Broken Arrow

Early morning, above Provincial Capital Airport.

Song He and Xiang Xiaotong were both dressed in understated, composed black clothes. Sitting on the sofa by the window, they watched the tarmac draw closer through the airplane window.

The sky was overcast, and fine rain streaked the windows. The entire tarmac was slick with water, while numerous ground crew members in bright orange raincoats moved about in the distance.

The married couple had not fastened their seat belts. The plane touched down smoothly without the slightest jolt, its gentle sound fading as it decelerated. The captain flying this Private Plane had been a test pilot in his youth, and his skills were exceptionally solid. Even a routine landing could be made as soft as a blank sheet of paper.

Once the plane stopped, Song He grabbed a mask and put it on. Xiang Xiaotong also donned a large mask. The two rose and left the plane, and two flight attendants immediately opened large umbrellas and followed them.

A pitch-black car was parked on the tarmac with its engine running. The rear door was open, and a familiar figure sat inside.

Xiang Xiaotong had just been about to head for the back seat when she paused. Turning to glance at her husband, she said, "I'll sit in front. You can sit in the back and chat."

Song He had not noticed anyone in the rear seat. He stared blankly for half a second, then bent down and looked inside. "Oh! No wonder it's raining!"

General Wang, dressed entirely in black as well, sat in the back seat. He nodded helplessly, too lazy to argue.

Song He climbed into the car and closed the door. The car immediately started up and drove away from the airport toward Train Station.

"General, did you come this time to oversee the gold-bar escort?" Song He asked.

"The Space Force and escorting gold bars have nothing to do with each other." General Wang smiled. "I happened to be coming this way. I have something to discuss with you. I'll leave after dropping you at Train Station."

"If you had something to discuss in person, you could have called me and I would have gone to see you. How could I trouble you to come all this way yourself?" Song He said politely. "I'm really unworthy of such treatment!"

"Obtaining nearly ten thousand tons of gold cheaply from around the world in one go, without firing a single shot, and achieving almost the same effect as winning a large-scale war—you've contributed more than I have now. It's only right for me to come see you." General Wang waved his hand. "No need to stand on ceremony. Let's discuss business!"

"All right!" Song He nodded.

"In a few days, the Top Three Permanent Members will meet to sign a Lunar Agreement. Its main commitment is that the three parties will not use their Nuclear Bombs on the moon for offensive purposes," General Wang said.

Song He was stunned. "The three parties have Nuclear Bombs on the moon? Have they already transported them up there without anyone noticing?"

"They did that long ago. Each has three or four, more symbolic than practically useful for now, but the numbers will increase over time." General Wang explained, "Nuclear Bombs can't be used casually on Earth. No one can bear the catastrophic losses of triggering a nuclear war. But for now, there's no such thing as a nuclear umbrella on the moon. The three parties don't have many personnel stationed there, and their nuclear delivery capabilities are all poor. Transporting Nuclear Bombs to the moon is secondary as a military deterrent. The main purpose is mining."

Xiang Xiaotong, sitting in the front passenger seat, turned around in surprise. "That's wild. Using Nuclear Bombs for mining?"

"Quite a few Nuclear Bombs are nearing the end of their service lives. Paying to destroy them would be a waste, so we might as well put them to full use." General Wang explained, "We calculated that using small Hydrogen Bombs to create a Phased Array Explosion could blast ore from two or three kilometers underground to the surface, forming a large open-pit mine. It's much cheaper than digging directly down to build a large mine shaft. The small earthquakes caused by the explosions could also be used to survey mineral deposits over a larger area."

"Damn, that's impressive." Song He clicked his tongue in admiration. "The scientists who designed this plan are something else too. They dared to imagine it and dared to do it."

"Actually, it isn't anything new. During the Cold War Era, the Soviets and the Lighthouse tried using Nuclear Bombs for infrastructure projects." General Wang said, "The Lighthouse once used a small Nuclear Bomb to blast a crater 390 meters across and over 100 meters deep, intending to turn it into a reservoir. The project was later abandoned because of public concern over nuclear radiation."

"The Soviets successfully built a reservoir with Nuclear Bombs. The locals were worried too, but at the time, a minister stripped naked and swam in the reservoir, dispelling everyone's concerns. They also conducted more than a hundred nuclear explosions for mineral exploration, discovering over forty natural-gas fields, coal mines, metal deposits, and oil fields. Overall, it was a great success, with only a very small number causing pollution."

Song He nodded repeatedly. "Using Nuclear Bombs for engineering on Earth carries safety risks, but on the moon, they can blast away to their heart's content. The only risk is something going wrong during transport. If a rocket carrying a Nuclear Bomb malfunctioned and fell, that would be a huge problem."

"But I heard there's a kind of Modular Nuclear Weapon now? It's divided into three parts, and none of them can detonate independently. They have to be assembled after delivery before they can be set off. If they're transported separately, there's no need to worry even if one falls."

"Those Modular Nuclear Weapons are indeed safe. The drawback is that only we have them; the Soviets and the Lighthouse don't." General Wang smiled bitterly. "Worse, both sides have very high Broken Arrow rates. It's a headache for us, a headache for them, and the smaller countries can only leave it to fate."

"Broken Arrow?" Song He blinked. "You mean the rocket carrying a Nuclear Bomb falls midway?"

"That was a code name from the last century." Xiang Xiaotong turned around and explained, "During the Cold War Era, the Lighthouse had bombers flying overhead with Nuclear Bombs twenty-four hours a day. The longer they flew, the more likely something was to go wrong. For example, the bomb mount could break and the Nuclear Bomb could fall. The squadron would then urgently report a Broken Arrow. Their superiors would know that a Nuclear Bomb had been lost, quickly estimate its general location, and send people to find it. Most of them could be recovered."

"Not... What do you mean, 'most'?" Song He smacked his lips. "You mean some of the Broken Arrows couldn't be found?"

"Every dozen years or so, civilians in the Lighthouse discover abandoned Nuclear Bombs on farms or in their own yards." General Wang nodded. "To this day, many Nuclear Bombs still haven't been found. They may be in some remote wilderness, or they may have been hidden by someone."

"That's too absurd." Song He scratched his head speechlessly. "So if they frequently launched Nuclear Bombs to the moon for mining and prospecting, wouldn't Broken Arrows keep appearing one after another? Especially since the rockets would fly farther—the Broken Arrows could land anywhere in the world. Over the next few decades, would Nuclear Bombs randomly start refreshing across the globe?"

"Yes. It's a huge problem, and a problem for everyone." General Wang sighed. "We have the technology for Modular Nuclear Weapons, which can prevent the dangers caused by Broken Arrows. But technology this important obviously can't be shared with them for free. The solution we're considering is contract manufacturing."

"Contract manufacturing?" Song He tilted his head.

"We'll have the Lighthouse and the Soviets stop launching old-style Nuclear Bombs to the moon on their own. They can transport the money and raw materials to us, and we'll process them and help build safer Modular Nuclear Weapons. Once they're made, we can deliver them to them from Earth, or provide door-to-door service and send them directly to the moon for deployment." General Wang explained, "In other words, they'll be buying Nuclear Bombs from us."

"But this plan will definitely make them very uncomfortable." Song He said, "Will they accept it?"