The Grave Robbers of Genghis Khan Read Online Free PDF

John’s harness while the professor advised him on what to do when he reached the bottom.
    “
Hlusta.
Stay as close to the crater wall as possible,” he said. “The dust is treacherous and shifting underfoot, like a sand dune. What you need to do is traverse the length of the wall toward the fissure. The nearer you get, the warmer the rock will become to the touch. When it starts to feel hot, or you’re as near to the ash plume as your lungs can bear, hammer a piton into the wall and then descend on the rope a little. There’s a small, fresh lava flow underneath the plume. It’s important you recognize the difference between rock and lava, John, because only fresh
pahoehoe
lava gives us a precise idea of what’s happening underground.
Pahoehoe
lava is smooth and billowy and undulating, like it’s some sort of curtain material. In fact, it’s molten rock, and about twelve hundred degrees centigrade, so for Pete’s sake don’t touch it with your hand. Use the sample scoop. Find a toe or lobe on the edge of the main flow and pour some water on it. This should break it off the flow and allow you to pick it up with the scoop.
    “Now: some do’s and don’ts,
hugrakkur ungur vinur minn.
Do pay attention with all your senses. If you feel vibration in the wall of the crater, assume the worst and make your way back. The same goes if you hear an explosion. Try not to put toomuch weight on the ground under your feet. The ground might be thin and you could go straight through. Even if you didn’t fall in, the hole you make would create enough oxygen to cause a sudden flash flame that would surely incinerate you, my boy. And watch that the rope doesn’t rest somewhere too hot and start to melt. It’s nylon, see? And nylon melts when it gets hot. Just like your papa’s shirt when your mama gets careless with the iron.”
    John nodded gravely. His father had never worn a nylon shirt in his life, but that was beside the point now.
    “But the thing you really have to watch out for is gas. It’s the gas that’s most likely to kill you, boy. And I’m not talking about the smell of sulfur and rotten eggs and all that
kjaftœði.
I’m talking about something much worse. Carbon dioxide. You can’t smell CO 2 . And you can’t taste it. But it’s denser than air and you might see it moving on the ground like a river of smoke. So keep your eyes peeled. And of course if you start to feel very sleepy, that’s a sure sign that CO 2 is affecting you. If that happens, you move the other way as quickly as possible.”
    Professor Sturloson shrugged. “Well, there’s a lot more hazards I could describe but that’s probably enough to be going on with.”
    “Light my lamp,” exclaimed Nimrod, “I swear if I hear of another life-threatening hazard, I won’t let the boy go down there at all.”
    “It’s all right,” insisted John. “I’ll be careful. Depend on it.”
    Stepping out was the worst part because this was the moment he was handing over his life to the equipment he’d created from thin air. John checked his locking carabiner and the figure-of-eight it secured and then, putting more weight on the rope, he leaned back and began walking his way over the edge and down the sheer crater wall.

CHAPTER 4
GROANIN CHECKS IN
    G roanin finished packing his battered leather suitcase and took a taxi to Naples airport. Like most airports in summer this one was full of sweaty tourists with cheap luggage milling aimlessly around as if they had lost their heads on a chicken farmer’s chopping block. So far so normal. But as Groanin approached the British Airways check-in desks he began to sense that not all was well. Word spread quickly through the line of strongly smelling travelers awaiting check-in that the British Airways cabin staff had called a strike. Everyone groaned loudly, Groanin loudest of all, and headed to the ticketing desks for other airlines.
    Half an hour later, he succeeded in buying an easyJet ticket to