The Resurrection Key

by Andy McDermott

  ‘I – I was checking the original inscriptions,’ he replied. ‘I wasn’t sure I’d translated some of Gadreel’s words properly. I wanted to look at the source.’

  ‘Yeah, I thought some things didn’t seem right,’ said Nina. ‘Like when you said the fortress was “placed” on an earth energy confluence; I could tell you thought that wasn’t the right word.’

  ‘Come on,’ said Hui, looking at her watch. ‘We have to go.’

  They set off again. Zan, suddenly sweating, put one hand in his pocket, something small clutched tightly in his palm.

  27

  Two military helicopters waited outside the bunker’s entrance, transport aircraft that nevertheless had guns mounted on each side. A troop of soldiers stood before one, a smaller group with a large case that Nina guessed contained the qi tracker at the other. All were armed.

  ‘Going in heavy for an archaeological expedition, aren’t you?’ she said, ostensibly to Hui but deliberately loudly enough for both Colonel and Major Wu to hear.

  ‘This is a matter of national security,’ the younger Wu snapped. ‘The area will be sealed off and any civilians removed. For their own safety,’ she added, almost as an afterthought.

  ‘Uh huh.’ Nina, Hui and Zan stopped at the helicopter. ‘So where’s Gadreel?’

  Colonel Wu looked back. Nina turned to see three more soldiers escorting the Nephilim into daylight. Gadreel was now shrouded in a camo-patterned tarpaulin hastily repurposed into a cloak, sandals on his feet. ‘Nice camouflage. I almost didn’t see the ten-foot-tall man.’

  ‘It will be windy in the mountains,’ Hui told her. ‘We did not want him to die of exposure – and,’ a small smile, ‘we did not have any coats in his size.’ Nina half smiled too. ‘There was something else inside the sarcophagus as well as his clothing,’ the scientist went on, serious again. ‘A trikan. Like the Atlantean weapons, but larger.’

  ‘Yeah, we found one in the ice fortress.’ Nina watched the approaching Nephilim survey his surroundings. Some of the soldiers, having not seen the giant before, looked on with wonderment, uncertainty and even fear. ‘He took the clothes, but left his weapon?’

  ‘He knows we outgun him,’ said Major Wu.

  Hui had her own view. ‘Perhaps he trusts us and does not think he needs it?’

  ‘Or he’s got something better,’ said Nina, more cynical.

  ‘He has been searched,’ Wu informed her. ‘He is not a threat.’

  The American reserved her judgement on that. Now that he was out of confinement, Gadreel’s confidence had grown to match his stature, looking down on everyone else literally and figuratively. He spoke to Zan, who replied in the Nephilim language before translating for the other Chinese.

  ‘He told him that we are taking him in a flying machine to find the fortress,’ Hui said for Nina’s benefit.

  ‘He doesn’t seem impressed,’ the redhead replied.

  Gadreel, whose head reached almost to the helicopter’s stationary rotor blades, seemed distinctly underwhelmed by the aircraft. There was a roar, and he looked around. Across the sprawling airbase, an angular Chinese stealth fighter hurtled along the runway with afterburners blazing before rocketing skyward. Again, while he now appeared more intrigued, there was none of the shock Nina would have expected from a man from the past seeing twenty-first-century technology for the first time.

  Colonel Wu waited for the thunder to subside, then gave orders. The larger group of soldiers boarded their helicopter, one of the men with the qi tracker opening the other’s cabin door to let the commander enter. Major Wu stood back, directing the scientists inside.

  Nina clambered in. The cabin was outfitted with metal and canvas seats designed for lightness rather than comfort, and while the space was about thirteen feet long, it was not high; even at only five foot five, she had to hunch down to move around. ‘Damn. Gadreel’ll have to fold himself in half.’

  Colonel Wu took the seat closest to the cockpit. He gestured towards the cabin’s empty rear, where blankets and bed rolls had been laid out. ‘He sit on those.’

  ‘If that’s your idea of first-class flying, I’d hate to see your economy section.’ Nina sat as far from the colonel as she could, Hui taking the seat beside her and Zan settling himself opposite. The soldiers then guided Gadreel into the aircraft.

