Temple of the Gods

Larry gingerly lifted the collective higher. The helicopter bounced alarmingly on its wheels. He stifled a yell and jammed the throttle to full power, bringing up the lever—

The chopper lurched again — and left the ground.

Ten feet up, twenty, and rising with increasing speed. The mountainside spread out below as it ascended. Eddie returned to the cockpit, grabbing Nina’s seat for support. ‘Okay, now get us out of here.’ The AW101 kept climbing — vertically. He looked back, seeing the volcano’s summit coming into view through the open rear ramp. The smoke and ash belching from it was now almost completely black, globules of glowing lava spitting into the air. ‘Dad, we need to go forwards!’

‘Yes, I know!’ Larry snapped. ‘Let’s see if this works…’

He pushed the cyclic. The aircraft’s nose tipped downwards… and it started to move. More pressure, and the tilt increased, the helicopter picking up speed away from the mountain.

‘That’s it, keep going!’ Nina cried. She looked down at the ground. The barren hillside swept past below — as did the Land Rover. As she watched, the 4?4 slewed out of control and flipped over, mangled debris flying from it as it tumbled down the slope. ‘Whoa! Sophia just wiped out!’

Eddie glanced at the wreck, but the growing thunder of the volcano was foremost on his mind. The earth energy that Nina had unleashed might make it explode at any moment — and the helicopter was still dangerously close. The shockwave alone could swat it out of the sky. ‘Dad! How fast are we going?’

‘You find the speedo and tell me!’ Larry shot back, concentrating on keeping the AW101 in the air.

Eddie scanned the console, finally spotting the dial of the airspeed indicator. Sixty knots and accelerating. Another look over his shoulder. The retreating volcano was framed in the open ramp, more lava spewing out of the crater. As he watched, part of the hillside suddenly flowed like liquid, the subterranean quakes triggering a landslide. One had exposed the entrance to the Temple of the Gods — and now a vastly larger one was erasing it from the face of the earth.

Ninety knots, and three thousand feet in altitude. They were well above the summit now, but still only about two miles from where they had taken off. Nina twisted in her seat, gawping at the sight that greeted her. ‘My God!’ Great sprays of molten rock burst from the crater, splattering down on the crumbling cone of rock below.

It struck her that she had been the cause. One person, channelling earth energy, was directly responsible for a volcanic eruption. Any lingering doubts about whether she had done the right thing instantly vanished. Nobody should have that power.

And now nobody ever would. The meteorite and the primordial DNA it contained were destroyed, consumed by the rising lava, and the piece Sophia had taken would end up buried beneath dozens of feet of ash. Ever the Group itself had been eliminated. That threat had ceased to exist.

Another remained, however, growing more deadly with every passing second. The gouts of lava became stronger as pressure built up inside the confined shaft, even the noise of the helicopter overpowered by the basso roar of escaping gas. More landslides stripped the volcano’s flanks. One whole side of the mountain began to bulge, visibly swelling as she watched.

Four thousand feet. One hundred and twenty knots. Three miles from their start point. Still climbing and accelerating, but it might not be enough…

The distended mountainside pulsed, rippling from within. For a moment, the jet of lava and ash choked as the enormous pressure rising from below was blocked, the mouth of the shaft too narrow for it all to escape at once…

Then it forced its way through.

The volcano erupted.

36

The mountain’s entire upper half disintegrated in a single burst of unimaginable violence, a shockwave racing outwards. Behind it followed a colossal cloud of searing ash and superheated steam, pulverised rock and globs of red-hot lava churning within like a lethal blizzard. The explosion would be heard hundreds of miles away, and shake buildings in Dubti.

The helicopter was much closer.

There was a strange silence after Nina and Eddie witnessed the obliteration of the volcano’s summit, light outpacing sound — then the blast wave caught up with them. It was as if the AW101 had been rammed from behind. Nina screamed, but couldn’t even hear it over the earth’s uncorked fury. The chopper swung round, loose items flying through the cabin. Eddie was thrown backwards, grabbing the harness straps on a seat just in time to stop himself from following the dead pilot out of the open rear ramp.

Senses reeling, Larry struggled with the controls. The helicopter spiralled towards the desert plain. The altimeter needle whirled down towards zero with terrifying speed. He applied full throttle and pulled up the collective for maximum lift, but the AW101 was still spinning, still falling.

Eddie dragged himself upright. The landscape blurred past beyond the windows. ‘Dad! Stop the fucking thing!’

‘I don’t know how!’ Larry yelled. Below four thousand feet, and dropping—

‘Turn it!’ Nina cried. ‘We’re spinning counter-clockwise — turn the other way!’

In the turmoil, Larry’s feet had come off the rudder pedals. He found them again, and jammed one foot down to apply full power to the tail rotor. The helicopter rocked sharply, throwing more unsecured objects around its interior. Nina shrieked as an emergency kit rebounded off the console in front of her and broke open, showering her with its contents.

Three thousand feet — but the spin was slowing. Teeth bared, Larry gradually eased his foot up as the aircraft came back under control. ‘Jesus!’ he gasped. ‘I think I’ve got it.’

The chopper straightened out, pointing almost directly back at the ruined mountain. Eddie caught his breath, then returned to the cockpit to look over his father’s shoulder. ‘We don’t want to be going this way, though.’ He pointed at the compass. ‘Go south-southeast, about one-sixty degrees. That’ll take us back to the town we came from.’ A pause, then: ‘Nice work, Dad.’

‘Glad I finally did something you approve of,’ said Larry with a shaky grin.

Nina stared at the volcano. ‘Look at that…’ she said breathlessly. Though the initial shockwave had passed, a second destructive front was still advancing as a heavy, corpse-grey cloud swept outwards. A pyroclastic flow, hot gas and pulverised rock scouring and sterilising the earth beneath it. ‘We need to get back into the sky before it reaches us.’

‘I think I can do that,’ said Larry. He brought the AW101 around to the bearing Eddie had given him, then increased power to climb and gain speed. The desert rolled past below.

Eddie looked back. Through the open ramp, the pursuing cloud was visible, but it fell away as the helicopter ascended. Even as it retreated, though, the volcano’s roar still rattled the fuselage. ‘Christ! I know we’ve got away from some big bangs before, but that’s got to be the biggest. A fucking erupting volcano! Don’t know how we’re going to top that one.’

‘I kinda hope we don’t have to,’ said Nina earnestly. ‘We deserve a vacation.’ She looked away from the frightening sight to Eddie’s leg. Though his jeans were covered with dark dust, the torn holes made by the trident’s prongs were glistening; he was still bleeding. ‘Eddie, sit down so I can clean you up. Those wounds might get infected.’

‘In a minute — I’ll close the ramp first.’ He limped down the aisle, using the seats for support.

‘Don’t fall out,’ she cautioned jokingly. The contents of the emergency case were strewn around the cockpit; she started to search for first-aid equipment.

‘How far away is this town?’ asked Larry.

Nina picked up various items from the footwell, putting a cylindrical flare down on the console between the two pilots’ seats before examining a package of sterile dressings and a tube of antibiotic ointment. ‘About seventy miles, maybe?’