Page 52 of Ignited in Iceland
It made total sense what Bjarkey was saying. Jay was jeopardising what she’d been working towards for his own reasons, not for the good of the project. And his priority should be the work as much as it was Iris’s.
‘Perhaps I should take a stand,’ she said. ‘I’m not going to hand the report in and leave Iceland. I’m going to stay. I need to see it through.’
‘The man is an idiot. If he cannot appreciate that this research could change the way we monitor this kind of activity forever, he has no business running a lab.’
Iris couldn’t help grinning. Bjarkey’s belligerence against Jay was contagious and had given Iris the courage she’d been lacking for so long. It had taken her years to be in the position of being allowed to do her own fieldwork for her project. Years of biting her tongue and kowtowing to Jay, hoping his attitude might change if only he could see what they might achieve. But he would never change. Bjarkey was right. He saw everything through the prism of what he saw as her rejection of him that night at the party.
‘I might lose my job.’ The thought of that was actually exciting. In reality, there weren’t geological labs in every town begging for a volcanologist with a specialism in monitoring. It would be hard to find another job, but with the completed project under her belt, she’d have a better chance than she might have before.
‘You might lose what’s been holding you back,’ Bjarkey said, patting Iris’s hand. ‘What you have discovered is incredible. I don’t think anyone has told you that. Don’t let this man allow you to believe anything less. He will take the credit for this if you are not careful, Iris.’
As they arrived back at the IMO, Bjarkey said, ‘I can take you back to your hotel. Do you mind waiting while I finish up here? It will be ten minutes.’
‘No, that’s fine. I’m happy to wait. Thanks.’
Iris sat with her laptop open, intending to make a start on her report. Though she now had no intention of writing it as quickly as Jay had wanted, it made sense to track the events every day to make sure she didn’t miss anything.
‘Iris, do you have a moment?’ Bjarkey called to her from the doorway of an office on the other side of the room.
She closed the lid on her laptop and went over to the office. Bjarkey held the door open and then closed it behind them.
‘Iris, this is Emil. He is the manager of the team here at the IMO.’
‘Good to meet you, Iris. Bjarkey has been telling me about your project and what it could mean for the data we are looking at in Hraunvik.’
Iris nodded, ready to explain what she’d been doing with her seismometer, while Emil continued.
‘We have a large team here at the IMO and we are always looking for talented scientists. Bjarkey has told me that you maybe in the market for a change and I would like to say that if that is ever the case, we would like the opportunity to be considered.’
‘Thank you,’ said Iris, looking at Bjarkey, who was standing there smiling. This wasn’t what she’d been expecting when she’d walked into Emil’s office. It was overwhelming. He spoke as if she’d be doingthema favour by considering working at the IMO. Never in her wildest dreams would she ever have thought an internationally renowned place like this would want her as part of their team. Half an hour ago she’d been thinking how tough it would be to contemplate having to look for another job and now one had all but landed in her lap. ‘I’m still not sure what my plans are, but I’d love to talk to you more about what a job here might look like for me.’
‘Bjarkey can fill you in,’ Emil said with a smile. ‘She knows what we are looking for and can answer any questions you have about what the role would involve.’
‘Thank you,’ Iris said again, realising that the meeting was over. She stood up and held out her hand to Emil. ‘Great to meet you.’
‘And you,’ he said. ‘I look forward to seeing more of you in the future.’
Iris was floating when she walked out of Emil’s office. Bjarkey followed her. ‘You see? You are valuable to our world, Iris. You don’t need to work for that man if you don’t want to. We would not be the only organisation wanting to work with you. The world is your oyster.’
Bjarkey dropped Iris at her hotel and said goodbye, urging her to think seriously about the offer. ‘Think about what you want. Where do you see yourself? Even if it is not in Iceland, you know now that there are other options.’
Iris watched her drive away, thinking that for the first time in her career, she could be the master of her own destiny. She’d allowed herself to believe that she had nowhere to go, butthat was because Jay had kept her chained to the lab. She’d never had the opportunity to work with other organisations until recently. It was only the modifications that she’d made to the seismometer that had got her noticed by other people who mattered, and they’d seen the potential in her and had gone over his head when he’d suggested she hand over to someone else for the field work. That’s when she should have realised. When she should have shouted louder, stood up for herself and been confident in the value of what she’d discovered.
And whatever she did, whether it was stay in Iceland and go for a job at the IMO, or go back home able to confront Jay with a renewed sense of her own value, finally, she felt like the future was hers for the taking.
17
IRIS WAS SORRY that she wouldn’t be seeing Siggi tonight. He would already be on his chase for the Northern Lights, and in any case, it gave her the opportunity to catch up with her family.
Before she did that, while she was still buoyed from her experience at the IMO and what Bjarkey had said in the car, she emailed Jay and in the most professional tone possible, and copying in the person who had overruled his decision about her being able to do the field study, explained that she would stay in Iceland until after the eruption and that the report would follow shortly afterwards. Pressing send felt hugely cathartic.
She opted to call her brother, Finn. On a weekday, he was the most likely of her family to be available to chat. He worked from home, writing software for companies who paid him a fortune because he was one of the best in his field at doing something that Iris didn’t understand.
‘Finn! How’s things?’
‘Ah, finally. We thought you’d fallen into a volcano in Iceland.’
‘Sorry, it’s been busy.’ She’d neglected the family WhatsApp since she’d left Hawaii. Her parents being on holiday made it easier. If they’d been at home, her mum would have been calling daily to find out what was causing the radio silence.
