Macy nervously detached herself from her parents. ‘What does that mean?’

‘Nukes use normal explosives to trigger the main bomb. If they’d blown up, we would have heard it – which means the bomb really did smash to bits.’ He sighed in relief.

‘So . . . we’re safe?’ Nina asked.

‘From getting blown up, yeah. We still need to get you to hospital, though. Actually, I think we all need to get to hospital!’ He set off again, bearing his wounded wife up the long tunnel with their daughter beside them.

They were roughly halfway back to the surface when Macy gave Nina a sly smile that again reminded her of Eddie. ‘So, Mom . . . I was right, wasn’t I?’

‘About what, honey?’

‘About the trikan. Back on the ship, three years ago – I told you I could steer it just by thinking about it! You didn’t believe me, but I was right!’

‘Yes,’ Nina told her through a wide fake smile. ‘You were.’

Eddie chuckled.

‘And I was right about the skull on the side of Uluru. I bet all those other things I told you about that you said were garbage are true as well—’

‘Okay, yes, you win, I suck at archaeology!’ said Nina, exasperated.

Her husband laughed. ‘Never thought I’d hear you say that.’

‘It’s poetic justice, I’m sure. I spent my whole career showing the archaeological establishment they were wrong by proving that ancient legends were real, and now my little girl’s doing the same thing to me. Damn, I must have been insufferable.’

Eddie smirked. ‘I’m saying nothing.’

She narrowed her eyes. ‘Don’t make me regret saying that I love you. Now, can we go home?’

His only reply was another laugh.

They continued up the steep slope. After what seemed like an age, a faint sheen of daylight became discernible ahead. ‘Finally,’ muttered Eddie. ‘Just a bit further, and we’re done.’

‘Not quite,’ said his wife. ‘There’s one more thing we need to do.’

‘What?’ Macy asked.

‘We’re now the only people in the world who know what’s hidden inside Uluru. I think it should stay that way. Once we’re outside, we need to close the entrance. Nobody should ever find the Nephilim again – so they won’t try to wipe us out, and we won’t try to wipe them out. Let them sleep. Maybe their time will come in another hundred millennia.’

‘Bit hard on Sandra and Barney’s families,’ said Eddie. ‘We can’t tell them what happened.’

‘I know. But . . . what’s the alternative?’

He sighed. ‘No. You’re right. But we’ll have to come up with some way of explaining it to them.’

‘We’ll have to explain a lot of things, I suspect. But let’s not worry about that right now. Let’s just get out of here.’

‘Yeah, totally,’ Macy agreed vigorously.