| "We are pleased to be making significant progress not just in pushing back the boundaries of exploration for all humanity, but in developing the lunar terrorities in a way that benefits the Chinese people and the global market" | ||||
| — Nghia Lam, Chinese premier, 2052 | ||||
The Zhou Enlai Lunar Mining Complex is a state of the art mining facility established by China on the surface of the Moon. It was constructed in the lucrative Palus Somnii and Mare Crisium regions, against protests from the United States of America and Nigeria, which disputed the Chinese claims to the regions. Notably, instead of economic warfare, the disputing nations desired to find a diplomatic, equitable solution (as per Robert Holden, Secretary of the Interior at the time).[1] The complex was notable for using an MD-118 mass driver to deliver its payloads to Earth, provided by McMoran Global Steel, and the first such device to operate both on such a scale and off the surface of the Earth. McMoran was also notable for winning the contract against Page Industries, which even attempted an unsuccessful hostile takeover to beat McMoran.[2]
Page would have his revenge for the slight. Due to sabotage, the mass driver did not deliver its payload to the intended target, but to the outskirts of the city of Ibadan in Nigeria. The sheer kinetic energy of the payload resulted in a blast comparable to that of a small nuclear bomb, killing over two thousand people in the initial impact, and leaving thousands more wounded, homeless, and deprived of power and water. Chinese authorities immediately put a halt to all deliveries, working with the United Nations and McMoran to identify the cause of the error.[3]