The Resurrection Key

by Andy McDermott

  As with Cheng a few minutes earlier, there was a hint of condescension in her words. ‘It’s a diesel engine – it doesn’t need spark plugs.’

  He smiled in the darkness. ‘You know this stuff better than me. Okay! Let’s fire her up – and hope the propeller isn’t still embedded in the cave’s ceiling.’

  Even with the life vest, Nina felt as if she was sinking. The cold water was rapidly draining her energy, and her fingertips and toes prickled with the onset of hypothermal numbness. If she stayed in the water for much longer, she might not get out of it . . .

  ‘You’re almost there!’ Cheng had kept pace above, moving to the stern. ‘To the left, you’ve almost reached it!’

  She still saw nothing but icy slush rising and falling in the waves – then caught a flash of yellow. Twenty feet away, no more. The sight gave her new vigour. She ploughed towards it. The pouch bobbed into view again. Ten feet, five—

  And there. She grabbed it with one cold-stung hand and forced it beneath her harness strap, then turned to swim back to the crane.

  Imka made a final check of the gauges – and pulled a lever.

  The steel hoses shook as a powerful whump of compressed air surged through them. Machinery groaned, forced into motion . . . then the engine abruptly clattered to life as the diesel fuel in the cylinder auto-ignited. The contained detonation drove the piston back, turning the great steel crankshaft. The other cylinders followed suit, the room filling with a ragged roar as the engine built up to speed.

  Eddie gripped the console as the deck lurched. ‘We’re moving!’ he cried. ‘Let’s get to the bridge – and hope we can steer this thing!’

  A churning surge rushed up from beneath Nina. Froth rolled over her head. She surfaced, coughing and gasping—

  And went under again.

  Something was dragging her down. Even with the vest, she couldn’t keep her head above the water. A pounding metallic rumble assaulted her ears. The ship’s engine had started – and the propeller’s vortex was sucking her in as the Dionysius reversed towards the cave mouth.

  She kicked in a desperate attempt to make headway. But the force was unrelenting – and then the reversing juggernaut’s stern rolled over her.

  Nina clawed at the hull, fingers finding dents and barnacles, but nothing big enough to grip with her numbing hands. The propeller whirled below. The life vest strained uselessly to lift her, straps tugging painfully under her arms.

  She slipped further down. The propeller was just feet away, slashing blades about to hack her apart—

  Something writhed past her.

  Rope, whipping like an angry snake as it was pulled towards the propeller. She grabbed it. For a moment both she and the line kept falling – then it yanked tight.

  She clung to it. For agonising moments it remained still . . . before it inched back towards the surface.

  Nina closed her eyes as she rose through the floating ice, then felt frigid air on her wet skin. The cold stung her throat as she took several deep breaths.

  Even out of the water, though, she was far from out of danger. Cheng leaned over the railing above, face twisted with strain. ‘Professor!’ he gasped. ‘I can’t . . . lift you!’

  ‘Get Eddie!’ she cried. ‘Call for help, get Eddie!’

  He shouted her husband’s name – but the rope was already slipping through his cold, wet fingers.

  Eddie followed Imka back up through the ship. The engine was working, but it was far from healthy, bangs and rattles echoing through the vessel. If it kept going long enough to get them out of the cavern, though, that was all that mattered—

  A shout from above. ‘Mr Chase! Help!’

  ‘Shit, it’s Cheng!’ he said, pushing past Imka and hurrying for the exit. What trouble had the kid got himself into now?

  He ran into the open, the blue half-light dazzling after the darkness below – and realised to his horror that it wasn’t Cheng who was in trouble. The student was on the verge of toppling over the railing as he held a taut rope. Eddie knew at once who was at the other end. ‘Oh, for fuck’s sake! Now what’s she done?’

  He ran to grab the rope and looked down. Nina was indeed clinging to the line. A glimpse of yellow under her harness straps told him exactly what she had been doing. He wasn’t even surprised. Instead he helped Cheng lift her, then dragged her to the deck.

  She flopped onto her back, water sluicing from her clothing as she looked up at him. ‘Hi.’

  ‘I’m not even going to ask,’ he sighed, shaking his head. ‘You okay?’

