Barrett stared at Austin as if he had just sprouted a second head. “You've been doing your homework. What do you know about the theorems?”

“Not much. I know that Kovacs was a genius who came up with a way to use extra-low-frequency electromagnetic transmissions to disrupt the natural order of things. He was worried that in the wrong hands, his theorems could be used to alter weather, cause earthquakes and other sorts of mischief. From what you've told me about your Lucifer pals, his fears seem to have been borne out.”

Barrett winced at the mention of “pals,” but he nodded in agreement. “That's about right, as far as it goes.”

“How far does it go?”

“We were trying to cause a polar reversal.”

“A shifting of the north and south poles?”

“The magnetic poles. We wanted to knock out communications satellites. Mess up commerce, and throw a scare into the Elites. Strictly low-end stuff.”

Austin's jaw hardened. “Since when are killer waves, ship-swallowing whirlpools and the loss of a cargo ship and crew considered low-end?”

Barrett seemed to draw into himself. Austin feared his sharp comment may have shut off further communication. But then Barrett nodded in agreement.

“You're right, of course. We didn't think of the consequences, only the means.”

“What were the means?”

“We built a fleet of four ships, each carrying a device modeled on the Kovacs Theorems. We concentrated the beam at an oblique angle into a vulnerable spot on the ocean floor. The power in each ship is enough to light a small city, but it's feeble when compared to the great mass of the earth. That's where the theorems come in. Kovacs said that at the proper frequency, the transmissions would be amplified by the very mass they were trying to penetrate, in the way a tuba amplifies the sound of air being blown through pursed lips.”

“I saw the giant whirlpool you created. That was more than a set of pursed lips.”

“A whirlpool!”

Austin gave him a condensed version of the maelstrom and the disaster it nearly caused.

Barrett whistled. “I knew about the giant waves we created with one of our field tests. The kickback sunk a cargo ship and one of our transmitter vessels.”

“Sometimes the sea gives back what it takes. The whirlpool churned up your transmitter ship. I managed to board her before she sank.”

Barrett looked stunned at the revelation.

“What's going on, Spider?”

The question shocked Barrett out of his daze.