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August 10, 2020

#2344: 26-Second Pulse

26-Second Pulse

[Science Girl is standing in the front of a whiteboard holding a pointer up towards the board. Ponytail, Hairy, and Megan are sitting at desks facing Science Girl.]

Science Girl: When everything is still, seismometers pick up faint tremors we call seismic noise.

Science Girl: Most of it is from ocean waves, cars, etc. But there’s also a mysterious 26-second pulse.

[Close up on Science Girl. She is holding a hand palm up towards the board behind her, showing a map with Africa in the center and some other continents at the edges of the view. A star is drawn within the country of Ghana, near the coastline.]

Science Girl: We’ve triangulated the source to somewhere in the Gulf of Guinea.

Science Girl: It comes and goes with the seasons, but it’s been there since at least the 1980s. It’s so regular we use it to sync up seismometers.

[In a frame-less panel only Science Girl is shown, once again in profile. She has the board behind her and points the pointer towards the board.]

Off-panel voice: What causes it?

Science Girl: Not sure. The most popular theory is that storm-driven waves set up some kind of resonance with the coast.

[Science Girl has leaned her stick on the board’s tray. She has raised her clenched fists.]

Science Girl: Another theory is that long ago, seismologists murdered a giant and buried the body at sea.

Science Girl: Now we are haunted by the beating of its telltale heart!

Science Girl: Could be either.

Science Girl: Further research is needed.