by Nick Cook
I smiled and nodded.
‘Oh, thank god for that,’ Mike said.
Jack’s expression became pure focus as he moved forward and ran his fingers over the moss covering the rock, probing it with his fingertips. ‘Yes, there’s definitely some sort of structure beneath this.’
‘So what now?’ Mike asked.
‘Working on the assumption there’s a doorway under all this overgrowth, we need to clear the surface,’ Jack replied.
‘Then let’s get this thing done,’ I said.
Together we began to scrape away the moss. Moment by moment, a series of grooved markings in the stonework was revealed. Within a few minutes we had uncovered a winged figure carved in a Mayan style.
‘I didn’t know Incas had angels in their culture,’ I said.
‘They don’t,’ Jack replied.
‘So what is it then?’
‘As we’re pretty certain the Angelus visited this site, maybe this is what they looked like.’
Mike and I exchanged wide-eyed stares.
‘So this is where stories of angels originated from?’ I asked.
‘That’s quite a mental leap, but it does makes sense,’ Jack said. ‘We’ve seen winged beings crop up in many cultures throughout the ages all around the world, so why not Inca too?’
‘So rather than mythical beings dreamt up by a high priest, these were actually depictions of visitors from beyond our world?’ I asked.
‘I guess so.’
Mike whistled. ‘That’s seriously mind-blowing, guys. I’ll be looking at all those old paintings of angels in a new light.’
‘Well, it’s made me even keener to discover what other secrets this building will reveal,’ Jack said. He took out a black-bladed knife from a scabbard on his belt and began to scrape away the mud in the recesses of the carving. He worked for several minutes, his forehead ridging, before leaning back on his haunches and smiling. ‘I thought so.’
‘Thought what?’ I asked.
‘Oh, you’ll see in a moment.’ He worked the blade along the edge of the angel carving, revealing a rectangular outline in the wall. ‘There we go, my friends – one door at your disposal.’
I peered at it. ‘That’s great and everything, but how the hell do we open it? I can’t see a lock or any handle.’
‘Are you sure?’ Jack said. He pointed to a small round recess set between the hands of the angel.
I stared at the Empyrean Key I was holding. ‘You think?’
‘Well, the other one worked in the hidden temple, so why not?’
A tingle ran through me as I gently pushed the stone orb into the recess. My heart shuddered as a faint hum came from behind the carved angel. With a tremble, the door began to drop open, revealing a darkened room beyond.
‘Blimey,’ Mike said.
I placed my hand back on the Empyrean Key, but Jack grabbed my wrist. ‘Hang on, it could be booby-trapped like the other one.’
‘But that orb was already there – and this one is ours. I think we’re good. But to be on the safe side, maybe you two should back up a bit.’
Jack and Mike exchanged looks and stayed exactly where they were.
I sighed, but couldn’t help notice how they both tensed a fraction as I tightened my grip on the stone orb. I yanked it out as if tearing off a plaster.
Exactly nothing happened.
‘Talk about an anti-climax,’ Mike said.
Jack chuckled. ‘Makes a pleasant change when you hang out with Lauren.’
‘Hey, I can’t help it if life has a habit of getting interesting when I’m around.’
Jack gave me an eye-roll.
We peered through the doorway. Despite the night vision, the room inside was pitch-dark.
‘I can’t see a thing,’ Mike said.
‘Our helmets’ vision systems, like the military ones, can only amplify what little light is around, even if it’s only starlight,’ Jack said. ‘So when there’s absolutely no light source, you can’t see a damned thing – unless you have a secondary infrared system.’
Mike fished out a torch from his pack. ‘So we need to go low-tech in other words.’
‘Good idea,’ I said. ‘But best not to turn them on out here, in case that unfriendly eye in the sky spots it.’
‘God, yes.’
Jack and I dug out our torches and, feeling our way with our hands and feet, we stepped into the room.
‘Toggle your night vision off before you turn on your flashlights on, otherwise they’ll blind the helmets’ systems and you won’t see a thing,’ Jack said.