  ‘Yeah. Although I’m frickin’ freezing!’

  ‘We got the engine started.’

  ‘I noticed! What now?’

  He looked out from the stern. Beyond the cavern, Harhund’s ship had disappeared. A churned white wake and residual trail of diesel smoke told him it had left in a hurry, trying to get clear of the rolling iceberg.

  The cave mouth had shrunk considerably since he went inside, its ceiling dropping inexorably towards the water. If the Dionysius didn’t clear it in the next couple of minutes, they would be trapped.

  ‘We’ve got to move.’

  He, Nina and Cheng hurried into the reversing ship and made their way to the bridge. Imka was already at the wheel, facing the broken stern windows. ‘What happened?’ she asked.

  ‘Archaeology,’ was Eddie’s sarcastic reply. He stared at the cavern mouth. ‘Can we make it through?’

  ‘I don’t know. It’s getting smaller.’

  ‘Can you go faster?’ Cheng asked.

  ‘Perhaps, but a lot of oil leaked from the engine,’ said Imka. ‘If I push it too hard, it might seize up – or explode.’

  ‘I’d kinda like to avoid the explosion option,’ Nina said, huddling against Eddie for warmth. ‘But I’d also like to get out of here before we become permanent residents!’

  ‘You’ve got to risk it,’ Eddie told the South African.

  Imka chewed unhappily on her lower lip, but turned a dial to increase speed to half astern. The diesel’s revival had also powered some of the electrical systems, a frost-covered light confirming that the command had been received by the machinery in the engine room. The raucous chug increased in tempo – and a grinding noise rose beneath it.

  Eddie looked at the exit again, judging how long it would take the ship to reach it against the rate at which the ceiling was descending – and not liking the result. ‘We won’t make it,’ he said. ‘Imka, we’ve got to go faster!’

  ‘If the engine breaks down, we’ll be stuck in here!’ Imka protested.

  ‘We’ll be stuck in here anyway!’ She still hesitated – so he reached past her and turned the dial to full.

  The engine’s response was immediate, and alarming. A shrill screech came from the lower decks. Eddie forced himself to ignore it and looked ahead again as the Dionysius gained speed. Another rapid calculation. ‘I think we’re going to make it.’ The ship drew closer to the icy tunnel. ‘We’re going to make it—’

  A loud bang from below decks shook the bridge – and the survey vessel started to slow.

  ‘Oh, you had to say it, didn’t you?’ cried Nina, clapping a hand to her forehead.

  ‘We’re still moving,’ Eddie replied. ‘If we can just keep going, we’ll make it . . .’

  ‘You did it again!’ She made a plea to the heavens. ‘Fate, if you can hear this: he’s not with me!’

  But the Dionysius somehow stayed in motion, trailing sooty smoke as it reached the icy passage. ‘We can do it,’ Eddie whispered, willing it onwards. ‘Just got to get clear of this big lump overhead . . .’

  Nina stared at the knobbly protrusion of glassy ice descending inexorably towards them. ‘It’s gonna be close,’ she said. ‘Very, very close.’ It drew ever nearer. ‘Too close!’

  Everyone grabbed the nearest solid object for support as
the huge mass hit the ship.

  With the funnel gone, the tallest part of the Dionysius was the radio mast atop the bridge, which toppled as it was ripped from its mount. Smaller masts for radars and weather sensors followed – then the bridge ceiling tore open, showering its occupants with freezing ice as the obstruction scraped over the superstructure—

  Suddenly it was gone, the bridge moving clear, but the obstacle continued towards the foredeck, looking for all the world like a giant tooth about to gnaw on a snack. ‘Hang on!’ Nina cried.

  It struck the deck just behind the bow. The whole ship lurched, the stern kicking out of the water – then smashing back down as thick metal plates tore and crumpled like paper. Its upper bow a mangled mess, the Dionysius veered towards the tunnel wall.

  Eddie saw the new danger. ‘Imka, we’re going to crash!’

  She hurriedly regained her hold on the wheel and spun it. The ship swung away from a solid collision, but not quickly enough to avoid a glancing one. It caught the ice in a series of stuttering blows, scattering the deck with frozen debris before finally pulling free.

