“Premier Li Qijing,” Dr. Huang said, “this is Guang Xi.”
The Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China bowed slightly and looked into the eyes of Guang Xi. “I have heard a great deal about you,” the Premier said. “I am glad to finally meet you.”
“Premier, it is my great honor to be here and be of service to you,” Guang Xi replied, wondering if he was being too personal.
The door opened again and a second man entered the small room. This man was tall, solidly built and wore an Army General’s uniform. Guang Xi noted the applets on his shoulders; they were yellow and gold striped with five gold stars in a circle.
The Premier turned to face the General. “General, this is Guang Xi.” Turning back, the Premier completed the introduction, “Guang Xi, this is General Special Class Hu Jiang Xi, Commander of the People’s Liberation Army.” The General bowed slightly.
Guang Xi opened his mouth to speak, but his mind froze, unable to form any words.
The General smiled. “May I have a look at your injuries?”
Guang Xi nervously nodded in response. The General stepped forward, knelt down, and gently pulled back the hood from the white robe, and then carefully opened the front of the robe. He quickly examined Guang Xi’s new skin and lack of ears. He tenderly replaced Guang Xi’s robe and looked him straight in the eyes.
“You are a true hero of the People’s Republic of China. You are the only eye witness to the cause of the 8.0 Magnitude earthquake that claimed the lives of almost 70,000 people. Are you certain that the curtain of light you saw is the primary cause of the earthquake?”
Guang Xi glanced up at Dr. Huang, who simply nodded in return. “I have studied the Longmenshan Fault for some time now,” Guang Xi said. “Normally there is some seismic activity that precedes an earthquake of this size, including some electromagnetic activity, which we were monitoring. None of that was present. I am confident that the electromagnetic energy that formed the curtain of light over the fault is the sole cause of the earthquake, and the source of that energy was the American Military facility in Alaska.”
General Hu Jiang Xi nodded slowly, stood up and faced Dr. Huang. “I understand the technology to do this is secret and generally unknown?”
“Very much so,” Dr. Huang replied. “We became aware of it only because Guang Xi was there and survived. Without his knowledge of science, we still wouldn’t know.”
The General turned toward Premier Li Qijing. “I think you’re right. This changes everything. We have to build and demonstrate our own weapon. Only then will we be in a position to stop another attack such as this from happening again.”
“I also think your point of not being able to trust the Americans is well taken. We don’t know what else they are capable of doing,” the Premier said. “Having their people inside our country presents an unacceptable risk.” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and punched in a number. “This decision will affect China financially. I’m bringing in Minister Hu Gao Chen of the Ministry of Commerce.”
The General didn’t speak again until the Minister arrived. Within a minute there was a knock on the door and Minister Chen entered.
“We are going to implement the plan you and I discussed about removing the Americans from our country,” the Premier said to Minister Chen. “Do you have the figures on the financial impact this will have on China’s economy?”
“Yes,” Minister Chen replied. “It will cause a recession in our economy. Many of our people will be out of work. If we had some major government project with which to employ our people, the impact would be minimized.”
“That I think we can supply,” the Premier replied.
“We have confirmed that China has been intentionally attacked,” the General said, “We cannot let this go without a military response.”
“But it must be done in a way that the people who ordered the attack on us will understand, but the general public will not be aware of what we have done. We must be very careful about the international perception of this event. The reprisal must be as covert as America’s original attack on us,” the Premier replied.
“Agreed,” the General said. “But what I don’t understand is why America attacked us in the first place.”
“That we may never know,” Premier Li replied.
Minister Chen suddenly had a puzzled look on his face.
The General turned to Guang Xi and Dr. Huang. “Will you help us formulate a plan for the reprisal?”
“Yes,” Guang Xi said firmly.
Dr. Huang reluctantly nodded.
“Then we will secure the necessary authorization from the Central Committee,” the Premier said. “Let the General know when you have a plan.”
“Wait a minute,” Minister Chen said suddenly. “I may know why China was attacked.”
Dr. Huang brought Guang Xi to the Peking University Earth Sciences Lab along with Dr. Zheng and Junior General Fong.
“General Hu Jiang Xi wants to know exactly how we can duplicate, or better yet, improve on the technology that was used against us,” Fong said. “He knows, in broad concepts, how the technology works, but we need specifics if we are to build our own weapon.”
“Yes, yes,” Dr. Huang replied. “But two terajoules of electromagnetic energy is more power than the United States generates in all of its cities combined. How can that much energy be created in one place?”
“Do you know how much energy is released in one lightning strike?” Dr. Zheng asked.
“No,” Dr. Huang replied.
“On average, 10 million Joules,” Dr. Zheng said. “If you were to generate that kind of power in a machine, you would need a generator capable of generating 10,000 megawatts.”
“And we’re looking at something 200,000 times that size,” Dr. Huang said. “It can’t be done.”
“No, no,” Fong said. “If I get what Dr. Zheng is leading us to, you don’t have to generate that much power, you just have to direct it, right?”
“Exactly,” Dr. Zheng replied. “How much energy was released by the 8.0 Magnitude earthquake in Sichuan Province?”
Dr. Huang thought for a moment. “Sixty three petajoules, that’s… 6.3 times ten to the sixteenth power.”
“And what amount of energy triggered that release?” Dr. Zheng asked.
“Two Terajoules.”
“And the ratio between the two?”
“Thirty thousand to one,” Guang Xi answered. “Approximately.”
“And what if you had access to a generator that produced not only thousands, but millions of times that amount of power?” Dr. Zheng asked.
“There’s no such machine on earth that can generate that kind of power,” Dr. Huang said.
“Sure there is,” Dr. Zheng replied. “You’re standing on it.”
Everyone held a blank expression on his face as he stared back at Dr. Zheng. Suddenly Guang Xi smiled. “The earth,” Guang Xi replied. “The planet generates that much power.”
“Precisely,” Dr. Zheng said. “I’ve been involved in China’s High Frequency Active Aural Research Project, which was fashioned after the American HAARP facility in Gakona, Alaska. We actually have the technology to do what the Americans have done, just not on the same scale that they are using.”
“China has built the largest dam in the world,” Fong said. “We can certainly build the largest HAARP facility.”