The Resurrection Key

by Andy McDermott

  Sidona! She was in the mausoleum—

  Gadreel ran to the stairs, calling his wife’s name. He was halfway down them before a reply came. ‘I . . . I am all right,’ she said, sitting up unsteadily. ‘What happened?’

  ‘The humans dropped one of their chariots on top of the vimana!’

  Sidona gasped as she saw a jagged crack in the crystalline wall. The chamber’s glow now stopped short of the damaged area, as if it had been poisoned. ‘The crystal is broken! It—’

  They both clung to coffins as the floor shook. The fortress heaved itself clear of the ground, a huge crash coming from outside as the truck fell off. More moans and cracks around them – and a new light seeped through the translucent walls. Not the glow of the earth’s power, but daylight. ‘What has happened?’ she said, alarmed.

  ‘We have lost some of our armour,’ Gadreel replied in grim realisation. The adamantium plating beneath the vimana’s nose had been torn off, exposing what was shielded within.

  ‘The crystal heart! If it is unprotected—’

  ‘I know. And the humans’ weapons may be able to damage it.’ The crystal heart was the focus for all the earth energy powering the fortress. ‘The key will soon be here.’ He indicated the remaining sarcophagi. ‘Be ready to use it!’ He ran back to the throne room to oversee the impending battle.

  Eddie got up, finding he had acquired a whole new layer of aches and bruises on top of those already there. He staggered to the broken wall to see the results of his handiwork.

  The concrete mixer had smashed through the fortress’s upper hull, leaking its load into the holes ripped in the metal. The aircraft’s draconic snout was buried in the ground. ‘How to pain your dragon,’ he said, pleased by the damage he had caused. Even if it managed to get airborne again, it would be more vulnerable, even crippled.

  The fortress shuddered and started to pull itself free, the truck noisily rolling off the hull. He turned to find the launcher. Now might be the time to put a rocket through its window—

  Shouts from below. The warriors were no longer advancing in triumph, but had spread out, using the trees for cover as they ran towards him.

  He ducked and ran as their spear weapons came up—

  The wall and floor exploded behind him as he snatched up the Type 08, chunks of shattered masonry bouncing off his back. He kept running, clearing the blast zone, but he had nowhere to go. There was no way off the roof—

  A fearsome crack – and the entire end of the structure where he had been standing fell in a storm of flying debris.

  Gadreel looked on as his warriors blasted the building with their barakas. The chariot’s driver had just shown himself, a bald human in a coat of dark leather, and the angry men below reacted accordingly.

  The end of the structure collapsed, its upper floors falling and bringing those below cascading down. A large part of the strange building – he still could not fathom its function – remained standing, though.

  It would not for long. ‘Bring it all down!’

  Eddie reached the upper floor’s broken end and looked down. If he hung from the edge, he might be able to drop to the level below – but its surviving floor slabs were badly damaged. A safe landing was far from guaranteed, and even then he still had to get all the way to the ground.

  Where he would be an easy target. More energy bolts slammed into the car park, concrete shattering explosively – and then a main gun on the fortress unleashed another devastating blast. A huge section of the top floor blew apart, tons of smashed concrete flying at him—

  He dropped over the edge, hitting the slab below hard – and scrambled backwards as a punishing grey hailstorm swept past in front of him.

  No time for relief. More shots from the spears ripped into the concrete behind—

  Another sizzling burst from one of the bizarre weapons – but further away. A moment later came screams as an explosion sent the Nephilim flying.

  Nina pursued the warriors all the way from the mall, exhausted by the effort of keeping up with their greater pace, but refusing to surrender. She followed a road one block clear of the devastated remains of the skyscraper – two skyscrapers, she saw, praying they had been as empty as the rest of the city – to find the fortress hovering in a park . . . and the armoured group she was following opening fire on someone atop a parking lot beside it.

  She instantly recognised their target. Eddie darted out of sight as explosions pulverised the wall. She gasped in fear, then saw an even greater danger as one of the fortress’s fang-like guns swung around. A powerful blast of earth energy shot from it – and the structure’s whole end crashed down like a house of cards.

