She covered her concern and went to the chair. Gadreel tipped his head to indicate that she should sit. Faintly annoyed that by doing so he had, consciously or otherwise, assumed the dominant position in the impending discussion, she sat and leaned back, adopting the same okay, now impress me pose as she did when dealing with students one-on-one in her office. ‘You want to talk? Let’s talk.’
26
Zan relayed Nina’s words through his headset, then Gadreel’s back to her when he replied. ‘Yes. I first want to, uh . . .’ He checked the computer, but it was unable to help. ‘I don’t have a direct translation,’ he admitted, ‘but I think he’s apologising for hurting you.’
Nina’s attention had not left the Nephilim while he spoke, and there was little in his expression to suggest contrition. ‘Tell him thank you,’ she replied, giving him the benefit of the doubt. ‘He’d only just woken up, and was in a strange situation, confused – I’m sure it was just a misunderstanding.’
The Chinese made the translation. Again Nina watched Gadreel closely. A moment of satisfaction, she thought – but was it because his apology had been accepted, or because it had been believed?
He spoke again. Zan translated. ‘You said those who travelled with me are all dead. Where are the rest of my people?’
‘I don’t know,’ Nina replied.
The simple answer unsettled him. ‘You have not found them?’
‘No. These people,’ she indicated Zan, ‘found one of your fortresses. But everyone was dead.’
‘What about . . .’ Zan stopped, frowning. ‘I know the words, but I don’t understand what they mean. He said “the People of the Tree”.’
‘The Veteres,’ Nina said, for the benefit of those listening in the conference room as well as Zan. ‘The Shangdi – that’s what they called themselves. It represents knowledge – it’s where the myth of the tree of knowledge originated in the Book of Genesis.’ She looked back at the Chinese man. ‘What else did he say?’
‘He asked, what about the People of the Tree?’
‘They’re . . . gone. They don’t exist any more.’
The revelation shocked Gadreel. ‘How can they be gone? What happened to them?’
‘They were driven out of Eden by . . . by us. By humans.’ The computer flashed up an error when Zan attempted to translate the word, and he looked at her for an alternative. The term the Veteres used to describe their slaves came to her. ‘By the beasts.’
Another flash of shock on Gadreel’s face. ‘You killed the Shangdi?’
‘Yes. Not us, now – it happened a long time ago.’
He considered the revelation for a long moment. ‘The beasts were always violent,’ he eventually said. ‘But not like animals, killing for food. They needed violence. It . . .’ Zan paused to find the best word. ‘It excited them. Of all their tools, it was the most powerful.’ The Nephilim leader looked back at Nina. ‘How long ago?’
The Veteres had used the same odd, non-linear numerical system as the Atlanteans; even though Nina’s innate skill at mental arithmetic meant it only took a few moments to convert one hundred and thirty thousand years into an Atlantean figure, she then had to get Zan to translate it correctly. She could tell they were finally successful when Gadreel froze, drawing in a long breath before sitting, shaken, on the foot of the sarcophagus. Zan strained to hear his disbelieving whisper. ‘So long . . . so much time . . .’
‘I’m sorry,’ she said quietly.
The tall man was silent for the better part of a minute, Nina not wanting to disturb him as he came to terms with the new reality. At last he spoke again. ‘You are a discoverer of how things used to be,’ he said. ‘Does anything remain of the People of the Tree?’
‘Only legends, stories,’ she replied. ‘I followed their trail across the world, from where they began to where they ended. Everything was destroyed.’
‘Eden was where they began.’ Nina found it faintly unsettling that the name was the same in both the Nephilim language and English. ‘Where did they end?’
‘They had a city in Antarctica – the land of cold sand. We found your fortress trapped in ice that had broken away from it. Were you looking for them there?’
‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘To find and free my people.’
‘Were your people in Antarctica?’
