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."