Sanctions and legal actions against Dorsett Consolidated Mining will occur, I guarantee it. Without your intervention the acoustic plague would have continued, and there is no telling what harbor city the next convergence zone might have intersected."
"Still . . . I might have ordered the reflector shield to divert the sound waves toward an uninhabited landmass," said Sandecker slowly.
"And watch it surge through another unsuspecting fishing fleet or cruise ship. We all agreed this was the safest path. Give it a rest, Jim, you have no reason to condemn yourself."
"You mean I have no choice but to live with it."
"What is Dr. Ames' estimate of the sound wave's arrival at Gladiator?" inquired Bakewell, steering Sandecker away from a guilt trip.
Sandecker glanced at his watch. "Twenty-one minutes to impact."
"There's still time to warn the inhabitants to evacuate the island."
"My people in Washington have already tried to alert Dorsett Consolidated Mining management of the potential danger," said Sandecker. "But under orders from Arthur Dorsett, all communications between his mining operations and the outside have been cut off."
"It sounds almost as if Dorsett wanted something to happen."
"He's taking no chances of interference before his deadline."
"There is still a possibility no eruption will happen. The sound ray's energy might dissipate before impact."
"According to Dr. Ames' calculations, there's little chance of that," said Sandecker. "What is your worst case scenario?"
"Mount Scaggs and Mount Winkleman are described as shield volcanoes, having built gently sloping mounds during their former activity. This class is seldom highly explosive like cinder cones, but Scaggs and Winkleman are not ordinary shield volcanoes. Their last eruption was quite violent. The experts here at the observatory expect explosions around the base or flanks of the mounds that will produce rivers of lava."
"Can anyone on the island survive such a cataclysm?" asked Sandecker.
"Depends on which side the violence takes place. Al, most no chance if the volcanoes blow out toward the inhabited part of the island on the west."
"And if they blow to the east?"
"Then the odds of survival should rise slightly, even with repercussions from enough seismic activity to bring down most if not all of the island's buildings."
"Is there a danger of the eruption causing tidal waves?"
"Our analysis does not indicate a seismic disturbance with the strength to produce monstrous tidal activity," explained Bakewell. "Certainly nothing on the magnitude of the Krakatoa holocaust near Java in 1883. The shores of Tasmania, Australia and New Zealand shouldn't be touched by waves higher thaw one and a half meters."
"That's a plus," Sandecker sighed
"I'll get back to you when I know more," said Bakewell. "Hopefully, I've given you the worst, and all news from now on will be good."
"Thank you, Charlie. I hope so too."
Sandecker switched off the phone and stood there thoughtfully. Anxiety and foreboding did not show on his face, not a twitch of an eyelid, not even a tightening of the lips, but there was a dread running deep beneath the surface. He did not notice Rudi Gunn approaching him until he felt his shoulder tapped.
"Admiral, there is another call for you. It's from your office in Washington."
Sandecker switched on the phone and spoke into it again. "This is Sandecker."
"Admiral?" came the familiar voice of his longtime secretary, Martha Sherman. Her normally formal tone was nervous with excitement. "Please stand by. I'm going to relay a call to you."
"Is it important?" he asked irritably. "I'm not in the mood for official business."
"Believe me, you'll want to take this call," she informed him happily. "One moment while I switch you over."
A pause, then, "Hello," said Sandecker. "Who's this?"
"Good morning from Down Under, Admiral. What's this about you dawdling around blue Hawaii?"
Sandecker was not the kind of man to tremble, but he trembled now and felt as if the deck had fallen from under his feet. "Dirk, good Lord, is it you?"
"What's left of me," Pitt replied. "I'm with AI and Maeve Fletcher."
"I can't believe you're all alive," Sandecker said as if an electrical surge was coursing through his veins.
"AI said to save him a cigar."
"How is the little devil?"
"Testy because I won't let him eat."
"When we learned that you were cast adrift by Arthur Dorsett in the path of a typhoon, I moved heaven and earth to launch a massive search, but the long arm of Dorsett frustrated my rescue efforts.