They didn't meet again until after breakfast. Petra found Quin leaning over the rail, looking at the countryside passing by. Before Petra could say anything, Quin spoke. "We'll be passing through the three gorges today. They're beautiful. Once the dam is finished, they'll no longer exist. Do you see the signs posted by the government along the shoreline? The first measurement, 135 metres, or around 345 feet, is where the water level will be in two years. The second marker, about 525 feet, is where the water level will be when the dam is completely finished."
Let the incident drop, Quin silently ordered, and was relieved when Petra's eyes turned towards the shore.
"I've read the statistics, but to actually see just how high the water will rise is amazing. Can we build something that can hold back this much water safely?" Petra asked.
"Nothing is completely safe. All dams, no matter how well-built, will finally give with age and wear over time. I can't predict if an earthquake will weaken the structural integrity or if a massive flood will raise the water levels dangerously. We build in safeguards
for acts of God, but in the end, we're only human. The dam will be the safest dam we can build. Originally, it was to be farther down the river, but the drill samples found that the stratification there was sand and gravel. We couldn't build a dam of this scale on that bed. The land around would've become super-saturated and then would have just given way. We're building it on granite bedrock, which is excellent for stability, but there's a fault line nearby, and that's a concern," Quin said.
"A fault line? That's nuts," Petra said.
"If we reduced the earth to the size of an egg, the earth's crust would be as thin as the eggshell. And it would be a badly cracked eggshell, at that. The earth's crust is thin and unstable. It moves and heaves continually. There's no truly safe place to build anything. We just look for the best place. The spot where the dam is being built appears to be stable and is on solid, nonporous bedrock. Like I said, no one can predict the chaos of the universe."
Petra watched the passing landscape. The mountains soared on each side, a thousand feet overhead. After the dam was built, these mountains would disappear, and all that would remain would be a series of small islands that had once been the lofty peaks of mountains. That was the power of Quin and her team.
They spent most of the morning on the deck, sitting in the lawn chairs reading, leaning on the rail looking at the spectacular scenery, or walking in the bracing air. The first gorge they went through was Qutan, which was eight kilometers long and a thousand feet high. The shore was a sheer wall of rock. Quin pointed out the narrow, precarious footpath that had been cut into the cliffs. "Years ago, boats didn't have the power to fight the current of the Yangtze River, so they would be pulled back upstream by teams of men on ropes. Some parts of the paths up there are no more than the width of your foot. It was backbreaking, incredibly dangerous work, and the men got next to nothing for their toil but misery and an early death."
They passed Wu Gorge and then went on to the Xiling Gorge, which took over an hour to sail through. The beauty of the gorges was beyond description. Looking over the bow, the green, lush mountains touched the swirling river in layers, each a different shade of green as they receded into the mist. These were the images that had been captured in black ink paintings by the Chinese for thousands of years, powerful, tranquil, and majestic.
Petra spoke, barely above a whisper. "I feel so very privileged to see this natural wonder before it's lost. I pity all those who will never know the majesty of this place."
In the afternoon, they reached Badong, a small fishing community, and anchored in the river to take on fresh produce. Quin rented a small riverboat which would take them up a river gorge to a fishing settlement she knew. The boat was made of wood slats with a flat bottom and a curved bow and stern. The pilot wore the calf-length pants of a fisherman and a traditional wide-rimmed hat made from dried fronds. Their craft, once it reached the shallow river, was poled along by the boatman, who was delighted when Quin started to sing local folk songs in the high minor key of most Chinese music. He joined in, singing the responses to Quin's verses. Quin had a nice voice.
They came to a narrow stretch of the gorge, and Quin pointed to where shallow niches had been cut into the rock and reinforced with stakes. On these, hanging out over the water far below, were the coffins of the dead that had been placed there over a thousand years ago. "No one knows who's buried in the hanging coffins of Badong," Quin said. "Nor do we know how they managed to bury them half down a cliff face. My guess is they must have been lowered from above."
They went on to the small fishing village and, after walking through it, returned to the ship just before dark.
Later that night, though, the tension returned to their relationship. Quin made herself scarce, not willing to get into another fight with Petra.
She got into a poker game with some of the crew, lost money, and had too much to drink. She went to bed with a headache, an upset stomach, and depression as heavy as a ton of shit. It was no use hiding the truth from herself any longer. She'd fallen in love, and with someone who wanted her about as much as a common cold. Life sucked.
