Jane cleared her throat. "It means ... it means that Jerry is right. Because I’ve seen that shape before, in his simulations. That’s not a spike, it’s a ... well, it’s a giant torus vortex down on the ground. I mean, you think of a tornado ... and you turn it sideways and you put the tip of it into the top of it, like a snake eating its own tail.... And it becomes a giant ring, a torus. And it sucks in updraft from all directions outside the ring, and it spews downdraft out the top and sides, and it’s stable. And it just gets bigger until all the heat and moisture are gone."