The archaeologist part of her was already seething at the thought of the artefacts that must have been torn apart and melted down to make the machine. Macy’s thoughts were more prosaic. ‘Does it work?’ she asked, regarding the tracker with curiosity.
Hui smiled at her. ‘It does. It is still being developed, but it is much more accurate than when first tested. We can track lines of qi energy across the world to within one hundred metres.’
‘Why?’ Nina asked. ‘I mean, why build it in the first place if you can’t actually use earth energy?’
‘Knowing where the lines of qi flow will let us perform experiments. Once we know the power is there, we may be able to harness it – without needing a person to channel it. We could have limitless electricity without burning coal or flooding farmlands.’
‘So why’s the military in charge of it and not the Ministry of Energy?’ said Eddie sceptically.
Major Wu overheard the discussion, and moved to end it before further awkward questions could be asked. ‘Professor Wilde, once the tracker is running, you will ask Gadreel for the location of the buried fortress.’
‘What if he can’t find it?’ said Nina.
‘That is not an option. He must find it.’
‘Good to know you’re flexible.’ She examined the machine as it was placed alongside Zan’s station. One of its bearers opened the laptop, pecking out commands on its keyboard. LEDs inside the torus lit up to indicate that it was now active. Nina glanced at Gadreel, who watched with fascination. Amazement that the savage beasts who had been humanity at the time he entered stasis had now created their own technology, perhaps? Or was he containing his contempt that for all their advances, they still couldn’t replicate that of the Veteres and the Nephilim?
The man working the laptop called out to Colonel Wu, who nodded. ‘It is ready,’ his daughter announced. ‘Display the map. Professor Wilde, ask him to show us the fortress.’
Nina took her seat beside the softly humming tracker. Its operator gave the trackpad a final tap before retreating.
Two maps appeared on the laptop’s screen. One was a Mercator projection of the world, the other a computer-generated globe. Red lines began to appear on both, a twisting web spreading over the earth’s surface. ‘Are those the lines of earth energy?’ Nina asked, watching as the network grew ever more dense.
‘Yes,’ Wu replied. ‘The tracker will take few minutes to show them all, but now it is calibrated it can identify them even on the other side of the planet.’
Gadreel moved closer to the glass, crouching for a better look. The laptop was on a swivel mount; Nina turned it towards him. ‘Well, he’s got to see the thing to find the fortress,’ she pointed out as the Chinese officers expressed silent disapproval.
Gadreel’s expression became one of amazement as he stared at the screen. For all the ancient race’s achievements, television had not been one of them, a moving picture as remarkable to him as an artefact levitated by earth energy was to a modern human. Nina spoke to him. ‘This is a map of the world. The red lines are where earth energy is flowing.’
‘I understand,’ came the translated reply. Gadreel stared intently at the image. Ever-finer lines were being drawn, curling and weaving across continents between much heavier currents of natural power. ‘I recognise some places.’ He pointed, Nina leaning to see where he was indicating. It seemed to be the region of the Persian Gulf. ‘That sea. We explored it.’
‘I don’t know exactly where he’s pointing,’ Nina told the observers. ‘Is there a way to zoom in?’
‘It is a touchscreen,’ Hui replied. ‘You can use it like the map on a phone.’
Nina hesitantly put her thumb and forefinger over the Gulf on the Mercator projection and slid them apart. The map expanded. The CGI globe followed suit, the world turning to bring the Middle East to the sphere’s centre. Even through the glass, she heard Gadreel make an exclamation. A moving picture was impressive enough, but an interactive one was on another level entirely. She pointed out the enclosed waters. ‘Is this the sea?’
‘Yes,’ came the reply. ‘From it, we travelled east.’
Nina zoomed back out. Gadreel gazed intently at the map, taking in the shapes of the coastlines and the paths of energy crossing them. She had an idea and scrolled to Asia, then downwards to reveal Antarctica. ‘This is where the Veteres hid their city,’ she told him. ‘Where your fortress was trapped in the storm.’ There were several places on the frozen continent where major lines crossed each other: confluence points. From past experience, she imagined that if she moved the map to Europe, she would see another over Glastonbury in southern England.
