As soon as Dodge deactivated the Float Car, Jocasta felt something moving against her leg. It was the strange metal rod she had stolen from the Empire State Building and which she had kept concealed from her companions for several days now in a hidden pocket in her trousers. The movement was barely perceptible, a faint tickle of static electricity against her skin, a slight tugging as if the rod was being attracted by a strong magnet. In that instant, she understood how Dalton had pulled off the astonishing feat of navigating across the featureless landscape without ever consulting a map, utilizing a compass or trying to get a fix on the Southern Cross.
Evidently Dalton was fond of his secrets, even when there was nothing to gain by protecting them. Getting through his defenses was going to be more of a challenge than she had anticipated. How delightful. I wonder what he'll say when he finds out I've been keeping secrets as well.
Dodge switched off the light, but after only a few moments in darkness, Jocasta realized that there was a faint blue light emanating from the ice.
"We have to go on foot from here," he explained. "There's a chance that some unfriendly folks may have gotten here ahead of us. We're not exactly loaded for bear here, so avoiding detection is going to be critically important."
"And what exactly will we be doing while we're avoiding detection?" Jocasta had to struggle to keep a note of concern in her voice. She couldn't remember when she had last felt so exhilarated, so alive. Probably not since she and Falcon….
"Looking for anything that can give us an advantage against… well, against whoever it is that's trying to get control of this place. The truth is, I don't know what we'll find here. I've only been here once and the circumstances were very different."
"I'm sure my readers would love to know more about those circumstances." It was, she decided, what Amelia Dunham, star reporter of the London Telegraph Herald would do.
"No comment, Miss Dunham."
She mock-pouted in the darkness. Dalton had no sense of humor.
"Were you able to determine the source of the power at work here?" asked Newcombe. "If I could just understand how this technology works, I might be able to develop a defense against it."
"First things, first. We need to find out if we're alone here."
Jocasta knew that the man who had commissioned her to steal the rod had no earthly clue where they'd gone, but like the scientist, she was curious to see what secrets the place held. While money was only an incidental consideration, she had no doubt that the secrets of the Outpost would be the score of a lifetime. Part of her was secretly pleased that Schadel had chosen to break faith; this was turning out to be so much more interesting.
With Dalton in the lead, they moved back into the main tunnel. Jocasta was barely aware of the cold now; it actually seemed warmer in the tunnel than at in any time since they had left Chile. Either she was becoming inured to the chill or the laws of physics were being bent. Newcombe voiced his opinion that something like the latter was the case.
Silhouetted against the faintly glowing blue wall, the scientist stripped off his gloves and placed a hand against the ice. "Astonishing. It's like the ice is actually giving off light and heat without melting."
"When we were here before, it was brighter."
"It seems brighter just since we've arrived. I wonder if it's a cycle or if it's somehow reacting to our presence."
By the time they reached what Dodge had called "the central chamber," pure white light was emanating from the ice and it was warm enough that everyone removed hats and gloves and opened their jackets to avoid overheating. Fuller and Burton both had their guns drawn, but it was plainly evident that they were the only humans in the ice cave.
"Well that's a bit of luck," Jocasta observed.
"So what now?" asked the FBI agent.
"I'll go back and retrieve the Float Car," Dodge announced. "We can establish a base camp here and then begin exploring. I can draw a partial map from memory, but obviously what we're looking for is going to be in unexplored territory."
Fuller turned to Burton. "You should go with him."
The central chamber seemed to be the hub of a wheel, with tunnels radiating out like spokes. After only a moment in the cave, Jocasta discovered that she could not distinguish which path had brought them. Dodge however, had no such difficulty and confidently strode off down one of the nearly identical paths, with the rough pilot in tow.
Newcombe, driven by a scientist's thirst for knowledge, continued studying the composition of the walls. He managed to chip away a few pieces of ice, upon which he performed various experiments — covering them in cupped hands to see if they produced light, warming them to see if they would melt, even tasting them. Jocasta watched him for a while and when she became aware that Fuller was staring at her with the same intensity as the physicist scrutinizing the ice. Something about his gaze was profoundly discomfiting and she moved closer to Newcombe.
"What news, Professor?"
"Oh, I'm not a professor actually. I don't teach—"
"I was joking, Findlay Dear."
"Oh." His eyebrows furrowed, then he cracked an embarrassed smile. "Well, Amelia, darling, I have discovered that this ice is… well, it's just ordinary ice. Whatever is causing it to give off light and heat diminishes as soon as it's separated from the matrix."
"Matrix?"
"You might liken it to the coals in a fire. When they are heaped together, they give off radiant energy and sustain one another. But when you take one away, it rapidly cools and just becomes a chunk of carbon ash. That's an imperfect comparison of course. Whatever's at work here is much more sophisticated. The ice transmits the energy without being significantly affected by it. Probably some kind of variation of the Leidenfrost Effect."
Jocasta sneaked a glance at Fuller who had moved over to join them. He was no longer staring at her, but his presence still made her uncomfortable.
"Leidenfrost Effect?" she asked.
"Yes. It's what happens when you put a drop of water on a hot skillet or when witch doctors walk barefoot over hot coals. The moisture creates a thin insulating layer that dissipates some of the heat, temporarily at least. In this case, I would surmise that the ice is somehow releasing energy from the source — somewhere within the matrix — and then refreezing just as quickly so that there is no net loss of ice."
"You're saying there's a rational explanation for this?" asked Fuller, evincing unexpected interest.
"Of course. There's a rational explanation for everything, Special Agent Fuller. We live in a rational universe."
"What about magic? Or the spirit realm?"
"Magic, in my experience, is either trickery or in the case of the things we witness here, technology advanced beyond our capacity to fully understand. A hundred years ago a radio or telephone would have seemed like magic. The laws of physics didn't change, only our understanding.
"As to 'the spirit realm' as you call it, I haven't seen any compelling evidence that any such thing exists, but if it does, by its very definition, it would exist in a different universe."
"Different universe?"
"I assume you are a Christian man, Special Agent Fuller. You believe in heaven and hell. Do you think that if you could fly up high enough in an airplane, you would discover heaven? Or if you traveled deep enough beneath the earth's crust, you would find where the devil lives? Of course not. You accept that these are different planes of existence. Such an understanding is implicit in the use of the word 'realm.' "
Professor or not, Newcombe was certainly enjoying the chance to educate his somewhat captive audience.
"Now, there's nothing in our understanding of physics that contradicts the belief that there are other universes or alternate realities or what have you, but then neither is there any way to prove their existence. But if someone were to cross over from one reality to another, they would be subject to the physical laws of whatever universe they were in. I promise you this, if Jesus really walked on the Sea of Galilee, then it's because it is physically possible to do so and one day we shall discover how to do it as well."