Ball Lightning

by Cixin Liu

  The strings to be used in this experiment were those with the greatest practical significance: strings that released into electronic chips.

  The bulk of the work went into setting up the target area. The base began importing huge quantities of electronic waste from overseas, most of it junked computer motherboards and network cards. Under the wartime economic blockade, e-waste was among the few products it was possible to import, and it was acquired in large quantities from third parties or even directly from the enemy. It was collected domestically as well. Ultimately, eighty thousand tons of e-waste were amassed and piled into unnatural mountains in the Gobi Desert. The boards and cards, bearing a huge number of chips, were arranged in three target circles around the central fusion point, the innermost at a radius of ten kilometers, and the outermost at one hundred kilometers, which included two small county towns on the edge of the Gobi. Small yellow surveying flags were used in this region, under each of which was anchored a black sealed bag holding several boards.

  At the final work meeting, Ding Yi said, “I’ll warn you of one thing: since the energy density will be high in the vicinity of the point of macro-fusion, there will be no target selectivity. Everything within a radius of two hundred meters will be incinerated. That means the rails will be single-use, and test personnel must maintain a safe distance of at least two thousand meters from the fusion point and ensure that they have no electronic equipment on their person.”

  Everyone waited, but Ding Yi said nothing more. “Is that all?” Colonel Xu asked.

  “I’ve said everything I need to say to the people I need to say it to,” he said, without emotion.

  “Are you anticipating something unpredictable?” Lin Yun asked.

  “As of this moment, I have not found anything predictable about macro-fusion.”

  “It’s just two nuclei. They may be macro-nuclei, but it’s only two of them. In micro-fusion in our world, a hydrogen bomb with a mass far greater than those two strings has a yield of only a few megatons.”

  Ding Yi said nothing, but just shook his head—whether to express his own lack of understanding or his helplessness at Lin Yun’s naïveté, it was hard to say.

  The next day, a battalion of soldiers from a local garrison arrived to strengthen security at the base. This caused excitement, since it was a sign that the test was about to start.

  “Even if the fusion energy only destroys chips in the first target circle, we will have acquired an unstoppable weapon. Think of it: How can a fleet defend against an explosion ten kilometers away? An explosion that cripples all of its electronics?” Lin Yun enthused.

  Her mood was shared by everyone on base. Their first failure had robbed them of the chance to make history, but now a second chance was in front of them, and it was even more palpable.

  Late that night, Lin Yun and a few engineers were still making final adjustments to the bridges. To avoid detection from the air, the two bridges had been set up in a large tent the size of a gymnasium. During the test, the tent would be the first thing destroyed by the fusion energy. Ding Yi called Lin Yun outside, and they walked in the cold Gobi wind.

  “Lin Yun, leave the base,” Ding Yi said, suddenly breaking his silence.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I want you to leave the base. You can apply for a transfer, or take a vacation. Just leave at once. Ask your father for help if you need to.”

  “Are you crazy?”

  “You’re the crazy one if you stay.”

  “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

  “No. It’s just a feeling.”

  “Can’t you think of my feelings? How can I leave at a time like this?”

  In the dark, Lin Yun heard a long sigh. “I fulfilled my duty at the meeting in Beijing last week. Now I’ve done my duty as far as you’re concerned.” He waved both hands at the darkness, as if casting something aside. “There. Since you’re not going to leave, then let’s make preparations to watch the spectacle together. A spectacle beyond our wildest dreams!”

  Under the moonlight across the vast sand of the Gobi, in a carpet of white temporary warehouses, three hundred strings spun their silent, endless dance.

  *

  The next morning, the base received notice that a special leading group would arrive that day to take over. The news pushed excitement to new heights, for this was an unmistakable sign that the macro-fusion test was a go.

  That afternoon, the leading group arrived in two helicopters. Heading the group was a major general named Du Yulun. He wore glasses and cut a cultivated figure, a scholar-general. The group was warmly welcomed at the landing site by base leadership and the entire ball lightning project team. When Colonel Xu’s introductions reached Lin Yun, Ding Yi noticed that General Du’s smile vanished, and when Lin Yun saluted, he clearly heard her call him “teacher.” General Du just smiled thinly and gave a slight nod before moving on to the next person.

  On the way to the office building, Ding Yi overheard Colonel Xu talking to General Du.

  “You seem to know Major Lin, sir?”

  “Hmm. I was her doctoral advisor.”

  “I see.” Colonel Xu did not inquire further. Clearly he had also noticed their unusual interaction. But Du Yulun did not change the topic.

  “I did everything I could to stop her from getting her degree,” he said, turning his head to look at Lin Yun following far behind them.

  “Why? Major Lin was exemplary in her discipline.”

  “In her discipline, I’ll acknowledge that she was the most exemplary student I’ve ever advised. Her technical gifts were without peer. But in our area of research, I place the same value on a person’s morality as on their talent.”

  Colonel Xu was evidently a little surprised. “Oh... yes. Lin Yu’s personality is a little abrasive, a little headstrong—”

  “No, no.” The general waved a hand. “It’s not about temperament. I believe that someone who treats guns like drugs is unfit for weapons research. Particularly cutting-edge and new-concept weapons.”

