by Peter Repton
21
In the US Cascades Range, Professor Staples read the astounding e-mail sent to him, for the fifth time that morning. When Staples received his first email from the mystery writer the previous week, warning of an imminent major disaster, he dismissed him as a crank, ignoring it. There were more important things to do including planning his field trip out to the observatory. So when he received a second yesterday, again with the simple heading “INSIGHT”, and once again predicting a further massive human catastrophe, Bob was not as sceptical now as Kempston did predict the recent destructive Hawaiian tidal wave.
Kempston said a second much larger undersea quake, causing a massive volcanic eruption, would happen. Then the youngest Hawaiian Islands sunken volcano off the Puna coast erupted. This volcano's peak lies over three thousand feet under the surface of the Pacific Ocean, over ten thousand feet, higher than Mount St. Helen's.
Under the ocean twenty miles from the main island of Hawaii lies this volcano called Lo'ihi. Now, after the events of the previous night, way over the Rockies in Yellowstone Park, Staples was apprehensive. Of course, it could be just an amazing coincidence, but Bob could not ignore it anymore. The note read.
‘Professor it seems I have confirmed my unwanted gift of insight. I just know further cataclysmic events are about to unfold upon the Earth. That devastation, death and destruction will result on an unprecedented scale. I have, in what I describe as a vision last night, seen exactly how its next phase of destruction will unfold. I am trying to convince you to provide a warning of a series of major volcanic and tectonic events. These are about to affect the earth beyond any in recent recorded history. Many, many lives will perish. I heard the word extinction spoken to me by a person unknown. I understand this will be impossible for you to believe, but I assure you I have an inner feeling it will happen.
I cannot even remember or relate to you the source of my insight; it is a mystery to me also. I cannot think of why these things are happening to me now. You must think me a madman and insane. I have sent this message to many individual people. Plus all the news agencies in the hope someone will do something, as I feel powerless. You and the authorities must act to warn the masses. I told you last week I saw the volcanic eruption on Hawaii in a dream the night before it happened.
I told you to expect the second undersea earthquake with a massive undersea eruption. That would occur the next day on Lo’ihi to create a tidal wave tsunami immediately afterwards. I predicted this. I have since learned this huge slab of the undersea island of Lo'ihi. Weighing millions of tonnes sheared off the embryonic island. The slab dislodged by the much smaller on-land quake and eruption on Hawaii the previous day. This landslip plunged through the depths of the ocean, releasing the pressure that triggered the explosive massive undersea venting eruption of Lo'ihi. The result was massive water displacement, the shock wave creating the huge Tsunami. That terrified me.
I have also seen a preview of forthcoming horrific events, to occur somewhere in Wyoming soon. It will be quite minor compared to that which will follow in the weeks ahead. I also know a bigger event is soon to occur in Indonesia. I cannot be more specific just yet about the location. I just watched it happen in my mind, the same as the last time. I hope you will believe me alerting all the necessary authorities. Please attempt to save as many lives as you can.’
The email contained some more text that he read again. Bob Staples worried about what might be about to happen in Indonesia. He looked at the data recorded by the Yellowstone area seismograph the night before. A massive 6.2 earthquake rocked north-west Wyoming, South Montana and parts of eastern Idaho the previous evening.
The epicentre was in the north-west of Yellowstone Park between Madison and Mammoth Hot Springs. Earthquakes were not uncommon in this area; in fact, it was one of the most active areas in the United States. Thousands of minor earthquakes shake the Yellowstone region each year. Most of these are too little to get noticed, but a few are large enough to cause substantial damage.
Over eight magnitude six or over large earthquakes as measured on the Richter scale had occurred in the region. Bob checked the USGS records. He saw that the most recent six-plus quake was a magnitude 6.1 near the Norris Geyser Basin on June 30, 1975. The largest of these, a real big one, was a magnitude 7.5 on August 18th, 1959. Over half a century previous it killed twenty-eight people, causing eleven million dollars’ worth of damage. That's a lot of bucks back in 1959. Knowing a major earthquake occurred so soon after the stranger predicted it made Bob feel real uneasy inside.
