Rogue Wave

by Boyd Morrison

  "This is where the kids went to school. Imagine being able to go to the beach for recess." The children murmured at that thought.

  "When the second wave of the tsunami arrived at 9 AM, the kids were already in class. None of them had even seen the first small wave. A few of them who could see out the window noticed the receding water, and the rest of the children jumped up and ran out to see what was going on, with a schoolteacher following them. Some of them even ran into the bay to look at the exposed seafloor.

  "As they were playing around, the water started to come back in. It just seemed like a fast-rising tide at first, so they weren't too worried as they ran back toward the schoolhouse. But the next thing they saw was a massive wave rushing across the bay at 40 miles an hour." Kai saw some quizzical looks and realized that he was accustomed to giving tours to Americans. Japan used kilometers. "That's about 70 kilometers per hour." He pointed at a girl sitting near him. "How fast do you think you can run?"

  The girl shrugged and spoke unexpectedly good English. "I don't know."

  "Do you think you could run 70 kilometers per hour?"

  Her face turned crimson. She shook her head.

  "You're right," Kai said. "Actually, the fastest man in the world can only run about 40 kilometers per hour, and even then he can only keep it up for 100 meters." He winked at the girl. "Next time you're on the sidewalk, try to outrun a car that's passing next to you on the road. If you can't outrun that car, you can't outrun a tsunami, either. Now, where was I?"

  A boy courteously raised his hand. Kai nodded, and the boy spoke in a measured voice. "The wave approached." Apparently, their English was much better than Kai's Japanese.

  "Right. Well, despite what you may have seen in the movies, a tsunami is seldom a big curling wave like the ones you see on the Banzai Pipeline, the popular surfing spot on the North Shore. Instead, a tsunami is usually a churning mass of white foam that we call a bore." Kai clicked to the next slide. It showed a wave approaching the beach that was the height of the trees. "This is a picture from Phuket, Thailand during the Asia tsunami. As you can see, it looks a lot like the waves you see in a river rapid. This bore smashes everything in its path and carries the wreckage along with it, so that not only do you have the water coming at you, but also boats, trees, cars, pieces of buildings, and anything else it has scooped up.

  "Now, I've heard some kids come through here and say that if we ever got a real tsunami coming this way, they'd like to try to surf that big momma." Some of the kids laughed and nodded. "Oh you think you would too? Let me show you video of a relatively small tsunami coming into shore in a bay in Alaska."

  Kai clicked on the icon, and the screen showed a cove with several fishing boats and a tiny village perched on the shore to the left. The jittery camera was held by an amateur videographer standing on a cliff, with a little land in the foreground. From the right, a white froth about 15 feet high rushed toward the shore. The man holding the camera yelled something incomprehensible just as the wave smacked into a boat, immediately capsizing it. Other boats got caught in the onslaught as the wave swept the wreckage toward the shore. No one was on the boats, but small figures on the shore could be seen scrambling for higher ground. They all rushed to the peak of a small hill just as the wave crashed along the shore, washing over and through the buildings. One of the buildings collapsed.

  "That is the kind of wave the kids at Laupahoehoe elementary school saw rushing toward them. Except the wave that day was twice the height of the one you just saw. It swept toward them at 70 kilometers per hour, 10 meters high, and all they could do was run. Some made it to high ground because they were still in the school when they saw the wave coming in."

  Kai put on his most serious face. "But 16 children and five schoolteachers died that day. They never even found three of the children. They died because they didn't understand what was about to happen until it was too late. And that's why most of the 250,000 people in Southeast Asia died. They didn't know the signs of a coming tsunami, and they didn't have any warning."

  A boy near Kai raised his hand. "But we have a warning system, don't we?"

  "Yes, we do. Where do you live in Japan?"

  "Tokyo."

  "Do you ever go to the beach?"

  "Every summer, my grandfather takes us to his house at the beach."

