Shouts and gasps from the soldiers nearby. She turned – to see the fortress moving, blotting out the sun as it passed overhead. The very air trembled with some invisible force, dust swirling across the ground. From below, it resembled a dragon more than ever, an elongated body behind the head bearing elaborate fins and spines. The iridescent glow rippling across the hull grew brighter.
Her rage surged: they were escaping! She snatched a rifle from the closest man and opened fire on the behemoth. The other soldiers followed her lead, sending a storm of bullets up at the dragon’s belly.
At a range of twenty metres the clamour of rounds hitting metal should have been as loud as a hailstorm on a tin roof – but instead she heard a strange echoing hiss. Little flares of light erupted across the fortress’s underside. Not sparks on the hull, but just below it, as if the bullets were being stopped before they hit—
‘It’s got a shield!’ she cried, simultaneously aware of how ridiculous it sounded – and that it was the truth. The qi energy levitating the leviathan also protected it, deflecting their attacks. Hammering the point home, one of the soldiers yelped as something hit him: a still-searing bullet, flattened by its impact against the shimmering forcefield wrapped around the fortress.
Those men familiar with the concept from superhero and fantasy movies ceased fire. It took the others a few seconds longer before they too realised that their guns were causing no damage. ‘Major! What do we do?’ one demanded.
Wu Shun watched the fortress gain height and speed as it headed for Xinengyuan’s distant sprawl. ‘We’ve got to bring it down before it reaches the city!’ The helicopters neared take-off revolutions; she moved clear of the blasting downwash.
Another soldier indicated the Z-20s’ twin miniguns. ‘Our rifles didn’t hurt it – what if those don’t?’
‘Then we need something bigger,’ she said firmly. ‘Get me the airbase!’
Nina’s rush through the lower level was disrupted first by the lurch when the fortress began its flight, then by the echoing cacophony that followed. Hundreds of oddly distorted hammer blows rang up through the floor. It took her a moment to realise that the troops on the ground were shooting at the vimana. Despite the fury of the assault, though, the bullets didn’t seem to be penetrating.
Thankful that she wasn’t about to be shot in the butt, she continued her run. Ahead was the armoury. The giant suits watched her approach through empty black eyes.
Knowing the room had no other exits, she almost ran past to head for the exterior hatch – then swerved inside as she saw the racks of spear-like Nephilim weapons. The qiguns, or baraka, as Gadreel had called them. He had used the crudely repaired core of one to kill his guards, his touch enough to trigger it. Presumably the full weapons worked in a similar, though less self-destructive, way.
If he could fire one, maybe she could too . . .
She ducked around the towering armour and pulled down one of the heavy, ungainly spears. How did it work? What she assumed was the business end was enclosed by an ovoid orichalcum cover, seams suggesting that it opened up. But how? Was there a trigger? She shoved the key into her clothing, then examined the spear as she hurried back to the entrance. The only visible feature on the shaft was an indentation about two inches across, a sliver of crystal set into polished stone within it—
An inhuman shout from the passage. Two Nephilim ran towards her. Both carried trikans. The leader whipped out his arm, the disc spinning from the handguard. Its blades sprang out, shimmering with strange energy – just like Excalibur—
She threw herself into cover behind the doorway as the trikan flashed past, then reached the end of its wire and whipped backwards. She saw it coming just in time to drop. The weapon clipped the door frame, chopping a thumb-sized chunk from the metal before returning to its owner.
Nina recovered from her shock and sprang up, leaning out to point the spear down the passage. The leading Nephilim was less than thirty feet away, trikan spinning again—
She jammed her thumb into the recess and willed her weapon to fire.
It did.
The cover at the spear’s end snapped open, revealing a spiral of metal and crystal identical to Gadreel’s makeshift weapon – and the air before it split apart.
A crackling, shimmering bolt of heat haze lanced from the qigun. The Nephilim tried to dodge, but wasn’t quite fast enough. The disruption caught his arm – which exploded like an egg in a microwave. His trikan fared no better, its disc-shaped body bursting apart.