The truth was the electronic wizardry science created to detect and predict such events. Seismology was still an inexact science. Despite this expensive gear, volcano’s still erupted sometimes without warning. Earthquakes still claimed thousands of lives every year. At best the scientists knew of fault lines and areas where these things often happened, but not exactly when they were going to all the time unless they got lucky. Seeing the news coming in from the region, Bob noted the earthquake in Yellowstone so far only claimed five people’s lives.
They included Elmer Riley's wife and son. Elmer was at the park to comfort his wife, Annie, during her lingering death from cancer. The quake, it appeared, speeded things up for her. Two anglers backpacking in the area got killed when a burnt and blackened dead tree fell on them. The tree fell on their tent crushing them both to death. This tree was a remnant of the raging forest fires of 1988. The fires back then claimed a third of all the trees in Yellowstone. The final casualty known so far was a man found dead floating face down in Yellowstone Lake. The quake had shaken the lake so much. The shock waves raced across the one hundred and thirty-six square mile lake, tipping him out of his boat, under a sheet of ice drowning him.
The bed of this giant lake has an average depth of one hundred and thirty-six feet. The level had risen by over a foot on the north-east shore. Significant areas at the south side of the lake were now submerged. The displaced water forced up, out of the lake, needed to go somewhere else. A large part of the entire lakebed was tilted up to one side by the massive underground forces. Bob knew that tremendous subterranean forces did this. He checked the archives on his computer.
Bob noticed earlier studies of the shoreline near the outlet of Yellowstone Lake. They revealed that the lake bed had risen and fallen only three times during the past ten thousand years. The survey mentioned that the ground surface near the centre of the Yellowstone Park rose more than three feet between 1923 to 1985, then fell back again by about six inches up to 1992. There was a lot of increased earthquake activity back in early 2010. This sudden uplift of over a foot in just one night scared the shit out of him. Over a third of what before took over sixty-two years to achieve.
A new, terrifying phase in Yellowstone’s violent history was overdue. The sleeping magma chamber was filling again. Further news just in confirmed another three deaths. Bob felt a pang of guilt for not issuing a warning to the Yellowstone monitoring station. Bob was afraid of ridicule if he was wrong. One thing about Bob Staples was that he was a real stickler for facts. He never reached a conclusion on anything without possessing all the evidence. The only exception to this was his devout belief in Islam. Having no doubts whatsoever about his faith. Bob converted to Islam many years before after spending his earlier years as a Christian. He took the adopted Islamic name of “Youssef”. But, to avoid unnecessary confrontation with the Christian United States he changed this to the more conventional Christian spelling of Joseph. But he was still called Bob by his closest friends and colleagues.
Bob looked again at the television. He saw out on one of the three highways that run through the park; a television reporter was talking to the camera.
‘The Laker's family spent the last two days here taking in the sights of the oldest National Park in the world.
Fred, Jenny and little Myra Laker were in awe of the bubbling springs, mud pots and steaming geysers. These made Yellowstone famous around the world. They saw the beautiful Grand Canyon o
f Yellowstone, through which the Yellowstone River plunges and flows. Plus the other amazing features created by the immense, unimaginable volcanic forces shaping the region for over two and a half million years.’ The camera panned the spectacular snow covered mountains behind him; he voiced over.
‘The Laker's could not know that this scenic place, the home of familiar animals such as Bison, Elk, Black and Grizzly Bears, Red Foxes and Coyotes. Also since 1995 the controversially re-introduced Wolves, that this beautiful place would be where they all perished, while sound asleep in their RV near Fishing Bridge. The massive quake hit shaking the ground underneath them. The family woke in a blind panic, fleeing away from the camper as the ground opened up in front of them, releasing a boiling torrent of water, mud and steam from deep in the depths of the Earth.