I found the menu option and did the blink thing to kill the night vision. At once everything plunged into shadowy darkness.
‘Everyone ready?’ I asked, my pulse amping at the thought of what we were about to discover.
‘All good,’ Jack replied.
‘Me too,’ Mike said.
‘OK, let’s see what’s inside.’
We flicked on our torches and three cones of light lanced out into the darkness. Any sense of excitement was quickly swept away by crushing disappointment. The room was utterly featureless with just a dirt floor.
‘Goddamn it,’ Jack said.
‘Not another bloody false trail,’ I said.
‘Or maybe someone else got here first?’ Mike said.
‘But there’s no evidence of tampering around the entrance,’ Jack replied. ‘For anyone without an Empyrean Key, I would expect to see at least some chisel marks showing an attempt to force the door open.’
There had to be something here.
I held out the Empyrean Key and struck the tuning fork against it. The deep note hummed at the edge of my hearing and the arrow reappeared, but with one significant change. Rather than pointing out ahead, the arrow pointed down at the floor.
I grinned at the other two and gestured to the ground.
‘Now that’s more like it,’ Jack said.
‘OK, we all know the drill. Let’s clear the dirt away to see what we’re standing on.’
We began to work together again to scrape away the soil.
As a child, Lucy had bought me a dinosaur bone excavation set from the Natural History Museum in London. This was a lot like that – moving soil to reveal the treasure buried beneath.
Glimpse by tantalising glimpse, a spiral motif started to reveal itself.
I squatted on my haunches and ran my fingers over the raised surface. ‘You know where we’ve seen a symbol like this before, don’t you, guys?’
Mike gave me a sharp nod. ‘The crystal rune markings on Orkney formed a spiral pattern. And we all know what was at the centre of that.’
‘Skara Brae, where Lucy’s original micro mind was buried.’
‘So we just need to locate the centre of this pattern,’ Jack said.
We worked quickly to scrape away soil at roughly the centre of the room.
A round recess appeared dead centre, sending my pulse sky-rocketing. The cavity was exactly the same size as the one in the door outside.
I glanced at the other two. ‘Only one way to find out.’
‘What, no health and safety check?’ Mike asked.
‘Stuff that,’ I replied.
I lowered the Empyrean Key into the hole and at once a pulse of blue light shot through the carving. With a glow that warmed the air, any remaining dirt was vaporised in a trail of rising smoke that left the spiral completely clear of debris. The light faded away, followed by a vibration from the floor.
We stepped back as a grinding sound, like a clock powered by stone gears, grew louder. Then the floor slabs started to lower in a radiating pattern, like the petals of a flower. It was only when they’d fully descended that I realised what we were looking at: a stone spiral staircase.
Mike punched the air. ‘Pardon my French, but oh fucking yes!’
I gestured towards Jack. ‘As our resident archaeologist, I think this is your moment again, so lead the way.’
Jack winked at me. ‘Sure thing, L
auren.’ He shone his torch down the steps and began to descend the steps. A moment later he called out, ‘You’d better get yourselves down here!’
We headed after him into a round room about twenty metres wide. Pure unfettered elation surged through me as I saw Jack’s torch spotlighting a micro mind mounted on stone pillars in the middle of the room. But where was the internal light that should have been glowing within the crystal?
Jack knelt to peer at it. ‘Is it dead?’
‘If so, I doubt we’d have been experiencing the monowave quakes,’ Mike replied.
‘And let’s not forget the Empyrean Key is active around here,’ I said. ‘But there’s an easy way to check. Just turn off your torches for a few seconds.’
A moment later we were plunged into darkness…but it wasn’t complete. As my eyes adjusted to the gloom, I saw a faint bluish glow radiating around the micro mind.
I switched my torch back on. ‘It looks as if we’ve hit the jackpot.’
Jack high-fived me. ‘Way to go, Lauren.’
So this was it. We’d really found the micro mind. Any moment now I might get to see Lucy again, something I’d dreamt of ever since our last meeting.
‘I need to get this thing rebooted,’ I said. ‘Then we’ll haul our arses out of here before Alvarez turns up.’
