"Are you disturbed by the Interplanetary Council of Churches' charge
that any attempt to stop the glacier is defying the will of God?"
"Nor religion, either, please."
"Then maybe you'll discuss your own field," the reporter said. "Are you
aware of the petition signed by thousands of African and Middle Eastern
scientists?"
"I've read about it," Chandler admitted.
"Do you feel that taking an X-bomb into the center of the Earth is
completely safe?"
"Nothing is completely safe." Chandler pointed to the reporter's feet.
"The ground may give way under your feet right now, but I'd bet my life
that it won't."
The reporter studied the ground under his feet, then scribbled a few
words on his paper. A moment later, he spotted Kotenko and excused
himself.
Marta gave Paul's hand a firm squeeze and he squeezed back. Dr. White
stepped up and offered his congratulations, adding the suggestion that
perhaps now they should turn their attention to destroying the Bering
Strait Dam. Chandler parried the question and the Englishman left to
exchange pleasantries with the Indian delegate, who was engaged in an
animated conversation with several committee members.
"Well," said Marta, smiling up at Chandler, "tomorrow's the big day."
"Worries me," Chandler said.
"You mean the composition of the core?"
Chandler nodded at the drill. "Basically, that thing is an X-bomb.
If fusion were to occur in the core and that core _were_ made up of
compacted hydrogen atoms, I think the Earth might crack apart along
the fault lines surrounding the Pacific Ocean basin."
"What could cause fusion?" Marta asked.
"Losing control from the surface."
"How do you mean?"
"Well, it'll tax the abilities of the controllers every minute,"
Chandler explained, "to compensate for variations in density and
gravity. If that thing got away from them, even for a few moments, its
velocity could build to a point where it would hit the center of the
Earth's gravity at the speed of a meteor."
Marta's eyes opened wide. "And, of course, it would stop almost
instantaneously."
"Most of the energy of its forward motion would be converted to heat,
which would develop a temperature far more than enough to trigger the
thing," Chandler said.
"But it's made of non-conductive alloys," Marta said.
"Which would only make it happen quicker by reflecting the heat back in
on itself."
* * * * *
The press photographers' strobe lights began to flicker as the drill
was lowered into the center of the control ring. Someone was making a
speech, thin sounds wavering across the meadow, as Chandler and Marta
started walking toward the VIP geodesic dome, where most of the top
scientists were quartered.
Marta stared at Chandler for a moment. "Why didn't you say something
about this to me, Paul? Now I know why Kotenko favored hydrogen fusion
without the X-factor."
"It wouldn't have done the job," Chandler said. "Just not enough
controllable power."
"Kotenko thought so."
"He was wrong."
"Then why did you insist upon the drill? Surely some of the other
methods were workable. What about India's suggestion to set off a
number of H-bombs underground to produce pockets of magma? That would
have produced plenty of tappable heat."
"I don't know," was Chandler's honest answer. "Call it a hunch or a
premonition, but I think it's the drill or nothing. Once the core is
tapped, the danger is over; we won't have to drill any more holes.
We'll have an unending source of heat, and non-conductive conduits to
pump it anywhere on Earth."
"Paul," Marta said, "I've always gone along with you on just about
everything. Maybe the fact that I'm a woman has been outweighing the
fact that I'm also a scientist. But let's talk now about the moral
obligation of a scientist."
"I'm interested in one thing--the best method to save civilization
from certain destruction."
"But have you the right to gamble like this? Which is worse, the
destruction of civilization or the destruction of the Earth?"
"Marta," he said, "man at last stands at the brink of fulfilling his
destiny. He is already establishing colonies on two planets and within
a hundred years will have a firm foothold in the Solar System. In the
millennia that follow, the Galaxy will be his."