“How do you know so many details?”
“After the incident, I went as part of an expert team to investigate the scene and study prevention methods. Proposals included installing a lightning cage—that is, grounded metal mesh in a building’s doors and windows; stopping up all unnecessary holes in the walls; and installing grounded wire mesh across the mouths of all chimneys and exhaust pipes.”
“Was any of that helpful?”
Colonel Xu shook his head. “The window the ball lightning passed through was already covered in a fairly fine metal mesh, which broke in eight places. But those conventional measures were all that was available at the time. If the stuff can really be put to use in combat, it will be immensely powerful. I know a little about the state of ball lightning research overseas, and you’re probably the first to have this idea. It sounds reasonable, but your next step…” He shook his head. “Lightning is one of the most uncontrollable phenomena in nature. Ball lightning even more so. It not only has lightning’s destructive power, but possesses the subtlety of a phantom. No one knows when its fearsome energy will be discharged, or into what. Controlling it will be no small task.”
“We can only take it a step at a time,” Lin Yun said.
“Indeed. If you’re really able to find ball lightning, it will be a great success for science. And a bit of success for our base as well. But I’m worried about safety. I’ve got an idea: Can’t we put the lightning generator into a car, and have cars drive the electric arc along level ground? The arc would still be able to sweep a large space.”
Lin Yun shook her head. “We’ve thought of that. And we’ve thought of using ships to drag an electric arc over the ocean. But it won’t work.”
Colonel Xu thought for a moment, and then nodded. “Right. The earth and the ocean surface are both conductors, so the induction effect won’t permit a long arc.”
“We also considered using fixed-wing aircraft, which would make parachuting out in the event of an accident somewhat easier compared to a helicopter, but that won’t work either, since air currents at that speed would blow out the arc. We’ll try to adopt as many precautions as possible prior to the actual experiments, like training the pilots to parachute from helicopters under abnormal flying conditions. In addition, naval aviation is introducing an ejection device for helicopters, similar to the kind in fighters, except along the horizontal. We’ve already requisitioned a few from the General Armaments Department.”
Colonel Xu shook his head. “These measures won’t have a significant effect. We’re taking a big risk.”
Lin Yun said, “That is true. But judging from the present situation, with the whole army in second-degree combat readiness, safety isn’t our top priority.”
Her words may have surprised me, but Colonel Xu tacitly accepted her opinion. He seemed like a nice guy, and couldn’t really do anything about Lin Yun and me. On the other hand, with the current state of things, it was time for soldiers to take risks.
The base currently had two domestic-made WZ-9 helicopters. Before the tests formally began, their pilots, two lieutenants, conducted a weeklong parachute training, one of them at the controls doing stunt flying that mimicked plummeting as the other jumped out the rear hatch. They also tried out the ejector, a small rocket affixed across the back of the pilot seat; when triggered, the helicopter would emit a puff of smoke as if it had been hit, and then the pilot would be thrown out of the hatch like a stone for a considerable distance until his parachute opened. It was thrilling to watch.
Once, during a break, a pilot asked Lin Yun, “Major, are we likely to be hit by something? If it’s like what happened to Captain Wang, then practicing this is useless, I’m afraid.”
“The lightning will be far weaker this time. If the aircraft is unexpectedly hit, it won’t cause that extent of damage. The actual test will take place at five thousand meters, so you’ll have plenty of time to jump.”
The other pilot said, “I’ve heard that I’m going to be shooting lightning at another helicopter.”
“That’s right, but the strength is only as high as what you use to drain the residual battery charge.”
The lieutenant broke out laughing. “So you want to use this weapon in air combat? A weapon only capable of firing one hundred meters? In air combat?”
“Of course not. Your two aircraft will pull that electric arc through the air like a dragnet to catch—or, rather, excite—a structure that might be present there. If it’s discovered, the object might be a powerful deterrent weapon.”
“Major, this is all getting really weird. To tell you the truth, I don’t have any confidence in you people anymore. I just hope that I can finish this quickly and return to my unit.”
When the lieutenant mentioned Captain Wang Songlin, who had been struck by lightning from an artificially charged cloud, my heart tightened. I imagined what I’d be like if I had to face such a danger in flight—no question I’d be consumed with terror. On the other hand, if I were Lin Yun, I’d still be unable to speak frankly about it to the two pilots. But their young faces before me looked unperturbed, as if they were only taking a car on a trip to the suburbs.
Later, we came up with many more ways of increasing the safety of the experiment. The one that seemed the most feasible was hanging the lightning generator from a cable attached to the bottom of the helicopter; if it was long enough, it would completely resolve the safety issue. We cursed ourselves for not coming up with such a simple scheme earlier. Then tests showed it wouldn’t work, as the swaying of the suspended generator was severe enough to make precise targeting impossible, and we ultimately had to return to our original, risky plan.
But before that, I grew curious about the principles behind the lightning generator. Even though it had a range of just a hundred meters, using the generator’s small electrode to discharge over such a distance was practically impossible, and maintaining an arc harder still. Because of the secrecy involved, it wasn’t appropriate to ask too many questions, but when I first saw the outside of the system, I discovered a peculiar piece of equipment. It was a short, thick tube set very close to the electrode. One end pointed in the direction of discharge, and the other was inserted into a large-volume device which—judging from the cylindrical shell and the high-voltage wires that wrapped it—appeared to be a small particle accelerator. I decided that it must be connected in some way to the secret of long-distance discharge. Later I found out it was a beam emitter that fired a stream of charged particles at the target prior to electric discharge. The particles ionized the air to form a discharge path that guided the arc to the target.