‘I do not know where they were taken. To Tartarus, a place of great power, but that is all we knew. We made ourselves stronger in our exile. We had new weapons, new armour, powerful fortresses.’ Zan hesitated over that last, checking the computer, but it had apparently decided upon the same word. Nina understood his confusion: surely a better descriptor for a fortress would be strong? But there was no time to dwell upon it, as Gadreel was still talking. ‘They had hunted us for . . . centuries.’ Another pause as the Chinese worked out an appropriate equivalent. ‘But then we became the hunters. I led the search for our people.’
Nina felt there was something personal about the Nephilim’s description of events. ‘How long were you hunted? You yourself, not your people as a whole?’
‘This is getting hard for me to translate,’ Zan complained. But he did well enough, Gadreel replying: ‘I do not know exactly. We travelled so far and for so long we lost count of the seasons. But I led my people for more than—’ Zan looked at Nina, startled. ‘Three hundred years.’
‘You’re over three hundred years old?’ she gasped.
‘I am older than that,’ Gadreel responded. ‘That is how long we were hunted. I was more than two hundred years old when we began.’
Nina stared at the Nephilim with renewed astonishment. He was over five hundred years old – and had stepped out of the past after more than one hundred thousand years as if not a day had passed. The technology, if something that used crystals and stones rather than gears and circuitry could be so described, of the Veteres and their Nephilim cousins was far beyond anything previously known. ‘So you chased the Veteres to Antarctica?’
Gadreel’s face darkened. ‘Yes. We knew they would hide where the lines of qi were strongest.’ Zan put the translation into terms with which he was familiar. ‘My priestesses followed the lines. But we went into a night that did not end, with a terrible storm. We could not go on.’
An Antarctic winter, Nina realised; for all their advances, the ancient race would probably have been unaware that the continent was plunged into darkness for part of the year. ‘So you put yourselves into the sarcophagi?’
‘Yes. Our supplies ran low. Only a priestess can put us to sleep, or wake us. One chose to remain, to wake us when the storm passed and the sun returned.’ A flicker of sadness. ‘She must not have lived.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Nina said. ‘Was she one of your family?’
‘My people are all my family – I don’t think he means in a literal way,’ Zan interjected, before continuing to translate. ‘But my wife and son were safe; they were sleeping in another place. Before I left, I hid the rest of my people to wait for our return.’
‘But you never did return. So – they might still be there, still sleeping.’
‘Yes . . .’ He straightened, suddenly hopeful. ‘If I help you find them . . . will you help me wake them?’
‘I’ll do what I can, yes. Are they in another fortress?’
‘Yes. It is bigger than the one in which you found me.’
Nina glanced up at the cameras. Gadreel had just confirmed he knew where the main fortress was buried – but that triggered a different thought. She turned back to Zan. ‘The word we’re using, fortress – that’s definitely the correct translation?’
He prickled as if she were accusing him of making a mistake. ‘Yes, of course!’
‘It’s okay, I’m not saying you’re wrong. But a fortress is a fixed defensive structure – yet the Nephilim travelled across Antarctica, and an ocean before that, until theirs got trapped in the i
ce . . .’ She faced Gadreel through the glass. ‘Your fortress – how did you get it to Antarctica?’
Gadreel looked back – then, just for an instant, his gaze flicked away before he spoke. ‘How would you cross a sea?’
‘By boat?’ Nina replied, suddenly suspicious. Was he dissembling, hiding something?
‘Yes, by boat,’ came the reply. ‘That is how we travelled there.’
‘That’s not what I asked.’ But before she could press him further, the laboratory’s main door opened, and Colonel Wu and his escort entered.
Anger flashed across the commander’s face at the sight of the American talking to the Nephilim. He shouted a command to the guards, who rushed to take up positions at the window, and gestured firmly for Nina and Zan to follow him to the conference room.
His daughter and Hui had seen his arrival on the monitor, meeting him at the door. A heated exchange followed, the younger Wu taking almost as much flak as the scientist. The exasperated Hui switched to English so Nina could understand the argument – and participate. ‘We were learning what happened to the Nephilim,’ she insisted. ‘He asked to speak to Professor Wilde, alone.’
‘Why her?’ snapped Colonel Wu.
‘She woke him – she is the only person here who could.’