The next morning, Quin awoke, once again cocooned with Petra. Seeing that Petra was still asleep, she softly kissed her head, then, swallowing a lump in her throat, she slipped carefully from Petra's embrace and went to wash and change. There was nothing she could do about her feelings for Petra, but there was much to be done at the site. Work would keep her mind off her heart, she hoped. During the night, the ship had moved on to Sandouping and anchored. They were now at the Three Gorges Dam Project.
Leaving a note for Petra, she grabbed a piece of toast and hailed a water taxi to take her to shore.
Unable to find Quin the evening before, Petra had sat on the deck enjoying the canopy of stars and the cool night air. China was unbelievably hot and humid in the summer, and the nights were a pleasant relief. Her mind drifted to other times and the pain returned to her heart.
She had reached out to Quin in her sleep, wrapping her body around Quin. Val, I'm so confused. I love you. You were supposed to be my partner for life. I know that in my heart, and yet I feel myself being drawn to Quin. How could I love another after you? What we had was so perfect. Are there other kinds of love? You know what she said, Val? She said that she wasn't you and that she didn't want to compete with you. Is that possible? To have a different love? One that doesn't take away from what you and I had? I don't know! All I have left of you is a memory. I don't want to lose that.
The next morning, Petra woke late and went through her morning routine groggily. In the breakfast room, she was awake enough to observe that they were anchored. A waitress handed her a note.
Dear Petra,
I've gone to shore to check on things at the site. I'll be back after breakfast to pick you up. Wear hiking boots; you 're going to a construction site.
Quin
Petra ate her breakfast, changed into more appropriate clothes for the day, and then went up on deck to wait for Quin. Most of the tourists aboard had left on their excursions. At last Petra saw Quin approaching. She jumped from the small boat and loped up the stairs to where Petra waited.
"Good morning. Are you ready to go?" Quin asked.
Quin was in her professional role today. This was her site and her world, and Petra was the boss's daughter and a member of the board of directors.
Petra followed Quin to the small boat that would take them to the site. A jeep and driver waited for them there, and they were
quickly off to a lookout, where Quin explained that they could get a good overview of the site before heading down into the construction zone. On the way, Quin reviewed information about the dam, as if giving a lecture to a group of stockholders.
"The Three Gorges Dam Project will be the largest hydroelectric project in the world. It's being built in three stages. The first took a natural, secondary channel in the river formed by a shoal and deepened it to make a diversion channel. The second stage, which we're working on now, is to build the locks and the first levels of the dam. That will raise the water to the 135 meter mark. The last stage will be to raise the dam to its full height, so that the water can rise to the final 175 meter mark."
They stood on a windy bluff and looked down on the massive scar that would be the lock system for the ships. It was difficult to get the scale of just how big the construction really was until Quin pointed to some small cranes at the bottom of the deep cut. They and the dump trucks that came and went in a continual flow looked like miniature models that Petra used to play with as a child.
"Those yellow cranes you see down there are the new super-cranes. Most of the ones that exist in the world are here at the site. You can't really tell from here, but those cranes are five stories high," Quin said.
"1 had no idea of the scale of this site." Petra shook her head in disbelief. "Why did the Chinese government pick a smaller company like Vossler to work on such a mammoth undertaking?"
"This area has temperatures over one hundred degrees in the summer and well below freezing in the winter. Canadian engineers have developed cement mixes that can withstand that sort of temperature change because of our own harsh climate," Quin explained. She took Petra's elbow to lead her off the observation platform.
"But Quin, what about the impact this is going to have on the environment and the people?"
They headed back to the jeep as Quin answered. "This is the most ambitious undertaking ever, I think. It's not just building one of the largest dams in the world, but five new cities have to be built and the old ones demolished, not to mention hundreds of villages. Break walls have to be built to stabilize the new riverbanks, bridges have to span the gorge, and hundreds of miles of new roads have to be laid. One-and-a-half-million people will have to be relocated."
"What a nightmare." Petra shuddered, feeling for those that were losing the world that their families had probably lived in for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
"The government is being as fair as possible, but clearly there are both negatives and positives. Generally, the young support the development. It's providing thousands of jobs at good pay, stimulating secondary industries, and providing training. At the moment, there are 30,000 workers at this site alone. About 10,000 of these are manual labourers. They get good pay for unskilled labour."
Petra got out of the jeep and looked around at the site from the bottom of the huge lock channel. It gave her a feeling like what she got standing at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The super-cranes towered above them. They lowered their massive hooks on thick anchor chains and hoisted hundreds of pounds of material to the various levels where men were working. "How are they handling the new housing?" Petra yelled over the noise of hundreds of machine engines.
