"I don't think we're capable of reversing the warm currents flowing into the Arctic," he found himself saying. "The Bering Strait Dam is one thing, but a dam across the North Atlantic...." "Then what have you in mind?" asked the Russian. "How would you react to a little suggestion of my own?" Again all eyes were on him. "Suppose we were to tap the heat right from the Earth's core?" 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. * * * * * Unlike the days before the threat of avalanches, the tubeway over the Sierra Nevada range was not heavily traveled. Twice in the past year avalanches had dislodged the tube, once resulting in a number of deaths--something that hadn't happened on American highways for nearly fifty years. But it was the most direct route to the Detroit Glacier Control Center. "I'm not sure you made a wise choice in Kotenko," Marta said. She sat next to Chandler on the rear observation deck, occupying Professor Kotenko's seat while he chose to mingle with the passengers in the main lounge. "Why?" asked Chandler. "Well, I'm not much of a politician." She glanced around before continuing. "It'll be another century before Europe forgets World War III. Maybe you thought Kotenko's selection would appease the Eastern Union or maybe you were simply trying to get him out of the role of principal opponent, but--" "I picked him because I needed him." Marta frowned slightly. "Now it's my turn to ask why." "Kotenko isn't just another glaciologist or meteorologist," Chandler said. "His forte is pure science--creative science."