Chapter 69: Resistance and Leeway

11:30. Equipment storeroom. Iron door. Half ajar. Old Zhao. Sitting. Behind a wooden table. Abacus. Clicking crisp under his fingers. Lin Chen. Hands over. A list. Precision resistors. One percent. Twelve pieces. Fifty ohms. Old Zhao. Raises his eyes. Looks at. The list. Looks at. The dark red stain. Seeping through. The bandage on Lin Chen's left foot. "No stock." Old Zhao's voice. Flat. "What the province allocated. Carbon film. Five watts. Two pieces. The metal film. One percent. You want—go buy it. At the electronics market. Twelve yuan. Enough?" Lin Chen. Nods. Does not argue. Turns. Walks out. Wind. Cold. Corridor. Long. The terrazzo floor. Reflecting light. His stride. Thirty centimeters. Center of gravity. Shifted right. He does not step. On the wet patches.

12:15. Campus clinic. Registration. Five yuan. Three people. In line. The smell of disinfectant. Mixed with iodine. Pungent. Doctor. Middle-aged. White coat. Collar yellowed. He. Sits. On the stool. Takes off his shoe. The edges of the wound on his left foot. Whitish. Clear fluid seeping out. The doctor. Frowns. "Early signs. Of suppuration. Needs debridement. Medication. Eight yuan. Gauze. Two yuan. One roll of bandage." Lin Chen. Hands over. The money. The bills. Wrinkled. Frayed at the edges. The doctor. Takes them. Quick movements. Tweezers. Holding a cotton ball. Iodine. Wiping the wound. The pain. Sharp. Shooting up. Along the nerves. Lin Chen. Bites down. On his back teeth. Says nothing. Sweat. On his forehead. Cold. The doctor. Wraps the bandage. Ties it tight. "Change it. Once every three days. Don't get it wet. Don't walk. Long distances." Lin Chen. Puts on his shoe. Ties the laces. Center of gravity. Shifted right. Stride. Thirty centimeters. He does not step. On the wet patches.

13:30. Dorm room. Desktop. Cleared. Insulating paper. Smoothed flat. He takes out. The old multimeter. Model MF47. The needle. Trembling faintly. He rummages. Through the drawer. Looking for. The parts box. From scrap boards. He removes. Color-band resistors. Red. Black. Black. Gold. One percent. Metal film. Three pieces. Resistance. Fifty ohms. Power. One quarter watt. Not enough. He looks. At the ledger. Balance left. Five yuan ninety. Short by. Six yuan ten. He stands up. Goes out.

14:00. Laboratory building. Third floor. Weak-current lab. Door open. Fan spinning. Humming. Senior brother. Back to the door. Soldering a board. Rosin smoke. Rising. Lin Chen. Stands. In the doorway. Waits three seconds. The senior brother. Turns around. Eyes red. "What is it?" Lin Chen. Hands over. The list. Precision resistors. Twelve pieces. Fifty ohms. One percent. The senior brother. Looks at the list. Looks at. Lin Chen's foot. "For the provincial competition." Lin Chen's voice. Low. Steady. The senior brother. Silent. Rummages in the drawer. Finds a tin box. Opens it. Pours out. The resistors. Scattered. Across the tabletop. Color bands. Clear. "Stripped from old instruments. Accurate enough. But the leads are oxidized. You'll have to scrape them. Ten yuan. Friendship price." Lin Chen. Hands over. The money. Five yuan ninety. Plus. Three yuan ten. In coins. Cold. Heavy. The senior brother. Takes it. Pushes the tin box over. "Don't choke at the provincials. Make the attenuator stable. Keep the standing-wave ratio down." Lin Chen. Nods. Pockets the resistors. Turns. Walks out. Through-draft. Cold.

15:00. Dorm room. Desktop. Insulating paper. Spread flat. Resistors. Lined up neatly. He takes. Fine sandpaper. Scrapes. The oxidation. Off the leads. Copper color. Exposed. Reflecting light. He takes. The soldering iron. Plugs it in. Preheats. Rosin-core solder wire. He draws. The circuit diagram. T-type. Attenuation network. Input. Fifty ohms. Output. Fifty ohms. Attenuation. Ten. Decibels. Calculation formulas. On the paper. Flat. The handwriting. Careful. Neat. R1. R2. R3. Resistance values. Substituted in. He takes. The resistors. Series. Parallel. Soldering. The joints. Rounded. Full. No cold solder. No spikes. He pauses. Blows lightly. The smell of rosin. Disperses.

