Broken Arrow

Early morning, above the Provincial Capital Airport.

Song He and Xiang Xiaotong were both dressed in low-key, somber black outfits, sitting on the sofa by the window, watching the airstrip outside the airplane window get closer and closer.

The sky was gloomy, fine raindrops sprinkled on the window, the entire airstrip was wet, and many ground crew members in bright orange raincoats moved in the distance.

The couple didn't fasten their seat belts. The plane touched down smoothly without any bumps, and decelerated gently. The captain in charge of flying this Private Plane was a Test Pilot in his youth, with excellent skills, capable of making conventional landings as gentle as a blank sheet of paper.

The plane came to a stop. Song He grabbed a Mask and put it on, and Xiang Xiaotong also put on a large Mask. The two got up and got off the plane, and two Flight Attendants immediately opened large umbrellas to follow.

A black special car was parked on the Airstrip, not turned off, the rear door opened, and a familiar figure sat inside.

Xiang Xiaotong was about to go to the back seat, paused, and turned to look at her husband behind her, "I'll sit in the front, you chat in the back."

Song He hadn't seen anyone in the back seat yet, and was stunned for half a second. He bent down and looked into the car, "Oh! No wonder it's raining!"

General Wang, also dressed in black, sat in the back seat, nodding helplessly. He was too lazy to argue.

Song He got into the car, closed the door, and the special car immediately started, leaving the airport for the Train Station.

"General, are you here this time to escort the Gold bars?" Song He asked.

"The Space Force has nothing to do with escorting Gold bars." General Wang smiled, "I'm just passing by, I have something to chat with you about, I'll drop you off at the Train Station and then I'll leave."

"If you have something you need to discuss in person, you can just give me a call and I'll come find you, how can I trouble you to make a trip yourself?" Song He said politely, "I don't deserve this treatment!"

"Getting nearly ten thousand tons of Gold cheaply from Worldwide at once, without firing a single shot, but almost achieving the effect of winning a large-scale war, now your contribution is greater than mine, it's only right that I come to see you." General Wang waved his hand, "Let's not be polite, let's talk business!"

"Alright!" Song He nodded.

"In a few days, the Top Three Permanent Members will meet to sign a Lunar Agreement, mainly promising that the Nuclear Bombs of the three parties on the Moon will not be used for attack." General Wang said.

Song He was stunned, "The three parties' Nuclear Bombs on the Moon? Have they already transported Nuclear Bombs up there without a word?"

"They've been transported long ago, each has three or four, for now the symbolic meaning is greater than the practical meaning, but the number will increase more and more in the future." General Wang explained, "Nuclear Bombs cannot be easily used on Earth, no one can bear the huge losses caused by a Nuclear War, but the Moon temporarily doesn't have a Nuclear umbrella, the number of personnel stationed on the Moon by the three parties is not large, and the Nuclear delivery capabilities are poor. Transporting Nuclear Bombs to the Lunar Landing, military deterrence is secondary, mainly for mining."

Xiang Xiaotong in the passenger seat turned her head and laughed in surprise, "So wild? Using Nuclear Bombs to mine?"

"Many Nuclear Bombs are about to expire, it's a waste to spend money to destroy them for nothing, it's better to make the best use of them." General Wang explained, "We've calculated that using small Hydrogen Bombs to arrange a Phased Array Explosion can turn the ore two or three kilometers underground up, forming a large open-pit mine, which is much cheaper than directly digging a large mine shaft. And the small earthquakes caused by the explosion can also be used to detect the situation of larger areas of mineral deposits."

"Awesome." Song He marveled, "The scientists who designed this plan are also experts, daring to think and dare to do."

"Actually, it's not a new thing, during the Cold War Era, the Russians and the Lighthouse both tried to use Nuclear Bombs for infrastructure." General Wang said, "The Lighthouse used a small Nuclear Bomb to blast out a crater with a diameter of 390 and a depth of over 100, wanting to use it to rebuild a reservoir, but it was aborted later because of public concerns about Nuclear radiation."

"The Russians successfully built a reservoir with a Nuclear Bomb, although the locals were also worried, a minister took off his clothes and jumped into the reservoir to swim, dispelling everyone's concerns. In addition, they did more than a hundred Nuclear explosions for prospecting, exploring more than forty natural gas, coal, metal, and oil fields, which was generally very successful, with only a very few causing pollution."

Song He nodded repeatedly, "Using Nuclear Bombs for engineering on Earth has safety hazards, going to the Moon can be blasted as much as possible, the only hidden danger is that there is a problem in the transportation process, if the Rocket sending the Nuclear Bomb malfunctions and falls down, it will be a big trouble."

"But I heard that there are now Modular Nuclear Weapons? Divided into three parts, each part cannot be detonated separately, and can only be detonated after being spliced ​​and combined after delivery. If they are transported separately, there is no fear of falling down."

"This kind of Modular Nuclear Weapon is indeed safe, the disadvantage is that only we have it, the Russians and the Lighthouse do not." General Wang smiled bitterly helplessly, "What's even more deadly is that the Broken Arrow rate of these two is very high, we are worried about this, they are also worried, and other small countries are at the mercy of fate."

"Broken Arrow?" Song He blinked, "Does it mean that the Rocket transporting the Nuclear Bomb falls down halfway?"

"It's a code name from the last century." Xiang Xiaotong turned her head and explained, "During the Cold War Era, the Lighthouse had bombers flying in the sky 24 hours a day with Nuclear Bombs hanging on them. After flying for a long time, it was easy to have malfunctions, such as damage to the bomb-hanging device, the Nuclear Bomb falling down, and the team urgently reported a Broken Arrow, and the superiors knew that a Nuclear Bomb was lost, and quickly judged the general location and sent people to find it, most of them could be found."

"Isn't... can most of these things be found?" Song He clicked his tongue, "Does it mean that a small part of the Broken Arrow cannot be found?"

"Every ten years or so, Lighthouse people find abandoned Nuclear Bombs from farms or their own yards." General Wang nodded, "So far, there are still many Nuclear Bombs that have not been found, maybe in some remote wilderness, maybe they have been hidden."

"Too abstract." Song He scratched his head speechlessly, "So if Nuclear Bombs are frequently sent to the Moon for mining and prospecting, wouldn't Broken Arrows continue to emerge? Especially since Rockets fly farther, Broken Arrows may fall anywhere in the world? In the next few decades, will the world randomly refresh falling Nuclear Bombs?"

"Yes, it's a big trouble, a trouble for everyone." General Wang sighed softly, "We have Modular Nuclear Weapon technology, which can avoid the harm of this Broken Arrow, but such an important technology certainly cannot be shared with them for nothing, the solution we want to use is consignment."

"Consignment?" Song He tilted his head.

"Let the Lighthouse and the Russians not send old-fashioned Nuclear Bombs to the Moon by themselves, transport the money and raw materials to us, we will process them on their behalf, and help them build safer Modular Nuclear Weapons. After they are built, they can be delivered to them from Earth, or they can be delivered directly to the Moon." General Wang explained, "It's equivalent to letting them buy Nuclear Bombs from us."

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