  The Nephilim was far from pleased by the interior, glaring at his fellow passengers as he lowered himself onto the bedding.

  ‘Tell him that at least he won’t have to eat an in-flight meal,’ Nina said to Zan. Hui chuckled, but the translator did not pass on the joke.

  The tracker’s case was secured, then finally Major Wu boarded. The helicopter’s engines started, the rotors slowly beginning to turn. Gadreel reacted in alarm to the initial rumble of machinery, but quickly calmed on seeing that the others were not concerned.

  Before long, they were airborne. The helicopter wheeled into a wide banking turn, heading east. Even wearing headphones, Nina found the noise almost intolerable. She didn’t want to imagine what Gadreel, whose head was too large for the ear protectors, thought of his first flight. ‘How long before we get there?’ she asked Hui.

  The reply came through the internal intercom system. ‘About thirty minutes.’

  Wu heard the question through her own headphones. ‘When we arrive, we still have to search for the location.’

  ‘I hope Gadreel’s got a good memory for topography,’ Nina noted. ‘The landscape will be totally different. The desert’s expanded, rivers have changed course, forests are gone . . .’

  ‘The mountains have not changed,’ Wu replied, with a snide edge. ‘He will recognise them.’

  Annoyed, Nina looked back at the Nephilim as he asked Zan a question, the translator having to yell a reply before giving his companions a nervous look. ‘What did he say?’

  ‘He does not like this,’ Zan told her, one hand in a pocket. ‘Nor do I.’

  ‘Afraid of flying?’

  Neither he nor the Nephilim answered. Nina sighed, then sat back to endure the rest of the journey.

  After twenty-plus minutes, Colonel Wu peered through a starboard-side porthole in response to a gesture by his daughter. Nina followed his gaze. Xinengyuan was visible, concrete and brick dotted with countless tower cranes spreading across the desert. The helicopter’s course would take it north of the city. She peered through the cockpit entrance, seeing mountains ahead. Not far to go.

  Another few minutes, then the aircraft began to descend. Beyond the city was a barren, dusty wilderness. Whatever had prompted the Chinese government to build an enormous new settlement here, it wasn’t the fertile farmland – more likely the combination of a need for jobs and housing for an ever-swelling population, the hope of bringing investment to an isolated region, and somebody aiming to get rich from property sales.

  Colonel Wu gave an order to the pilots, then called to Zan, who translated for Gadreel. The Nephilim’s shouted reply was relayed back to the commander. ‘The helicopter is going to circle so he can view the mountains,’ Hui told Nina. ‘When he recognises the landscape, he will tell us where to land.’

  ‘If he recognises it,’ said Nina. Part of her hoped the fortress would remain lost, her doubts about the Chinese military’s ultimate motives still strong. That led to other worries: if Colonel Wu couldn’t claim his prize, what would happen to her and her family? They had already seen far too much of the secret operation – she couldn’t imagine they would simply be allowed to return home with that knowledge . . .

  The helicopter banked into a lazy, sweeping circle. Gadreel looked out at the mountain peaks rising above the distant horizon. If he did recognise anything, he showed no sign. Minutes passed—

  The Nephilim suddenly shouted. Zan hastily relayed his words, Colonel Wu barking a command to the pilot.

  The helicopter slowed. Gadreel watched the ground sl
ide by. Nina saw nothing but rock and sand and occasional scrubby vegetation, but he was clearly searching for something specific. He looked up at the mountains as if getting his bearings, then back down—

  Another urgent call. Colonel Wu issued a new order. The helicopter pitched back into a hover. It hung in the air while the Chinese urgently consulted amongst themselves, then descended. A thump as it touched down, dust swirling outside. The engines powered down.

  A thudding roar told Nina the second chopper was landing nearby. She looked out to see what had caught Gadreel’s attention, but found nothing. They were near a low and barren dome-shaped hill, the mountains to the north rising beyond it.

  The chopper’s occupants disembarked. Everyone moved clear of the aircraft, regrouping nearby. ‘Okay,’ said Nina, surveying their surroundings, ‘what have we found?’ They were in the mountains’ foothills, a cold wind blowing down the rocky slopes. The sprawl of Xinengyuan began several miles to the south, past nothing but desolation. There was no need to worry about keeping civilians away; there was nobody else remotely nearby.

