lava did.
In spite of the huge quantity of fresh lava continuing to flow, it cooled quickly and solidified on the way down, allowing Max to get to the dinghy, safely.
Max sank exhausted on the shore and lay there for many minutes, trying to recover enough strength to remove his protective clothing.
The earth tremor and deep rumbling were getting progressively worse, he realised he was probably a dead man res
ting. It was not a question of, if the volcano erupted, but when. If the pyroclastic flow or the far-flung rocks raining down didn’t get him, the giant tidal wave would, unless he was miles from here in a high flying plane.
Still lying on his back, Max called Sam on the satellite phone.
“Sam, all the team are dead and buried under tons of lava, Pete’s team and mine will never be found. The only evidence I could find has sunk without a trace into the magma. I am certain the island will also disappear very shortly, but I will head straight out to sea in the dingy. There is about 10 kilometres of range still in the outboard, so if you pick me up, I would be obliged. If I don’t make it back, send my love to Carla and James, tell them I have done all I could to make matters right and get back to them.”
“I will Max; the helicopter is on its way now. Just so you know, I have been told by experts that the fuel rods would not melt in the magma, it is just not hot enough. They would, probably, slowly sink to the bottom of the throat. The combined mass of all that fissionable material, if it clusters together, will ultimately lead to a massive chain reaction and explosion. If the planet does survive the blast, and we are talking about at least five per cent of the planet being vaporised, the nuclear fallout and ash will render the planet sterile. That is not the real problem though; the explosion deep in the earth’s mantle will be like a rocket engine. Its short burst will propel the earth out of orbit. Depending on the direction of the blast, it could drive us into other planets, the sun or deep space. Better pray for some good luck over the next 10,000 years.”
“Well, thanks for that Sam, I didn’t think the day could get much worse, but I was wrong.” He ended the call.
Max was surprised at his own flippancy, he was also suddenly aware that he was feeling violently sick. As he vomited, he also fouled himself. He was having the first symptoms of acute radiation poisoning, euphoria from a massive surge of serotonin, the body’s reaction to the death of fragile cells lining the intestines, followed by vomiting and diarrhoea, nature’s way of expelling the probable cause of their destruction. Paranoia would be the next stage if he didn’t get treatment soon. Eventually, over several weeks, he would suffer a painful, wasting death as his body became ravaged with festering sores, and vital organs, systemically failed.