  ‘Jesus!’ Nina cried. She ducked into the cover of a wall at the park’s entrance, unsure what to do, before anger took over. Eddie wouldn’t have left the Chinese base without Macy – and if he was in danger, so was she. She looked back out. The warriors were sprinting towards what remained of the parking structure, still attacking—

  She aimed the baraka and fired.

  The orichalcum cover snapped open, a bolt of energy bursting from the crystal within. It hit the ground amidst the running group. The explosion blew a crater from the turf, flinging warriors into the air. At least one was dead, his body torn in half, and another seriously wounded as he screamed and clutched at the stump of a missing leg.

  But the others recovered quickly. Their own weapons came up—

  Nina dived flat behind the wall. More blasts blew holes through it above her. Most of the debris was blown overhead, but she was still pummelled by broken brickwork. Clutching the spear, she crawled along until the fusillade halted, then leapt up and ran.

  She reached a low building and hurried around behind it, heading along the edge of the park towards the parking structure – and her husband.

  ‘Bring the key to the fortress!’ Gadreel shouted into the speaking crystal. ‘Now!’ The urge for petty revenge had just cost him the life of at least one of his people, and wounded others – a mistake he should have known better than to make. ‘Forget the beasts – we are leaving!’

  The warriors on the ground started back towards the vimana, some with clear reluctance. They too wanted vengeance. But that would come once the resurrection key was safely in Sidona’s hands and the fortress was in the air.

  ‘Take flight as soon as everyone is aboard,’ he shouted to the man at the central altar. ‘Then we will destroy this entire city!’

  Eddie dropped down through the car park’s levels and leapt to the debris-strewn ground. The new attacker had drawn the Nephilim away from him. There was only one person it could be: Nina. Her Atlantean DNA had apparently powered up more than the UFO.

  He hurried into the park to see the warriors climbing on to the fortress. No sign of Nina. Hopefully she was being sensible and hiding rather than running towards the fray looking for him—

  ‘Yeah, right,’ he muttered, knowing full well she would be doing the latter.

  The last Nephilim clambered onto the fortress’s hull, and it started to rise. The air trembled with the sheer energy flowing through it.

  Eddie hurriedly brought up the launcher, but his firing angle through the broken window was already shrinking. He prepared to take the shot anyway. It was his last chance to bring the bastards down—

  Something unexpected held his finger off the trigger.

  Metal tore with an echoing screech. A large section of the lower hull broke loose from beneath the fortress’s nose, torn armour plates dangling from buckled beams.

  An unearthly light shone within the gaping wound. As the dragon rose higher, Eddie saw its source: a large pearl-like crystal set into its chin.

  He didn’t know what it did. But the armour had been there to protect it, so he knew what it was – his new target.

  ‘Eat this, Smaug!’ he yelled as he fixed the launcher’s sights on the sh
ining jewel – and fired.

  The rocket shot from the tube, a small launch charge propelling it a few metres clear before the main booster ignited and blasted it onwards. It took only a split second to reach its target. The warhead’s first stage detonated, punching through the crystal’s skin – then the second, larger explosive charge exploded inside it.

  The glowing sphere blew apart.

  Jagged shards rained from the fortress, their glow fading as they fell. The light in the surviving crystals within the dragon’s chin also flickered, then diminished. The hovering behemoth nevertheless kept climbing . . .

  For a moment.

  Then it wavered, losing height—

  Heading for Eddie.

  ‘Fuckeration!’ he yelled, throwing down the empty launcher and running like hell. The fortress swept after him. The edge of its hull clipped the ruined car park – and smashed through the concrete as if it was cardboard.

  Debris bombarded the park as the dragon swept overhead, trailing dust. Eddie dodged a hunk of slab tumbling past—

  Another lump slammed into his back, knocking him down.

  He bowled over the grass as more pieces fell around him. Dizzied, he looked up – to see a section of support pillar as big as a phone booth rushing at him—

  Someone grabbed him.

  He didn’t even have time to see who it was. All he could do was force his legs into motion as he was hauled up. The pillar smashed into the earth behind him like a piledriver. He stumbled with his rescuer across the grass.

