The reaction was dead silence. Finally the Englishman spoke.
"Mr. Chairman, in one breath you suggest the impracticability of damming off the waters of the Atlantic, and in the next you suggest drilling into the depths of the Earth!"
"Surely you are jesting," the Russian added. "Why not tilt the Earth, as the Canadians suggest, if we must lean to the sensational?"
"If I were not acquainted with your reputation, Dr. Chandler," the man from India said, "I would not for a moment entertain such a thought."
"Possibly," said the Englishman, "you mean pockets of magma near the surface."
"I mean the core itself," Chandler insisted.
"Gentlemen," Marta Neilson said. "As you know, I have been working rather closely with Dr. Chandler on the plans that have been suggested. However, tapping the core comes as a surprise even to me. But because I am acquainted not only with his reputation"—she acknowledged the Hindu with a nod—"but with his ability as well, I move that we allow Dr. Chandler to pick a committee to consider the feasibility and the consequences of such a plan."
"And what sort of magical drill is going to accomplish this?" the Russian demanded.
"The edge of the core is 1,800 miles down—" the Englishman started to say.
Chandler rapped his gavel once. "I believe there is a motion before us," he said.