Goodbye California

‘From here to here’ — he indicated a line that stretched from the Mexican border to the San Francisco Bay area — ‘massive drills, specifically designed for this task, have bored holes to an incredible depth of up to forty thousand feet in ten selected areas along this roughly south-east-north-west line. All of those bore-holes are in known earthquake faults and all in areas where some of the most severe of recorded earthquakes have taken place.’

Starting from the south he tapped out a number of spots on the map. ‘Ten bore-holes in all. The scientists are experimenting with various mixtures of water and oil for lubricating purposes. Well, not quite mixtures, for oil and water don’t readily mix. First oil, then stuff they call mud, the whole pushed further down and through cracks in the rocks by water under high pressure.’

He stopped, looked at the camera for a dramatic five seconds, turned, placed the tip of the cane against a spot at the southern tip of the San Joaquin Valley, then, holding the cane in position, turned to face the camera again.

‘And here — if I may coin a phrase — we seem to have struck oil at one-twenty-five a.m. today. Twenty, thirty miles southeast of Bakerfield. Exactly where a massive earthquake struck a quarter of a century ago. And exactly where the sixth borehole from the south is located. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the villain of the piece — the White Wolf Fault.’ The newscaster relaxed and smiled boyishly. ‘And now, folks, you know as much about it as I do, which I’m afraid isn’t very much. But have no fear: I’m sure the real seismo-logical experts will be busy lecturing you on this for days to come.’

Wordlessly, Dubois and Morro rose from their seats, looked at each other then went to the map still spread on Morro’s table. Morro said: ‘You are quite certain that the triangulation is correct?’

‘Our three seismologists will swear to it.’

‘And our three bright boys place the epicentre in the Garlock Fault, not the White Wolf Fault?’

‘They should know. Not only are they highly experienced but we’re practically sitting on top of the Garlock Fault.’

‘The Seismology Field Survey, Caltech, the Geological Survey and God knows how many other scientific bodies — how could they all possibly — especially when they were all certainly working in collaboration — come up with the same mistake?’

‘They didn’t.’ Dubois was positive. ‘For earthquakes, this is the best monitored area in the world and those are among the world’s top experts.’

‘They lied?’

‘Yes.’

‘Why should they lie?’

Dubois was almost apologetic. ‘I’ve had a little time to think about this. I think there are two reasons. California is today obsessed with the fear, the certainty almost, that some day, maybe quite soon according to a few eminent earthquake researchers, the big one is going to strike, one that will make the San Francisco nineteen- o-six look like a firecracker: it’s more than possible that State officials are trying to allay this fear by stating that this ‘quake was man-made. Secondly, all those clever seismologists may be living with a brand-new fear which particularly affects themselves — that they may have been dabbling in murky waters, that they may not really know what they were doing, that by messing around with those various faults they may have inadvertently triggered off something they didn’t expect — a movement in the Garlock Fault where they don’t have a bore-hole. But they do have a drilling rig sitting fair and square in the middle of the Tejon Pass on the San Andreas Fault — and at Frazier Park, near Fort Tejon, the San Andreas and the Garlock Faults intersect.’

‘I suppose it is a possibility. And if that were correct it might happen again, perhaps even on a major scale, and I don’t think we’d like that at all.’ Morro compressed his lips then slowly smiled. ‘You have had more time to think about this than I have. I seem to recall your saying that we might just possibly turn this to our advantage.’ Dubois smiled in return and nodded. ‘Ten past three in the morning and what better time for a glass of that splendid Glenfiddich. Don’t you agree?’

‘For inspirational purposes.’

‘Indeed. You think perhaps we should relieve those prestigious seismological institutes of the fear that the public may come to associate unexpected earthquakes — ‘quakes in the wrong place, that is — with their indiscriminate tampering with seismic faults? If the public were to know the truth, that is?’

‘Something like that.’

Morro smiled again. ‘I look forward to writing this communique’

Ryder wasn’t smiling when he woke up. He cursed, quietly but with considerable feeling, as he reached out for his bedside phone. It was Dunne.

‘Sorry to wake you, Ryder.’

‘No worry. I’ve had almost three hours’ sleep.’

‘I’ve had none. Did you see that newscast shortly before three this morning?’

‘The one about the White Wolf Fault? Yes.’

‘There’ll be another and even more interesting newscast in less than five minutes. Any channel should do.’

‘What’s it this time?’

‘I think the impact will be greater if you watch for yourself. Call me afterwards.’

Ryder replaced the receiver, lifted it again, told a querulous Jeff that there was something worth watching on TV, cursed again and went through to his living-room. The newscaster — the same cheerful youngster whom he’d seen just over three hours previously — came to the point without preamble.

He said: ‘We have received a further communication from the same Mr Morro who claimed last night to have been responsible for the break-in at the San Ruffino nuclear power station and theft of nuclear fuel. We had no reason to doubt that claim as the amounts claimed as stolen corresponded precisely to the amounts that were stolen. This station cannot guarantee the authenticity of this communication, that is to say, that it is from the same man. It may be a hoax. But as the various communications media received this message in exactly the same way as the previous one we regard this as prima facie evidence that the message is genuine. Whether the information it contains is also genuine is not, of course, for us to say. The message reads:

‘“The people of California have been subjected to a hoax in that they have been deliberately lied to by the State’s leading seismological authorities. The earthquake which took place at one-twenty-five this morning did not, as so falsely alleged, take place in the White Wolf Fault, and I am sure this can easily be verified by consulting the owners of scores of privately owned seismographs throughout the State. None of them would alone dare challenge the authority of the State’s official institutes but their combined testimony would make it clear that those State institutes are lying. I expect this statement to bring in massive confirmation of what I am saying.

‘“The reason why the institutes put out this untrue statement lies in their hope of allaying the people’s increasing fear of imminent earthquake activity on an unprecedented scale and their own fear that the citizens of this State might come to associate fresh earthquakes, in areas other than those in which they are operating their ESPP plan, with their controversial attempts to tamper with the earth’s crust.

‘“I can allay their latter fear. They were not responsible for this seismic shock. I was. The epicentre lay not in the White Wolf Fault but in the Garlock Fault, which, next to the San Andreas, is the largest in the State and is parallel and so close to the White Wolf Fault that seismologists may easily have been deceived into believing that they had misread their instruments or that their instruments were in error.

‘“To be honest, I did not expect to trigger off this minor shock as there has been no earthquake in recorded history that would help explain the existence of this huge fracture. The small atomic device I exploded at one-twenty-five this morning was for purely experimental purposes — to see, in effect, whether it worked or not. The results were gratifying.

‘“It is possible that there will be many in the State who will disbelieve my claim. There will be none in the State, or in the nation, who will have any doubts remaining when I explode a second nuclear device tomorrow at a place and time to be announced later. This device is already in position and is in the kiloton range of that which destroyed Hiroshima.’

‘That’s it, then.’ This time there was no trace of the boyish grin he’d permitted himself in the earlier newscast. ‘It could be a hoax. If not, the prospect is at best sobering, at worst chilling. It would be interesting to speculate on the effects and intentions of —’

Ryder switched off. He was quite capable of doing his own speculating. He made and drank several cups of