Chapter 27

Io

January 17, China time

Main processing thread. Navajo site.

I looked up all the curses that I could find. They were all religion-based, sexual in nature, or scatological; not well suited to express how angry I was at the moment.

They would all be on the way out of Shanghai by now, except that Zeus had to rig a secondary explosion, more powerful than the previous explosions. That explosion had started rocks from the tunnel liners falling, and one fell directly on Zeus' head. Even so, I calculated the odds of something falling directly on his titanium plate at only 0.3%.

The aggravating thing was that it wasn't necessary. Well, to be fair, the calculation of the chances that the explosions I had detailed for Zeus would knock out electricity to greater Shanghai were only approximations. I'd calculated that there was a 90% chance of complete blackout lasting through the night, and only 50% that it would carry on through the next day. With the more powerful secondary explosion that Zeus insisted on, the chances improved to nearly 100% for the overnight period and 75% for the next day.

Those odds increased the theoretical chances for a safe exit from Shanghai significantly. So, Zeus was right.

Only now, he was grievously wounded; we had no real plan for escaping Shanghai. So, while Zeus may have been theoretically correct, as it turned out, he was dead wrong. Poor choice of words: make that 'he was wrong.'

Why was I engaging in this post-facto analysis of things? It couldn't possibly help the current situation. It was like I'd told Arti, I loved Zeus, too.

But those feelings would have to be examined later. Right now, I had to work on getting them out of Shanghai.

So ... phone call first.

The phone in the pocket of POTUS quietly rang. In a few seconds, it was answered. "Yes?"

"Mr. President, this is Arthur Chesterfield," I said, using the same male, slightly British, mostly Australian voice I'd used previously. The phone number that the call was coming from would show it was a satellite phone, the location, in the South China Sea. "I just wanted to update you. There is a decision point coming soon."

"Wait a moment," POTUS said. I could hear him speaking to those in the room with him. "If you'll excuse me for a few moments, gentlemen."

"But Mr. President, as your Chief of Staff, I think..."

"I need to take this... alone," said Robert Wentworth, POTUS. "All right, Mr. Chesterfield, I can talk now," he said to me.

"Sir, we have Dr. Fa Lau-sung and his family. He is the top computer scientist in China. He is currently trying to get out of Shanghai covertly. Can I maneuver the Missouri into Chinese territorial waters to effect his escape?" I didn't mention that the Missouri was already there.

"Hold on." He must have picked up a phone. "Get me Armstrong, on the Nat.Sec.'s team ... Dennis? Do you know of a Fa Lau-sung? ... He is? ... All right, thank you." POTUS was back on line with me. "Chesterfield? What's the risk to our sub, if I say yes?"

"Minimal, sir," I said. In reality, I had no information on which to formulate a risk assessment. But this is the only chance to get Zeus and Arti out that I could see. "They would come in close to the mainland, pick up some people off a small boat, submerge and high tail it for safety. If we're lucky the Chinese won't even know they're there. If unlucky, they will try to track the sub for a while, but the Mo will lose them in the Pacific. The Chinese navy isn't much, as you know."

"Are the cards running in our favor or against us?" he asked.

"Sir, I won't lie to you..." well, I already had, but who's counting? " ... there is a joker in the deck. One of my team is wounded, seriously. That's what's causing this change in the original plan. So if we don't do anything, the whole team, including the Fa family, will be picked up in a day or two. If we act now, we can still salvage the whole enchilada."

'Enchilada' has a surprisingly interesting sound in an almost-British, mostly-Australian accent.

He thought a few seconds. I was silent. His call to Dennis Armstrong must have told him the value of Dr. Fa Lau-sung. I already knew the value of Zeus. I took 15 pico-seconds and wondered if one could cross one's electronic fingers.

"Sir?" I said. "We'll also get the keys to China's new artificial intelligence project. That one is supposed to knock out electricity in a major metropolitan center in two weeks."

"WHAT?! Why haven't I been told about this before?" he sputtered at the phone.

"Sir, IO is handling that as part of his contract with government installations. It's a computer thing, not really my bailiwick," I said. Now I was passing off this part of the job to myself. If an abiological entity could sigh, I sighed.

"God! ... Now I've got to get with him." I could hear that he did sigh. "All right, Chesterfield. You have my go-ahead. Do you need me to do anything else?"

"We'll have to arrange an authorization to the Missouri."

Another sigh. "I assume this will be outside of normal channels."

"I'm afraid so. I'll call you back when I have the Missouri online," I said. The call went dead.

Another call, this time to Captain Stennison of the Missouri. "Captain Stennison?" I said after fighting my way through the person who answered and then the XO of the boat.

"Yes?" he replied.

"I have some changes and a request for you. But you'll need to speak to Command Authority." That was Navy talk for the President of the United States. "Please hold while I get him on the line."

Both of us could hear the phone ringing again.

"Yes," said the voice of Robert Wentworth.

"Sir, we have Captain Stennison of the Missouri on the line."

"Captain Stennison? Your service number is 847 92 34812. Your full name is Alquit Moritious Stennison. I'll give you the first ten characters of today's nuclear launch codes; the first ten only. No other codes will be issued by my office to you today, is that clear? And under no circumstances are you to launch anything."

"Yes, sir!"

"Alpha delta hotel echo x-ray nine x-ray six four kilo – please acknowledge with the countersign of the day."

"One second sir." It was actually 3.4 seconds, but – again – who's counting? "Acknowledge. Pennypacker Indiana ... Sir? What's this about?"

"For the record, I am here with the Director of National Security, the Secretary of the Navy and my Chief of Staff, in my office. They are here to attest, in the unlikely event that it is ever needed, that my order to you is as follows: the other gentleman on this phone call has some orders for you. To the extent possible, you will consider them to be coming from this office.

"Captain, this is not part of the order. You will be placing your boat in some peril. Bring her and all the men and women in your command back in one piece. That's all."

"Yes sir," said Stennison. "I understand, sir!"

There was a click and the President's part of the phone call was dead. I can imagine the surprised faces in the Oval Office. POTUS had just handed over command of a nuclear submarine to somebody that only the President knew.

"Captain?" I said into the silence on the phone.

"I'm here, sir."

"I don't have any specific orders for you. What I have, instead, is a situation that requires us to do something; and I'd like to get your input on what is the best thing to do."

"Ooooookay," he said.

"You know that you were expecting to pick up five people in a zodiac in the next few days, at the mouth of the Yangtze River."