The Covenant of Genesis (56 page)

‘I don’t think it’s going to charm those things to sleep - and if you stand at that record player, you’ll be right in the Covenant’s line of fire!’

She quickly took in the positions of the cherubim, the speed at which they were moving . . . ‘Eddie, go back round to Sophia.’

‘What? Why?’

‘Just do it!’

He reluctantly turned and hurried back round the room. ‘What about you?’

‘I’m . . . gonna run right through the line of fire,’ she said, trying to psych herself up. ‘Nothing to worry about!’

‘
What?
’ Chase stopped. ‘Nina, don’t—’

But she was already breaking into a fear-driven sprint across the chamber, passing in front of the closed metal doors. A volley of shots tore through the room as one of the Covenant troopers opened fire. Bullets smacked into the doors just behind her as she ran, fragments of metal spitting from the impacts. A piece hit one of the bowls, causing it to ring with a deep, sonorous note. Nina now knew exactly what the bowls were for, but put it to the back of her mind as she tried desperately to stay one step, half a step, ahead of the spray of gunfire . . .

It stopped. She was out of the shooter’s sight.

But the cherubim was still following her, screeching along on its giant ball-bearing ‘feet’. All she could think was that they were electrically charged, somehow in opposition to the human body. Like poles repel, keeping the similarly charged cherubim from demolishing each other with their spinning blades - and unlike poles attract. As long as a person was in the room, the statues would be drawn towards them. It wasn’t magic, or malevolence: just magnetism.

Individually, the heavy, sluggish cherubim weren’t hard to avoid. But between the three of them, and their swinging, whirling blades, it became all too easy to become hemmed in. Spend too long in one place - such as at the doors - and you would be dead.

Chase reached Sophia. ‘What the hell are you doing?’ he shouted to Nina.

‘Wait, wait . . .’ she called back. Her cherubim was still moving across the room . . .

It crossed in front of the entrance.

Nina ran back towards the doors. The colossus haltingly changed direction to follow her, animal faces leering. More gunfire came from the tunnel—

It hit the statue, bullets clanking against its legs and body.

She raced to the bowls and put the cylinder on the spindle, taking advantage of her new cover. As long as the cherubim kept moving in a straight line towards her, it would shield her from the Covenant’s fire.

But every second she stood there brought the whirling swords closer.

A shout from outside: Zamal issuing an order. With Chase and Sophia forced away from the chamber’s entrance, the Covenant soldiers could advance through the tunnel.

Chase backed round the perimeter, followed by Sophia. The purpose of the small step was now clear - it was just high enough to stop the cherubim from hitting the wall. ‘We’ve got to get back to the entrance.’

‘Easier said than done,’ Sophia replied.

‘If we can stop ’em from moving . . .’ He paused, staring at the top of the wings where they sparked against the ceiling - then aimed the Browning at one of them and fired. The bullet went straight through the copper sheets. More sparks flew, an electrical bolt sizzling angrily across the room, but the wing stayed in contact with the metal above.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Nina said they’re like dodgems - so we need to cut their power poles.’ One of the cherubim was close to the step, the other coming from the centre of the chamber. He watched the nearer one, judging the grinding swing of its arms, the distance between the tip of the blade and the wall . . .

The cylinder was in place, the needle positioned at the top of the groove. Nina hunted for a clue as to what to do next. Simply spinning the turntable by hand wouldn’t work: if the bowls served the purpose she thought, the ancient recording had to be played at precisely the right speed. She looked back; the cherubim was getting closer.

And behind it, she saw shadows playing across the wall of the passage. Covenant soldiers were crawling through the tunnel. ‘Crap, crap, crap!’ She tried to remember how she had released some residual spark of earth energy in the frozen city . . .

Metal gleamed through the dust and cobwebs. A contact—

She touched it.

With a reluctant creak, the turntable rotated, picking up speed. The copper cone amplified the clicks and hisses, the strange voice reciting the name of what was to follow . . .

Then the song began.

