Liquid metal, like dull quicksilver, dribbled from his clenched fists and pooled on the frozen floor of the tunnel. Dodge stared in horror at the growing pool, as the droplets of metal beaded together and rolled down the slope toward Fuller. Without Dodge even realizing it, the entire exoskeleton had liquefied. As the droplets reached Fuller, they rose into the air, gathering into a single mass that levitate a few inches from the shimmering tip of the Staff.
The ersatz G-man stared down at him, his expression equal parts triumph and disdain. "Didn't know I could do that, did you?"
His voice was different somehow, faintly accented, as if this was his real manner of speaking and everything that had gone before was artifice. In fact, Dodge realized, that was exactly the case. "Who are you?"
Fuller did not even deign to dismiss the inquiry with a gesture. Instead, he held the Staff above Dodge like an executioner's axe. The sphere of liquid metal remained where it had been, like a trained pet awaiting new orders from its master. Violet energy began to crackle up and down the length of the rod, gathering into a blinding orb. Dodge tried to meet Fuller's gaze, daring him to look his victim in the eye as he delivered the coup de grace, but the light was so intense he had to cover his eyes.
And then the light was extinguished.
The memory of the brilliance lingered in Dodge's eyes, plunging everything into permanent shadow, but he could just make out his foe, still standing where he was with the Staff outstretched, but gazing up at the ice overhead, head cocked to one side as if listening to a distant voice borne on the wind. Abruptly, he spun on his heel and all but ran back into the domed chamber, with the metal globe trailing behind.
The unexpected reprieve was as confusing as the betrayal that had preceded it. Dodge felt like he was drowning in a storm-tossed ocean, unsure of which way to swim to reach the surface. Part of him wanted to flee, to find Amelia and Newcombe and retreat to some corner of the Outpost where Fuller would never think to look. Maybe they could find some weapon that could stand even against the Staff… or a cache of exoskeletons that might bear them across the frozen wilderness to safety. Stay alive, that inner voice told him, because where there's life, there's hope.
But the urge to survive was not as strong as the desire to know why Fuller had moved away. It was not mercy that had stayed his hand and it wasn't fear of reprisal. So what then? What was so important that the villain dared not waste even a moment in stamping out the spark of Dodge's life?
Hauling himself erect, Dodge crept toward the tunnel exit. He felt unsteady on his feet, as if his body remembered the feeling of flight and begrudged a return more conventional — more pedestrian — modes of transport.
He shook his head, trying to shake off the inertia of defeat. His eyes had not quite recovered from the Staff's brilliance, but he could make out Fuller's silhouette. The phony federal agent stood before the tall metal pillar in the center of the room, touching the tip of the Staff to it. Dodge shaded his eyes with one hand, in anticipation of some kind of fiery display, but nothing unusual happened.
After a few seconds, Fuller lowered the Staff and took a step back. The globule of liquid metal, still floating in mid-air, smoothly expanded in size. When it was large enough, Fuller stepped into it and vanished. Almost immediately, the sphere shot toward the tunnel. Dodge didn't even have time to draw back as it brushed against him. He felt the familiar tickle of static electricity on his face, but the bubble moved so fast, it was gone from sight before he could turn around.
The ensuing quiet was ominous. Dodge felt certain that this was merely the eye of the storm, rather than its aftermath. With far more caution than he had shown moments before, he entered the chamber and approached the pillar.
He immediately felt waves of heat, emanating from the surface of the column. A ring of water — melted ice — was spreading from the base of the pillar and before he had crossed half the distance, Dodge saw tiny splashes of precipitation on the floor; the heat radiating from the pillar was also melting the ceiling of the cavern. It wasn't unbearably hot, not yet at least, but compared to the constant pervasive chill of the frozen environment, it was a striking contrast.
"Dodge!"
The shout from behind him was equal parts amazement and relief, two emotions he had never really heard from the Dr. Findlay Newcombe. Dodge was similarly relieved as he turned to discover Newcombe and Amelia Dunham, hastening toward him, but his reaction was tempered by the knowledge that Fuller's wrath might yet become manifest.
Newcombe, ever the scientist, immediately noticed the change to the pillar and its surroundings. "What did he do?"
"I'm not quite sure. He touched it with the Staff and it started heating up." Dodge shook his head in self-directed disgust. "He had the Staff all along. How could I have been so blind to this?"
Newcombe cast a nervous glance in Amelia's direction. "That's not exactly true."
"He did things with the Staff we didn't even know were possible. And this—" Dodge gestured at the pillar. "I don't even know what it is, much less what he's done to it."
"It's the source of power for… well, for everything." Newcombe reached out hesitantly, holding his hand a few inches away as if afraid to make direct contact. "It's getting hotter. Not good."
Frustrated by his own failures, a sarcastic retort formed on Dodge's lips, but before he could excoriate the scientist for stating the obvious, the import of Newcombe's comment hit home. "Why 'not good'?"
The frizzy-haired scientist pointed to the base of the pillar, where it was embedded in the increasingly liquefied floor of the chamber. "The Law of Entropy tells us that when something hot and something cold meet, they tend to equalize in temperature. This place is so cold that, by now, the water should already be refreezing. But that's not happening because the column is continuing to get hotter."
"It's generating its own heat? Could it melt itself all the way through the ice, down to the bedrock?"
"I ran tests on the metal back at my lab. Its melting point, if it even has one, is hotter than any fire we can produce. So if it keeps getting hotter, it could conceivably melt right through the earth's crust and keep going." Newcombe's frown deepened. "But that's not what concerns me. You see, right now, it's just melting the ice. Before too long, it will be completely immersed. And at some point, it will be so hot that the water surrounding it will be flashed instantly to steam."
"So?"
"Don't they teach physics in school anymore?" Newcombe's patience also seemed to evaporating. He sighed deeply and then composed himself. "The pillar is going to create a sort of tube in the ice, a confined space. When the water surrounding it turns to steam, it will expand forcefully."
"You mean it will explode?"
"With unimaginable force. Enough to split the ice apart and destroy this entire cavern. And it will just keep repeating over and over again, with increasing force. It could…" The scientist faltered as if his brain was still trying to wrap itself around the possible consequences.
"How long have we got?"
Newcombe held his hand out again. "Without proper instruments, it's impossible to say how fast the temperature is increasing. But hypothetically, if the rate of increase is one degree a minute and the water is having no moderating effect at all, then in about three hours it will reach the boiling point of water. Bad things will start to happen then."