Page 38 of Escaping my Dragon

“What else could it be?” I sputtered.

"Equipment failure. Wireless connection issues. Sabotage.”

The last made me laugh. “By who?” Soon as I queried my mouth rounded. “If Malone jumped out before the stolen helicopter crashed, he could have tampered with the sensors.”

“It’s a possibility. After all, it hasn’t been confirmed that our imposter was in the chopper when it dove into the volcano. But I will also add, it’s probably unlikely anyone physically tampered with the sensors, since most of them are buried in the rift and would be hard to reach. However, that said, there’s ways of dealing with them remotely.”

“Why bother taking them offline, though?”

“To make us think Erebus is about to blow, thus evacuating McMurdo Station, leaving it empty for the imposter or someone else to cause trouble.”

“Or could be Malone did something to agitate Erebus and it’s about to explode and that’s why the sensors aren’t working.”

“The scientists I spoke to this morning didn’t seem all that concerned, citing equipment failure as being the most likely cause.” A statement given by Noah but lacking conviction.

“One or two devices at a time I could see, but you implied it was more than that. How many did they lose?”

“A dozen or so.”

My lips pinched tight, but I still blurted. “Are they dumb?”

“Apparently, it’s happened before when they updated the software and a bug in it brought the devices offline. However, given there is some uncertainty about the cause, we’re erring on the side of caution. Hence the C17 that will be arriving shortly to begin evacuating.”

“Meaning tonight we’ll be somewhere warm, maybe with a bigger bed,” I teased.

He shook his head. “As one of the essential personnel, I won’t be leaving unless there is an actual eruption, and even then, I’ll be one of the last to go.”

“Oh.” For some reason it hadn’t occurred to me that he’d stay behind. “You won’t be in any danger, though, right?”

“Hopefully not. In good news, I don’t need a runway to take off with my heli.”

“To fly where?”

“There are a few other stations. None as nice as McMurdo, but they’d offer enough shelter until rescue arrived.”

The danger he might be in bothered, but not as much as the realization that the pleasure of last night might not be repeated. It led to me asking, “Once I leave, will I see you again?”

He didn’t look away as I asked, nor did he lie. “Probably not. My rotation here isn’t due to end for at least six more months, assuming they don’t extend it.”

“And if the volcano does blow?”

“Then I’ll be posted somewhere new.”

“I don’t suppose there’s a chance it would be New Jersey.” Damn me, why did that sound so wistful?

He laughed, not maliciously, and dragged me close. “I’m not ready for things to end already, either. So why don’t we both hope the sensors come back online and tell us nothing is wrong?”

“Fingers crossed.” Because then I could stay and drag out my job for as long as the captain intrigued.

“How much longer do you think those two need?” He glanced at Joslyn kneeling and capturing more images while Vernon held out his mic over the rushing water.

“I’m sure they’ve got enough footage. We can head back anytime.”

“Which would leave us with a few hours before they begin loading the C17.”

“A few hours to do what, Captain?” I murmured.

“I can think of a few things.”