  The hail of debris died away. Pained, exhausted, he flopped to the ground, looking up to see—

  ‘Ay up,’ said a familiar voice. Nina knelt over him, looking down with a relieved smile.

  ‘Ay up,’ he echoed wearily. ‘Fancy meeting you here.’

  ‘I wouldn’t recommend the airline, but I’m glad I made it. Where’s Macy?’

  His daughter’s name gave him the energy to sit up. ‘With Cheng. I’m hoping they’re well clear of all this.’

  ‘We need to find her.’

  ‘I know.’ She helped him stand. ‘How’d you get out of the fortress?’

  ‘Long story, involving way too much falling from great heights and being shot at. I took the key – but they got it back.’

  ‘Don’t think they’ll be doing much with it, though.’

  ‘Why not?’

  They moved clear of the drifting dust – and Nina was startled to see the fortress swaying drunkenly as it fought to stay airborne. It was fighting a losing battle, dropping slowly but inexorably back to earth. ‘Turns out it had a glowing weak spot like something from a PlayStation game,’ Eddie told her. ‘So I blew it up with a rocket launcher. Job done.’

  She grinned, but only briefly. ‘They can still wake the rest of their people with the key – and they’ve got the Chinese earth energy weapon as well.’

  Eddie frowned. ‘What weapon?’

  ‘That so-called tracker of theirs? It’s more like a targeting system! Like the weapon DARPA built, but even more powerful. That must be how they blew up the skyscrapers.’ She regarded the ruined towers. ‘Gadreel made me wake his wife, Sidona – she’s some sort of high priestess, and can control earth energy.’

  ‘So can you.’

  ‘She’s better. A lot better. Colonel Wu said the tracker can use qi energy to blow up a target anywhere on the planet – and now the Nephilim have it. They’ve used it.’

  ‘If their UFO’s fucked, they won’t be able to escape with it,’ said Eddie – but then all concerns about the giants vanished as he saw two figures enter the park. ‘Macy!’

  ‘Oh, thank God!’ Nina cried, breaking into a run. Eddie followed at his best stagger. ‘She’s all right!’

  ‘Mom!’ Macy cried, leaving Cheng behind as she rushed to meet her parents. ‘Dad! Are you okay?’

  ‘We’re fine,’ Nina assured her, embracing her tightly. Eddie caught up to join in the reunion. ‘What about you? Are you hurt?’

  Macy shook her head. ‘I got some bruises when the skyscraper fell over, but I’ll be fine.’

  Nina blinked. ‘You were in the skyscraper?’ She rounded on Eddie. ‘You took my daughter inside a collapsing skyscraper?’

  ‘Like you said, long story,’ he replied. ‘I’ll tell you later. We need to get out of here first, though. And I don’t just mean this city,’ he added as Cheng arrived. ‘Getting out of China would be a very good idea. Before they blame all this on us.’

  ‘I agree.’ Nina looked back at the fortress. It weaved between skyscrapers, still losing height. ‘But I don’t think this is over . . .’

  37

  ‘What is happening?’ roared Gadreel, clinging to an altar as the vimana rolled. ‘Take us higher!’

  ‘I can’t, my lord!’ the warrior at the controls protested. ‘Something is wrong!’

  Sidona hurried into the throne room. To Gadreel’s shock, she had a bloody gash down the left side of her face. ‘They destroyed the crystal heart! The mausoleum is also damaged. Some of the sarcophagi are broken!’

  ‘How many?’ he asked, appalled.

  ‘I don’t know – perhaps eight or nine?’

  ‘The woman Wilde killed some of our warriors as well. We have lost too many people today.’ A brief look, both grieving and angry, at Turel’s body. ‘The humans have become dangerous.’

  ‘Too dangerous,’ she snapped. ‘There is only one way to deal with an infestation. Wipe them out!’

  ‘And we shall. But first we must find the rest of our people.’

  ‘They are imprisoned! We don’t know where they are!’