This superheated deluge welled out of the bowels of the ground. Engulfing Fred, Jenny and tiny little Myra, the victims killed. The casualties may have been a lot higher in the summer. Now it is still cold way up here, keeping the usual crowds away until the late summer.’
Bob could not believe his ears. The reporter dramatised these people’s deaths, but this quake was dramatic. This sudden massive increase in activity not predicted by any of the sensors in the area, and there were a lot. Hence Bob did not give out a warning for this innate fear of ridicule by his peers.
He was a man of science after all, in spite of his religious beliefs. But the lunatic on the web had predicted it. There was also a recent major quake in Istanbul the same week. What was happening in the world, he asked himself. Bob was curious as to why Kempston had headed his emails “Insight” and although he was familiar with the word he decided to look up its definition in his personal copy of the Cambridge English Dictionary and he read in it that “Insight is the ability to have a clear, deep, and sometimes sudden understanding of a complicated problem or situation.”
‘Almighty Allah what must I do.’ Bob’s faith was strong he always tried to pray five times a day. Bob's mind raced with his thoughts; he shouted out again within the confines of his office.
‘If this indeed was what the crazy guy referred to as being a minor precursor in his e-mail. Just what is going to hit them next, what is also about to occur in Indonesia?’ Bob looked down at the mysterious e-mail one more time. Perhaps he should send an acknowledgement just in case this guy did know something. Bob may be able to help prevent the deaths of more people. It was a long shot, though. The man claimed contact with hundreds of others in the media. They would seize upon a story like this with a real frenzy. Bob was reluctant to act as his reputation was at stake. His first concern was to save lives. I must do something he thought; I must at least reply to the e-mail.
Bob sent his response, looking at his watch. It was now nine thirty; he picked up the phone. He decided to speak to his friend Nick West who was currently lecturing in Denver, Colorado. The comment in the note about an extinction event decimating humanity gave him an idea.
22
Nick West was a Palaeontologist but despite a twenty-six year age gap separating them, Nick and Bob were great friends. Bob was passionate about the study of old rocks and geology, Nick just as passionate about old bones and human history. Both worked in careers that focused on the past, but with different areas of speciality. Nick would be clued up on the previous extinction events, occurring throughout Earth’s history. As indeed Bob was, even though this was not either of their actual area of expertise.
Nick’s secretary Mary-Lou answered the phone after only two rings. Bob asked to speak to Nick as a matter of urgency. The woman said she would take a message to him right away, as he was teaching a class of students at the moment. Bob stressed the urgency of his call once again then hung up. Professor West was holding an anthropologists debate with a small group of twenty-two students. They were discussing the controversial out of Africa theory, a cornerstone of many Evolutionists beliefs.
Nick was a tall, slim, attractive thirty-six-year-old, who never married. But he seemed to have a different girlfriend every few months. He enjoyed his work at the College, teaching there for the last three months, having earlier taught at a smaller, more remote college in his home state of California. Nick was asked to leave the college because of the number of his amorous liaisons with students. He chose to leave as an alternative to getting dismissed.
Nick explained to the class most scientists believed man first evolved in Africa. Man lived in the Great African Rift Valley. Migrating north over time, travelling down the River Nile. Later generations developed in Africa, evolved independently of each other over thousands of years. Some then again migrated further north replacing the original inhabitants, who were forced out into Europe then Asia. Nick explained, to a bored audience, why there was such a lot of diversity of DNA found in the bones of humans recovered in Africa, but not much variation anywhere else in the world.
One female student, a beautiful twenty-one-year-old mixed race brunette called Lisa Cutan. Seemed to be taking a keen interest in what Nick was saying, hanging on his every word. Nick noticed that since she started to attend his class two weeks ago, just how rapt her attention was.