‘Holy shit!’ Nina gasped, horrified by her weapon’s destructive power – and relieved that she was wielding rather than facing it.
The wounded Nephilim crashed against the wall, screaming and clutching at the blood-spouting remains of his arm. The second giant hastily flattened himself behind a crystalline rib, then glanced out to locate Nina.
She thrust the spear at him and thumbed the trigger again—
Nothing happened.
The warrior flinched, then stepped out further, throwing his trikan.
It rushed at her, blades singing. She shrieked, instinctively ducking as it shot past – a move that saved her life. The disc reversed and spun back along its line, rolling ninety degrees in response to a flick of the Nephilim’s hand and slicing just above her head.
Panting in fright, she peeked around the doorway. The first Nephilim was still slumped against the wall, moaning as blood gushed over his body. The second advanced again – and a third warrior hurried into view further down the corridor. She looked at her weapon. The cover had clapped shut. Either it could only fire a single shot, or it took time to recharge.
Hoping it was the latter, and that the recharge time was seconds rather than minutes, she jabbed the spear back out and pressed the trigger again—
Another crackling burst of energy erupted from the qigun. The nearer Nephilim dived, but the man behind him was caught by surprise. Only luck saved him as the rippling burst of earth energy missed by inches and struck the wall. A dazzling flash came from the adamantium panels, sparks flying and the metal glowing red hot. He darted into a storeroom.
Nina pulled back. The gap between her shots had been about ten seconds. It possibly took less time than that to recharge, but she couldn’t risk being caught in the open with a useless weapon.
She listened. Footsteps thudded softly against the metal floor: the new arrival joining his comrade. If they advanced on each side of the corridor, she could only target one – and the other would reach the armoury before her weapon recharged.
She didn’t entertain even for a moment the fantasy that she might be able to beat them in close-quarters combat. Instead she continued her mental countdown. Six seconds, muttered discussion audible over the injured man’s fading groans. Three, two—
Movement. Nina couldn’t wait any longer – they were coming. She lunged back out. Both Nephilim ran at her, trikans whirling, widely spaced to make targeting both impossible—
She found a different target.
The wounded Nephilim was at death’s door. Nina ended his agony, blasting him into a gory haze – which hit the charging warriors with explosive force. They both reeled back, blinded by the stinging red spray.
Nina hauled the clumsy baraka with her as she rushed into the corridor. The exit to the fortress’s exterior was ahead. What she would do when she reached it she had no idea, but anything was better than waiting to be carved to pieces.
Behind her, the two warriors recovered, wiping blood from their eyes before pursuing. Their intent had already been murderous; now it was personal.
31
The first Z-20 took off from the crater, followed by its twin. Both helicopters climbed to follow the fortress towards the city.
Wu Shun watched them go, then resumed her radio exchange. ‘No, Colonel Commandant Wu is dead! I’ve assumed battlefield command. Yes, battlefield – this is a
combat situation! There is a UFO heading for Xinengyuan; it’s hostile, and must be destroyed before it reaches the city.’ She paused, listening to the inevitable disbelief and resistance from the airbase’s watch officer. ‘Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true! It killed Colonel Wu! I need gunships and fighter jets, now! This thing has to be taken down before there are civilian casualties!’
‘Uh, yes, ma’am,’ the officer replied. ‘There are two armed transports on their way to you already. Gunships will take fifteen minutes to arm up and get airborne.’
‘Too long! What about jets?’
‘We weren’t expecting combat, so twenty minutes to fuel and load ordnance – but they’ll reach you much faster than the gunships.’
‘Just get them here,’ she snapped. ‘And institute a total communications blackout on Xinengyuan and the surrounding region – my authority. Phones, internet, radio, everything. If a single picture of this thing appears on social media, somebody will be executed for it!’
