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The Ice Tube, Mauna Kea, Hawai‘i

Acamera installed over the entrance to the Ice Tube showed the approach of the F-15.

“They’re going to crash,” Rivers said. “It’s too late for him to pull out.”

They patched into the cockpit again.

They heard Colonel Chad Raley’s voice: “Preparing to deploy” was all he said.

Suddenly the Eagle disappeared in the cloud. Everything in the room was quiet.

Colonel Chad Raley pulled the plane out of its dive with only precious seconds to spare before this mission became a suicide mission. They had been ready to do what they needed to do to keep the fire below them away from the Ice Tube and what was inside it, even if it meant death and destruction flowing into Hilo as well as their own deaths.

It was a sacrifice they had both been willing to make.

“Oh… my… God,” Mac said when he was able to speak.

“There is one after all,” Raley said.

They could clearly see the ground, and they looked down at what they realized was a miracle.

Because of Mauna Kea.

The other volcano.

Mauna Kea hadn’t erupted in over four thousand years. But the thick lava that had hardened and cooled long ago near its base was functioning like a natural wall to divert the flowing lava.

A natural and impenetrable wall, perfectly positioned and stronger, better, than any the army and the construction crews from Hilo could build.

Mac and Raley watched in wonder as the glowing molten lava fresh from Mauna Loa hit the solid, ancient topography of Mauna Kea—and made a sharp westward turn, flowing across the grassy plains south of Waimea on its way to Waikōloa Beach and the Pacific Ocean.

The action was both unexpected and unpredictable, as if, in the end, the volcanoes had made the only life-and-death choice that mattered.

And they had made the choice for Raley and Mac.

Raley shook his head, eyes wide. “Tell me what just happened down there.”

Mac waited until he was finally breathing normally again.

Then Dr. John MacGregor, man of science, smiled at the pilot.

“Nature just happened,” he said. “Isn’t that something. I can’t believe what we just saw.” Then Mac let out a whoop. So did Raley.

The Eagle was flying on only one engine, but it was enough for Raley to land the plane safely.

In the end, it had been lava that saved the world.