Of course, chimps did not build temples for themselves, or work in abstract art. The time for comparing the species that produced Kong to other great apes was probably long past. There was evidence of great intelligence here, of a complex culture. What else had this species created? Were there lost cities scattered through these jungles and wastes? They had only seen one small section of Hollow Earth. If they explored far enough, they might find living members of Kong’s species.
When they returned to the mosaic, they found Maia Simmons standing near it, with an odd-looking device in her hand.
“I don’t understand,” Simmons said. “The energy source is right below our feet.”
Ilene glanced up from the carving. The energy source—in her fascination with the temple, she had almost forgotten what they were here for. Considering it, though, she felt somehow that the carving on the floor around the throne was the key. There was something there, she knew, that she did not understand. Something the pictures were trying to tell her. And Simmons and her device were pointed right at it.
They all gathered closer, surrounding the ancient image.
A faint blue glow fell on the mosaic, but Ilene quickly realized it wasn’t coming from there. When she looked for the source, she saw that Kong’s scepter was glowing. Kong looked at it, puzzled at first, then a little angry. He scowled at it.
If it was an axe—and Ilene was increasingly inclined to think it was—it wasn’t the whole thing glowing, but just the blade. It was not metal, or stone, but something else, like crystal, but not exactly. The light pulsed inside of it, stronger each second, as did the sense of familiarity, the feeling that she had seen something like this before.
Kong figured it out before she did; she saw the light switch on behind his eyes. Brandishing the axe he rose, took a step, lowering the huge weapon onto the carving encircling the throne, placing the axe blade so that it rested in the hollow where the missing fin should go.
Ilene understood then. Kong’s axe was made from the dorsal fin of something like Godzilla. And now it was glowing more brightly, the same light, the same color as the energy that Godzilla exhaled in his most devastating attack.
“It’s the axe,” Ilene said. “It’s drawing radiation from the core like it’s charging it. The myths are real.”
Even as she said it, the blue energy began spidering outward from the axe, filling first the carving, bringing it to a semblance of life, then spreading on across the floor.
“There was a war,” Ilene said. “And they are the last ones standing.”
Everything began to shiver, then tremble, as the blue light waxed in brilliance.
Apex Facility, Hong Kong
Walter Simmons watched as Godzilla crushed his way through Hong Kong, toward him. He knew he ought to be worried. His creation was still powered down and, even if it weren’t, it would never last long enough to defeat Godzilla. He had other weapons systems online, but zero confidence that any of them would even slow Godzilla’s advance, so he disdained to use them. It would seem desperate. He might well be looking at his doom approaching; if that were so, he would meet it with dignity.
But he believed what he had told Serizawa: his daughter would come through in time. There was more at work here than the plan and his genius. Destiny was also on his side; he could feel it. It was time for Godzilla to join the fossils of his ancestors. The time of the Titans was done, and his time was just beginning.
As if on cue, Godzilla suddenly shrieked and jerked to a halt; he spun as if confused, leveling the buildings around him.
“Whoa,” Simmons said. Then he understood. It’s beneath your feet. How long before you figure it out?
His question was answered a moment later when Godzilla stopped and set his stance. Blue radiation ran up his back.
Then he began blasting a hole into the Earth itself. Simmons felt the building shake beneath his feet as the Titan drilled through the mountainous foundations of the city. In the distance, on one of the monitors, he saw the Tsing Ma suspension bridge shudder and sway until the huge cables snapped and it crumpled into the Ma Wan Channel.
Fantastic, he thought, taking a sip of his Scotch. Better than I could have ever imagined.
He grinned, because it could only mean one thing.
“Godzilla’s responding,” he crowed. “They found it!” Maia had come through, as expected.
Kong Temple
As her scanning device began beeping close to a steady tone, Maia Simmons gestured to her men. Nathan watched as they lifted something from the cargo area of one of the HEAVs and brought it toward the mosaic. It looked like a spider crossed with a power drill and maybe a three-dimensional printer, and it walked across the floor until it was near the axe, settling over a part of the floor effulgent with a pure blue light. Then it locked down and began drilling into the stone. Kong growled, deep in his belly. Nathan was about to ask Maia exactly what she was doing when he was distracted by something in the darkness behind Kong’s throne. He had noticed movement on the ceiling earlier; creatures that reminded him of bats. But they had not shown any interest in leaving their dark resting place, at least not after they saw Kong. Maybe it was the weird play of blue light, tricking his eyes, but he thought he saw them moving around up there. Or possibly it was just the general sense of unease he was beginning to
