“Well, I’m telling you that anytime there’s a big red button and you don’t know what it does, it’s a really awful decision to push it.”
“The problem is that is exactly what the button wants you to think. I think we should push it.”
“No.”
Emerson looked over toward the front door. “Is someone coming back?”
Riley turned to look, and the white milky glass tiles she was standing upon turned clear, revealing a swirling swimming pool–sized pit of boiling red magma beneath her feet.
“Holy crap,” Riley said. “What the heck?”
Emerson stared at the magma. “Well, that’s something you don’t see every day. The floor must be made of electric glass.”
Riley cut her eyes to Emerson. “You pushed the red button when I wasn’t looking, didn’t you?”
“I suppose you wouldn’t believe me if I said no,” Emerson said.
“Try me.”
Emerson looked at Riley. “No.”
Riley shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”
“What was I supposed to do?” Emerson said. “It’s a big red button.”
Riley threw her arms up in the air. “For the love of Mike, Emerson. Why can’t you just be the sort of guy who leaves his shoes all over the house or can never find his car keys? I just don’t think I’m the sort of woman who can ever be with a guy who goes around just willy-nilly pushing red buttons.”
“I propose a compromise,” Emerson said. “I’ll continue to push big red buttons, just not in a willy-nilly fashion.” He looked at her for a long moment. “About the button pushing and stuff. Are you considering a relationship with me?”
“Um, maybe. I mean, I am your amanuensis. Are you considering a relationship with me?”
“It’s crossed my mind,” Emerson said.
“Is it because you saw me naked?”
“Not entirely, but I think about it a lot.”
“In a good way?”
“Sort of in a Vernon way,” Emerson said.
“Vernon is a horndog.”
“I might also be one.”
Riley had no idea where to go with this. She supposed she was happy Emerson was attracted to her, but she didn’t know about him being a horndog. “Horndog” didn’t exactly describe the man of her dreams.
“We should get on with it,” Riley said.
Emerson nodded. “My exact thought.”
He walked the perimeter of the pit. It was almost as big as the warehouse itself.
“It’s a platinum swimming pool filled with lava,” Emerson said. “There’s even an intake pipe where the lava gets pumped in, presumably from the drills outside, and an outtake. I’m guessing it eventually gets returned to flow underground.”
Riley thought that made sense. There wasn’t any evidence in the area of lava being dumped aboveground.
“Why aren’t the glass tiles melting?” she asked.
Emerson got down on his knees and examined the floor. “It’s not glass. It’s some kind of a transparent ceramic. It’s an excellent insulator, so it protects us from the heat, and obviously it won’t melt unless temperatures reach well above five thousand degrees.”
“Is transparent ceramic a real thing?” Riley asked.
“It’s a technology used in products ranging from clear orthodontic braces to armored car windows. I’ve never heard of anybody using it for a swimming pool cover. Of course, I’ve never heard of a swimming pool filled with lava either.”
One of the larger machines on the other side of the room lit up, and a steady stream of magma filled its transparent ceramic enclosure. The robotic arms inside went into operation, pushing the lava through a filter and separating it into different portions. The smaller portion was transferred to another enclosure, where robotic arms again went to work. The larger portion was flushed underground where it gurgled as it moved through the plumbing, eventually flowing outside and away from the warehouse.
Riley watched the robotic arms busy at work. “They’re looking for something in the lava, aren’t they?”
Emerson nodded. “Definitely. Something much more valuable than money. Something worth killing over. Something that the government’s been protecting and keeping secret for more than a century.”
They heard the sound of voices outside the warehouse, and the front entrance clicked open. Emerson pushed the red button, and the magma swimming pool disappeared behind the milky white floor. He grabbed Riley by the wrist and yanked her to a dark corner of the warehouse where a large tarp covered an unused piece of heavy machinery.
Riley and Emerson hid under the tarp and listened as the door opened and the voices filled the room.
Riley peered out from under the tarp. Tin Man, Eugene Spiro, and Bart Young were standing next to the large metal donut in the center of the room.
Bart Young pointed at the smaller version of the donut. “Move everything into the portable Penning trap.”
Spiro attached the smaller trap to the larger one using a coupling. “You’re taking all of it? Where?”
“We have a parallel program in Hawaii,” the director said. “We can’t find Knight, and I’m not risking leaving any loose ends in light of how close we are to finishing. After today, it’s none of your concern.”
Spiro went to one of the workstations and sat down in front of one of the computers. He typed in some instructions, and the smaller Penning trap powered up. “It will take a couple minutes for the transfer to be complete,” he said to the director. “How are you going to get it safely to Hawaii? You know how a Penning trap works, don’t you? It uses a magnetic field to store and isolate charged matter.”
“Your point being?” the director said.
“The point being that if you get a little unlucky and there’s a power interruption, then there’s no more magnetic field.”
“And?” Tin Man asked.
“No more magnetic field means that what’s inside isn’t isolated from the matter outside this canister,” Spiro said. “And, if that happens we’re all in a world of pain.”
“Again, no longer your concern,” the director said.
“I’ve spent ten years of my life developing this program,” Spiro said. “I don’t want to see it fail.”
“This is not your program,” the director said. “You are an employee. And you should be very careful, because I’m not impressed with your performance. Ten years have passed, and you’ve only managed to collect a couple ounces.”
“That’s enough to obliterate a continent. How much more do you need?”
The director shrugged. “More.”
“Collection is difficult. It takes time,” Spiro said.
“You are no longer credible,” the director said. “It was your call to leave Knight alone. If I had listened to Tin Man in the first place, I wouldn’t be thinking about destroying a two-trillion-dollar facility and you wouldn’t be out of a job.”
Spiro looked relieved that he was only fired. The penalty could have been much worse.
“Why would this have to be destroyed?” Spiro asked.
“Knight has money, and he knows powerful people,” the director said. “He also has a blog that’s read by thousands. If he learns enough and goes public with it, we’ll have all sorts of idiots crawling all over this facility. We won’t be able to kill them fast enough. Everyone from conspiracy theorists to Sunday hikers to political watchdogs will be here. Our plans will be savaged, and our technology will be discovered and stolen.”
Spiro shook his head. “It will take a year to dismantle.”
“On the contrary, one well-placed tactical nuclear device detonated in the underground lava lake beneath the dome should do the trick. The entire area will be buried under fifty feet of magma in no more than a day.”
Spiro went pale. “It would destabilize the entire super-volcano. The entire park, not just the dome, could be buried under fifty feet of magma. If that happened, it could kill millions.”
Tin Man smiled. “I knew there was a silver lining. I almost hope we don’t find Knight and Moon.”
The director turned to Tin Man. “Always the optimist. From here on out, you’re in charge of Yellowstone. If you don’t find Knight and Moon in a week, or if there’s even a whisper about Sour Creek Dome on his blog, detonate the nuke.”