Read Outland (World-Lines Book 1) for Free Online

why we can’t do anything about the volcano. Like I’m supposed to hose it down or something.” He grinned at them.
    “And of course, we give tours to the public. Those can be good or bad, depending on the group. Sometimes I find myself wondering why I pushed myself through university just to listen to some kid whining about how his feet hurt from walking around in his flip-flops.” He swiped two fingers across his forehead, right to left. “ Tourista!”
    Doug put on a sorrowful expression, and the students chuckled. They had learned that people wandering around Yellowstone with wildly inappropriate and inadequate clothing and gear was a standard gag with the park staff.
    Doug stopped and turned to the others. “One time, we walked to the top of Mammoth Hot Springs, and there was a lady up there in a dress and five inch stilettos! How…?”
    After a pause, he continued in a happier tone. “Anyway, these tours with students like you are the best. I get to do the stuff I came here to do in the first place, and I get to talk about it with people who won’t go catatonic on me.”
    They had started at Frog Rock and hiked to Blacktail Ponds Lake, checking setups on the way. At each stop Doug unlocked the boxes, performed some basic diagnostics, and discussed the purpose of the setup and some of the readings. It was routine work, but the whole process fascinated Erin. She promised herself that when she graduated she would be aiming for Yellowstone.
    As they walked up a small rise near the lake, the ground shook for several seconds.
    “Whoa! Did you feel that?” Erin asked.
    “Yeah. About a three, three point five,” Doug replied. “No biggie. We get dozens of quakes per day, although you don’t notice most of them. The trees barely moved on that one.”
    Ted did not look reassured. “Er, we’re not in any danger are we?”
    Doug stopped and turned to him. “Listen, Ted, you’re walking around in the caldera of a former supervolcano, which is very much not extinct. Of course it’s dangerous. But to put it into perspective, statistically you’re more likely to die walking around downtown Lincoln.”
    Ted looked even less reassured. “Okay, but what are the chances—”
    He was cut off by a loud grinding sound and another quake, this one strong enough to make several people lose their balance. The pines swayed back and forth as if gripped in a tornado. In the distance, there was a crack and a crashing sound, just as the shaking stopped. The smell of damp dust hung in the air, and a shower of needles fell from the trees.
    “Ow, my butt,” Sheila said, massaging the injured area. “That’s not part of the tour. This is unacceptable. Who do I complain to?” She smiled at Doug, obviously flirting a bit.
    Doug grinned back. “That was more like a five.” He lost the smile. “I think it took down a tree.”
    Ted tried again. “So the chances—”
    With no buildup, the ground shook hard enough to toss the students off their feet. The quake was accompanied by a grinding, thudding sound like a fully loaded dump truck making an emergency stop on gravel.
    “Holy—” Doug yelled, as trees began to topple. “—Shit—”. Someone screamed, and Erin thought it might have been her. “—That’s—”. Tree after tree lost the battle with gravity. Loose rocks skittered down the slope, and a cloud of dust rose several feet off the ground.
    After a few more seconds, this latest earthquake stopped. “—getting upwards to a seven,” Doug finished, his eyes wide and staring.
    The group picked themselves up off the ground, hands spread out defensively, ready to abort if there were another quake. There was a loud sloshing sound, which Erin realized was the lake pouring back into its basin. As she looked around, she could see that a significant number of trees had gone down. In many cases, the shaking had produced a domino effect, with each tree leaning on the next.
    Doug finished examining the changed scenery,