The Three-Body Problem

When she first started at Red Coast, Ye was not allowed to do anything but a few technical tasks. Though her father had been interested only in theoretical physics, Ye had learned computer science and electrical engineering, so she was able to do some basic maintenance in the Transmission Department. Still, she felt lonely and confused about her placement: she was the only person not in military uniform, and her political past made people suspicious of her.

Many of Ye’s colleagues in Transmission were actually very skilled computer scientists, but they were so bored by the work that they played dumb; that way, they could be transferred to another department. Over time, then, more people left and Ye rose to prominence. Even better, security stopped supervising her work as closely. Still, there were many systems and areas on the base that Ye was not allowed to access.

During this time, Yang Weining—who was politically suspect because of his past in academia—often took out his frustration on Ye. Commissar Lei, on the other hand, started to be kinder to Ye. One day, he finally explained the purpose of Red Coast Base. The antenna created a kind of large-scale microwave, but rather than heating up frozen foods, its radiation was pointed at enemy space vessels. In this way, the Chinese could take down the American and Soviet satellites. Just as Lei finished explaining this to Ye, Yang Weining approached and accused Lei of sharing information he was not supposed to. Though technically Lei was of higher rank, Ye still worried that he could get in trouble.

The next day, Ye was transferred from the Transmission Department to the Monitoring Department. Unlike the simple machines in Transmission, Monitoring was quite technologically advanced. Mostly, it was designed around a giant radio receiver that could pick up very faint or distant signals. Commissar Lei explained to Ye that the purpose of the Monitoring Department was to be “the eyes of Red Coast”—to pay close attention to any communication in space between enemy vessels. Again, Yang Weining threatened to report Lei for sharing this information with Ye.

Nevertheless, Lei continued to talk to Ye about what was happening at the base. He told her that she had been selected because she had successfully predicted some solar activity in college, and often, Red Coast’s information was being interrupted or confused by solar flares. Lei also confessed that he was hoping his own trust in Ye would gradually be shared by other officers of the base, which would allow her to advance—in other words, that one day she would become “Comrade Ye.” Ye found herself surprisingly moved by this trust.

Ye struggled more in the Monitoring Department than she had in Transmission, in part because the machines were much more advanced. More than that, though, the longer Ye worked in Monitoring, the more confused she became about Red Coast’s activities. For example, though they intercepted transmission from a threatening American satellite, Yang Weining showed no interest; instead, he redirected Ye and her colleagues to focus their signal monitoring elsewhere. Another time, Ye saw that the frequencies Red Coast was emitting were much lower than the frequencies necessary to effectively heat and destroy enemy satellites. 

Out of the blue, Ye was summoned to the main office at Red Coast Base. When she saw that a group of officers was waiting for her, she was immediately reminded of her horrible experience in the Khingan Mountains, when she had been accused of sedition for writing Bai’s letter. Now, though, the officers were not angry. Instead, Commissar Lei explained that Yang Weining had long been petitioning to reveal the truth behind Red Coast Base to Ye—finally, they were going to drop the cover story.

Before Ye could come to terms with the fact that she had been lied to, all the other officers exited, leaving Ye and Yang Weining alone together. Yang Weining offered Ye one final chance to refuse the knowledge about what was really happening at Red Coast, but Ye was determined to hear the truth.