Page 67 of Ignited in Iceland
When he pressed send, he realised he had no signal , and the send failed. There was nothing else he could do about that now, but he was buoyed by the thought of seeing Iris and explaining.
22
IRIS WAS AWAKE early. She’d tossed and turned all night, wondering whether she should have tried to call Siggi. In the end, she had to accept that however she might feel about him, at this moment, they weren’t together. But she couldn’t do nothing.
Hope you’re okay. Call me when you get back to Reykjavik. We need to talk x
There.
She showered, had breakfast in the hotel for a change, and then asked Bríet to call a taxi to take her to the IMO.
‘Have you seen the news about Hraunvik?’ Bríet asked.
‘Yes, it’s awful, isn’t it?’
Bríet nodded. ‘One of my best friends lives there. They left yesterday and are staying with family in town here. They are hoping that the town can be saved and that they can go back when the eruption finishes.’
‘I’m sure everyone is hoping that happens,’ said Iris tactfully. It was all very well trying to build defences but even with as much data as they had, these things were unpredictable. And no amount of defending was going to work if a fissure erupted through the middle of the town. That was a distinct possibility given what they’d seen so far. They just had to hope that the lava might take a different course before that became a reality.
Iris said goodbye and got into the taxi, having a very similar conversation with the taxi driver once he realised she was working with the IMO. His sister-in-law’s family lived inHraunvik. Iris tried to sound reassuring while, at the same time being wary about saying anything that could be construed as a promise that everything was going to be alright.
Thankfully, Bjarkey was also in the office early. Iris had had visions of having to wait on the doorstep for the first person to arrive, but when something like this was afoot, they worked around the clock.
‘Look at this drone footage,’ Bjarkey said, taking Iris over to a big screen in the monitoring room. ‘This is live.’
At first, all Iris saw was the steady stream of vehicles travelling along the main road. But then her eye was drawn to something else as the drone pulled out, showing them a wider area. There was a faint, yet unmistakable, line of red. Stark against the black lava of the landscape.
‘It’s started,’ she said.
Bjarkey nodded. ‘And at the moment, it is further north than we thought it would be. If this fissure expands and continues to erupt, it may miss the town.’
‘But it’s too soon to know for sure,’ Iris said, looking at Bjarkey for confirmation. Hoping that perhaps she’d say no, it’s a sure thing. But of course, she couldn’t know. None of them could.
‘It’s too soon to know. But we can hope.’
After another couple of minutes, the drone dropped altitude, and they got a better look at the fissure. The lava was spurting above the ground every so often, but as yet, it wasn’t looking especially fierce. The drone followed the fissure along, establishing how far the visible crack continued. It was a fair distance but difficult to get much perspective.
‘We’ll have a better idea of what it looks like once these guys are back at base. They’ll have tried to get some measurements.’
‘Wow,’ said Kári, who had wandered over to watch. ‘That’s incredible. But that’s not the fissure we were looking at yesterday.’
‘No, this one is to the north-west. It’s only been showing up on the monitoring since last night,’ said Bjarkey.
‘I’m going to see how the data looks back in town,’ Iris said. ‘I wish I could get another seismometer set up. It’d be amazing to get some data from a point closer to the eruption. If it misses the town, we’re not going to get that. Which is a good thing on so many levels,’ she added.
‘I could see if the guys will go in and relocate one of the other ones?’
‘No. I can’t ask them to put themselves at risk,’ she said, even though it had crossed her mind to drive to Hraunvik and do just that. ‘It’s not that important. What we already have is the important part. The early-warning system. What happens now is easier to monitor.’
Bjarkey sighed. ‘You’re right. But don’t tell me you haven’t thought about going in and relocating it yourself.’
Iris bit her lip and smiled. ‘That would be reckless.’
‘But scientifically valid?’
‘It might help identify whether this new fissure is the one we need to worry about rather than the ones in the town.’
‘I’ll go with you,’ Kári said, his eyes alight with excitement.
