2042: The Great Cataclysm Read Online Free Page B

flat antlers edged by large marginal prongs formed a wide frame over his head, and deep brown soulful eyes fixed the occupants with a sombre gaze. Nick wiped snow flakes from his tingling nose and wondered why Wolf - who was a gentle man, would mount such a constant reminder of man’s cruelty.
    Wolf stamped his feet to shake away the fluffy white snow flakes that clung to his boots. He noted Nick’s frown and he nodded toward the moose. ‘It was here when I arrived.  I’ve been meaning to get rid of it, but he’s become a friend, of sorts.  You need all the friends you can get here.’ He coughed and removed his thick weatherproof coat and brushed more snow from his florid face.
    ‘The big tremor swarms started six weeks ago and they haven’t stopped - I’ve lost count of how many.’
    The men stripped down to their insulating body suits as introductions were made to the two assistants. Wolf began pushing papers aside on the coffee table. ‘We’re recording too many around the lighthouse and the wild life have disappeared. That’s really scary.’ He pointed to a scarred map on the wall to the south-western tip of the island. ‘We’re in for some big quakes.’  He pulled at the fiery growth along his right jawbone, a habit Nick remembered he had developed when things were getting out of hand. ‘Shishaldon’s been rumbling for weeks. By Got, it could pop any time!’
    While the others removed their coats, Jeremy pulled some crumpled papers from his pocket and thrust them at Wolf.  ‘I brought these with me to show you, they’re identical to yours.’
    ‘Ya, the Pacific Ring of fire is buckling again.’
    ‘I know what’s happening but I didn’t expect it so soon.’ Nick said beckoning in Jeremy’s direction. He unfolded the map Jeremy passed to him and picked up a pen. ‘Here. There’s a new fault line on the Pacific Plate. It goes from the Aleutian Trench here, down though here by Hawaii, and all the way to Mururoa Atoll. The plates are moving, that’s what we’ve been monitoring.’
    Wolf’s bushy eyebrows climbed like signal flags. ‘Nicky! There’ll be a chain reaction and we’re only ninety miles from the Aleutian Trench.’
    Nick considered for a moment. He knew the Aleutian Trench formed part of the boundary between the two tectonic plates, where the Pacific Plate plunges beneath the North American Plate, and north of that trench a string of volcanoes had formed when the melting of the earth’s crust had been caused by the descending Pacific plate.
    ‘I don’t want to deliver the bad news to the world unless we’re sure. We’ll take the Bunyip down and get a closer look at the fault here. We’ll shove off early in the morning, so we’d better get some shuteye.’
    Wolf’s station was not the Hilton, but to these men it could have been, it was warm and cosy despite light snow falling outside. The long animated discussions eventually dwindled and the over-proof, coupled with the heat from the fire began to take its effect. Nick finally slid into a heavy alcohol-induced sleep, l ulled by the combination , unable to resist the comfort offered by the big overstuffed chair. Wolf retreated to his basic quarters with his men and offered Jeremy the one spare cot available, that he in turn offered to their Platypus crew member, preferring to remain by the mesmerising flickering fire with Nick.
    Chapter Three
    The following day saw a marked deterioration in the weather, and rain fell in sheets as the little group, their vision constantly restricted by the driving rain, fought to keep their footing on the rough track back to the rocky shoreline. The dark sea curled it’s white-tipped tentacles toward the shore, threatening to pluck anything in it’s path and churn it below it’s icy surface, and the chrome sides of it’s heavy swell gleamed in the eerie light before dropping into canyons of black water.
    Nick knew it was tempting fate setting out for the Platypus in this foul sea, but