‘And I’m the only person who’s found archaeological sites belonging to the Veteres – the Shangdi,’ Nina added. ‘They were enemies of the Nephilim. Gadreel was telling me how they were hunted by them.’
‘It is true,’ said Wu, sounding almost unwilling to agree with Nina in front of her father. ‘He gave us information. He mentioned their weapons,’ she added, with more enthusiasm.
That caught the colonel’s attention. He looked across at Gadreel, who was observing with interest. ‘What about fortress?’
‘He must know where it is, because he said he’d help us find it – if we agree to wake his people,’ Nina told him.
‘There are more? How many?’
‘I don’t know. But his wife and son are with them.’
‘That is good,’ said the major. ‘It gives us leverage. He will have to cooperate if he wants to see them again.’
‘He is not our prisoner!’ Hui insisted.
By now, Eddie and Cheng had joined the little group. ‘What about your actual prisoners?’ said the Yorkshireman. ‘Got anything from Eleanor and Donny yet?’
‘Not yet,’ said Colonel Wu. ‘But soon.’
‘You got them to talk?’
Wu asked much the same question in Mandarin, the reply drawing a small smile of satisfaction. ‘The man did not know anything about the spy,’ she said, ‘and the old woman would not talk, even when we put pressure on her son.’
‘You tortured him, you mean,’ Nina said in disgust.
‘But he knew other things that were useful,’ Wu went on, without acknowledging her. ‘Passwords to the Miller & Family bank accounts and financial systems.’
Eddie’s eyebrows rose. ‘Torturing Donny didn’t help you – so you’re going to hit Eleanor where it really hurts.’
‘We take her money,’ Colonel Wu said smugly. ‘One million American dollars at a time. If she does not name spy, she soon have nothing. She will talk.’ He looked back at Gadreel. ‘But fortress more important. Professor Wilde, you say he tell us where it is?’
She nodded. ‘If we agree to help wake his people.’
‘Of course we agree.’ He addressed Zan. ‘Tell him.’ The translator hurried back to his station.
‘But does that mean you’ll actually do it?’ Nina demanded.
Wu turned away without answering. ‘Finding the fortress is a matter of the highest national security,’ his daughter replied instead. ‘You will get him to tell us where it is.’
‘And then Eddie, Macy and I can leave, right?’ Now it was the younger Wu’s turn not to answer. ‘Y’know, I’m not exactly overflowing with trust for you guys right now.’
Macy emerged from the conference room. ‘Mom, what’s going on?’
‘We’re just . . . debating what to do next, honey,’ said Nina, putting a protective arm around her shoulders.
‘I would let you go home,’ Hui assured her. ‘But getting Gadreel to tell us the location of the fortress will be the best way to persuade the colonel, I am afraid.’
Nina reluctantly made a decision. ‘Colonel Wu!’ The commander turned. ‘I’ll do it. I’ll ask Gadreel where to find the fortress.’
For the first time since their meeting, he smiled, though the expression did not suit him. ‘Good. Do it.’ He gestured towards her seat at the window.
‘He’ll be more cooperative if it’s just me and him again,’ she said.
‘Professor Wilde,’ said Hui, collecting a headset like Zan’s. ‘If you wear this, we will be able to hear you more clearly – and we will also be able to speak to you.’
Nina donned it. ‘Just don’t have everyone gabbling in my ear at once, okay?’
Hui smiled, then told the others to return to the conference room. ‘Come on, love,’ Eddie said to Macy. ‘We need to let your mum work.’
‘Mom,’ mother and daughter corrected as one.
He grinned. ‘We’re in China, talking to a five-hundred-year-old man who looks like a space alien . . . and my family still find time to take the piss out of me.’
‘You’d miss it if we didn’t,’ Nina replied.
‘Yeah. I would.’ A moment of utter seriousness behind his grey eyes. ‘Let’s make sure we can keep doing it, eh?’
‘Yeah,’ she replied in kind, before turning to Macy. ‘Go with your dad, okay?’