The haunting voice echoed through the chamber, holding a note in perfect pitch for several seconds . . . and one of the bowls began to hum as well, the same note ringing out with increasing volume, shaking off the covering of dust. It was responding to the singer’s voice,
resonating
. For a moment, Nina forgot about the danger, entranced by the purity of the sound.

Another sound reached her. A click.

Part of a lock. The sound of the bowl, vibrating at a very specific pitch and frequency, had caused something else to resonate, shaking loose.

‘It’s a key!’ she cried. ‘A musical key!’ The note from the cylinder changed, the singer’s voice rising an octave - and the next bowl, smaller, also hummed with the same wondrous sound.

Music was not the first thing on Chase’s mind, though. ‘Nina, move!’ he yelled. The cherubim was almost upon her.

She shrieked and leapt away from the bowls, running round the edge of the room. The moment she took her finger from the metal contact, the turntable wound down, the song’s note dropping and dying. There was another click from the door - but there were still another two bowls, two more locks to open.

‘Oh, fuck this,’ said Chase, glaring at the nearest cherubim. He had timed the movement of its arms - he thought. ‘Give me the gun!’ He and Sophia swapped weapons. She looked puzzled. ‘On three, run across the room! One, two,
three
!’

Sophia skirted the statue coming for her and ran across the chamber - as Chase threw himself into a diving roll against the curving wall.

The blade whipped past, barely missing him as the statue’s arm swung around - but he was clear, gripping the Lee-Enfield by its barrel and swiping the wooden stock at the cherubim like a baseball bat.

It hit the bottom of one of the wings. Sparks spat up - but the metal was bent back by the blow, no longer touching the floor. Cutting off part of the current.

The other wing was still in contact, though, and Chase was forced to jump clear as the sword swooshed back towards him.

But it was slowing, and the cherubim itself seemed to be moving more haltingly . . .

He ran to the entrance, seeing one of the Covenant troopers pulling himself clear of the tunnel, a second man not far behind. He flipped the rifle back over and fired. A bloody rosette exploded across the wall directly behind the first man’s head, and he collapsed. The two corpses now blocked more than half of the low tunnel. The other man fired a burst from his SCAR in response, the bullets sizzling past Chase as he retreated.

Nina’s cherubim was still grinding after her. She kept moving, trying to repeat the same trick as before. ‘Eddie! I need to run across the entrance - can you give me cover?’

Chase pulled back his rifle’s bolt to load the next cartridge, aware that the sparking cherubim was getting uncomfortably close. He backed away. ‘Not with this thing coming at me! Sophia?’

She was edging away from her own statue, the Browning raised. ‘Do it fast.’

‘Okay, get ready,’ said Nina. The cherubim drew closer, off to one side of the line of fire. ‘Ready, ready . . . now!’

Sophia whipped round the corner as Nina ran across the entrance behind her. She saw the man in the tunnel raise his SCAR, and fired - but the bullet hit only the corpse he was sheltering behind. Sophia jerked back as another burst splintered the stone wall.

One of the cherubim was almost on her - and the only way she could get clear of its blades was to run across the opening.

Into the trooper’s sights.

Nina paused, waiting for the cherubim to cross the room’s centreline - then sprinted back towards the doors. The metal figure jerkily changed direction to follow. She had her shield.

But would she have long enough to play the rest of the song?

She slapped her hand on the metal contact. The turntable rotated again, the unearthly voice rising in pitch as it reached full speed. Again, a sustained note filled the chamber, the third bowl starting to hum in sympathy . . .

Chase saw that Sophia was about to be pinned down. His own cherubim was blocking the way to the entrance: he couldn’t give her any cover without making a wide circle round it. ‘Sophia, move!’

One of the statue’s arms swung at her, the blade slicing through the air at chest height. She hesitated - then dived towards it.

She rolled, passing just beneath the quicksilver slash to land at the cherubim’s feet. She swung the gun at one of the copper wings—

A blue spark burst from the metal as she touched it. Chase had been insulated by the rifle’s wooden body; the Browning’s metal frame gave Sophia no such protection. She was thrown away from the cherubim, sprawling across the metal floor several feet away. Unconscious. Her gun skidded away to stop in front of the entrance.

