The Covenant of Genesis

The hours passed, Nina managing to doze fitfully despite the bumpy ride. By the time Chase was forced to stop to refuel from one of the battered cans in the rear bed, the eastern sky had started to brighten. At this low latitude, sunrise came quickly.

‘Okay,’ said Chase, throwing the empty can back into the truck and waking Nina with a start, ‘now we can see, let’s work out where we are.’ He surveyed the surrounding desert for landmarks. ‘Give me the rifle.’

Sophia handed him the Lee-Enfield. He peered through the scope, scanning the horizon. Distant shapes resolved themselves into flat-topped islands of stone rising above the sands. ‘Okay, I see one, two, three mesas.’

‘Let me see those,’ said Nina, taking the photo blow-ups of the Antarctic map from Sophia. The word that had been pronounced as ‘Eden’ on the ancient cylinder lay at the beginning of the Veteres’ long trail . . . between three trapezoidal symbols. Truncated mountains. ‘You think . . . ?’

Sophia examined the modern map. ‘It matches the terrain. Three bluffs - and these dry riverbeds. Four of them.’

Nina looked more closely. Four faint lines wound outwards from the centre. ‘Eddie, how far away are they?’

‘Five or six miles,’ said Chase. ‘It shouldn’t take too long to get there.’ He put down the rifle, regarded the machine gun for a moment, then started to reload it. ‘Just in case,’ he told Nina. ‘The Covenant’ll probably be able to fix some of those Humvees.’

‘But they won’t be able to follow us, will they?’ She looked back. The desert wind was already scouring away their tyre tracks.

Chase’s expression didn’t reassure her. ‘Like I said, just in case.’ He chambered the first round, then climbed back into the driver’s seat and restarted the engine.

‘Of course, Nina,’ said Sophia as they set off, ‘we wouldn’t have to worry about the Covenant if you hadn’t teamed up with them in the first place.’

‘I didn’t “team up with them”,’ Nina protested. ‘I was their damn prisoner, I didn’t have any say in the matter!’

‘All the same, they didn’t have the map.’ She held up one of the photos. ‘Without this, you could have told them Eden was in Ethiopia, or Egypt, or bloody Timbuktu, and they couldn’t have contradicted you. But no, you not only bring them to Sudan, but you even bring them to the right part of Sudan! What did they do, offer you a deal?’

‘All right, that’s enough,’ said Chase, giving Sophia a warning look. She made a dismissive sound and turned away. His gaze moved to Nina, holding on her for slightly too long before returning to the landscape ahead.

‘What?’ Nina said defensively, correctly guessing what he was thinking. ‘I didn’t make a deal, not like that. “Tell us what we want to know or we’ll kill you” isn’t really a deal.’

‘But you still brought ’em here.’

‘I told you last night, I didn’t have much choice. What was I going to do, say no and get killed?’

‘But why didn’t you give them the wrong location?’ Chase asked.

‘Because - because I . . . Look, they were going to kill me, all right?’ Nina drew her arms tightly around herself. ‘I thought that once we were out here, I might be able to get away.’

‘And then find Eden all on your own,’ Sophia said. ‘Since you conveniently brought them right to its doorstep. You used your friends, then you used your enemies to get here. You really are quite the little glory-hound, aren’t you?’

‘Jesus, shut up!’ snapped Chase. ‘Fucking non-stop snideyness, it’s like still being married to you!’

Sophia frowned, but fell silent. Nobody spoke for several seconds.

‘She’s got a point, though,’ Chase said quietly.

Nina’s response was louder. ‘What?’

‘I know you get obsessive about archaeology, but Christ, this is taking it to a new level! You’ve never voluntarily worked with people who want to kill you,’ a glance at Sophia, ‘to find something before. And I know Matt’s a soft touch, but you still walked all over him to get to Antarctica. He was lucky to get out of there alive - and Bandra and that other guy, David, didn’t.’

‘You’re blaming me for their deaths?’ asked Nina angrily.

‘No, the Covenant killed them.’

‘But you think it was my fault, right?’

‘I think this is a side of you I hadn’t seen before, is what I think,’ snapped Chase. ‘Remember on the Pianosa, when I asked you how far you were willing to go for this stuff ?’ He looked at her. ‘Looks like now I know.’ Nina couldn’t meet his eyes.

She hadn’t made a deal with the Covenant, she told herself. She had just done what she had to in order to stay alive.

Hadn’t she?

There was no conversation for the rest of the drive. The bluffs drew closer. Still no sign of pursuit. The Hilux bumped over the last dunes surrounding the mesas to find traction on harder, stonier ground, the landscape already shimmering as the sun heated it.

Nina looked up. The steep sides of the first mesa rose a couple of hundred feet above the surrounding desert, the others slightly higher. But the plain between them was devoid of anything but rocks.

‘So is this it?’ Chase asked, turning the Toyota towards the plain’s centre. ‘Not much of a garden spot.’

‘Not now, but it would have been, over a hundred thousand years ago,’ said Nina. ‘Even the Sahara was green once.’ But the area was so desolate it was hard to imagine anything growing here, never mind a garden worthy of God himself.

She looked at the photograph again. The text for ‘Eden’ was, she noticed, closest to the northernmost of the huge rocky outcroppings. ‘Head for that one,’ she said, pointing.

They drove across the plain, the sun beating down. The whole place seemed utterly lifeless . . . until Nina noticed a lone bird above the mesa ahead. It glided in a lazy circle, then dropped out of sight behind the flat summit. She waited for it to reappear, but it didn’t.

The technical jolted. ‘Sorry,’ said Chase, slowing as the Toyota descended a slope. ‘I think we found one of your riverbeds, though.’

‘It’s only narrow,’ said Sophia, speaking for the first time since Chase had snapped at her. ‘We must be near its source.’

‘Yeah, but where is it?’ Nina wondered. The shallow channel led to the rising cliff walls of the bluff . . . and stopped abruptly at its base.

‘Must have been a spring here once,’ said Chase, bringing the technical to a stop near the cliff and climbing out. Nina and Sophia followed, gazing up at the wall of grey and orange stone.

‘Maybe the Garden of Eden was on top of the mesa,’ Sophia suggested. ‘It would have been a good defensive position, especially if they were worried about animal attacks.’

‘Maybe,’ Nina replied, but the idea didn’t feel right. Shading her eyes, she slowly turned to take in the plain, the other mesas, the surrounding desert . . .

Something in the sky, a pale dot. ‘Is that a plane?’

Chase whirled. ‘Where?’

‘There.’ She pointed.

Chase ran back to the pickup and took out the rifle. ‘What is it?’ Sophia asked as he stared through the telescopic sights.

His reply, when it came, was a horrified whisper. ‘Buggeration . . .’

Nina grimaced. ‘If the next words I hear are “and fuckery”, I’m going to be very unhappy.’

‘And fuckery,’ Chase finished. ‘It’s a fucking Reaper!’

‘That . . . doesn’t sound good.’

‘It’s not. You know on the news, when the White House or the Pentagon show those videos of missiles zooming right at some terrorist and flying down his throat before they explode?’

‘Yes?’

He stabbed a finger at the approaching grey spot. ‘That’s what fires the missiles!’

Nina gawped at him. ‘It’s an American plane? Where did it come from?’