Macy gave her an unexpected but welcome hug. ‘I’ll watch you on the big screen.’
‘Thanks, honey. Hope I give a good performance.’ She went to Zan’s station, finding him already speaking quietly to Gadreel. ‘What’s he saying?’
‘He was . . . asking if we had agreed to help him,’ came the hesitant reply.
‘What did you tell him?’
‘Nothing! I thought I’d leave that to you.’
Nina got the feeling that the conversation had been more involved, but Hui’s voice in her ear pushed further questions aside. ‘Professor Wilde? We are ready.’
‘Okay,’ she replied, taking her seat. Gadreel still rested on the sarcophagus; he had leaned forward while talking to Zan, but now sat up straight and imperious. ‘Gadreel, I’ve spoken to the other people here, and they’ve agreed to help you revive your people – if you tell us how to find them.’
‘You are not a leader?’ Zan’s voice was flat as he delivered the translation, but the Nephilim had asked the question with surprise.
‘No. I’m from a different country, a different . . . tribe. They don’t have anyone who can use the key.’
Gadreel said a word Zan couldn’t translate, the Chinese shaking his head apologetically. But the Nephilim’s expression was one Nina knew from university, both as a student and a teacher: she could only think that he had said interesting, waiting for the other to elaborate on their theory – or dig themselves deeper into a hole. A pause, then he spoke again. This time Zan knew the words. ‘Do you know how to follow the lines of qi?’
‘I don’t, no,’ Nina admitted. ‘The knowledge was lost.’
‘Then I do not know how to show you where it is.’
‘Oh . . . okay. That kinda puts the kibosh on the plan, then,’ she said to the cameras.
Hui’s voice came through the headset. ‘Colonel Wu suggests we show him a map of the region.’
‘The landscape’s probably changed a lot over a hundred and thirty thousand years,’ she replied. ‘It’d be like burying a pirate’s treasure chest in the woods on Manhattan Island in the seventeenth century, then asking them to take you to it today.’
‘Then what can we—’ Hui broke off as Colonel Wu spoke in Mandarin.
Whatever was being said, it became more heated, the commander’s voice rising. The scientist eventually addressed Nina again, sounding both angry and defeated. ‘The colonel has a new suggestion. Please tell Gadreel to wait.’
‘Tell him . . . okay, tell him somebody’s had an idea, and he’ll have to wait to find out what it is,’ Nina instructed Zan. ‘I’ll be interested myself, actually!’
Leaving the translator to relay her words, she returned to the conference room. ‘What’s going on?’
‘There is a device,’ said Hui, with a brief glance at Eddie and Macy that immediately made Nina concerned for their well-being – not from anything the scientist might do, but because she was warning the redhead that she and her family were about to hear something the Chinese military kept at the highest levels of secrecy. ‘We call it a qi tracker – it shows the flows of earth energy on a global scale. It was built using Nephilim technology.’
‘I thought you couldn’t make it work,’ said Eddie.
‘The rest of it, no. But this . . . It is hard to explain in English,’ she said, frowning.
‘I’ll do it, Mom,’ said Cheng. ‘We used a crystal from the vault. Even though it wasn’t active enough to power any Nephilim tech, we could still test it to see how it reacted to different qi flows, first around the country and then around the world. The changes were at a very low level, but we could still detect them. It let us build up a map that showed us how qi flows around the planet – and now we’ve packed enough computer power into it to see changes in real time.’
‘Oh, you have, huh?’ said Nina, taken aback. ‘So, what – you’re going to wheel this thing in and get Gadreel to point at the fortress on its map?’
That was exactly what Colonel Wu had in mind.
The qi tracker was not what Nina had expected. The name suggested a device resembling a radar dish, but what two men actually brought in on a small pallet was a skeletal torus made of orichalcum and the dark metal she had seen in the ice fortress, crystals and purple stone arranged within amongst a complex web of wiring and microcircuitry. A laptop with the hefty ruggedised casing of military hardware was mounted above it, linked by cables. The whole apparatus stood about two feet tall.
The Resurrection Key Page 28
