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The cave was mammoth in size, but it appeared to be man-made, or perhaps shored up by man Concrete lined the walls in places Steel I bea directions, welded and cross-braced in places To Pitt, it looked like soone crazy with an Erector set
They came to an open section Pitt stared down into a chasm It dropped hundreds of feet Water filled the bottom
“This is where the experi Tesla’s theory, Watterson claiy They built a machine much like what your friend found in the mine”
Pitt guessed at the series of events “After Tesla shut down Wardenclyffe, Watterson took the idea back to the ar his own deal with General Cortland”
Culver nodded “According to Watterson, he’d developed an improved version”
“Depends on your definition of the word improved,
” Sandecker added
“That it does,” Culver said, pointing to so residue on the cave wall “See this? It’s shocked quartz You’re only supposed to get it when a oes off The whole cave is filled with it, right down into the chasm”
“From the experiment,” Pitt surmised
Culver nodded “Watterson activated hisfro station on the surface recorded what happened Multiple waves of energy, all froy was many times more powerful than the one before it”
“So Watterson’s experiment was a success,” Pitt noted
“It went too well, in fact,” Culver said “He couldn’t shut it off Couldn’t control the energy he’d released The waves grew, flowing in and out of this cave, shaking it to pieces The observers and military personnel were crushed and buried down here But the devastation didn’t end until they triggered a long-overdue movement in the San Andreas Fault”
“This experiment caused the 1906 San Francisco quake?” Pitt asked, just to be sure
Culver nodded “By extension, that overnment did it and never owned up to it Three thousand people died, countless hty-five percent of the city was destroyed So now you can see why it overnment if they knew”
Dirk Pitt could hardly believe what he was hearing “I’ve got news for you Culver: no one really trusts the govern secrets like this is reason number one”