16:30. Multimeter. Test. DC. Resistance. Fifty point two ohms. Error. Zero point four percent. Within spec. He connects. The signal source. Low-frequency. Sweep. Standing-wave ratio. One point one. Temperature rise. Slight. He records. The data. On graph paper. Binds it. Into the report. He looks. Out the window. The sky dark. Clouds pressing low. Wind. Whirling fallen leaves. In circles.

17:00. Ledger. Turned to. A blank page. He lists. One. Attenuator. Completed. Two. Funds remaining. Zero point nine. Three. Train ticket. Hard seat. Qinghe. To the provincial capital. Eighteen yuan. Four. Shortfall. Seventeen point one. Five. Left foot. Dressing change. In three days. Six. Provincial competition. Departure. Next Wednesday. Six in the morning. He stops his pen. Looks. Out the window. Night thick. Starless. He stands. Puts on his shoes. Ties the laces. Center of gravity. Shifted right. Stride. Thirty centimeters. He does not step. On the wet patches.

17:30. Work-study. Office. Door open. Light on. Duty teacher. Looking at. The clock. The registration book. Lin Chen. Hands over. An application. Library. Rare-book restoration. Hauling. Sorting. The duty teacher. Looks at the application. Looks at. Lin Chen's foot. "You're injured. You can still work?" Lin Chen. Nods. "I can carry books. No running. No jumping." The teacher. Signs it. Stamps it. "Tomorrow morning. Seven o'clock. Basement stacks. Inventory the old books. Paid by weight. Three jiao. Per jin. Work a full eight hours. Settle up after." Lin Chen. Takes the slip. Turns. Walks out. Wind. Cold. Corridor. Long.

19:30. Dorm room. Desktop. Cleared. He spreads out. A map. Distribution of universities. In the provincial capital. Competition venue. Marked. With a red circle. He takes. The canvas bag. Empties. The lining. Puts in. The attenuator. Insulated case. Puts in. The multimeter. Puts in. The graph-paper report. Puts in. Two changes of clothes. Puts in. Four steamed buns. One packet of pickles. He pulls. The zipper. It catches. He yanks. It shut. The bag. Heavy. The shoulder strap. Biting into his shoulder. He tries. Carrying it. Center of gravity. Steady. Stride. Thirty centimeters. He does not step. On the wet patches.

20:00. End of the corridor. Bulletin board. Freshly posted. Notice. White paper. Black print. Clear. Competition schedule. Adjusted. First day. Theory. Written exam. Second day. Practical. Load test. Venue. Changed. To Provincial Electronics Institute. Laboratory Three. Equipment list. Updated. Spectrum analyzer. HP8591E. Front-end attenuation. Must be set manually. In ten-decibel steps. Lin Chen. Looks at the notice. For three seconds. Does not smile. Does not sigh. Turns. Leaves. The crowd. Scatters. Footsteps. Mixed. Wind. Lifts the corners. Of the notice. Paper rustling softly.

21:00. Dorm room. Desktop. Cleared. He spreads. A sheet of paper. Draws axes. Horizontal axis. Time. Vertical axis. Parameters. He marks. The changes. In the competition schedule. He takes. The ledger. Turns to. A blank page. He lists. One. Theory exam. Need to review. RF fundamentals. Two. Practical venue. Changed. Need to get familiar. With the wiring. In advance. Three. Funding gap. Seventeen point one. Need to make it up. By hauling books. In the basement tomorrow morning. Four. Left-foot injury. Controllable. Five. Departure. Next Wednesday. Six in the morning. He stops his pen. Looks. Out the window. Night thick. Starless. Wind. Whistling low. Through the crack in the window.

22:15. Final test. Signal source. Output. Two hundred megahertz. Attenuator. Connected. Spectrum analyzer. On the screen. The scan line. Trembling slightly. Insertion loss. Zero point five decibels. Off. The theoretical value. He stops. Checks. The schematic. Parasitic inductance. High-frequency. Phase shift. He takes. A trimming capacitor. In parallel. Compensation. The solder joint. Reflowed. Cooled. Retest. The scan line. Stable. Loss. Back to zero. He records. The data. On graph paper. Binds it. Into the report. Signs it.

He closes. The canvas bag. The zipper teeth. Bite shut. Crisp. He lies down. Closes his eyes. Breathing. Even. The pain. In his left foot. Dull. Bearable. In his mind. There are no curves. Only. Resistance. Attenuation. Step size. Impedance matching. Four lines. Crossing. In the dark. Without collision. Without entanglement. Each of them. Moving forward.

Outside the window. The wind stops. The clouds disperse. Moonlight. Slants in. Falling across the desk. Dust. Floating faintly.

He opens his eyes. Stride. Thirty centimeters. No stepping. On the wet patches.

Forward.