“The problem now is how to convince Colonel Xu and the aviators.”
Lin Yun sighed softly. “If only I knew how to fly a helicopter.”
Back at the base, Lin Yun described her plan in a hastily convened meeting.
“You want to poke a thunderball with a long pole? Are you insane, Major?” Captain Zheng said loudly.
“Once again, the pole isn’t going to touch a thunderball in an excited state. It will touch the bubble that may possibly exist in that position the instant the thunderball goes out.”
“Professor Ding said that the superconducting lead carried on the pole must reach that location within half a second of the thunderball going out, otherwise the bubble will blow away. Is that level of precision possible? What if it’s half a second too early?”
“The reaction time of the feeler defense system is faster than our requirements by two orders of magnitude, although that’s for the original system’s feeler, which moves when the target appears at a specified location. In our improved system, the feeler moves when the target disappears. And our previous observations of EM radiation and visible light have given us data for a precise determination of the ball lightning’s disappearance.”
“Even if you can do all that, the helicopter still needs to be twenty-five meters from the thunderball. That’s half the distance of the last time there was an accident. You’ve got to be aware of the danger involved.”
“I am aware, Captain. But it’s a risk we must take.”
“I don’t agree with the plan,” Colonel Xu said, with a tone of finality.
“Colonel, even if you agreed, we wouldn’t fly this mission,” Captain Liu said. “The two crews are only on loan to the base. Ultimate command authority rests with the army group. We have the power to refuse any command that endangers the safety of the group. Our division leaders reemphasized this point after the last accident.”
Lin Yun appeared unfazed. “Captain Liu, if you received a command from the army group ordering you to undertake this mission, would you carry it out?”
“That would change things. Of course we’d carry it out.”
“Could I get a guarantee of that?” she said, not moving her eyes from Captain Liu. Her expression frightened me.
“I guarantee it in my capacity as officer in charge of the helicopter group. But, Major, the army group won’t give that order.”
Lin Yun said nothing. She picked up a phone and dialed. “Hello, I’d like to speak with Senior Colonel Zeng Yuanping…. This is Base B436. Yes. That’s me. Yes. Thank you!” She passed the phone to Captain Liu. “Captain, the Eighty-Second Aviation Brigade Commander of the Thirty-Eighth Group Army is on the line.”
Captain Liu took up the phone. “Speaking…. Yes, Commander. I understand…. Yes. Certainly!” He put the phone down without looking at Lin Yun. Then he turned to Colonel Xu. “Colonel, we have received orders to fly this mission. The time and number of flights are to be determined by the base.”
“No, Captain Liu. Please inform your superior officer that until reliable safety measures are found, the base is halting all observation flights,” Colonel Xu said emphatically.
Phone in hand, the captain hesitated, glancing at Lin Yun. Everyone was looking at her.
Lin Yun bit her lip and remained silent for several seconds, then reached for the captain’s phone, hung up, and dialed another number. “Hello, sir? This is Base B436. Yes, it’s me. About the report I made yesterday…. I’d like to know whether the higher-ups have…. Good.” She passed the phone to Colonel Xu. “Deputy director of the GAD.”
Colonel Xu took the phone and listened grimly. He finally uttered two words—“Yes, sir”—and put the phone down. Then he turned to us and said gravely, “The higher-ups have ordered us to proceed with the experiments to capture unexcited ball lightning according to Major Lin Yun’s plan. In addition, they have ordered that all other work at the base be suspended so that our energy can be focused on this experiment, and they expect everyone to dedicate themselves to the work in their respective capacities. Would the technical directors for the projects please stay behind after the meeting?”
On the way back from the tank proving ground, Lin Yun had gone to the city on her own and stayed a full day before returning to the base. Now I knew why she had gone there.
No one spoke after that. They left in silence, and the keen edge of that silence was clearly directed at Lin Yun.
“Captains,” she called softly after the departing aviators. “Please understand that, in wartime, this would be little different from an ordinary combat mission.”
“Do you think we’re afraid of death?” Captain Liu said, jabbing a finger into his chest. “We just don’t want to die worthlessly, for some experiment that’s bound to fail. For a bizarre experiment cooked up by a bizarre individual on the basis of a bizarre theory.”
Captain Zheng said, “I think even Professor Ding isn’t certain that this will really manage to capture a thunderball.”
Ding Yi, who had not said anything during the meeting, was unperturbed by all that had happened. He merely nodded and said, “If everything is carried out precisely as Major Lin has instructed, then I am certain.”
The two aviators left, leaving Colonel Xu, Lin Yun, Ding Yi, and me behind. After a lengthy silence, Colonel Xu said severely, “Lin Yun, this time you’ve gone too far. Think carefully about what you’ve done ever since coming to this base: You’ve acted willfully and arbitrarily, stopping at nothing to get what you want. You have a habit of interfering in everything, even when it’s beyond the scope of your duties, and you frequently go around the base’s leadership to act on your own. This time, by exploiting your privilege through nonstandard channels, you have gone over the heads of several levels of command and delivered your subjective opinion directly to the senior leadership, giving them false information. This is dangerous! Yes, others at the base have previously tolerated you, but they were simply doing their jobs. The army does not exist in a vacuum. We are aware of the part your background plays in this project, and value your connections for communicating conditions up the hierarchy. But you have mistaken this tolerance for indulgence, and are becoming increasingly unreasonable…. When this test is finished, I will write an objective report for my superiors explaining your actions. If you have any self-awareness at all, you will leave the base and this project, since it’s difficult for any of us to work with you.”
Lin Yun bowed her head and placed her hands between her knees. The calm resolve of moments ago was gone, and, like a little girl caught misbehaving, she said softly, “If the experiment fails, I will accept responsibility.”
“And if it succeeds, then your actions were correct?” the colonel said.
“I don’t think anything’s wrong,” Ding Yi said. “Extraordinary research must be advanced through extraordinary measures. Otherwise, in this rigid society, science wouldn’t budge an inch.” He sighed. “If I’d been more alert back then, my accelerator project wouldn’t have had its funding pulled.”
Lin Yun shot him a grateful glance.
Ding Yi stood up and began pacing to and fro, then his face broke out into that sly grin of his. “As for me, I won’t accept any responsibility. We theorists have the task of proposing a hypothesis, and if it doesn’t obtain experimental proof, then our responsibility is simply to propose another one.”
“But lives are at stake in the proof of this hypothesis,” I said.
“Compared to our goals, it’s worth it.”
“That’s easy to say when you’re not going to be in those helicopters.”