The God Experiment

Chapter No.81. Diplomacy in motion.

Chapter No.81. Diplomacy in motion.

Robert received the call from President Hollis, and it wasn't what he expected. "We want you to go to China and solve a major problem."

"What sort of problem?" Robert asked.

"It has something to do with the Three Gorges Dam, which is their essential hydroelectric asset."

"Where should we go there?"

"Just go to the Dam itself. You'll find Sun Shang, the chief of engineering there."

"As I recall that dam spans the Yangtze River at Sandouping."

"Yes."

"Okay, we'll be there shortly."

Robert summoned his family and told them about the mission.

"Why are we helping China? Sylvia asked. "Aren't they an enemy?"

"We have no human enemies," Robert said. "Our enemies are devils."

That statement would turn out to be the bitter truth.

With that settled, the Steris family teleported to above the dam. They flew around until they noticed a group of men standing on the top of the dam near the middle. The men didn't react to seeing the superheroes land near them.

A man dressed in a suit stepped forward and did a quick bow. "I am Sun Shang, chief engineer."

Robert reciprocated the gesture. "What seems to be the problem here?"

"This dam sits on a seismic fault and a recent event has weakened the dam's structure," he said in carefully spoken English. "We have detected cracks in the rock base and in several fractures in the walls."

"Does that suggest a possible breach?"

"We are not sure, but it is possible."

"We'll check it out, and if we find any problems, we'll repair them."

"How could you do that?" Sun asked.

"We can see everything down to the quantum level and have power over nature."

Sun reacted with a bow. Evidently, he was accustomed to accepting the impossible.

The superheroes flew up into the air and began their inspection of the dam. James, Sylvia and Amy used their x-ray vision to scope out the base of the dam, while Robert and Janet began a careful scan of the dam's walls. What they found was disturbing. They gathered above the dam to discuss what they were going to do to repair the damage.

"The dam is sitting on a rather precarious base that's being eroded," James said. "We could add material to it and bulk it up."

"We found several serious cracks in the walls," Robert said. "We can just fuse them to make the walls more solid. We'll also have to repair damage to pipes and electrical facilities. I think we should try these ideas and see if they bolster the structure."

The superheroes split up and began a precisely timed repair of the dam to bring it back to structural health, after which they landed back at the top near the chief engineer Sun and his assistants.

"We repaired the damage. The dam should be stable for quite some time. We bolstered the base it's setting on and repaired all of the cracks and equipment damage we could find."

Sun squinted. "You did all of this in a half hour?"

"Yeah, we're efficient."

Sun bowed. "We are grateful."