  "Well, if an earthquake happens in Alaska, or even as far away as Chile, we would have at least three hours, and usually a lot longer, to warn everyone in Japan about a possible tsunami. But you could have an earthquake right off the coast of Japan, and people would have only a few minutes to get to high ground before the tsunami hit. That's why it's important for you to know the warning signs yourself."

  Kai had gone over the warning signs earlier in the tour, but kids often weren't paying attention at that point, so he had come up with a technique to make the warning signs more memorable. He closed the laptop and looked at each of the children in turn.

  "Now I have a little quiz for you, and I've got prizes for the person who can yell out the answer first. First, when you hear the tsunami warning siren at the beach and you can't get to a TV or radio to find out what's going on, what do you do?"

  A girl to Kai's right blurted out an answer. "You go to high ground!"

  "That's correct," he said. He turned and called out, "Bilbo, bring the prize!"

  Bilbo trotted out from the room behind him with a little bag dangling from his mouth. Kai pointed at the girl and the dog walked over and dropped the bag in front of her. The girl squealed with delight and gave Bilbo a pat before he walked back over to Kai. They had practiced that routine all year, and Bilbo was getting good at it.

  "Very good," Kai said. "And remember to get an adult to help you whenever you can. Next question. When you feel an earthquake and you're at the beach, what do you do?"

  Another girl at the back screamed out before the others, "Get to high ground!"

  "Exactly. Bilbo?"

  While Bilbo took the next bag to the student, a voice that was definitely not a child whispered in Kai's ear.

  "I can't believe you are still doing that cheesy trick with the dog," Brad said. "You are such a nerd."

  "Excuse me," Kai said to the teacher, pushing Brad back into the reception area. "What are you doing here?"

  "The guys from Ma'alea must have found out about my mad golfing skills and bailed. Since I have the morning free now, I thought I'd come by and see what's up."

  "I'm not done yet. Can you just stay out of the way for a little while?"

  "No problem."

  When Kai returned, the teacher, a pretty, petite woman in her thirties, raised her hand. "Excuse me, Dr. Tanaka." Out of the corner of his eye, Kai saw Brad still leaning on the door frame, smiling at her.

  "Yes, Ms. Yamaguchi."

  "How high is high ground?"

  "That's a very good question," Kai said. "We develop inundation maps that show us where the water would reach on dry land, usually about 30 feet above sea level. You can find them in all the phone books." Kai held up the tsunami evacuation route sign he kept around for the tour. The blue pictograph depicted a series of small stylized white waves followed by a final large wave. "And you should see this sign all over Hawaii and something very close to it in Japan. It will tell you where to go. Any other questions?"

  Nobody raised a hand, so Kai continued. "Now the last question. If you're at the beach and you see the water receding very quickly from the beach, what do you do?"

  This time, all the kids yelled the answer simultaneously. "Get to high ground!"

  "Well, since you all answered, you all deserve a prize. But I don't want Bilbo to make that many trips, so I'll get them myself." Kai thrust some bags into Brad's hands. "Here. Make yourself useful."

  As they were handing out the gift bags, Reggie walked into the room. He had an odd look on his face, as if he had uncomfortable news to deliver.

  "You done?" he said.

  "Yes. In fact, I've probably already kept them l
onger than they planned." Kai said his goodbyes to the teacher and kids. "Brad, would you show Ms. Yamaguchi the way out?"

  "My pleasure," Brad said, leading her to the door.

  Kai turned to Reggie. "What's going on? You look like you just swallowed a bug."

  "It's Christmas Island. We were expecting a telemetry report from the tide gauge 10 minutes ago. It never came."

  "That's funny. Didn't we just get a reading from it an hour ago?"

  "Sure did. Everything was fine."

  "Did you check the equipment on our end?" Kai said, a sudden chill creeping up his spine. He didn't like where this was going.

  "Just finished. It's not us. That leaves two possibilities. Either the tide gauge is malfunctioning…"

  Kai completed Reggie's sentence. "Or it's not there any more."