  ‘He says the vimana, the fortress, is here,’ Zan announced, also looking around. ‘But I don’t know where.’

  ‘He does,’ said Wu Shun, the young woman striding to Gadreel. He was almost twice her height, but she put her hands on her hips like a teacher sternly addressing a pupil as she spoke to him. Zan translated. The Nephilim gave Wu a disdainful look, then turned to the nearby hill, speaking again.

  ‘He says it’s here, under the hill,’ Zan announced.

  Nina regarded the rise. It was roughly eighty feet at its highest, a near-symmetrical mound of sand and broken rock perhaps a hundred yards across. The fortress from the iceberg could have fitted into it several times over. ‘Hope you brought shovels, because you’ll need to do a lot of digging to find it.’

  Even though Gadreel could not have known exactly what she said, he still picked up the gist from her tone. The towering figure smiled, the expression disturbingly out of place on his not-quite-human features, then said something to her.

  She looked back at Zan. ‘What did he say?’

  ‘He said,’ the translator replied, ‘it will not be hard to find. It is not buried underneath the hill.’ His eyes widened in surprise. ‘It is the hill!’

  Gadreel directed the group to one side of the mound, climbing roughly halfway up it. The soldiers from the second helicopter had indeed brought digging equipment; Colonel Wu waited for Zan to relay the Nephilim’s instructions, then ordered his men to start excavating.

  The hill’s upper layers were little more than sand and scree, the soldiers making rapid progress, but before long the ground became more densely packed. Even so, with so many people working hard, a large hole was soon opened up. Four feet deep, five, six, the crater widening.

  Nina stood near the edge to watch. Assuming Gadreel was right and the fortress was indeed here, how deep down would it be? The passage of over a hundred millennia could have deposited an awful lot of debris upon it . . .

  Major Wu took a phone call, then spoke to her father. The colonel’s response was simultaneously satisfied yet impatient.

  ‘What was that about?’ Nina asked Hui.

  ‘They think Eleanor Miller will soon tell them the name of the spy,’ she replied, before shaking her head. ‘What sort of woman would let her son suffer to protect a secret, but break because her money is being taken away?’

  ‘A very rich and unpleasant one,’ said Nina. ‘Mind you, her son did leave her to die from poison gas, so even if they get out of here, I’d imagine the family Christmas dinner would be kinda awkward.’ She gave the other archaeologist a penetrating look. ‘Are they going to get out of here?’

  Hui wore a headset to communicate with the base; suddenly uncomfortable, she muted the microphone. ‘That is . . . unlikely,’ she whispered.

  ‘And what about me and my family?’

  The Chinese avoided Nina’s gaze. ‘I will do everything I can to help you. But . . .’

  ‘But Colonel Wu’s in charge, right?’

  A shamefaced nod. ‘Yeah.’

  A shout from the pit drew their attention. A soldier jabbed into the soil with his shovel, each strike producing a metallic thunk. An order from the colonel, and the other men converged, working at a more hurried pace. ‘They’ve found it!’ said Nina as a dark grey plate was revealed beneath the dust of ages.

  Gadreel, makeshift cape flapping in the gritty wind, stood with the Wus and Zan observing the excavation. He spoke, the translator passing on his words. ‘He said the fortress was buried to hide it from the Shangdi, but there is a way inside. We will have to dig to find it,’ Hui told Nina.

  ‘That’s one good thing about involving the military, I guess,’ the redhead replied as the soldiers tore into the surface. ‘When they’re told to dig, they dig – no standing about drinking coffee or posing for selfies.’

  The other woman smiled. ‘I can tell you have worked with students.’

  The hole grew steadily larger. Gadreel spoke again once enough metal had been exposed for him to assess where it sat on the fortress’s exterior. Nina noticed he was no longer addressing Zan directly; rather, he made proclamations and expected the Chinese man at his side to pass them on to everyone within earshot as if he were a medieval herald. Colonel Wu glared at the pair, then gave stern instructions of his own. The men concentrated their digging in a new spot. ‘I don’t think the colonel likes anyone challenging his authority,’ Nina whispered to Hui, faintly amused.