‘Go up,’ the giant ordered. She dragged the map back towards the equator. ‘Stop.’
Australia, the vast island chain of Indonesia and the Philippines, and the Malaysian peninsula were now on view, more confluences dotted amongst them. ‘Do you recognise it?’ she asked.
Another long pause, Gadreel absorbing the image before replying. ‘We passed many islands when we travelled to Antarctica. But I do not know these places for certain.’
‘Show him where we are now,’ said Major Wu. ‘See if he recognises it.’
Eddie, standing with Macy and Cheng at the lab’s rear, offered another suggestion. ‘Better idea – show him where you lot found the fort at the nuke test site. If that was like an outer defence for his main fortress, he’d know how far apart they were, and in what direction.’
‘Good idea,’ said Nina, before turning to the Chinese. ‘Where was it found?’
Zan reached over to scroll the map. China came into view, along with parts of the surrounding nations. He pointed out a particular spot in the country’s west, then returned to his computer, speaking in the Nephilim’s own language.
Gadreel examined the map thoughtfully. It was some time before he replied, and he did so carefully, mind still hard at work. ‘The fortress’ – Nina noticed that he now used a word she recognised, vimana – ‘is to the east. It is . . .’ the translator used a calculator app to make a unit conversion, ‘ninety-five kilometres from it, at the foot of a mountain. It was placed . . .’ Zan hesitated again, this time frowning as if unsure he had chosen the correct word, ‘at the meeting of several lines of qi.’
‘He must show us,’ Colonel Wu demanded.
‘It’ll probably be easier if you just do what Gadreel tells you,’ Nina told Zan. The translator nodded and began an exchange with the Nephilim, adjusting the map with each response. Sensing the task might take some time, Nina rejoined her family.
‘You okay?’ Eddie asked.
‘Yeah, I’m fine. Why?’
He glanced at Colonel Wu and his daughter, both watching Gadreel with hawkish intensity. ‘Don’t like those two,’ he said quietly. ‘I reckon they’re up to something.’
‘Haven’t doubted that since we arrived here. I’m amazed they left me alone with that machine.’
‘You weren’t alone,’ Macy pointed out. ‘Mr Zan was with you.’
A small laugh from Nina. ‘You know, you’re right. You kind of forget he’s there. But it definitely feels like there’s more to the tracker than just, y’know, tracking. It can trace flows of earth energy, sure – but why’s that so important to the Chinese military?’
Eddie lowered his voice still further. ‘Some sort of weapon? Jack Mitchell and DARPA tried to use earth energy to blow stuff up.’
Nina frowned at the thought of the operative from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, America’s secret weapons think tank. He had worked with her to locate King Arthur’s sword Excalibur, itself a conduit for earth energy, before a Russian oligarch could put it to destructive use – only to reveal his true colours and force her to become a living component of his own deadly weapon system. ‘Maybe. But it won’t be any use without someone who can activate it.’
‘Someone like you.’
‘If they try, I’ll make them regret it,’ she promised. ‘I can channel earth energy – and now I know I can control earth energy. It won’t go where they point it, believe me.’
‘Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, eh?’
‘Yeah. Oh, what’s happening?’ Zan was calling to Colonel Wu. The commander and his daughter strode to him. Dr Hui followed as the translator pointed out something on the screen.
‘Better go and find out before they decide we’re done here,’ said Eddie.
Nina took his point and quickly joined the little group. ‘Has he found it?’
‘I think so, yes,’ said Hui excitedly. ‘About fifty-five kilometres from here. Somewhere north of Xinengyuan.’
‘The new city? At least it wasn’t right in the middle of it.’
‘There were several qi confluence points in the region,’ said Zan, indicating the intersections of red lines on the map, now rendered with extra detail to show topography, ‘but Gadreel remembered the mountains nearby. We used them to find the correct location.’
