"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."