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hundred meters.
    “And,” Reggie continued, “the seismic wave patterns suggest a strike-slip event.” Strike-slip faults move sideways instead
     of vertically. Vertical displacements of the ocean floor cause most tsunamis, like the one that had struck South Asia in 2004.
    “Besides, it’s in an area that has never generated atsunami. That’s actually why I called you,” said Reggie. “Look at this.” He pointed at the computer monitor.
    The screen showed a map of the central Pacific with a blue dot pinpointing a position five hundred miles northwest of Christmas
     Island, southwest of the Palmyra Atoll. The color blue meant that the quake was located near the earth’s surface.
    “What’s the distance from here?”
    “About two thousand kilometers,” said Reggie. A little more than twelve hundred miles.
    Kai did the quick mental calculation in his head that was second nature to all tsunami scientists. Since all tsunamis traveled
     at approximately five hundred miles per hour in open ocean—about the speed of a jet airliner—it was easy math. But before
     Kai could speak, Reggie handed him a printout.
    “Already got it.”
    The printout showed a list of station names and codes of all of the tide gauges in the Pacific Ocean. Next to each station
     name was its latitude, longitude, and the estimated arrival time for the potential tsunami.
    “Looks like that gives us between two and two and a half hours.”
    “I’m predicting we’ll barely see a tide change,” said Reggie. “The tide sensor at Christmas Island will tell us for sure.”
    Kai looked back at the printout. Any wave generated by the event would reach Christmas Island in thirty-five minutes.
    He checked the tide gauge schedule. Most of the tide gauges would transmit their readings to a satellite, which then got relayed
     to the PTWC. Although the gauges were cheap to produce and monitored tide levels twenty-four hours a day, their main drawback
     was that they sent the tide-level data only once an hour.
    Kai scanned the list to find Christmas Island. The next transmission would be only five minutes after the wave was supposed
     to arrive there.
    “Show me the earthquake map.”
    Reggie clicked on the appropriate icon, and colored dots bloomed on the map around the blue marker. The circles showed the
     seismic events around the Pacific Rim, with the different colors representing the depths of the events. A few red stars punctuated
     the map, showing where tsunamis had started. None of the stars was located within five hundred miles of the blue dot.
    “That area has never even had an earthquake,” Kai said.
    “Weird, huh?” Reggie said. “I’d guess one of two things.
    First, it could be a fault that we’ve never detected before.”
    “Highly unlikely.”
    “Right. But second—and this is the exciting part—it could be a new seamount. That would explain why it’s so shallow.”
    Now Kai understood Reggie’s excitement. A new seamount was a rare phenomenon, essentially the birth of a new island. An underwater
     volcano erupted over a magma hot spot on the ocean floor, building a mountain around itself and regularly unleashing earthquakes
     in the process. If the seamount got high enough, it broke through the surface of the water, which is exactly how the Hawaiian
     Islands were formed and were still forming, as the continual eruption of Kilauea on the Big Island spectacularly demonstrated.
    If this event did turn out to be a seamount, Reggie would get the credit for discovering it. For a geophysicist, it was analogous
     to an astronomer finding a new comet.
    “Congratulations,” Kai said. “If it turns out to be a new seamount, you’ll get journal articles out of it for the next five
     years.”
    “Damn straight.” Reggie winked. “If you’re good to me, I might have room to put you as second author.”
    “Your generosity is overwhelming.” Reggie let out a huge belly laugh at that. “But before we start celebrating,” Kai