  Something else was soon found. As more of the metal surface was uncovered, it was revealed to be curved, matching the domed shape of the hill – but the soldiers now reached a flat-floored recess cutting into it. They quickly cleared it of dirt, exposing what lay at its end.

  A door.

  It was oval, much taller than it was wide, like the entrance to the icebound fortress. This one, however, was closed tight to protect whatever awaited inside. The only feature on the otherwise smooth surface was a disc inset into its centre.

  Nina knew what it was. ‘It’s like the lock on the vault from Turkey,’ she said. ‘It channels earth energy.’ She addressed Gadreel. ‘Am I the only person who can open it?’

  The Nephilim’s amused condescension was clear even before Zan translated. ‘Some tools of the Nephilim can only be used by priestesses, but a fortress that even the ruler could not enter would be useless.’

  ‘Then tell him to open it,’ said Colonel Wu firmly as Nina frowned. ‘Now.’

  Zan passed on the command. The giant glowered at the officer, but climbed down into the trench. The soldiers backed away – though at another order, they brought up their weapons to cover him.

  Gadreel eyed them, then spoke, Zan acting as relay. ‘He said, “Do you not trust me?”’ Hui told Nina. ‘“It is just a door.”’

  ‘A door that only he knows what’s behind,’ she pointed out.

  ‘Do you not trust him?’ asked Hui.

  Her reply was sardonic. ‘My trust supply’s pretty depleted right now.’ She lowered her voice. ‘He lied.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘At the base, he said that only a priestess could open it. He wanted me here for something.’

  The older woman shifted uncomfortably. ‘Colonel Wu would have made you come here no matter what.’

  ‘Why? What’s he got in mind for me?’

  Hui was reluctant to answer. She looked around in relief as father and daughter concluded a muted discussion of their own. The major told the soldiers to lower their weapons. Gadreel waited for them to retreat, then placed his palm against the disc.

  Nothing happened. Colonel Wu’s face darkened, and even Gadreel appeared concerned – then the metal underfoot shuddered with a deep, heavy thump. Another sound, the grind of a mechanism moving for the first time in untold centuries, and the door beg
an to open.

  A gust of escaping air kicked up a whirl of sand around Gadreel’s feet. The fortress had been tightly sealed. He stepped back as the oval hatch swung inwards.

  Colonel Wu entered the trench, standing beside – and just ahead of – Gadreel as the interior was revealed. A passageway disappeared into darkness. Hui began excited commentary into her headset for the benefit of those at the base.

  Nina moved for a better look. Major Wu was about to wave her back when her father interceded. ‘Come, look,’ he said, gesturing at the opening. ‘You went in other fortress. You know what inside.’ A meaningful look at the Nephilim. ‘You tell us if he try tricks.’

  She watched as the door jolted to a stop, fully open. ‘So . . . who’s going in first?’

  ‘You,’ said the major. ‘As long as your husband and daughter are our guests,’ a thin smile, ‘we trust you.’

  Colonel Wu called out to his men, several hurrying back to the helicopters. They soon returned bearing assorted equipment, including hand-held and clip-on flashlights – and the qi tracker’s crate. ‘Why are you bringing that?’ Nina demanded.

  The colonel ignored her, staring into the shadows beyond the hatch. ‘Professor Wilde,’ he said. ‘Lead the way.’

  Nina sighed, then took a flashlight from Hui. ‘At least the floor’s level this time.’

  She stepped across the threshold – becoming the first living thing to enter the buried fortress for one hundred and thirty thousand years.

  28

  The passageway beyond the entrance was much like the one in the iceberg, but almost twice as long. Nina made her way to a T-junction at its end. Others followed; first Hui, relaying what she saw to base, then Colonel and Major Wu. Behind came the first of the soldiers guarding Gadreel, then the Nephilim himself, Zan at his side. The other two guards were behind their charge, and finally came the men carrying the qi tracker.

  ‘Which way?’ Nina called back. ‘In the other fortress, we went right to get to the throne room.’

  Gadreel waited for Zan to translate, then replied. ‘Go left,’ Zan reported.