Lord
Kelvin's Machine
Published by Ace, 1992 ISBN 0-441-49972-4
"They're a dangerous breed when they go ferral, academics are."
Langdon St. Ives clashes again
with Dr. Narbondo, who has murdered the gentleman-scientist's wife and is
threatening to use volcanoes to push the earth slightly closer to the path
of an approaching comet. This means that the earth's magnetic fields will
attract the comet's iron core, thus making collision and the destruction
of life on earth certain. The Royal Academy intend to counter this threat
by reversing the planet's magnetic poles; this, they believe, will cause
a brief period wherein the earth will have no electromagnetic field at all,
thus allowing the comet to sail safely by. The great Lord Kelvin is at work
on a device to effect this. St. Ives, meanwhile, is convinced
that the Academy's plan will irradiate the earth. He has some save-the-world
ideas involving volcanoes (and the hollow-earth theory) himself. This is
only the beginning, though. Lord Kelvin's machine has other uses, as a time
machine, for instance, and there is unfinished business between St. Ives
and the possibly-late Dr. Narbondo. 
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