  But they were still inside the passage, open sea more than a ship-length away – and the ceiling kept dropping like a car crusher. The brightening daylight dimmed again, blotted out by a solid sapphire-blue firmament—

  A thunderous roar came from behind, from above, even below – and the new sky split apart.

  Icy meteorites bombarded the Dionysius as D43 tore asunder, cleaving along a line directly through the spot where the fortress had been trapped. The two halves peeled apart, the ship no longer in a tunnel but at the bottom of a widening chasm. Massive waves rushed down the channel, snatching up the battered ship and flinging it towards the open sea.

  The diesel died as it was swamped by tons of water rushing down the stub of the funnel. More sluiced in through the broken windows, the bridge’s occupants taking another soaking. But they were concerned only about holding on as the vessel pitched and rolled. Nina hooked one arm around a handrail, clinging to Eddie as they were flung back and forth over the wet deck . . .

  Then the wild ride eased.

  Nina shook wet hair off her face. ‘Is everyone okay?’ she gasped.

  ‘Feel like the pea in a bloody whistle,’ Eddie spluttered, ‘but yeah.’ He staggered upright. ‘Imka! Cheng!’

  Cheng had wedged himself between the bridge wall and a console, clutching his backpack. ‘I’m . . . okay. I think.’

  ‘So am I,’ said Imka blearily as she slumped over the helm – only to gasp as she took in the view.

  Nina had much the same reaction. Surrealistic spires and arches had risen from the sea, lancing almost horizontally from the iceberg’s body. One half of D43 had rolled by nearly ninety degrees, submerged features brought spectacularly into the light. The other, larger part of the iceberg had not made such an extreme shift, but was still a good twenty degrees off its original alignment, newly exposed strata shimmering as water streamed down them.

  The cavern was gone – as were the remains of the fortress. Everything they had discovered was now on its way to the bottom of the Southern Ocean. All that survived was the coffin the mercenaries had stolen, and the key inside the pouch on Nina’s chest.

  Eddie took in the incredible sight, but quickly moved past astonishment to concern. ‘Where’s the other ship?’ His view was restricted by the walls of the newly formed fjord, and there was no sign of Harhund’s vessel.

  ‘Maybe it got squished when the berg rolled,’ Nina suggested hopefully.

  ‘I don’t think the universe is that generous.’ He turned to Imka. ‘We need to make sure the ship isn’t going to sink. Cheng, this’d be a good time to find out if your satellite link’s working.’

  ‘I’ll check,’ the student promised, shakily standing and bringing his pack to a plotting table.

  ‘Great. Imka, let’s go. If the ship’s okay, we’ll be back soon,’ he told Nina as they headed for the exit. ‘If it’s not, we’ll be back really soon!’

  ‘“Okay” is kind of a relative term, isn’t it?’ she retorted, surveying the chaotic wreckage around them.

  Eddie grinned, then followed Imka from the bridge.

  Nina joined Cheng. He swept water from the table before sliding the laptop from its waterproof case. He then took out a black plastic tube containing the satellite link’s folding antenna. ‘It needs to point at the sky,’ he announced.

  She gestured at the gaping hole in the ceiling. ‘That won’t be a problem.’

  Cheng managed a small smile, but it did not last. ‘I . . . I can’t believe we’re still alive,’ he said as he set up the antenna.

  ‘Not all of us are,’ Nina reminded him grimly. ‘They killed Janco and Marc – and everyone on the Torrox.’

  He sighed deeply, then regarded the yellow pouch, still wedged in her harness. ‘If I’d known finding the key would bring so much danger . . .’

  ‘You would have listened to my second rule? Kinda wishing I’d done that myself.’

  He didn’t reply, though his expression was troubled. Instead he turned back to his laptop, plugging in the antenna. ‘Okay. I hope it’s still working . . .’

  He opened the computer. The screen remained dark for a moment – then to their relief it lit up, a login message appearing. Cheng tapped clumsily at the keyboard. ‘Ow. It’s hard to type when your fingers have no feeling.’

  ‘They’ll warm up,’ Nina assured him. She watched as suspended programs came back to life, but all were in Chinese, indecipherable. ‘You think you’ll be able to call for help?’

  ‘If I can get a satellite link.’ No doubt behind his words.

