Chapter 16

Sam gave the news to boobook and napped for about six hours. He phoned home and gave Patrick the news. He then called Iga Warta. They already knew. The mulga wire had brought word to Tessa’s grandfather. After a snack, he returned to the clinic. The next day he collected Tessa, Rob and Marge, ensconcing them in Gabbaitch.

“Have you thought about who’s next?” Tessa asked.

“What?”

“You should be spreading your genes. I’m sure your eagle would wish that. And the women here, in Mirima, at Molly Springs and in Timber Creek would be happy...”

“That’s silly.”

“No. I certainly can’t ... uh ... entertain you for several weeks. And it be an honor for the various mobs to have one of your offspring. A son or daughter of Bunjil. Aren’t many of the women attractive?”

“I’m sure they are. But...”

“No buts.”

“There are problems. If I have many offspring, how do we avoid inbreeding, genetic defects?”

“Bunjil or Baiami will do what is necessary.”

Sam was silent.

Tessa said: “I will talk to the women. The grannies will decide.”

But it was barely a week later that Sam received an ominous call from Henry.

“My uncle phoned me last night. He had a vision of disasters around the Ring of Fire.”

“Sounds like Wagner or Tolkien.”

“Don’t play stupid, Sam. The four largest volcanic eruptions on Earth in the last twelve millennia occurred at volcanoes in the Ring of Fire. They were the eruptions at Fisher Caldera in Alaska, around 8700 BC; Kuril Lake in Kamchatka, 6450 BC; Kikai in Japan, 5480 BC; Mount Mazama in Oregon, 5677 BC – that’s now Crater Lake. More broadly, twenty of the twenty-five largest volcanic eruptions on Earth in the past 12 thousand years occurred at Ring of Fire volcanoes.”

“Oh.”

“Moreover, some of the largest earthquakes ever recorded have been along the Ring: in Kamchatka in 1952 [M 9.0]; in Chile in 1960 [M 9.4-9.6]; in Alaska in 1964 [M 9.2] and in Japan in 2011 [M 9.0-9.1]. Earlier ones weren’t measured.

“And finally, I’m concerned about Australia’s movement.”

“I need an explanation.”

“The Australian plate has been pushing against the Indian plate for millions of years. That push is what forms the Himalayas, and that’s dangerous,” Henry stated. “‘Sufficient stress’ has been accumulating in the Himalaya along the Main Himalayan thrust for years.” He continued to explain that this pent-up stress could produce a sequence of megathrust earthquakes, with multiple events far greater than magnitude-8.5.

“And you think this is related.”

“You and Patrick and my uncle told me that the Powers were unhappy.”

“True.”

“What can be done?”

“I don’t know. I thought that some people would behave and that the Powers would preserve them. Think of Noah. Of Lot and his family. But I’ve lost faith in most Australians.”

“Seriously?”

“I had hope in Ben Wyatt. But now he’s resigned from the Ministry and joined the board of Rio Tinto! That shows poor judgment and will do nothing to restore Rio’s reputation. But he’ll get paid! And he’s taking the Board seat of the bloke who wrote the internal review of the destruction at Juukan Gorge! And he’s also on the board of Woodside Petroleum!