2042: The Great Cataclysm Read Online Free PDF

bigger waves, and four hours later a fifty-foot wave smashed into the Waipio Valley in Hawaii, thousands of miles away at the same time that another one wiped out nearby Hilo.’
    Sam whistled. ‘I heard about that. Didn’t know it started here though! They made paths up to the hills after that so people have an escape route if it happens again.’
    ‘Ya, there’s been many quakes here since then. None like that though. I hope I’m wrong but I think the next one could be bigger.’
    Nick noticed Wolf’s German accent becoming stronger. ‘I’ve got a bad feeling Wolf. I think you’re right.’
    The three men spent the rest of the journey in glum silence. Great foaming waves tossed themselves violently over the bow as they neared their destination.
    Wolf insisted on accompanying Nick and the others on board the Bunyip, despite warnings of discomfort. The men had boarded before Nick, before the big gantry that supported the Bunyip slid on it’s skids to position her at the edge of the stern, where she would be slung out over the thrashing sea below. Satisfied that all was in place and ready to go, Nick climbed on and gave the crew the thumbs up before he squeezed through the hatch, locking it securely in place behind him.
    The morning had opened with a dark green sky with unrelenting wind and snow and t he wind howled around the sodden bodies of the crew as they lowered the sub into the churning sea. Turbulent waves lashed the Bunyip, spinning her in giddy circles as they sank below the dark surface.
    Inside Bunyip all sense of movement retreated as they began the hydrodynamic shaped spirals to the seabed, the gyro compass their only means of knowing they were descending.
    After the half-hour journey straight down they went swiftly into action dropping instruments onto the sea bed.  The readings followed the same pattern as those they had recorded in Hawaii, but were stronger in intensity.  The depth sounder read eight hundred feet.
    The space for human occupation, although designed to carry eight men, was not much larger than an elevator, and two-thirds of that space was taken up by instruments and equipment. Their Navilon body suits kept out any cold the air conditioning failed to stop, while they constantly checked navigation, life support and other systems.
    They edged slowly Northward away from the Aleutian Islands where the bottom shoals very rapidly to seventy-five metres. The seismic disturbance was leading them farther north like an underground highway. The Platypus steamed behind , t heir lifeline and support .
    It was midday on their first day out and they were at thirty metres when Nick angled his eye to a fisheye. The Bunyip’s search lights cut a yellow path through dark green water. ‘Visibility’s good here but there’s no sign of sea-life. Like you said Wolf. Wolf?’
    Wolf removed the headset he had found on board. ‘Eh? What did you say?’
    ‘No sea life out there.’
    Wolf pushed aside the headset. ‘Sorry. All the pings and racket of the instruments bothers me. How d’you put up with this all the time Nick?’
    ‘Arh... It’s like many things, you get used to it.’ Nick jotted into a notebook and glanced back at Wolf. ‘That’s a nasty bruise on you head. You look a bit tired. Are you okay?’
    ‘Ya. I’m getting lessons every day. Last night was bad.’ Wolf patted his chest. ‘All that rolling and pitching kept me awake.’
    ‘I must admit I’m not loving this trip either. What I miss most is the sun, it’s so bloody bleak here.’  He looked at Wolf’s white face and then his watch. ‘We’ve been down four hours, enough for today, take her up Beau.’
    Chapter Four
    They had travelled through the Bering Straight and were entering the Chukchi Sea in the Arctic circle.  It was almost a week since they’d left Unimak Island and apart from overnight breaks on board the Platypus, they had spent six hours every day crammed into the three-metre pressure-sphere.
    Lethargy had