CHAPTER 28
Guang Xi accompanied Junior General Fong on a military flight south to the island of Hainan. They traveled by van to the Navy Base near the city of Sanya. Guang Xi had expected to see a sprawling Naval Base; instead the only thing visible was the main guard gate and a single road leading to a tunnel entrance in the side of a small mountain. The tunnel was dark and tipped sharply down once they entered. As they continued moving down, the tunnel curved sharply to the left. They emerged into a large underground submarine base with a wide, deep canal running out toward the sea.
The driver of the van stopped at a two-part draw bridge and handed a set of papers to the guard on duty. After reviewing the papers the guard walked over to a small guard house and entered. The draw bridge slowly lowered providing access to the other side of the canal. The guard came back out and motioned for them to cross. Once the van had crossed the canal and turned right, the draw bridge was raised again. The van entered another tunnel and traveled a short distance until encountering another canal. They followed the same routine with another draw bridge, another tunnel, and arrived at a third canal. The van traveled left again until it reached the end of the canal.
The refitted Russian Alfa class submarine was painted a medium gray so as to blend in with the lighter blue color of the Pacific Ocean. No numbers or any other markings were on the sub to tie it to China. Subs operating near the Polar Regions on the other hand, were painted black, since, due to the angle of the sun in the sky, less light penetrated the colder waters.
Guang Xi worked his way down the main hatch ladder and into the dining area of the sub. He was anxious to see the mines as he used his crutches to navigate the narrow passageways through the control room, the radio and sonar rooms and the officer quarters until he reached the torpedo room.
“These are the torpedo tubes,” the Captain explained. “This is where the mines will be pushed out into the sea.”
Guang Xi looked at the arrangement. The two lower tubes were only a few inches from the floor while the upper tubes were just above eye level with the center tubes located halfway in between. “And these are loaded how?”
The Captain pointed to a complex system of I-beam rails that ran along the ceiling with trollies and block and tackle sets hanging from them. “All of the mines and torpedoes are very heavy,” the Captain explained. “We lift them with the pulleys and guide them into the tubes. The pulleys mounted on the forward bulkhead are used to pull them into the tubes. The doors are then closed, the tubes flooded with water, the outer doors opened and then the torpedo or mine is ejected with water pressure.”
Thirty-five mini-nuke mines and eight torpedoes crowded the small torpedo room. The torpedoes were chained to their curved support brackets on the side walls, four on each side. The mines were bolted to steel frames so they wouldn’t move around during operations of the sub. The only clear places were the two main pathways directly in front of the torpedo tubes. Everywhere else was full of mines or related equipment. Guang Xi ran his hand over each of the mines, imagining the destruction they would wreak on the country that had destroyed his life.
Captain Hu Xiao calmly watched Guang Xi as he examined the mines. The artificial skin had taken root on Guang Xi’s body and was now mostly a normal flesh color. He still had very little hair and no ears to speak of. He didn’t hear as well as before, but if he concentrated, he could keep up with conversations. He turned and tried to smile at the Captain, but the new skin was not as responsive as his old skin. This was partially due to the damage done to the underlying muscles. The new skin gave his face a boney look due to the loss of muscle tissue and the fat padding that would normally be under the facial skin.
“How long until we leave?” Guang Xi asked.
The Captain checked his watch. “Another fourteen hours. It will be dark when we depart. The Americans have a lot of satellites watching the movement of ships. There will be a one-hour gap in their coverage. We will use that gap to leave the tunnel system. We have made arrangements to travel under a large cargo freighter while we are in shallow water. That will prevent the Americans from detecting us on their infra-red satellites until we can get to deeper water.”
“And how long until we get to the Cascadia Subduction Zone?”
“Six and a half to seven days. One of my men has delivered your things to your stateroom. Would you like to see it?” Guang Xi nodded and started moving back into the officers’ quarters. The Captain led the way and opened the door to Guang Xi’s room. “Normally there would be two people to a room, but we are running with a small crew of fifteen, so you will have this room to yourself.”
The room was six feet deep and eight feet wide with a bed built into the wall. A narrow closet was at the foot of the bed with three drawers underneath. There was also a drawer under the bed for additional storage. To the left of the door a small desk had been built into the wall with a fold-down seat. It was small, but cozy.
“Very nice,” Guang Xi said.
The Captain bowed slightly. “Lunch will be served in the dining room in half an hour. It will give you a chance to meet the rest of the crew. I hope you will join us,”
“Of course,” Guang Xi replied, his mind still focused on the mission ahead.
After lunch Guang Xi took a nap in his stateroom. The trip down to Hainan Island had been exhausting. After dinner he returned to his stateroom to review the operating instructions on the mini-nuke mines. He went over his calculations once again, as well. Everything must be exactly correct for this plan to have maximum effectiveness, and Guang Xi was relentless about details. That is what elevated him to the research position with Dr. Huang and ultimately placed him on the Longmenshan Fault where America destroyed his life. The perfection of his plan for revenge rested in the exacting details of the placement of the mines and the timing of the detonations. The seismic signature would be indistinguishable from a natural event. He had made sure of that.
At midnight activity picked up significantly on the sub. The nuclear power plant had been running hot for the last six hours and steam was coursing through the turbine that generated the electricity, powering the submarine. Guang Xi entered the control room as final preparations were completed to begin their voyage to the Cascadia Subduction Zone and the punishment of America. Oddly, all the lights in the control room were red in color.
“Where’s the Captain?” Guang Xi asked.
The Executive Officer pointed up the ladder that went to the conning tower. “He said you should join him if you felt up to the climb.”
Guang Xi pulled himself slowly up the ladder. The climb was actually in two sections. The first section was identical to the ladder in the dining room where he first entered the sub, and ended on the main hull of the sub. There was a hatch door that opened to the left and a small landing on the right. Another ladder extended up from the landing to the platform built into the conning tower. He rested for a minute and then continued his climb to the top. The Captain extended his hand and helped pull Guang Xi to a standing position.
The sub was tied to the side of the canal, leaving enough room for another sub to pass by in the wide canal. The lights that illuminated the tunnel had changed. Where the overhead lights had been a bright white before, everything was now bathed in red.
“Why the red lights?” Guang Xi asked.
“It’s dark outside,” the Captain replied. “The red light allows our eyes to adapt to the darkness giving us night vision.”