The Watchers
Polly visits a scientist who reads earthquakes on a screen and hears how people once stopped lava with seawater.
Before you read
Before you read
Near the coast, Polly found a small building with many antennas. Inside sat one scientist with lots of screens. Lines moved up and down. A map was full of tiny circles. Each circle was an earthquake. Most were too small to feel. Polly landed and looked. The scientist turned a screen so she could see.
This is how the people here stay safe. Before a volcano erupts, the ground shakes for days. The scientists watch day and night. Then they tell a town to leave in time.
The scientist told an old story. Long ago, lava moved toward a town's harbour. So the people sprayed cold seawater on the lava for weeks. At last it stopped. They made a deal with the volcano.
Before she left, Polly stepped in ink. She walked across his map. He laughed and put it on the wall.
That's the story.
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