"The communist government has provided good basic housing in the new towns. The apartments are about a hundred and twenty square feet and have water and bathroom facilities. For many, that will be better than what they have now. The old homes are bought by the government, and that allows people a down payment on a new apartment."
They walked over to Quin's field office, an on-site trailer. Petra noted that the workers stepped aside as they passed. It was clear she was well-known and respected by the workers. Quin was still talking. "Farmers may opt to give up farming. If they do, they can have an apartment and a job on the dam site. If they wish to stay in farming, they'll be relocated to another area, where they'll receive compensation for what they've lost which will help them build a new home on smaller acreage."
"I don't think that I'm comfortable with a government that's so controlling, no matter how fair it might seem to be."
"The company has been hired to do a job, and I'm here to make money for Vossler and build a good dam. Each emperor of China has had one great project he left behind as a legacy to the people. This is Mao's."
"This was all about Mao playing emperor?"
"Pretty much. The new town here is called Mao Ping. The idea of the dam was originally put forth in 1919 by Sun Yat-sen, but
wasn't feasible at the time. Mao made it happen." Quin clicked through her email to see what needed her attention.
"Ego doesn't seem like a very good reason for the massive upheaval this dam is causing," Petra said.
Quin looked at Petra. "Everything we do has a negative and positive side. It's the yin and yang of life. There are critics of the construction. The old don't wish to see the loss of their ancestral lands, and nine counties will disappear, with 30,000 hectares of excellent farm land. Also, the river is so polluted with waste that there's fear that the reservoir will become little more than a cesspool. But there's another side. This river needs taming. Over recent years, 30,000 lives have been lost in floods and mudslides. River navigation will be safer, and a tremendous amount of cheap electricity will be produced for a growing nation."
Petra was about to argue the point when a young man burst into the office looking shaken and pale and speaking in rapid Mandarin. "What is it?" Petra asked.
"There's been an accident." Quin grabbed her hard hat and headed for the door. "Stay here."
Chapter 14
Petra got to the door in time to watch Quin run across to the first of the super-cranes. A large crowd had formed, and people were looking up and pointing. Petra followed their gaze and froze in horror. Somehow, a worker had gotten snared in the crane's chain, and he'd been hoisted off the ground upside down. Blood was dripping from his ripped leg down onto his face and then trickling to the ground below.
Petra wondered why the crane driver wasn't lowering him back to the ground. Looking farther up the chain, she could see that the worker's pickaxe, caught in the chain farther up, had jammed in the pulley. Then she saw Quin quickly climbing the five stories up the straight ladder on the inside of the derrick. From where Petra stood, Quin looked small and vulnerable on the massive piece of equipment. Petra held her breath until Quin was safely inside the crane's cab.
She saw the front window of the cab open, and Quin crawled out onto the metal framing that formed the crane's arm. Quin was wearing a safety harness, but Petra's heart was in her mouth as she watched the tiny figure edge along the open piping to the end of the crane's arm.
Petra realized the metal must be burning hot on Quin's hands and the noon sun would be burning her shoulders as she crawled along the framework. Quin stopped and looked through the rungs to where the man hung from a bleeding and misshapen leg. His arms hung down, and there was no indication he was conscious. Under the circumstances, that was probably a good thing, Petra thought. Quin continued to slide along the metal arm on her belly.
Directly above the trapped man, Quin leaned over the side and called out in Mandarin. There was no answer. Quin pulled back and seemed to be checking the jammed pulley.
Time witstcd was not a good thing, but it might be better to wait for help than risk more injury to the worker. Petra bit her lip and waited to see what Quin would do next.
Quin tied off her rope, formed a slip loop, and dropped over the side. Petra's gasp was echoed by the crowd as Quin's body dropped from the arm, and she hung, swaying for a second, some feet below. Then Quin slowly lowered herself to the man. He was held fast by his pant leg that had wedged between the chain links. Quin lowered herself down to the man's chest. Petra couldn't see exactly what Quin was doing, but it appeared that she attached him to a safety harness. Somehow, with just a few movements—perhaps with the aid a large pocket knife—Quin released the safety line from around herself, leaving the man hanging from both Quin's safety line and the chain.
Petra hastened from the trailer and stood at the base of the crane so she could better see what was happening. Quin slowly climbed up the chain to where the man's pant leg was caught. Quin was without any sort of backup, and it scared the hell out of Petra. Quin held on to the pant leg and the chain as she awkwardly cut the material free from the chain.
Quin's hand slipped on the chain, probably due to the sudden weight of supporting herself with one arm while bearing part of the man's body with the other. The crowd gasped. Quin clung on to the chain and the man for dear life. After a second, she wiped her forehead on her sleeve, blinked the sweat from her eyes, and slowly lowered the man's leg down so that it hung even with his other leg.