‘He sure?’ asked Colonel Wu. The translator nodded. ‘Good. We begin now.’ He summoned the two men who had brought the tracker, then gave them orders. Hui reacted in alarm.
‘What’s going on?’ Nina asked.
‘I don’t know,’ she replied. ‘Colonel Wu!’
He ignored her until he had finished, his subordinates saluting and going to the tracker. They closed the laptop and carried the machine away. Major Wu went with them, taking out a phone to issue orders of her own. The colonel summoned Hui to follow as he moved out of Zan’s earshot. ‘Professor Wilde. You too.’
Nina and Hui exchanged worried looks, then went to him.
‘What are you doing?’ the scientist demanded.
‘We have location of fortress,’ he said. ‘We now find it.’
‘It is an archaeological site,’ Hui protested. ‘I am in charge of—’
‘I am in charge!’ Wu interrupted.
Hui tried to stifle her shock at the abrupt usurpation of her position. ‘I was appointed by the Central Committee,’ she said stiffly. ‘You have no right to overrule me on any matters concerning the Nephilim.’
‘I have orders,’ growled the colonel. ‘You obey, or I remove you.’ As Hui stared at him, speechless, he turned to Nina. ‘Now we know where to look, this project no longer scientific. It now military. No more delays. We fly there in helicopters and search.’
The way he was regarding the two women gave Nina the feeling she was about to receive some very unwelcome news. ‘You mean “we” as in “me and my team of soldiers and nobody else, especially not any Americans”?’ she asked hopefully.
‘You both come. And him.’ He pointed at Zan, who was back at his computer and speaking into his headset. ‘And . . . that.’ A final stab of his blunt finger at Gadreel.
‘Why do you need me?’ Nina protested.
Colonel Wu indicated Gadreel again. ‘He say only women can open fortress.’ He added some Mandarin.
Hui translated for Nina. ‘Priestess,’ she said. ‘Gadreel told Zan that only a priestess can open the fortress.’
‘Like I told Gadreel, I’m not a priestess!’
‘You come with us,’ said the colonel. It was a direct order, anger rising behind it.
‘What’s going on?’ Eddie demanded, coming closer with fists balled. A sharp look from Wu prompted guards to block his approach.
‘They’re taking me with them to find the fortress,’ said Nina. ‘And I’m sure they’ll honour their deal with Gadreel and wake up his family once we get inside, right?’
‘This is not my doing,’ Hui protested. ‘Colonel, I am still in charge of this operation! I will take this to the highest authority if I have to.’
‘Do that,’ Wu snapped. ‘But later. Now, you have orders.’ He called out to Zan, who reacted in dismay as he was given his new assignment. Then the commander turned on his heel and marched away, two guards falling in behind.
‘This – this was not supposed to happen!’ Hui told Nina. ‘I am sorry, I thought . . .’
‘You thought the military would just stand back and let you run things?’ Eddie offered as a worried Macy joined him. ‘Sorry, but that’s never happened in the entire history of the world. Would have thought an archaeologist would know that.’
Hui spoke to Zan. ‘Have you told Gadreel what just happened?’
‘No,’ he replied, flustered. ‘I was . . . asking him if he knew any more about the fortress.’
‘Do not tell him the situation. We do not want him to think that we have lost control to the military.’
‘Y’know, he’s probably figured that out already,’ said Nina. The Nephilim now stood with arms folded and feet apart in an unmistakably dominant pose, looking down on the aggravated humans beyond the glass as if observing the reaction inside an ant farm after he had shaken it. ‘He might be five hundred years old, but he’s not senile.’
‘I still have to tell him the colonel commandant wants him to go with us,’ said Zan.
‘Do that. But . . . be subtle. Make it seem we still have authority.’
‘Good luck with that,’ said Eddie.
Zan turned pensively back to Gadreel. Nina’s expression as she faced Eddie and Macy was equally concerned. ‘Somehow I doubt the colonel’s going to let you come with me.’