She angrily switched channels to talk to the helicopter pilots. The Z-20s closed on the fortress, moths against the dragon. ‘This is Major Wu! Get in close, find a weak spot – and fire!’
A compartment in the throne room’s rear wall had once contained medicines and bindings for wounds, but everything within had long since turned to dust. Sidona ended up tearing off part of her gown to bandage her husband’s mutilated hand. He grimaced at the pain, but said nothing, concentrating on flying the vimana. The strange city grew steadily larger ahead. So many tall towers! They couldn’t all be temples, surely?
The highest were at its centre. They would be the first targets for his vengeance, an example of the Nephilim’s power. After they fell, he would obliterate all the others, one by one—
‘Gadreel!’ Sidona shouted, running to a window. ‘There’s something out there!’
Zan hesitantly followed. ‘It is one of our flying machines.’
Gadreel remembered that the aircraft carried objects resembling the noisy human weapons. ‘Does it have a gun?’ he said, using Zan’s own odd-sounding word.
‘Yes, a . . . turning cannon?’ The human was far from confident he had translated correctly, but the concern in his voice told Gadreel it was something powerful.
But he had something powerful of his own. ‘Use the lightning spears!’ he shouted into the speaking crystal. ‘Destroy those machines!’
‘In range!’ said the lead helicopter’s gunner, bringing his minigun – a near-clone of the American M134 six-barrelled Gatling gun – to bear on the fortress. Major Wu had said the dragon’s eyes were the windows of a control room. He squinted down the gunsight, finding the elongated porthole – and pulled the trigger.
Fire blazed from the whirling sextet of muzzles. Tracer rounds lanced across the gap between the helicopter and its target like laser beams, hitting home—
The UFO’s port side was engulfed in a dazzling fireworks display, a hundred rounds per second producing a storm of sparks as they slammed into the iridescent energy field. The second Z-20 opened up from starboard.
The dragon banked as if trying to escape – but the barrage seemed to be cutting through its shield. He saw metal spall below the window as fire hosed over the area. A weak spot! He fixed his aim upon it. More shards ripped away under the onslaught.
‘I’m getting through the shield!’ he cried. ‘Keep firing, it—’
Movement in his peripheral vision. Finger still tight on the trigger, he glanced at the fortress’s nose – to see one of the long fangs pivot towards him.
Nina ran around the looping passage, seeing the way to the outside ahead. But the Nephilim were catching up fast.
A trikan whirled—
A hideous noise – and the fortress banked, pitching her towards the wall. She caught herself, then staggered onwards. One of her pursuers fell, barking a Nephilim curse as his trikan clanged to the deck. The other grabbed a pillar for support.
The thud of rotor blades and the chainsaw rasp of a minigun told her Major Wu had ordered an air assault. The bizarre ringing of bullet impacts was almost deafening, but the noise changed under the relentless barrage, becoming flatter, weaker. The guns were getting through—
Another lurch – and she heard metal scream and tear somewhere above. The fortress was not invulnerable.
She reached the tunnel to the hatch. A trail of blood gave a clue to Colonel Wu’s fate. She rounded the corner, then looked back. Both Nephilim were recovering.
Ten seconds was up—
She fired the baraka again – just as the fortress jolted, making her stagger. The energy burst exploded beside her target, throwing sparks into his face. He yelled, shielding his eyes.
Nina ran down the dusty passage. One of the Chinese helicopters was visible through the hatch, fire blazing from its minigun. She stopped. If she went outside, she would be exposed, a target—
A fierce crackle of thunder – and the helicopter exploded.
‘Evade, evade!’ shouted the lead gunner as the fang-like weapon locked on. ‘They’re going to shoot—’
The other Z-20 suddenly blew up, burning wreckage spinning from the fireball. The first aircraft’s pilot made a rapid descent, but too late. The air rippled and tore – and the chopper and its occupants were blasted apart in a fiery explosion.
