Wearing her trademark Timberland hiking boots, Massachusetts Institute of Technology jersey, and jeans, Rosalie Harris sipped her herbal tea as she pressed the cell phone to her ear.
The Sol La Palma had been her home for the last two weeks, while she and the film crew for the National Geographic Channel filmed their documentary. She was pleased with all the amenities that the TV channel had lavished on her as a perk for acquiring her particular talent, but felt a bit uncomfortable in these luxurious surroundings.
‘Rugged Rosalie’, as she was known to her co-workers and friends, was a seasoned field scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey. With over twenty years of experience, her job sent her all over the world, climbing in and out of dormant and active volcanoes. Rosalie's current assignment, not by her own choice, was acting as scientific consultant for the documentary, providing filmed interviews and on-the-scene accounts, which she felt rather uncomfortable doing.
Rosalie now tapped her fingers impatiently as the hold signal on the phone clicked relentlessly, just as it had for the last five minutes. She took another sip of tea, recounting the unsettling occurrences that had transpired over the last few days while filming on the Cumbre Vieja fault line on the western flank of the island.
The filming had gone fairly well thus far, with the crew setting up each shot from different vantage points on the volcanic ridge. Based on her expertise, she explained the theory of the remote possibility that an eruption of Cumbre Vieja could cause a major mega-thrust tsunami. The volcanic eruption would cause the fault line to collapse into the sea and a massive tsunami would occur devastating the western hemisphere. The BBC had done a special on the theory years before, but the National Geographic Channel wanted to do a follow-up program, which to them meant good ratings.
Just two days ago, she and the crew were taping at the twelve foot fault running down the spine of the southwestern slope of the island, a result of the 1949 eruption. She had noticed the unmistakable signs of active volcanism that only she could interpret with her years of hands-on experience. Rosalie knew that the multiple active steam vents and abnormally high ground temperatures indicated an active magma chamber. Seeing these ominous clues set off an alarm in her head because she had witnessed them so many times before in the past. The only thing missing were the seismic tremors, and this perplexed her.
On yesterday’s film shoot, they had suddenly encountered four Asian men on the ridge. The men told the crew that they were on private property and, for their own safety, they should leave. She found it quite disconcerting that two of the men were armed under their jackets.
She and the film crew left at Rosalie's insistence, and immediately traveled to the park office for clarification. They were assured that there was no restriction to their going up to the fault ridge, and that the men they encountered were in error. Much to Rosalie's growing trepidation, the film crew decided to try again in the morning.
Rosalie sent the film crew ahead of her this morning, explaining to them that she had to contact her main office in Washington D.C. to report her observations. She would hire a ride to the fault line located high above the tranquil beaches later on. The crew teased her, saying she was becoming a regular Chicken Little worried about the sky falling. Reveling in their joke, they left her ninety minutes earlier to set up the equipment for the day’s film shoot.
The phone in her ear finally clicked. It was followed by a man’s voice that said, “USGS Data Center: Peter Markson speaking.”
“Hi, Pete. It’s Rosalie,” she said, relieved to no longer be on hold.
“Hey, Rugged Rosalie, how goes your new reality TV show?” Markson said, teasing his co-worker about her latest assignment.
“Very funny, Pete,” she replied, annoyed at being the brunt of jokes with her peers. “You know I was right in the middle of my field work on Mt. Etna in Sicily. The main office could have sent anyone here if they wanted.”
“Calm down, Rosalie. I was just kidding. Besides, could you imagine seeing our director of operations doing a TV documentary?” Markson said, laughing aloud. “You were a much better choice. So, what’s up?”
“Pete, I’m calling for a favor. I need you to pull up the sensor and seismic data on La Palma in the Canary Islands. I just got off the phone with the local research center and their sensors show a normal status for the Cumbre Vieja,” she said to her friend in Washington.
“I’m at my computer now, Rosalie. I’ll retrieve it for you. Why do you need it?” he said with concern in his voice.
“Pete, I’m seeing all the distinct signs of active volcanism on the Cumbre Vieja. I’ve got numerous steam vents and elevated ground temperatures, but nothing is registering on the sensors here,” she reported.
“Do you have any seismic activity?” Markson asked, knowing his friend was a seasoned professional and not prone to making idle warnings without good cause.
“That’s the part I don’t get. I am seeing all the signs, except for that,” she said in a puzzled tone. “We’re right on top of it, yet we haven’t experienced any seismic events at all.”
“Hang on, here comes the data,” Markson said as he perused the data screen in front of him. “Ground temps are within normal parameters, according to this data. Seismic activity,” he paused, scanning the month long report. “I show nothing that’s out of the ordinary, according to our historical data. A few tremors here and there, but that is to be expected. Without active micro-gravity monitoring on-site to identify activity in the magma feeder tube conduit, it’s a wild guess.”
“Damn!” she said in frustration. “When was the last satellite photo taken of any uplift zone indications in the caldera? Any pressure in the magma chamber would cause uplift on—”
“I know, Rosalie. I’m looking at it right now,” Markson interrupted, already ahead of her train of thought. “Okay, here it is. It was taken over two years ago. I can schedule a pass over today if you really think it's necessary. GEOS is over the eastern Atlantic now,” he said as he began the programming for the satellite.
“That would be great, Pete. You’re the best. If you do see any uplifting in the dome, call me on my cell right away, alright?”
“Will do, Rosalie. You take care of yourself,” he said to his longtime friend.
“I will, Pete. Bye,” she said as she flipped the cell phone off. She finished her tea, stood up, and started heading for the door to the parking lot. It was then that she saw the film crew’s local contact, Andreas Conti, coming in the door with a police officer.
“Miss Rosalie,” he said in a relieved voice. “I’m so glad to see that you are alright.”
“What’s the problem, Andreas?” Rosalie asked, suddenly concerned.
“There has been a terrible accident on the slope of Cumbre Vieja, Miss Rosalie,” he said tersely. “The film crew’s van went off the cliff going up to the ridge fault. We thought you were with them, but we couldn’t find you in the wreckage.”
“What wreckage? Where is the film crew?” she asked, totally shocked by the news.
“I…uh…I’m sorry Miss Rosalie, but there were no survivors,” he answered. “It’s lucky that you were not with them.”
Rosalie sat back down, stunned by the news of the film crew’s deaths. Could it have something to do with those men on the ridge yesterday? Was it really an accident? She wondered how fate had somehow spared her from the same demise. Get a hold of yourself, girl. You’re getting paranoid in your old age. It was just an accident, and nothing more. Reaching for her phone, she began to call the States with the terrible news.