  Chapter 8

  9:33 AM

  The Grand Hawaiian was the newest and swankiest of the luxury hotels lining Waikiki beach. Constructed over the razed remains of a 1940s apartment building, the 1065-room hotel was the brainchild of a Las Vegas resort mogul looking for new locations to expand his empire. Two imposing towers stood 28 stories high and were connected by a pedestrian skybridge at the sixth floor to allow movement throughout the vast conference spaces at that level.

  That morning, those conference spaces were going to host one of the most important events in the hotel's young existence. The governor of Hawaii was scheduled to address a disabled veteran's group during brunch and then accompany them to a remembrance ceremony at the Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery.

  After spending less than two minutes in her office to confer with her assistant, Rachel Tanaka had headed straight to the sixth floor, still seething about Kai not doing the one thing she had asked him to do. Oversleeping and being late for work was bad enough, but finding out that Kai never made the reservation drove her mood into the ground. His dedication to his job was admirable, but it was starting to cut into their "work/life balance" as the hotel called it. And now it seemed like he didn't even know what his own daughter was going through.

  Her office was in the Akamai tower, but the ballrooms were in the Moana tower, so she used the sixth floor skybridge to get between buildings. She was so deep in thought about how to get Kai more involved with his daughter that she nearly ran into Bob Lateen, the chairman of the veteran's conference. The frown on his face was not what she wanted to see. I just got here, Rachel thought, and it's already a bad day.

  "Mrs. Tanaka," Lateen said, keeping up with Rachel in his wheelchair while she walked, "you assured us that we would have sufficient accommodations for our accessibility needs, but there is a serious situation in the ballroom that needs to be taken care of immediately."

  Rachel squinted from the sunlight streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the skybridge but still maintained a polite smile.

  "Mr. Lateen, I want you to know that we take your concerns very seriously, and we value your patronage. I will do anything I can to help. Now what's the problem?"

  They exited the bridge and came into a lavish foyer. Some of the attendees were already milling about. Rachel and Lateen weaved their way through and entered the sixth-floor Kamehameha Ballroom, the largest in the hotel.

  "The problem," Lateen said, "is that we are supposed to start the brunch in less than 30 minutes, and I can't even get onto the dais."

  He pointed to the wide raised table at the back of the ballroom. On the right side, a standard staircase led up to the dais. On the left side, a short ramp had been constructed over the staircase. Now Rachel could see the problem.

  As instructed, a ramp had been installed, but whoever oversaw the construction either hadn't done it before or hadn't thought about the needs of the person that would be using it. They had essentially laid the ramp directly over the stairs, canting it up at a slope impossible for anyone in a wheelchair to navigate.

  "If I use that ramp," Lateen continued, "I will look like an idiot because I will have to have three people help me up. They might as well carry me up the stairs on the other side."

  "I understand the problem, sir. Let me contact the contractor. We'll have this fixed before the brunch starts." She pulled out her walkie-talkie.

  "Marian, is the dais contractor still in the hotel?"

  A voice on the other end picked up immediately.

  "I'm just signing some papers with him," Marian said.

  "Put him on the walkie-talkie. Now."

  A second of silence elapsed before John Chaver, the contractor, came on the line.

  "This is John."

  "John, this is Rachel Tanaka. You and your men need to come back up here immediately."

  "Hey, they just told me to put in a ramp. You've got a ramp."

  She edged away from Lateen so that she was out of earshot and explained the problem with the dais. This guy picked the wrong day to mess with her.

  "The ramp is useless. Now, if you want to continue to do business at this hotel, a hotel that's scheduled to have over 150 conferences this year, you better get your butt back up here and fix that ramp in the next twenty minutes."

  "Just a minute."

  Another few moments of silence. Then Chaver came back sounding much more contrite.

  "I just spoke with one of my guys. He installed the wrong ramp. We've got the right one in our truck. I'll be there in a minute."

  "Good." She walked back to Lateen. "A Mr. Lateen will be up here to describe exactly what he needs. He is a very important guest, and I expect you to extend him every courtesy."

  "Of course. I'm on my way."

  She replaced the walkie-talkie on her belt.