  Nina nodded and paced around the bridge to warm herself while he worked.

  Eddie and Imka returned a few minutes later. ‘Good news and bad news,’ reported the Yorkshireman. ‘Good news, the ship isn’t going to sink. Bad news, the engine’s wrecked. So unless we find some really big oars, we’re not going anywhere.’

  Imka went to Cheng. ‘Is the satellite link working?’

  The Chinese had been intermittently typing, waiting for responses over a messaging program. ‘Yes. I managed to contact a friend in China. They reported our situation to the authorities, who will try to alert any other ships in the area.’

  ‘They know the nearest ship’s the one that stranded us out here in the first place, right?’ said Eddie.

  ‘Of course. I gave them our GPS coordinates, so they should—’ A new bubble of text popped up. Cheng read it, then looked around with a smile. ‘Yes! They’ve contacted another ship, which is diverting to find us.’

  ‘How far away are they?’ Nina asked.

  ‘I don’t know,’ was the almost apologetic reply, before an idea came to him. ‘But I can track them! Wait, please . . .’ He turned back to the screen, bringing up an internet browser and performing a search. Most of the text on the page that came up was Mandarin, but a logo read TrackShip.

  ‘The rescue ship is called Destiny Sunset,’ said Cheng, typing it in. A pause, then a picture of a large bulk freighter appeared. He clicked a button beneath it. A world map loaded, zooming in on the southern hemisphere. ‘It’s here, heading for Melbourne, and we are . . .’ He scrolled south-east to empty ocean, checking coordinates. ‘Here.’ He flicked between applications to make calculations. ‘Oh. Over seven hours away,’ was his unhappy announcement.

  ‘We’ll survive,’ said Eddie. ‘But we need to get out of this wind before we freeze. Pack up your computer, and— No, hold on!’ He stopped Cheng from closing the screen. ‘I saw Harhund’s ship. Tahatu, I think it was called. Put the name in, see if you can find it.’

  Cheng did so. The ship tracking website produced a new image, a much smaller black-hulled vessel. ‘That’s it,’ said Eddie. ‘What does it say about it?’

  The Chinese read the text. ‘Not much. It’s privately owned
, registered in New Zealand.’

  ‘Can you track it?’ asked Nina.

  He clicked the appropriate button. The map reappeared, again showing an empty patch of the Southern Ocean. ‘Not far from us.’

  ‘On the other side of the iceberg, thank God,’ said Imka.

  ‘I can track its recent movements. Wait, please . . . Yes. It came from Auckland. It sailed four days ago.’ The ship had come around the tip of New Zealand’s North Island before angling south-west.

  ‘That’s before we left Australia,’ said Nina, puzzled. ‘They had to go farther, so they arrived after we did – but they knew where we were going!’

  ‘How?’ Eddie said in disbelief. ‘We didn’t tell anybody.’

  ‘Nor did I,’ Imka added.

  Cheng looked up from the laptop. ‘The only person I’ve spoken to is my mother, and I don’t think she would send international mercenaries to kill me.’

  ‘Depends; when did you last clean your room?’ Nina said with a half-smile.

  ‘Someone knows way too much,’ Eddie rumbled. ‘They knew how to find us, and what we were going to find inside the spaceship.’

  ‘It wasn’t a— Oh, you know what, forget it. But you’re right, they knew a lot more than we did. Including,’ she said, feeling a chill unrelated to the cold, ‘that they’d need me to make the earth energy technology work.’

  ‘What do they want it for? They stole a coffin – but what’re they going to do with a prehistoric frozen corpse?’

  ‘Nothing good,’ Nina said. ‘But we know where they’re taking it.’ She pointed at the map. ‘If we contact the New Zealand coastguard or the authorities in Auckland, they should hold the ship and everyone aboard it until we get there. Then we can ask them ourselves.’

  Eddie was not enthused. ‘You want to go chasing after them?’

  ‘Anything connected to earth energy always ends up with some lunatic trying to take over the world or start a war. Whoever’s behind this and whatever they want it for, we can’t let them go through with it.’

  ‘She’s right,’ said Cheng. ‘If there’s a danger to world peace, you have to stop it. It’s what you do. Both of you,’ he added pointedly.