Maya stared at the blinking cursor on her laptop screen. The file name was a masterpiece of all-caps panic:
On a whim, she crawled over and checked the print queue on its tiny screen. There it was. 1 document waiting: EARTHQUAKE_QUIZ_FINAL_FINAL_v3.pdf earthquake quiz pdf
It was 11:47 PM. The 20-question multiple-choice quiz on seismic waves, fault lines, and safety protocols was due to be printed on the old printer in the teachers’ lounge by 7:00 AM sharp. Her fourth graders were counting on her. Or rather, they were counting on a break from fractions. Maya stared at the blinking cursor on her laptop screen
The shaking stopped. The silence returned, thick and heavy. 1 document waiting: EARTHQUAKE_QUIZ_FINAL_FINAL_v3
Maya fumbled for her phone, turned on the flashlight, and aimed it at her desk. The laptop was dark. The file was gone. No autosave. No cloud backup. Just the ghost of a PDF she’d spent three hours perfecting.
Then, the power died. Silence.
She pressed the button. The ancient machine groaned louder than the aftershock. Paper jammed, un-jammed, and then, like a miracle, began to spit out pages. Question 1: What is the point inside the Earth where an earthquake starts?