Quin slid down and reattached herself to the life line. She used bandages she'd taken from the first-aid kit in the cab to secure the man's damaged leg to his good one. She took a few seconds to rest.
Tears rolled down Petra's face. She didn't want to look, but she couldn't make herself stop. She knew she should be helping in some way. The thought was barely formed before Petra was running for the ladder.
As she reached the top of the ladder, Petra grabbed some safety equipment, raced across the crane cab, and started to crawl along the arm as she'd watched Quin do. Don't look down, but she did. Quin, looking pale and tired, was clinging to the chain. Petra secured her lines and then dropped a rope over the side.
"Grab the rope," she ordered.
"I thought 1 told you to stay in the trailer," yelled Quin
"I thought I told you to stay off that leg," Petra yelled back.
Quin grabbed the safety line and hooked it onto her harness. "You do have this attached to something don't you?" she asked.
"We'll know if you fall," Petra said. "Be careful, okay?"
Quin looked up. Perhaps she could see the fear for her safety in Petra's eyes. "Do you care about me, then?"
"For God's sake, Venizelos! Will you just climb up the damn chain? I'm bloody terrified up here!"
Quin carefully climbed hand-over-hand up the chain. As she neared the top, Petra reached to grab her and help her climb back onto the arm of the crane. They lay side by side, holding each other. "Don't you ever do anything like that again!" Petra said.
"Come on, I need you back inside the cab where I know you're safe," Quin responded, barely able to force the words past her trembling lips.
"No, I'm stuck out here on this piece of shit until we can both get down." Petra pulled herself up into a sitting position with her feet braced on the rungs of metal below. "Are you going to help me, or are you just going to lie about all day?"
"You should have come with warning labels," Quin muttered, untying the rope so that they could lower the man to the ground. "Here, you feed his safety line out to me and I'll lower. You ready?" she asked.
Petra, sitting perched near the end of the crane's arm, nodded. She was shaking with fear, but she was determined to do her part. Gritting her teeth, she tried to forget about where she was and to concentrate on the job. She untangled the line while Quin held the man in place. Then she wrapped the rope around her back. Her muscles were straining as she took the man's weight on her line.
"I'm ready," Petra said, and together, they worked to bring the injured man down to the ground, where the construction medics already waited with an ambulance.
Once they saw the man was safe, they took a moment to rest. Then Quin leaned past Petra to look over the side again. "What are you doing?" Petra grabbed Quin's leg.
"I've got to get that axe blade out of there so we can use this crane again," Quin said.
"Are you nuts?"
"Some think so." Quin hung halfway off the crane to free the twisted metal from the chain links. Petra wrapped her arms more
firmly around Quin's legs. The chain freed, Quin clumsily slid back again with the mangled pickaxe in one hand.
"Petra?"
"Yes?"
"Thanks for helping out."
They crawled along the metal arm and back through the window.
Petra was in Quin's face the moment her feet hit the floor of the cab.
"That was about the dumbest thing I have ever seen! It's your job to delegate responsibility, not risk your own life playing Joe Hero. Do you have a rescue squad on site? Well, do you?"
"Yes, we do," Quin said, "but they're certainly not trained in climbing—"
"And neither are you," Petra interjected. "You, who are always going on about the company. Damn it, you're the overseeing director of Vossler's Eastern division. Did you ever stop to consider the ramification to the company if we have to replace you?"
Quin said nothing. It was Quin's nature to take charge and to take action, and in this case, it had been a stupid decision. She should have trusted others to handle the situation, no matter how dangerous the rescue. Quin looked at the crane operators standing in the corner.
Petra realized she should have waited to express her anger privately, but it was too late now. The damage had been done. They had all lost face.
Petra lowered her voice. "I need to calm down before I climb down the ladder. In the meantime, would you please talk to these men and find out what happened?"
"Yes." Quin clenched her jaw.
Petra looked at her sharply and began her descent from the crane.
Chapter 15
Quin found a driver to take Petra back to the ship. She spent the rest of the day interviewing people to find out what had gone wrong. She wrote up her accident report and sent copies to head office, the Chinese Workers Union, and the company's lawyers and insurance company.
On the way back to the ship, she stopped at the hospital to see the injured worker. She learned that Petra had already visited him. The doctor assured Quin that although it was a bad break and skin grafts would be needed, the man would have good use of the leg again once the bones knit. Relieved, tired, and hungry, Quin made her way back to the ship.