Jack nodded as I took out the tuning fork and struck it against the stone orb. The arrow had vanished and two icons now appeared. One had wavy lines that I knew from experience would pitch us into Jack. I had nicknamed it the twilight zone. Next to that was an orb with concentric circles radiating out – the reboot icon.
The buzz of anticipation grew inside me like a trapped bee as I rotated the icon into the selection window. I flicked my wrist forward and the icon turned red as four inward-facing arrows appeared round it. A faint humming filled the room as flickers of light, visible even in our torch beams, began to grow stronger within the crystal.
‘Houston, we are starting the countdown to launch,’ Jack said with a smile.
‘And now the waiting begins,’ I added.
‘At least it should be quicker than back at Skara Brae when you put a bullet through the micro mind.’
I winced. ‘Please don’t remind me. Anyway, we can take it in turns to watch over the micro mind whilst catching up on some well-earned sleep.’
But Mike was frowning. ‘I don’t think so – listen.’
At first all I heard was the chatter of insects in the jungle drifting down the stairwell. But then I caught the faint clatter of rotors beating the air.
‘Oh god, no.’
We killed our torches, powered up our night-vision systems and headed back up the stairs.
Silhouetted against the starry sky, three squat helicopters were coming in to land on the plateau next to the blast crater that the missile had created. Through my night vision I could see gunners in each of the helicopters’ open side doors, training their weapons down towards the site.
‘Black Hawks,’ Jack said.
‘Damn it, the micro mind is nowhere near finished rebooting yet,’ I said.
‘So we need to buy it some time,’ Mike said.
With a rumble the three Black Hawks landed. As soon as they touched down, soldiers came during pouring out, taking up defensive firing positions around the helicopters. There were at least thirty, heavily armed, all wearing body armour and night-imaging headsets clamped on to their helmets. Then, to top it all, Alvarez himself got out from the last helicopter.
‘What the hell are we going to do now?’ Mike asked.
I chewed my lip and my eyes fell upon the stone still clutched my hand. ‘Hang on, I’ve got an idea.’ I struck the tuning fork against the wall and there it was, the icon with wavy lines.
‘You remember that time we dropped into the twilight zone, Jack?’
‘What about it?’
‘Well, I think that’s gonna give us the edge we need right now.’
He peered at me and his eyes widened. ‘Hell, yes!’
‘What?’ Mike asked.
‘Oh, you’ll see.’ I rotated to the icon and selected it. In an instant the physical world of the jungle, Choquequirao and even the helicopter and soldiers all blurred around us. Our own bodies shimmered and shifted like mirages, the only constant our eyes staring at each other through the visors of our now out-of-focus helmets.
‘What the actual fuck?’ Mike said.
‘This is what we nicknamed the twilight zone,’ I told him.
‘The waveform version of our world you recovered me from when I pulled that vanishing trick at Skara Brae?’ Mike asked, his face defocusing around his eyes.
‘The very same,’ I replied.
‘Good god. I mean, we knew that when particles aren’t observed they’re in a waveform state, but to see this for myself is…’ He flapped his blurring hands, trying to find a word big enough and failing.
‘As great as it is seeing you enjoy this road trip to the other side of reality, why are we here, Lauren?’ Jack asked.
‘Because, as we discovered back at Skara Brae, we’re effectively invisible within it to anyone in our particle reality.’
‘Oh, that’s just genius,’ Mike said.
‘And we can sneak up on Alvarez and his soldiers to take them out before they know what’s happening,’ Jack said.
I shook my head. ‘You’re forgetting we can’t do much to interact with the physical world whilst we’re in the twilight zone.’
Mike nodded. ‘That makes sense. Everything in this waveform universe hasn’t been collapsed into its particle form. Try your gun, Jack, and you’ll see exactly what Lauren means.’
Jack peered at his Glock, which ghosted in and out in his hand. He raised his arm and closed his finger on the trigger. There was dull click, but nothing else.
‘Crap,’ Jack said. ‘So we can watch but not touch in other words?’