  "Thank you, Mrs. Tanaka," Lateen said. "I appreciate your help."

  "Not at all. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, and as an apology from the hotel, I'm going to take 5 % off the cost of today's event. I hope this won't discourage you from using our hotel in the future."

  "If we get this fixed, you can consider me satisfied."

  Chaver arrived, and Rachel left him with Lateen to get the ramp changed.

  She headed directly down to the lobby where she found Max Walsh, the head concierge.

  "Max, how are you doing today?"

  "I am doing extremely well, Milady," he said, feigning a terrible British accent. Then his voice returned to its bland Midwestern tone. "You need something, don't you?"

  "Boy, I'm easy to read."

  "Not at all. You just have a determined look that's slightly different from your normal determined look. What can I do for you?"

  "My husband was supposed to book a luau for us tonight, but he forgot. I have some friends visiting from out of town, and I really wanted to show them a great time. Is there any way you could get us into the Sheraton Waikiki for their luau tonight?"

  Max waved his hand. "Is that all you wanted? Piece of angel food. Besides, you're the manager of the Grand Hawaiian. I could get you in anywhere."

  Rachel hadn't gotten used to her new status. She forgot that her title carried a lot of weight in Honolulu.

  "How many?" Max asked.

  "Six."

  "You really don't want to challenge me, do you? OK, six for 8pm?"

  "Max, you're a lifesaver. Specifically, Kai's."

  "Absolutely no problem. But you don't want to go to the Sheraton Waikiki. Germaine's has the best luau on the island, and it's right on the beach. You'll love it."

  "Thanks, Max. I owe you."

  As she walked away, her walkie-talkie crackled to life.

  "Rachel, we have a problem with the Russian tour group."

  "What's the problem? Something with their rooms?"

  "I don't know. I can't understand them. But they're getting pretty irate."

  "There's no interpreter?"

  "Nope. And none of them speaks a word of English."

  "That may be the problem. Where are they?"

  "Second floor mezzanine."

  "I'll be right there."

  She headed at a brisk pace to the elegant flowere
d escalators leading up from the lobby, ready to take on the day's next emergency.

  Chapter 9

  9:35 AM

  As the Japanese students filed out to their van, Kai followed Reggie back into the warning center's telemetry room. Reggie's calm was now replaced by an edginess Kai had only seen a few times.

  "Kind of an odd fluke," Reggie said. "Don't you think?"

  "What's happening?" said Brad, entering the room. He saw the tension, and his eyes lit up. "Is it a tsunami?"

  "Look, Brad," Kai said. "I don't mind if you want to hang around. But we could get very busy. If you're going to get in the way, you'll have to leave."

  Brad put up his hands in a gesture of appeasement. "No problem. I just want to watch. This is fun. Usually, your job is so dull." He retreated to the other side of the room and took a seat.

  Kai leaned over Reggie as he typed into his computer.

  "You think the busted tide gauge is too coincidental?" Kai asked.

  "I don't know," Reggie said. "We detect a seismic disturbance in the general vicinity, and that's the exact time for the tide gauge to go on the fritz?"

  "It hasn't failed since I've been here, but you said it has in the past?"

  "Well, it has broken down two times in the past three years. Once from a short circuit and once from a storm that knocked over the satellite uplink antenna."

  "Is there a storm in the area?"

  "I just checked. There is one, but the storm is centered 500 miles northwest of Christmas Island. Shouldn't be affecting it."

  "How big would the tsunami have to be to take out that tide gauge? Is it a mark seven?"

  "Yeah. The wave would have to be at least eight meters high to take out a mark seven gauge."

  Over twenty feet high. High enough to cover the entire island.

  "Who's our contact on Christmas Island? His name is Steve something, isn't it?" Even after nine months, Kai was still learning who worked with them. He was terrible with names.

  "Steve Bryant. He does a little maintenance on the gauge from time to time. No answer, either at his home or his office. In fact, I can't even get his voice mail. It won't ring through. All I get is a fast busy signal."