His mother was equally happy. They had a heartfelt exchange in Mandarin, before Cheng switched to English so his companions could join in. ‘Professor Wilde’s here, and so are Mr Chase and Macy. They’re all okay.’

‘More or less,’ said Eddie, stretching a sore leg.

‘I’m so glad to hear that,’ Hui said. The audio quality was low, glitchy; even using Chinese military channels, bandwidth had become limited now the armed forces were being mobilised. ‘I am still at the hill; I have only received intermittent updates from the soldiers here. What has happened?’

‘A lot of property destruction,’ Nina told her. ‘Potentially major civilian casualties. But the fortress has been damaged – it hasn’t crashed yet, but it’s only a matter of time. Eddie blew up the crystal it uses to focus earth energy.’

‘Major Wu’s chasing it in her helicopter,’ Cheng added.

‘I heard. I hope her anger does not get more people killed.’

‘We need to get out of here before Wu and her superiors start looking for scapegoats,’ said Nina. ‘I doubt she’s gonna let her father take the blame, so I have a horrible feeling we’ll be at the top of her list.’

‘I suspect we all will. The military always looks to the outside for blame before turning its eyes on itself.’ Hui considered her next action. ‘I will contact the base and have a helicopter pick me up – then I will collect you as well. Where are you?’

‘Just look for the collapsed skyscrapers,’ said Eddie. ‘We’re in the park next to them.’

‘I will be there as soon as I can.’

‘Thank you,’ said Nina.

The call ended. She looked back across the city, seeing the helicopter pass out of sight as it followed the fortress into Xinengyuan’s heart.

The Z-20 descended towards the city’s streets. ‘The UFO’s landing!’ said the pilot.

Wu saw the metal monster lower itself to the ground in a park, its chin on a grassy mound to bring its prow upwards. She realised immediately why. ‘They’re giving their guns a wider firing arc,’ she said. ‘Stay behind it so it can’t target us.’

The pilot changed course. ‘Do you want me to land?’

‘Not yet,’ she replied. ‘We need to make sure it can’t take off again.’ A glance back; soldiers were ready on both miniguns. ‘Prepare to fire!’

The fortress’s touchdown was not gentle, sending the throne room’s occupants staggering. Gadreel recovered and hurried to the mausoleum. ‘Sidona! How many more have you woken?’

‘About twenty-five so far,’ his wife replied. ‘The first are beginning to recover.’