In the days that followed, Lin Mo continued gathering metal for Goldcoin to absorb and recover. He kept the metal egg with him at almost all times—even during flight training—worried that if Goldcoin suddenly woke up while he was away, the creature might cause havoc inside the base. If it took a bite out of half an aircraft, the consequences would be disastrous.
The lead aircraft in today’s two-ship formation was a J-10 flown by a pilot with nearly a thousand flight hours. He was from Daqing in the northeast, only about one-sixty-five tall, and nothing like the stereotypical burly northerner. His callsign was “Chick,” real name Shi Gang—a somewhat uncommon surname. His flying skills, however, were anything but chicken-like. This afternoon he was leading Lin Mo on a patrol mission from thr