She would often ask questions after class, always seemed reluctant to leave. Several of Nick’s students in the past had developed crushes on him. He was always flattered by the attention of younger women. Nick slept with quite a lot of them off the record, always managing to remain friends with most afterwards. He usually cooled on them pretty quick after getting an immediate result, moving on to the next in line. Nick did not see himself as a sexual predator, just an incorrigible ladies’ man. Nick never hung around with the guys much. He did not take part in any sports, apart from chasing women.
Lisa was different to a lot of the others somehow she was an excellent student with a keen, bright mind. Lisa seemed fascinated by human evolutionary history. She also happened to have a fabulous pair of tits. Nick liked her tits; he liked them a lot. Lisa seemed to know he liked her tits too. She saw his furtive, appreciative glances at her cleavage when she asked him questions on more than one occasion. Nick noticed her lithe, slender body the first day she walked into his class swinging her hips. Lisa possessed huge, saucer-shaped, burnt honey brown eyes. They were fringed by long eyelashes well dosed up with mascara. Her long toned legs extended from her tight, round arse, she enchanted Nick. He thought she was a real sexy sweet young thing. The little minx asked him another leading question now.
‘Professor West. Please tell me what makes everyone so sure the first human beings originated in Africa?’ Nick could not resist moving over towards this young woman that enticed him. He was sure she already knew the textbook answer to the question, but he decided to go along with her little game.
‘Because of carbon dating tests on the fossil records and bones discovered. These prove beyond any doubt that the earliest modern humans, Homo sapiens lived in Africa many years before any traces of our species got found elsewhere in the world. They just came from there.’
Nick moved closer, as he was speaking. Finished up standing right in front of where Lisa sat at the front of the class. She saw him look into her eyes and then there it was again, that sly downward glance at her breasts. She anticipated this, inhaling, pushing them upwards at the same moment.
‘Oh my sweet Lord what a pair,’ Nick’s heart rate increased, he felt his chest constricting. Lisa then crossed her legs, without taking her eyes off his face. Nick’s gaze fell lower to take in those long, shapely, lovely brown legs. Lisa started swinging one of them backwards and forwards, one of her beautiful blue shoes hanging off her foot, pointing in his direction. Nick continued, never taking his eyes of Lisa for a second, with a new, dry huskiness to his voice.
‘A further fabulous development was the African Eve hypothesis theory. This radical theory was by one of New Zealand’s most famous molecular biochemists. He submitted it in a nineteen eighty-seven paper. This brilliant genius proved genetic evidence to show all modern humans evolved from one female.
They lived in Africa approximately one hundred thousand years ago.’
‘Wow, I guess she must have been one busy lady,’ Lisa joked, a ripple of laughter flowed through the class. Many of the other students were alert now, aware of the sexual chemistry that was developing right in front of them. Nick looked deeper into Lisa’s twinkling brown eyes.
He cleared his clogged throat. Then after a struggle to get focused again on the theme of his lecture, he resumed,
‘There were other females around for sure Lisa. About a thousand or more lived together with a similar number of their male counterparts. What I am saying is none of the other women’s descendants, or any of their offspring survived until today. They all disappeared,’ Nick continued by repeating part of his earlier statement.
‘Many anthropologists as a result of this genetic evidence now believe all anatomically modern Homo sapiens evolved from this original tiny population, of just two thousand individuals in Africa about one hundred thousand years ago, who were all related to one another. These people then spread through the Great African Rift Valley, northwards over time into the rest of the world, reaching Western Europe about forty-two thousand years ago. This one female named the African Eve who mothered the forebears of all the rest of the world as we know it today.’
‘It sure does sound like a lot of inbreeding going on down in Africa in those days to me,’ Lisa interjected again. This time, everyone in the class cracked up. They loved any rebellion, a typical example of college kids challenging the establishment.
Trying hard to regain control of the situation, Nick himself broke out in a broad grin, laugh lines creasing the corners of his bright summer blue eyes. He responded immediately with his quick-fire wit,