"But because I'm only human, and therefore fallible, I can offer you no guarantees. And if I'm wrong, destruction will come so quickly that I'll have no time to face it, bravely or cowardly. But this talk has made me nervous. Let's take a look at the monitors."

Kae Soong looked all too relieved to accompany the scientists to the hut where the sensors and recording apparatus stood. Behind them stood Dacian's guard, the muzzle of his gun leveled perpetually at the man's back, while on either side other surly soldiers held their guns in readiness as well.

Before them a broad tape slowly passed beneath six inked needles. As Dacian was about to point to the first needle his captor held back his arm and said, "Let me see if I have learned my lessons. This needle indicates temperature at the base of the shaft. This red line is the critical temperature. We seem to be almost there, yes?"

"Yes."

"And this needle records depth. The black marks you have made here indicate your guess as to the depth at which a breakthrough can be expected, is that correct?"

"Let's just say it's the level beyond which we'd be foolish to stick around."

"Quite," said Kae Soong. "And these needles record various aspects of the laser's operation. They do not seem to be fluctuating very much. I gather that means the pulse is steady and satisfactory."

Dacian nodded. "You're a good student, Kae Soong. I hope to have the pleasure of abducting you one day, to return the compliment you've paid me."

"I'm afraid I'm nowhere near as valuable to you as you are to me. But tell me, why is this needle not moving at all? It's recording a perfectly straight line."

"Let's hope it continues to do so," Dacian said. "Because when it begins to squiggle it will indicate approximately ten seconds of life left for us on earth. It's really a superfluous needle, but as I had nothing important to record with it I thought it would be amusing to convert it into a seismograph of sorts. After all, I don't see why you should have all the fun."

"I do," said Kae Soong, placing his chunky thumb and index finger on the delicate pen and bending it up, so that it looked like the needle of a scorpion poised to strike. "What would you estimate zero hour to be now?" he asked.

Dacian studied the chart carefully for a minute or two. "I suggest you order the team to board the helicopters in one hour. The flight should then proceed"—he glanced at an instrument and took a reading on wind direction––"due west so that the debris is blown away from it. The choppers should hover at a fairly high level about three miles from here. I would guess that the exact moment will come at four forty-one, give or take—" he chuckled, wringing out of misfortune as much amusement as possible "—three or four hours."

Kae Soong squirmed perceptibly. "Do not joke, Dacian. How much leeway is there?"

"Two minutes on either side," he said as the guards, taking their cue from the agitation in Soong's voice, shifted their feet and brought their guns to readiness.

They emerged from the hut and headed back to the site of the laser drill. In the period in which they had been away an eerie phenomenon had begun to occur over the device. The immense heat from the shaft, as the beam struck deeper and deeper towards the lava beneath the earth's mantle, rose with almost violent speed and sent the mist swirling into the sky so turbulently it looked as if they were standing on the rim of a cauldron.

"Won't the heat destroy the machine?" Soong asked nervously.

"No," the scientist assured him. "The metals will resist heat well into the crucial temperature, and so will the lens of the laser. I'm not sure I can say as much for the flesh of your friends, however. They look a bit under the weather."

The observers turned to the returning men, hoping for some instruction that would galvanize them into preparation to leave this accursed island and its monstrous experiment.

Kae Soong pronounced a series of commands and the group broke into a babble. Then they trotted away from the ominous device at the center of the saucer-shaped clearing, gathering their belongings and making last-moment preparations to record the effects of the ensuing climax.

One by one the blades of the helicopters began to spin, swirling through the steam mist and adding an even more diabolic cast to the atmosphere than before. The island seemed to be shrouded in steam, and nothing but the occasional flashes of purple light from the laser penetrated the grey haze.

The heat was rising rapidly, and the few birds that ventured over the shaft were borne upward in a violent thermal and deposited, roasted the sea.

Suddenly a warning bell went off, indicating that the apparatus was entering the final phase. The members of the team, some half blind with fear and others half blinded by the mist and steam, started to bolt towards the helicopters but bumped into each other or tripped over material on the ground.

"You said an hour remained," Kae Soong said angrily to Dacian as they hustled towards their helicopter.

"Oh, we still have forty-five minutes, but I guess I miscalculated the ability of the human system to cope with so much heat and so much fear."

"If I had the formula for that device I wouldn't have the slightest compunction about leaving you here," Soong said.

"I'm sure you'll wring it out of me in due time," the redhead answered.

They rushed to their helicopter, followed by Dacian's guard, and the machine raised them off the ground instantaneously. They kept the starboard door open so that they could watch the final moment of the experiment. Clouds of steam roiled like giant waves into the cabin, instantly soaking everything within and almost choking the inhabitants.

As soon as the helicopter was clear of the crag on the north side of the island it tilted due west and raced away from the site as if the clouds of hot mist were tentacles intent on gathering all of them back in and feeding them to the dreadful belching maw of this is land-monster.

After a moment six helicopters emerged from the billows and proceeded on a westerly course, gaining altitude as they gained distance. After a few minutes they halted and began hovering at the point where Dacian had suggested. What seemed an inordinate length of time passed, and because of the mist that shrouded the entire island group it was impossible to see the specific isle on which the device stood.

But the turbulence over that spot marked it clearly, and though they were now well out of the danger zone, the temperature in the helicopter rose as the clock approached 4.41.

All eyes were fixed on the site, and at around 4.35 the white clouds began to turn brown, then black while an ominous red glow illuminated the spot where their binoculars were focused.

Suddenly the glow deepened to bright orange, and in another moment a titanic fireball swelled up from the island, throwing great pieces of white-hot rock and pumice into the sky. For several seconds the air around the site cleared completely as the heat vaporized the mist.

In those seconds was disclosed the awesome spectacle of a volcano being born. The crags of the island were no more, and in their place seethed a fiery mass of molten lava, from the center of which radiated great waves of white-capped water. Then the lava spilled out over the rim of its crater and sent gigantic plumes and geysers of steam thousands of feet into the air.

The rumble of material pouring from the world's bowels, the searing hiss of ocean converted into steam, the orange river of magma flowing into the sea, and the stench of sulfur resembled nothing less than a nightmare out of Dante.