Page 37 of Eruption

“And you both think dikes can work?”

“I stand by my data,” Kenny said.

“Same,” Rick said.

“Shocker,” Mac said. “You stand by the data on coolants too?”

“On all of it.”

“Then you better be right,” Mac said.

Mac walked away. When Kenny thought Mac was out of earshot he said, “Who shoved the stick up his ass?”

“Still here,” Mac called.

He was glad they couldn’t see him smiling.

It ended up taking Rick and Kenny fifteen minutes.

But now they all studied an image on the screen showing an aerial view of the island of Hawai‘i in false colors, with Mauna Loa in blues and browns, increasing to orange and yellow toward the summit. There was a line of bright orange spots, like a string of pearls, along the northeast rift. There were also some black patches around the summit.

To Mac, they were as ominous as storm clouds. He called out to Jenny across the room. “Give us the near-infrared, please.”

“Coming up.”

A moment later, in a corner of the screen, the satellite imagetaken earlier that day appeared. At first glance, it looked roughly similar to Rick and Kenny’s image.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Kenny said, pumping his fist.

“Not so fast. Overlay it.”

Kenny enlarged the satellite image, made it translucent, and moved it over their image.

“Now opaque it,” Mac said. “And flip them.”

Kenny flipped back and forth between the two images, the first computer-generated, the second taken by the satellite. He and Rick watched MacGregor hopefully, like kids waiting to see if they’d get a pat on the head.

“I gotta admit,” Mac said, nodding in appreciation, “it’s not half bad.”

“Gee,” Rick said. “Thanks, Dad.”

Mac grinned. “The only difference I see is that the satellite is showing a hot spot in the ocean just off the west coast of the island, and you don’t show that.”

“Not our territory,” Kenny said.

“Today it is, Sparky.”

“You know we don’t have sensors on the west coast, Mac,” he said.

Mac ignored that. “Okay,” he said, standing. “Pack it all up on a laptop and be ready in twenty minutes. There are some people who have to see this.”

CHAPTER 24

County of Hawai‘i Civil Defense Building, Hilo, Hawai‘i

Henry Takayama stormed into his office and slammed the door behind him, knowing the sound would send tremors across the desks outside because everyone assumed it meant he was upset about something. And he was. It was only eight thirty in the morning and already he was having a very bad day.

First of all, representatives from both Paradise Helicopters and Mauna Loa Helicopter Tours had called him, demanding to know why they couldn’t take tourists over the volcanoes. The airspace over Mauna Loa and Kilauea had been closed the night before—Henry knew about that ‘okolepilot Rogers and his damn-fool stunt—and was still closed in the morning, and the companies wanted to know what Takayama was going to do about it. Henry had said it was a mistake and promised he would fix it, mostly because Henry Takayama saw himself, first and foremost, as a fixer.

---