Nina threw herself clear as a chunk of flame-wreathed metal shot through the opening with cannonball force. ‘Jesus!’ More debris rained down outside. She waited for the barrage to end, then looked out.
A greasy black cloud was the largest remnant of the helicopter. Burning scrap littered the adamantium expanse. The other helicopter must also have been destroyed, the only noise now the rush of wind.
Clutching her oversized weapon, she hurried outside. The slipstream almost knocked her over. She used the spear for support and squinted ahead. The fortress was already approaching Xinengyuan’s outskirts, tower blocks rising like dominoes. But its course would take it to larger structures: the skyscrapers at the city’s centre.
A chill beyond the tearing wind. Gadreel wasn’t heading there to meet the civic leaders. He was out for revenge for his son’s death – and she had just witnessed the fortress’s firepower, the spear in her hands scaled up many times to deliver enormous destructive force.
And there was nothing she could do to stop it.
But she could stop the Nephilim from waking any more of their forces. She still had the resurrection key. Without it, they couldn’t release anyone else from the sarcophagi – and if the fortress lost power, they wouldn’t be able to restore it.
Simply throwing the key over the side would be the easiest way to keep it from them, but it might be recovered. For all she knew, Sidona could use the earth energy fields to sense its location. She either had to destroy it, or leave it somewhere it could never be retrieved.
The sight of numerous tower cranes amongst the city’s sprawl gave her an idea. Construction sites were full of deep pits – and newly poured concrete. If she could reach one, she could render the key inaccessible, if not permanently then at least long enough for the Chinese military to blast the vimana from the sky.
Only one catch: she was two hundred feet above the ground . . .
Noises behind her. The Nephilim were coming. She dropped low against the wind and ran clear of the hatch.
It felt as if something was pushing back against her feet, the oily shimmer of colours roiling over the metal reacting to each step with a pulse that spread outwards like pond ripples. The entire hull was charged with some kind of earth energy field. An experimental stamp with one boot; the flash and the feeling of resistance both intensified. A shield, a counter-force to impacts? All she knew for sure was that it made traversing the exterior more difficult.
Aft of the exit, large strakes swept backwards to the hull’s edge. She had no idea of their purpose, but they stood tall enoug
h to provide some cover. She clambered over the nearest, ducking and scurrying along for several metres before clearing the second. She readied the spear and peered back over the metal ridge.
Both pursuing Nephilim were outside, robes flapping violently. The wind affected the giants more strongly than Nina, forcing them to hunch down. That would even the odds somewhat – as long as she stayed clear of their trikans.
The fortress banked, sweeping around an unfinished apartment block. A second turn to avoid another tower, and it resumed its original course. Either it couldn’t fly any higher, or Gadreel had some reason for holding this altitude. Neither option helped her, though; she was still high enough for any fall to be fatal—
If she landed on the ground. But on a building . . .
Staying low, she scurried to the hull’s edge. More of the city came into view. There were plenty of smaller buildings between the large towers, some at least ten storeys high. If the fortress passed close enough above one, she might be able to jump down without breaking both legs—
A shout as the first Nephilim saw her.
‘Shit!’ she gasped, bringing the baraka to bear and firing. The warrior threw himself sidelong. The energy blast passed through the shield as if it didn’t exist, one form of earth energy unaffected by the other. It hit the hull just beyond him, spraying sparks.
The second Nephilim ducked low and scurried towards her, trikan ready. The first jumped back up and hurdled several strakes before closing in. They were trying to catch her in a pincer – and she could only attack one threat at once.
No way to retreat. Buildings and roads rolled past below; the latter were practically empty, only a handful of vehicles in sight. The newly built city still awaited the majority of its inhabitants. She looked ahead, seeing an expansive multi-level freeway intersection. Even the highest overpass was over a hundred feet below – but beyond the knotted roads she saw a cluster of luxury apartment blocks around a large park. If Gadreel held his course, the floating behemoth would pass over one of them, perhaps thirty feet above the roof.
The Resurrection Key Page 34