  His knowing expression changed her despair into hope. ‘I do,’ he told her. ‘The humans’ machine showed me a map of the whole world. And I saw where the lines of force meet at their strongest. I know how to find Tartarus! But the vimana is too damaged to take us there. Sidona, use the key and wake as many as you can, quickly. We will leave in the vimana-kal.’

  Her gaze went to the golden clamshell behind the three thrones. ‘It is too small to take us all!’

  ‘We must make hard choices to survive.’ He put his hands firmly on her shoulders, eyes fixed on hers. ‘But we will survive. Choose the strongest, the best.’

  The weight of responsibility placed upon her was almost physical, her shoulders sagging, but she nodded. ‘Yes, my lord. And . . . what of the others?’

  ‘They must win us the time we need to escape.’ He released her and went back to the window. The fortress was passing between towers, following a broad avenue into the city’s heart. ‘Can you go no higher?’

  ‘No, my lord,’ the pilot replied.

  ‘The humans will send more flying machines against us. They came from the west . . .’ He surveyed the vista ahead, then pointed at another park, with a low hill at one end. ‘There! Land us with our weapons facing west – and the vimana’s nose raised. When they come, we shall be ready for them. And if they attack our fortress on the ground . . .’ His face twisted into a snarl. ‘We will take a hundred of their worthless lives for every Nephilim who falls!’

  To Major Wu’s fury, the helicopter pilot hurriedly took his Z-20 well clear of the battle zone after the two jets were destroyed. He then orbited the city centre four kilometres out, giving those aboard a terrifying grandstand view of the skyscraper’s collapse. The loss of two fighters had deterred the officers at Cangliang from sending any more aircraft, angering her even more.

  But now something had turned the tide. Through binoculars, Wu saw an explosion beneath the shimmering dragon’s head – then the fortress went out of control, crashing into a parking lot before struggling back into the air.

  There was no doubt that it was damaged. The multispectral ripple of its shield had gone, and it lost height as it fled deeper into the city. ‘They’ve got it!’ she cried. ‘The men from the other chopp
er – some of them must have survived! They’ve taken it down!’

  ‘It’s still airborne,’ the co-pilot cautioned.

  ‘Not for long.’ She switched her headset to communicate with the airbase. ‘This is Major Wu! The UFO is crippled – I repeat, it’s going down. I need ground troops to secure it and make sure none of the monsters escape. Get as many men here as you can, now!’

  There was far less resistance to her orders this time. She switched back to the intercom. ‘Take us in closer,’ she told the pilot. ‘And ready the guns!’

  ‘We need to tell my mother what’s happening,’ said Cheng as his companions watched the fortress disappear behind more towers. He took the laptop from his backpack and unfolded the satellite link.

  ‘Can’t you just phone her?’ Macy asked.

  He shook his head. ‘All civilian telecommunications will have been cut off. If Major Wu didn’t order it, someone at the base will have.’

  ‘Your government doesn’t want videos of a UFO blowing up half the city all over the Chinese version of Twitter, I guess,’ said Nina.

  ‘Weibo, and no, it doesn’t. They’re kind of strict about state security. But this uses military channels, so it should still work.’ He set up the antenna, then opened the laptop and started to type.

  Eddie turned at the sound of a helicopter, seeing a distant Z-20 pursuing the fortress. ‘That must be Major Wu. Christ, she’s not going after that thing, is she? It’s still dangerous.’

  Cheng looked up briefly from the computer. ‘If you blew up its power source, will the guns still work?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Nina. ‘It might depend who’s using them. Anything that requires care and precision and complex manipulation of the earth energy fields, that’s a job for a woman. If it’s just blam-blam blowing crap up, you only need a man.’

  ‘Things haven’t changed much in a hundred thousand years, have they?’ Eddie said, grinning.

  A voice came from the laptop’s speakers: Dr Hui Ling. ‘Ma-!’ said Cheng, relieved.

  His mother was equally happy. They had a heartfelt exchange in Mandarin, before Cheng switched to English so his companions could join in. ‘Professor Wilde’s here, and so are Mr Chase and Macy. They’re all okay.’