‘So do I,’ the Englishman replied. ‘Still, at least we’re not prisoners. We might be inside a secret lab in an underground bunker guarded by hundreds of soldiers on a military base in the middle of a desert in China, but they haven’t actually locked us up. Yet.’
Nina smiled, then crouched to hug Macy. ‘Afraid I’ll be taking another trip without you. Will you be okay?’
‘Daddy’ll be with me, so . . . I guess.’ Not even her father’s presence was enough to overcome her misgivings. ‘Why do they need you to go? Daddy said it was because you’re the only person who can control earth energy.’
‘That they know of,’ Nina clarified – uncomfortably aware that there was a good chance Macy shared the same genetic key, and that if the Chinese had not yet come to the same realisation, they might do at any time. ‘They need me to open the fortress. If it’s still there – it could have been destroyed thousands of years ago.’
‘Let’s hope,’ said Eddie. ‘I get the feeling nothing good’ll come of it if you find the thing.’
‘Same here.’ She looked around as a phone rang.
Dr Hui answered, face falling in resignation as the caller spoke. ‘That was Major Wu,’ she said. ‘Professor, we are to meet the colonel and his team in fifteen minutes.’
‘I’ll get my gear,’ said Cheng.
His mother shook her head. ‘No. I’m sorry, but . . . the major’s orders were that only myself, Professor Wilde and Zhi are to come. And Gadreel.’
The young man was outraged. ‘But this is an archaeological mission! If soldiers start crashing around inside the fortress, they could wreck everything!’
Eddie grinned. ‘You really are Nina’s student, aren’t you?’
‘I’m being serious!’ Cheng looked back at Hui. ‘This is your project – you’re in charge. You don’t take orders from them!’
‘I’m afraid I do.’ She sighed. ‘Everyone does, if they know what is good for them.’ A moment of maudlin defeat, then she raised her head. ‘Professor Wilde, Zhi? We must go.’
Zan hastily concluded his exchange with the Nephilim. ‘I’m ready! But I need to get some things.’
‘You have fourteen minutes,’ Hui told him. The translator hurried away, Gadreel watching him go. She turned back to her still fuming son. ‘Just because the military want to secure the site does not mean there will be nothing left to discover.’
‘I hope so,’ Cheng replied, unconvinced.
‘We will set up a li
ve video feed to the control centre. I want you to monitor it. And take Mr Chase and his daughter. If anyone questions their presence, tell them you are all there on my authority.’
‘What if they call Colonel Wu and he orders us out?’
‘I think the colonel will have more important matters on his mind.’ She kissed Cheng on the cheek. ‘But you should get there quickly. If you are already inside when the military observers arrive, they will be less likely to make you leave.’
He gave her a reluctant nod. ‘Zàijiàn,’ he said, before facing Eddie and Macy. ‘She’s right. We should go to the control centre.’
‘Okay,’ said the Yorkshireman. ‘Nina, you take care.’
‘Don’t I always?’
‘I wouldn’t need to remind you if you did!’ They shared a smile. ‘Come on, Macy. Let’s see if there’s anything expensive you can break.’
‘Daddy!’ Macy objected as they followed Cheng from the lab. ‘You’re the one who always breaks things.’
‘Are you ready?’ Hui asked Nina.
The redhead sighed. ‘No, but that’s never stopped me before.’
Ten minutes later, the two women headed for the elevators. Hui had detoured to collect a hastily assembled pack of archaeological tools and an expensive camera. Nina almost started to gather equipment of her own, but suppressed her professional urges; the operation was still in the hands of the Chinese military, and she was being forced to help them. Her cooperation would be the bare minimum she could get away with.
‘I do not know how long this will take,’ Hui said as they entered the corridor leading to the Atlantean vault’s hangar. ‘Gadreel may recognise the landscape when we arrive, but—’ To her surprise, Zan emerged from the archive ahead of them. ‘What are you doing?’
The Resurrection Key Page 29