  Colonel Xu said nothing, but turned slowly to look back at Lin Yun.

  “Colonel Xu, you’ve probably heard of the liquid mine incident.”

  “Yes. The Discipline Inspection Commission at Headquarters told me about that.... What? Did the investigation find anything?”

  The general nodded. “She sold the technology to Chile and Bolivia simultaneously. That’s deplorable, and she must be held responsible.”

  Colonel Xu, his expression grim now, looked back at Lin Yun again. She was engrossed in conversation with some young technical officers.

  “Lin Yun will be isolated for investigation. Starting now, she is not to be permitted to have contact with any of the materials or equipment pertaining to string research. I must specifically state that this is the wish of General Lin Feng. He knows his daughter even better than I do.”

  “But... she is the key tech on base. Without her, the fusion test can’t proceed.”

  General Du looked meaningfully at Colonel Xu, but said nothing more.

  *

  They all realized that the atmosphere wasn’t right as soon as the meeting started, but what General Du led with came as a shock.

  “Colonel Xu, what sort of show are you running here? You attended the meeting in Beijing. You ought to understand the intent of the higher-ups. You ought to know that there has never been a plan to go forward with macro-fusion tests, much less any sort of decision to do so! We ordered you to proceed with preparations only as a precautionary measure.”

  Colonel Xu sighed. “Sir, I have made this clear to the comrades on the base time and again, but... they have their own ideas.”

  “It’s because of your permissiveness of a certain dangerous line of thinking on base that they have been misled.”

  A murmur passed through the meeting room.

  “Now I will read out the order that’s been handed down.” General Du adjusted his glasses, and began. “First,
immediately cease all preparations for macro-atomic fusion tests and seal up all experimental equipment. Second, cease all experimental research on macro-nuclei, all experimental projects involving macro-nuclei, and strictly restrict research on macro-nuclei to the confines of pure theory. Third, release the vast majority of collected macro-nuclei currently in storage back into the atmosphere, retaining only one-tenth for future research use. Fourth, the special leading group will take over all facilities on base. Apart from a small number of personnel to keep guard, all members of the ball lightning project team are to vacate immediately and return to Beijing to await orders.”

  Silence descended on the meeting room, but the icy stillness did not last very long. It was Lin Yun’s voice that broke it.

  “Teacher, why are you doing this?”

  “I am not your teacher anymore. And as a base-level technical officer, your only right at this meeting is to listen.”

  “But I have a soldier’s duty. With the war in such a dire state, we’re going to abandon a chance for victory out of a few vague fears?”

  “Lin Yun, you’re at your most shallow and naïve when you believe that any one new-concept weapon will win the war. Think about your actions. Are you still qualified to talk about duty?” General Du looked straight at her as he spoke, then swept his gaze around the whole room. “Comrades, the war is indeed in a grave situation, but even greater than our responsibility to the war is our responsibility to human civilization!”

  “Those are some lofty words,” Lin Yun challenged him, jumping up.

  “Lin Yun!” Colonel Xu snapped. “You cannot talk to a superior that way.”

  General Du stopped Colonel Xu with a wave of his hand, then turned and said to Lin Yun, “I am carrying out a lofty order, an order given by people wiser, more moral, and more responsible than you. Your father is among them.”

  Lin Yun said nothing more. Her bosom heaved and tears had welled up in the corners of her eyes, but her expression was as fiery as before.

  “Now, Colonel Xu, get going with the handover. But let me note that the base’s handover team may not include Major Lin Yun. She has been transferred off of the ball lightning project team, and will leave the base by helicopter immediately after the meeting,” Major General Du said, looking meaningfully at Lin Yun. “This is also your father’s wish.”

  Lin Yun sat slowly back in her seat. When Ding Yi looked back at her a little while later, he was surprised to discover that she seemed an entirely different person. The tumult in her heart seemed to have vanished in a flash, and her expression was as calm as water. She was silent for the remainder of the meeting.

  The meeting continued for another half hour, focusing mainly on the details of the handover. When it was dismissed, Lin Yun passed through the exiting crowd to the front of the building, where she said to General Du, “Teacher, have someone accompany me.”

  “Where?” he asked, confused.

  “To the fusion point. I need to pick up some personal items,” she said simply.

  “Oh, right,” Colonel Xu said. “She’s been staying out by the bridges doing calibrations.”

  “You go with her,” General Du said to a lieutenant colonel next to him.

  Lin Yun saluted, then turned and left, disappearing into the blood-red Gobi sun outside.

  Macro-Fusion

  Following the meeting, the members of the special leading group remained behind with several of the base’s technical directors to discuss the issue of storing the small number of macro-nuclei that were to be kept. They agreed that the strings would be stored in an underground facility to mitigate the risk of air strikes and other dangers.

  Colonel Xu inquired again about the ultimate fate of the ball lightning project team, and General Du said, “I may have been too severe at the meeting. The higher-ups are well aware of the excellent achievements the project team has made, and even though string research will be suspended for the time being, macro-electron research can still continue.”

