The Invisible Wall in the Updraft
The flock curved around the warmest steam column as if an invisible wall stood there. Fang watched the birds. I watched our way back. None was injured. They were avoiding a pulse before it reached them.
Field Observation
We climbed from the old marker tower to the geothermal steam columns, followed basalt steps into the updraft's core, then took a safe ridge toward the ruined antenna while keeping clear of the nesting rocks.
Morning · Geothermal Mist Ridge
The petrels abandoned the easiest updraft together. Fang watched the flock while I checked the wind band and our exit. There were no wounds and no pursuit, only an early turn away from something hidden in the air.
Noon · Sulfur-Glow Wind Shaft
Fang read the static changes in the faint light beneath their wings. I fixed the remote probe at the rim of the wind shaft. Every turn of the flock matched another spike from the ruined antenna field.
Evening · Broken-Wing Antenna Slope
At dusk, the entire flock turned its back on the broken antenna. Fang stopped first. I left the main unit dark. We marked the source and stayed away from the nesting rocks.
Habitat Causality
Geothermal steam columns form efficient updrafts above the basalt ridge, but a static pulse from the ruined antenna crosses one usual flight line. The birds' conductive wing veins react as they turn, allowing the pulse to be traced without interrupting the flock.
Species Behavior
Heat-Vein Mist Petrels glide through geothermal mist in coordinated groups. They detect the disturbance early, avoid the affected updraft, and turn together while turquoise veins beneath their wings brighten in sequence.
「Knowing the source was not enough. Tomorrow, we have to learn how it still breathes from the ground. We took the coordinates and left the sky whole.」
