Kotenko settled back in his chair, his bull neck against the padded head rest. "I don't wish to insult your intelligence by asking if you have any idea of the pressures at those depths."
Chandler rolled his cigar in his fingers but said nothing.
"The drill cores we've removed from the crust under the Pacific bear out our mathematics on pressures," Kotenko continued. "But heat is something else again. There will be hot pockets, semi-molten strata, finally molten material of great density. We can only guess at the temperatures. Your drill casing must not only stand up against fantastic pressures but also temperatures that will make the toughest alloys run like quicksilver."
"There have been lab experiments removing heat-conductivity entirely from metals," Marta offered.
"What is to keep the pressure from blowing the casing right out of the molten rock?" Kotenko asked.
"Pressure traps built into the solid strata wherever we find it," Chandler said.
Kotenko digested this thought for a moment. "Then your drilling must be fully automated and not physically directed from the surface."
"It can be done," countered Chandler.
"And I suppose you will use some sort of thermocouple or heat transfer pump to direct the heat against the ice."