  “Sir, ordinary macro-electron weapons have reached a dead end,” Colonel Xu said, grimacing.

  “Is it really that serious? It was just one failed attack on a fleet. And a fleet is the most heavily defended target in modern warfare. But on land? The enemy can’t equip every single soldier with a magnetic shield, and I’d wager it would be pretty difficult to do so for every tank and armored vehicle. So there’s still a bright future for the weapon. The key is where you use it. Also, the higher-ups are now very interested in pure dissipation ball lightning.”

  “Pure dissipation? But that’s useless junk,” Colonel Xu said uncertainly. That type of ball lightning did not have an explosive release of energy at all. After excitement, it gradually discharged its energy through ordinary EM radiation. It was the gentlest macro-electron, and had been deemed to be the least useful, militarily.

  “No, Colonel. Haven’t you noticed the EM radiation that they release? It blankets practically all communication wavelengths, and is very strong. Right now, the military has adopted a double-blind warfare strategy and is carrying out full-spectrum jamming of the enemy, but our jamming sources frequently get located and destroyed, so we are investigating pure dissipation ball lightning as a jamming source.”

  “That’s true! When it drifts through the air, wireless communications cut out over a fairly large area. And it’s long-lived, with a discharge that lasts for up to two hours!”

  “And it’s not easily destroyed. We’ve done tests in which ball lightning in flight hasn’t been affected even after being bombed.”

  “That’s right, sir. We should have come up with that idea before.”

  “You did come up with the idea, Colonel. You’ve submitted so many technical reports that it’s quite likely you just didn’t notice it.”

  Ding Yi said, “I knew about it. Lin Yun was the one who proposed it.”

  At the mention of Lin Yun, they fell into silence.

  Just then, the sound of a gunshot came from the fusion point.

  The test location was roughly one thousand meters away, so the sound was faint, but Ding Yi knew it was a gunshot from the soldiers’ sudden alertness. It was followed by several more in quick succession. Everyone in the meeting room rushed outside and looked off toward the fusion point.

  A swath of empty land lay between the fusion point and the office building. They could see someone running across that space from the tent holding the acceleration bridges. As he got closer, they could make out the lieutenant colonel who had gone with Lin Yun to the fusion point. Closer still, and they saw that his left hand was clutched to his shoulder, and his right held a gun. When he reached the office building, they could see the blood running down and dripping off the barrel of his gun.

  The lieutenant colonel pushed aside someone who tried to treat his wound and went straight up to General Du. In a hoarse voice, he said, “Major Lin Yun... she’s going to conduct the macro-fusion test by force!”

  Time froze. They looked across at the fusion point, and for a moment, everywhere else in the world vanished from sight, leaving only the huge tent towering alone.

  “Who fired?”

  “I did. There were too many of them. If I didn’t shoot first, it would have been too late.” The lieutenant colonel set down his bloody gun and sat down heavily.

  “Any other casualties?” Colonel Xu asked.

  “I definitely hit one of them. A captain, I think. Injured or dead, I don’t know.”

  “And Lin Yun?” General Du said.

  “Unharmed.”

  “How many of them are there?”

  “Six, including Lin Yun. Three of the others are three majors and two are captains.”

  “So many people are on her side?” General Du said, eyeing Colonel Xu.

  “Lin Yun had considerable appeal to some of the more nationalistically inclined young people on base.”

  “And the atomic nuclei for the fusion test?”

  “The two strings are already on the bridges.”
r />   Every eye drew back from the tent in the distance to focus on General Du Yulun.

  “Order base security to attack and occupy the fusion point immediately,” General Du instructed the guard commander who had just run up.

  “Sir, I’m afraid that’s impossible!” said the deputy director of the special leading group, a senior colonel named Shi Jian, as he walked quickly over to General Du. “The strings are already on the bridge. Fusion might take place at any time. We need to take more decisive action.”

  “Carry out the order,” Du Yulun said, without expression.

  Senior Colonel Shi stared at him in anxiety verging on panic, but ultimately said nothing.

  “Professor Ding, we ought to go and dissuade her,” Colonel Xu said.

  Ding Yi shook his head. “I won’t go. It wouldn’t do any good. Besides, I understand her.” His frankness drew odd looks from the others. He added, “I might be the only one here who understands her.”

  “Let’s go!” Colonel Xu said, and, without a second look at Ding Yi, he hurried off with the guard commander.

  “Don’t shoot rashly,” General Du called after them as they left. The guard commander turned back with a hasty, “Yes, sir.”

  “It’s no use. Trying to persuade her won’t work. I still don’t understand her...,” General Du murmured to himself. He looked like he had aged considerably in the blink of an eye, perhaps blaming himself for allowing emotion to trump reason, for it was clear to all now that Lin Yun had been his most prized student.

  The security force quickly surrounded the fusion point and began drawing their line tighter around the tent. They moved in silence, neither side opening fire. When the line reached the tent, Colonel Xu shouted through a megaphone, but he was clearly no longer thinking straight. His attempts at persuasion were jumbled and unconvincing, nothing more than entreaties to “calm down,” and “think of the consequences.”