Some time later, Petra found Quin alone in the dining room, picking at a sandwich. She slipped into the seat across from her and waited for Quin to make eye contact. "I didn't handle that very well. I shouldn't have chewed you out in front of the workers, and I should have waited until I was calmer before I addressed the issue. I'm sorry, Quin."
Quin took a few seconds to pull herself together. "You were right. I made a poor decision. The operators thought you were angry with them and wanted them fired because they hadn't seen the worker dangling from the chain. I handled it."
"Good. I'm sorry this happened," Petra said. She felt really rotten about showing her anger in front of the workers, even though she knew she was right.
"Me, too," Quin responded, still not looking up. Petra waited, but Quin said nothing more. Petra said good night and went back to their cabin. Quin didn't come to bed that night. Instead, she dozed on the love seat in their salon.
For the next few days, Quin worked on site and Petra filled her time taking side tours with other passengers. Quin looked strained and worried. That bothered Petra more than Quin's stiff manner. Over those few days, Petra had a lot of time to think about her feelings for Quin. Did she want to spend the rest of her life alone? Was there a chance she could have a happy relationship with Quin?
On Friday, they packed once more. Quin hired a car to take them over the pass and down into the flatlands that formed the delta basin of the Yangtze River. They would drive as far as Wuhan and then pick up a commercial flight to Shanghai. As they left, Quin resumed the role of a tour guide.
"The Yangtze is the third longest river in the world. The lock system we're currently working on will have 23 locks or elevator locks, and there will be a turbine station at both the north and south ends, with a total of 26 turbines in all. We're also building a smaller dam over there, to protect some valuable orange and tangerine orchards. We hope to have the whole dam completed by 2009."
They passed the construction site and went across a new bridge. Quin tried to break the tension between them. "This is considered to be a lucky bridge because it's 1018 meters long. The number one symbolizes self, and eight symbolizes money, so eighteen means 'I will get money.' Remember I told you on one of the first days you were here that there's meaning to everything in China."
Petra seemed to make an effort to shake off her blue mood and meet Quin half way. "This construction is costing a fortune. How will China pay for it?"
"The dam is being financed by the World Bank and foreign loans. Each person in China pays a surtax of twenty-three cents a year, as well. The local provinces are also taxed on their revenue. Once the first stage of turbines are in use, the sale of power will also help to cover the cost of the construction. But it's a big investment and risk. Overall, the dam will cost 239 billion Chinese dollars. In any currency, that's a lot of money."
They rode over the mountain pass and down onto the plain. For the first time, Quin was able to show Petra the China of legend: rice paddies and fields being plowed by water buffalo. They made one stop before lunch at a government-run jewellery shop.
Shortly before noon, they reached Wuhan. Quin took them to the local European business hotel. They cleaned up in the washrooms and then met in the restaurant for lunch. As always, the
turning tray in the centre of the table was piled with tasty courses. They ate in awkward silence.
Quin reached over with her chopsticks and placed a particularly good piece of spicy meat on Petra's plate.
Petra smiled in thanks, and for the first time since the accident on the crane, they made eye contact. It only lasted a second, and then Quin looked at her plate again.
"Quin, we need to talk."
Quin continued to eat, although food had no appeal for her. "About what?" She could think of all sorts of topics, and they were all going to be bad news.
"Us."
Quin hated these sorts of conversations. People never seemed to say what they meant.
"We are not an 'us.' You're the future owner and a member of the board of directors of the company I work for. I don't think for a minute that you're here to see China. You're far too bright and competent a woman to need a nursemaid. You, and maybe your father, have some secret agenda. I'm not stupid, Petra. And I guess I've messed up my evaluation pretty badly. Let's just eat and get out of here."
"No. We need to talk." Petra hesitated before continuing. "You're right, I was sent here by my father. There are some issues..."
"I know about your father's illness," Quin said.
"How?"
"I just do. You don't need to worry. Word hasn't gotten out. It's part of my job to know. Power lies in knowing more than anyone else." Quin said, pouring tea for both of them.
"My father and I aren't your enemies. We're on the same team."
"For the time being, anyway. None of us would benefit if this information were to become public yet. If it got out before your father picks a successor, it could hurt the stock." Quin sipped her tea.
"Who do you think should replace my father?"
"You. You know your stuff, and you'd be a natural leader, but I don't think you're interested. You've made quite a name for yourself in your own field. There are a few men who have the experience and knowledge to do an adequate job. They won't make the company grow, but they'll bring stable leadership. It doesn't
matter to me. My loyalty is to Kurt Vossler. He gave me my start in life, and trusted me to get the job done. When he goes, I go."
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