Joan burned. Fire licked across her body and she relished the calming sensation that accompanied it. Matt had attached a few instruments to Joan before she started to burn but the majority of them surrounded her inside the kiln and she couldn't help but be amazed at how well they stood up to her heat. She'd removed a single brick at eye level in the kiln's outer wall so she could look out and speak to Matt while he gathered more data.
The kiln itself sat in an open courtyard behind the small brick building that was the Potter Barn. A few other kilns sat in the courtyard along with cooling racks and stacks of spare bricks and Matt used one such collection of bricks for his chair.
“So what can you tell me about my fire?” Joan asked as soon as Matt looked back up from his laptop.
“Well,” Matt scratched his head, “as far as I can tell, it's normal fire everywhere except for the first quarter of an inch above your skin and around your clothes.”
“What do you mean, 'normal fire'?” Joan asked, “How is any of this normal?”
Matt rested his laptop on a pile of bricks beside him and got up to pace.
“Fire follows some very specific rules,” He explained, “It radiates energy in a predictable fashion and can be, more or less, mapped out based on it's source. I've spent the past couple of weeks going over the data I collected last time and I was able write a program that could map our your fire. It's running right now and it's working pretty good.”
“So what's wrong with the quarter inch above my skin?” Joan asked.
“Not too much,” Matt said, “Other than the fact that it breaks the laws of thermodynamics.”
“Thermo-what?”
“Thermodynamics,” Matt stated, “The laws that govern heat transfer, among other things, but let's stick with the basics.”
“Sounds good,” Joan agreed, remembering back to how much she loathed science class. “So what rules am I breaking?”
“So, under normal situations, heat propagates through either physical contact, like when you touch a hot skillet, or through radiation, like the sun warming the Earth. Now, radiant heat spreads out equally in every direction, and since hot air rises, it's assumed that heat will propagate upward faster and farther than any other direction. Follow me?”
Joan's fire turned from calming into frustrating. “No,” She admitted.
“Sorry,” Matt said, “Let me try again.”
Matt picked up his notepad and quickly scribbled something down.
“Here, look at this,” He said and held the paper up for Joan to see.
The picture depicted a burning log, showing the majority of the heat rising upward and a little less going to the sides and even less going down. To top off the sketch, a stick figure was touching the log with a fair amount of heat going into it's hand.
“You should have been an artist,” Joan teased. “I particularly like the expression on the unfortunate stick man.”
Matt shrugged. “But you get the idea?” He asked.
“I guess,” Joan said.
“So where your fire differs, is that quarter inch just around you and your clothes.”
“Different how?” Joan asked.
“Different in that instead of the heat radiating in every direction, it all radiates away from you or your clothes in a straight line.”
“But isn't that how a flame thrower works?” Joan asked, still trying to wrap her mind around it all.
“A flame thrower shoots a flammable gas or liquid across a small pilot light,” Matt said, “The fuel ignites and continues forward. But the heat still propagates like usual.”
“Oh,” Joan nodded, though she wasn't sure she quite understood the problem yet. “So what's your best guess?”
“Psychic projection,” Matt replied without missing a beat. “Though I'd have to consult a neurologist to figure out a way to test my theory.”
Joan snickered as her fire turned away from frustrating and became amused.
“I'm psychic, am I?” She asked.
“A heliopath, to be specific,” Matt said and picked up his laptop once more and began looking over the data. “And before you ask, a heliopath is a person who creates fire. And no, you can't move objects with your mind or see into the future or commune with spirits.”
Joan shut her open mouth and her fire sulked mildly.
“Whoa,” Matt said at once, staring at his laptop “What did you just do?”
“What? Nothing,” Joan stated.
“Well something happened,” Matt said, typing away on his laptop. “Your fire's not as hot any more, and it's...slower, for lack of a better word.”
“Maybe It's just going out?” Joan ventured.
“No, I've seen that before,” Matt said, “This is something different. It happened all at once, too, across all of your fire. That shouldn't happen. It should have begun at the source and then spread out like normal.”
Matt continued to work on his laptop and, regardless of what Matt said, she felt her fire diminishing.
“I'm going out,” Joan announced.
Matt paused briefly in his typing, “What's his name?” He asked before resuming his work.
“What? No, I mean my fire is going out,” Joan snickered again and her fire shifted one last time before going out.
“There!” Matt exclaimed, “Right before your fire went out it changed again.”
Joan didn't know what to say so she said nothing and began pulling off the sensors Matt had attached to her before. In less than a minute she stepped out of the kiln and handed Matt his instruments.
“Let me know what you find,” She said.
“Yeah, of course,” Matt said as he began packing away his things.
Joan began to make her way towards the gate that led out of the courtyard.
“Um, Joan?” Matt called after her.
She turned back, confused by Matt's uncomfortable expression.
“I've got a new job, working at the University, doing research and such, and I was wondering if you'd be interested in helping me with my new project?” Matt said all in one breath.
Joan wavered. “I'm not much of a scientist,” She said.
“No, I know that, it's just that my project is a heat machine, it turns heat into electricity,” Matt explained, “And I was thinking that it would be interesting to see how much energy you can produce.”
The idea of standing inside of some cramped compartment, probably made of metal, with a large locking door, seemed too much like her old cell and she immediately broke out in a cold sweat.
“I'd really rather not,” She said, “Sorry.”
Matt diminished but didn't try to argue with her. Instead he said, “Okay, see you in a couple weeks when I've finished going over the data?”
“Sure,” Joan replied and left Matt to finish packing up.
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