Nina looked round, but couldn’t move, her fingers pressed against the contact. A clunk from the wall as the harmonic vibrations released another lock - but there was still one more note to play . . .

The cherubim advanced on Sophia. Chase swore: no choice but to run across the room to save her. He dropped the rifle and grabbed Sophia by one limp arm to drag her away from the lethal circles of steel.

The damaged cherubim was still following him, more slowly than Sophia’s statue. Chase dragged her in a curve, trying to guide them into a collision.

The blades almost clashed together - and then the two statues lurched apart, repelling each other.

The damaged one was in the lead. A sword tip clipped the Lee-Enfield, slicing it in half and sending the pieces spinning across the chamber.

The fourth note began. Nina didn’t take her eyes off the advancing cherubim as it drew closer.

Behind it, she saw more shadows on the walls as the Covenant members advanced.

Chase was running out of room, backing towards the wall, pulling Sophia with him. Whether he went left or right, the undamaged cherubim would round its slower companion to form a wall of spinning death. With Sophia down it was three against two. He needed to even the odds.

A way came to him.

He pulled Sophia against the wall, then rapidly shrugged off his leather jacket, holding it up like a matador’s cape . . . then tossing it to the floor directly in front of the lead cherubim.

It landed flat, the swords scything over it as the statue rolled on. The bent wing passed over it, the tip of the other for a moment snagging on the leather and pushing it along—

Then running it over.

The result was instantaneous. The cherubim stopped abruptly, the circuit broken, the earth energy feeding the crude motors cut off.

And with the power removed, so was the statue’s electrical charge.

With nothing to repel it, the second cherubim lurched forward, heading straight for Chase and Sophia - and its blades smashed into the inert statue with a horrendous clash of metal. The recoil sent the moving cherubim spinning back across the chamber, while the dead figure was thrown to the floor in pieces. One of the blades stabbed a foot deep into the wall beside Chase. The statue’s severed head came to rest at his feet, the lion face glaring accusingly at him.

He lifted Sophia. She was starting to recover from the electric shock. ‘Nina! How much longer?’

‘Not goddamn much, I hope!’ Nina cried. The fourth note was still playing, the bowl humming, but the final piece of the lock still hadn’t opened - and the cherubim was almost upon her.

Scuffling footsteps in the passageway. The Covenant were through the tunnel—

A click.

‘Eddie!’ Nina shouted as a crack appeared between the doors, the metal panels slowly swinging apart. ‘It’s opening!’ She kept her hand on the contact until it was just wide enough to fit through. The moment she lifted her fingers, the doors jolted to a stop. ‘Come on!’ She yanked the cylinder from the spindle and leapt through the gap just ahead of the cherubim’s glowing blades.

She was clear - but now that she was out of the room, the statue immediately changed direction towards new targets.

Chase pulled Sophia up. ‘Can you run?’

‘I’m not sure,’ she mumbled.

‘
Get
sure!’ They could go to either side of the cherubim near the door - but one way would put them dangerously close to its swords, and the other would expose them to gunfire.

He made his choice, and pulled Sophia with him towards the blades.

The cherubim rumbled towards them. One of its arms swung round to block their path.

‘Duck!’ Chase dropped beneath the blade as the other sword, a blur of cold light, slashed through the air behind them.

Almost clear . . .

One of the cherubim’s feet bumped against the little step round the chamber’s edge.

The statue jolted, throwing off the timing of its swinging arms. Sophia saw it coming and dropped lower, but Chase barely had time to react.

He flattened himself against the wall - but the very tip of the sword caught the side of his shoulder. A fine spray of blood splattered the wall behind him, though the pain of the cut was nothing to the burning as a fat electrical spark spat from the point of contact.

The glowing blade swung back at him—

Sophia shoved him forward, throwing herself flat against the floor where it met the wall. The spinning sword buzzed over her head, lopping off a clump of bleached hair. ‘Eddie, go!’ she shouted, pushing at his legs. Clutching his shoulder, he staggered upright as Sophia crawled beneath the arc of the blade.