‘As much as I hate to advocate violence, don’t be so sure,’ Mike said. ‘After all, we can shut down the orb for a moment, drop back into our world, do what we need to and then shift back to this crazy alternative universe.’
‘A bit like a Klingon ship in Star Trek where they have to decloak to fire?’ I said.
‘That’s a pretty good analogy,’ Mike replied.
‘OK, here’s the plan. Let’s make every moment count to buy the micro mind enough time to repair itself and power up. At the very least, we should try to even up the odds a bit.’
‘Sound good to me,’ Jack said.
‘Just please try not to kill anyone you don’t strictly have to,’ Mike said as he took the dart gun from his shimmering holster.
‘I can’t promise, but I’ll try,’ Jack replied.
Our night vision was effectively redundant as everything glimmered with an aura of blurring bright energy. I raised my visor so I could breathe more easily as we walked towards the soldiers now in a defensive line round the plateau.
Alvarez waved his hand and his soldiers started to advance into the jungle, apart from one, who headed back to a Black Hawk. A moment later he escorted Cristina out from it.
‘Shit, Gabriel obviously wasn’t able to get to her in time,’ I said.
‘But why bring her here?’ Mike asked.
‘Maybe he’s hoping she’ll have one of her visions again,’ Jack said.
I saw Alvarez place the stone orb into her hand. ‘Oh shit, he’s just given her the other Empyrean Key. They’re going to use her like a bloodhound to sniff out the micro mind.’
Jack stared at me. ‘So you think they’ve worked out the sound trigger to activate it?’
‘Going by the fact Cristina’s here, I think that’s a pretty safe bet,’ I replied.
‘But we can’t just stand by and let that happen.’
A hollow feeling filled my stomach. ‘I know…’
‘What’s that meant to mean?’ Mike asked, looking between us.
‘Whatever we have to do to stop them,’ Jack replied.
Mike square
d up to him. ‘You mean killing Cristina to slow them down, don’t you?’
‘I didn’t say that.’
‘You didn’t bloody have to!’
I stood between them. ‘Guys, let’s just make sure it doesn’t come to that.’
Mike glowered at Jack.
Jack sighed and shrugged.
I returned my attention to the scene on the plateau. Cristina was staring at the orb in her hand as the line of soldiers continued pushing out into the jungle.
‘Time to lay on a reception committee for them,’ I said.
We picked our way through the jungle until we were less than a hundred metres away from the two soldiers heading roughly in the direction of the building.
‘OK, get ready, everyone,’ I said.
I closed my visor, holding the tuning fork in my right hand, the Empyrean Key in the left. I waited until the soldiers had passed us, then I chose the dot icon that would shift us back into our particle-filled world. At once the real world swept back into focus and I activated my night vision.
Jack took out the guy on right, finding a gap in his body armour at the neck with a clean shot from his Glock. Mike’s dart slammed into the other’s soldier’s throat as he spun round to fire at us.
I’d already selected the wave icon and flicked my wrist forward. As we shifted back, the merc’s finger tightened on the trigger, but he was starting to lose consciousness. His carbine flashed with its fire, but the world was already ghosting around us. His bullets rippled, travelling on their way as though we weren’t actually there…which in a sense was technically true. We’d become waveform energy patterns once again.
‘Crap, this is better than invisibility,’ Jack said. ‘We’re immune to fire as soon as we’re back in the twilight zone.
The soldier stared at where we’d been a moment before, then dropped to the ground as the dart did its work. But I could already see other soldiers closing in on their fallen comrade.
‘OK, they know we’re here now,’ Jack said.
I shrugged. ‘So let’s dance.’
Initially, the firefight very much went our way. We kept moving, blinking back into existence, taking out a soldier where we could. But gradually a line of Overseers mercs closed in on us like a snare.
I caught some movement behind us further up the slope. I’d been concentrating so hard on the fighting, I hadn’t noticed the small breakaway group that had slipped round the side. Alvarez and another soldier were following Cristina, who was staring at her Empyrean Key and heading straight towards the building containing the rebooting micro mind.
