‘Hell of an operation,’ said Eddie. ‘How would you even move that thing?’

‘Three heavy-lift helicopters were flown to Turkey by air freighters,’ said Wu. From her matter-of-fact attitude, she had been involved in the operation, perhaps even planned it. ‘Excavators broke into the outer vault, then the helicopters lifted it out. We had to rent a Russian freighter to fly it here; it was too big to fit into any of our own aircraft.’

‘And you did it all in one night. I’d be impressed, if I wasn’t appalled.’ Nina folded her arms. ‘This thing is dangerous!’

‘We have taken all possible precautions,’ insisted Hui. ‘And with the spearhead gone, it poses no threat. Let me show you.’

She went to the vault’s door. Nina followed her inside. One difference from her previous visit was instantly obvious: the crystals, then alive and glowing with earth energy, were now inert, dull and clouded.

Another was more alarming. Sections were missing, parts of the crystalline pillars running from floor to ceiling cut away to expose the metal behind. ‘What did you do?’ she demanded.

‘We used them to repair the damaged Nephilim artefacts,’ Hui replied. ‘Successfully, we believe, but we have been unable to test them.’

‘Why not?’ asked Eddie, entering behind them.

‘Because they haven’t got anyone with Atlantean DNA to activate them,’ said Nina in realisation.

‘What, out of every single person in China? I know it’s rare, but it’s still something like one person in every hundred, isn’t it? And China’s got, what, a sixth of the entire world’s population?’

‘The DNA profile is extremely rare amongst Han Chinese,’ explained Hui. ‘We are quite ethnically homogeneous. It is a strength that gives us unity – but in this case it hinders us. Other races in China may possess it in greater numbers, but this is a top-secret project. Even if we found someone with the DNA profile to channel qi, the only way to test it would be to have them try to activate a piece of Nephilim technology. That would require bringing dozens, even hundreds of civilians here. It is too great a security risk.’

‘So you decided to get me, huh? Great.’ Nina turned to exit.

‘That makes us security risks too,’ Eddie muttered as they left the vault.

‘I know.’

Cheng had not heard the exchange inside, and greeted the redhead with puppyish enthusiasm. ‘It’s amazing, isn’t it, Professor? And we know how the Atlanteans got it to Turkey. The vault can levitate!’

‘And I can float on a cloud of my own farts,’ Eddie said sarcastically.

‘It’s true!’ Cheng protested. ‘The Nephilim records describe what they call vimanas. It’s an ancient Sanskrit word, it means—’

‘Flying machine,’ Nina cut in. ‘We know, we found one in the Vault of Shiva in the Himalayas. It was just a glider, though.’