The Midas Legacy (Wilde/Chase 12) (12 page)

‘Sure you’re okay?’ Eddie asked Nina.

She nodded. ‘Yeah. But let’s not do that again.’

‘Still glad to be back out in the field?’

A narrow-eyed smile. ‘Get moving, you.’

He laughed, then set off after the two monks. Nina waited until he had cleared the next platform before continuing, Jayesh and the other monks crossing the bridge behind her.

As the group made their way around the mountain, Nina’s resurgent vertigo discouraged her from admiring the view, however spectacular. It also grew steadily colder as the sun moved behind the wall of rock.

The line of platforms eventually ended. She wondered if they had reached their destination, before seeing that they were instead changing direction – going straight up. Rungs had been driven into the sheer stone to create a ladder, ascending for about a hundred feet. Amaanat had already begun to climb. Rudra clambered up behind him.

Eddie reached the foot of the ladder. ‘Think they need to spend a bit of the money they make from selling gold knick-knacks on Hammerite.’ He tugged at one of the rust-scabbed metal bars. To Nina’s relief, it didn’t move.

He let Rudra open up a gap for safety, and was about to climb after him when he froze and looked across the valley with a quizzical expression. ‘What is it?’ asked Nina.

‘Thought I heard a chopper.’

She followed his gaze. The distant echoing thrum of a helicopter’s rotors reached her, but she could see no sign of any aircraft. ‘You expecting company?’ she called to Amaanat.

‘Ever since the earthquake, there are many more helicopters,’ he answered. Eddie still appeared dubious, but the sound soon died away. ‘Be careful here. Some of the rungs need to be repaired.’

‘Don’t suppose you remember which ones, do you?’ said the Yorkshireman, but he got no reply. With a sigh, he followed Rudra upwards, Nina behind him.

As Amaanat had warned, some of the rungs were in poor condition, a few so heavily corroded that they had sheared apart. ‘Watch out on this one,’ Eddie told Nina and Jayesh as he passed the halfway point, finding a particularly ragged example. ‘Don’t want to catch tetanus.’

‘As if we don’t have enough to worry about,’ said Nina.

‘Yeah. Don’t think we packed anything in the first-aid—’

He had gripped a new rung – which lurched in its mounting holes. One of his feet slipped, the jagged end of the broken bar slicing an ugly gash into his boot. ‘Ffff . . . ishing
hook
!’ he yelled as he secured himself. Rudra stopped above him, looking down in alarm. ‘You could’ve warned me!’ The young monk appeared genuinely contrite.

‘Are you okay, Eddie?’ said Nina, worried.

‘Just got a bit of a shock, that’s all. Don’t put any weight on this one.’ He thumped the offending rung with a balled fist, taking a very careful look at the ones above before resuming his ascent.

The rest of the climb was made safely. To the visitors’ enormous relief, the top of the ladder led to the solidity of a ledge. The group advanced along it, crossing another section of planks before reaching a further ledge. Ahead, a second ladder continued upwards, but something beyond it caught Nina’s eye. ‘Are we here? Is that it?’

A squat wooden structure was tucked against the cliff, half buried in snow. ‘No,’ said Amaanat. ‘That is the shelter. I hope we will not need it.’ He drew back the cuff of his coat, revealing a watch. ‘Yes, you will be able to see what is inside the Midas Cave and return before sunset. The timing is perfect.’

‘Timing for what?’ she asked, but he began to scale the next ladder without answering.

Rudra went up behind him. Nina waited for Eddie to follow, but now he too was staring at something along the ledge – not the shelter, but a small crevice nearer to them. ‘That’s weird.’

‘What?’

‘The snow. I mean, the
no
snow.’ A teardrop-shaped gap in the white covering directly in front of the little opening revealed bare rock, a rime of frost glistening on it. ‘Looks like it’s melted.’

‘Why would it only melt there?’ Nina wondered.

‘Dunno.’ He glanced back at Jayesh as the Gurkha joined them. ‘Keep an eye out,’ he whispered to his friend.

‘You think they’re going to try something?’ said Nina.

‘I dunno
what
they’re going to do. Better safe than sorry, eh?’

The visitors made their way up the ladder. This one was fairly short, about thirty feet, and ended at a much larger and broader ledge strewn with boulders.

A cave entrance was set into the foot of the cliff, a small wooden hut to one side. As with the crevice below, the ground immediately before the opening was devoid of snow.

There was no indication that anyone else was already here, though: no footprints other than Amaanat’s and Rudra’s, no smouldering remains of fires. So what had caused the snow to melt?

‘Is that the Midas Cave?’ Nina asked, starting towards the entrance.

‘It is,’ replied Amaanat, holding up a hand to warn her back. ‘But you must wait before we can go inside.’

‘Why?’ asked Eddie.

‘You will see. In . . .’ he checked his wrist, ‘six minutes. Please, wait over there.’

The other monks assembled where the abbot had indicated, putting down their heavy packs. Now intrigued, Nina joined them, Eddie and Jayesh standing slightly apart from everyone else to maintain a discreet watch.

The minutes ticked by. ‘So whatever’s about to happen, it happens to a schedule?’ Nina asked Amaanat.

‘Always,’ he said. ‘You are lucky to be here at this time of the year. It begins at the end of winter and continues until summer. It has done so since Talonor first came to this place, and long before.’

‘And it always happens on time?’ said Eddie.

‘Yes.’

‘Whatever it is, we should get it to run the trains.’

Nina smiled, then looked at her own watch. Less than a minute, if Amaanat was right. Less than a minute before she had the answer that her mother had sought for so long . . .

She became aware of an odd, unsettling sensation, but couldn’t identify it – until she realised that the ground itself was
shivering
. A low rumble gradually became audible, a hiss rising above it. ‘What’s that?’

‘The dragon,’ announced Amaanat. ‘The dragon is breathing.’

No sooner had he spoken than the sound became a whooshing roar – and a great blast of steam burst from the cave mouth, sweeping across the bare stone before the dense cloud of rising vapour was caught by the wind, dispersing into tendrils. More rose from below as a smaller jet gushed out of the narrow crevice on the lower ledge. The thunderous expulsion continued for several seconds before fading. A few last puffs escaped the cave, then everything fell silent and still.

Eddie and Nina regarded the entrance in shock. ‘What the hell was
that
?’ she said, wide-eyed.

The abbot gave her a gentle, knowing smile. ‘That,’ he said, ‘was the secret of the Midas Cave. And now I shall show it to you.’

11

The secret was not revealed immediately. To Nina’s rising frustration, Amaanat insisted that they wait before entering; because of the heat, he said, but she couldn’t help thinking there was more to it.

Her suspicion was confirmed several minutes later. Rudra went into the hut beside the steaming cave entrance, re-emerging clad in something that made her give Eddie a worried look. ‘
That’s
reassuring.’

The monk wore a bright yellow hazmat suit, the thick plastic overall covering him from head to foot. More alarming still, he carried a boxy device that when turned on emitted an ominous crackling noise. ‘Is that a Geiger counter?’ said Eddie, taking an involuntary step backwards.

Nina was equally horrified. ‘The cave’s radioactive?’

Amaanat raised his hands to placate them. ‘The steam is radioactive, not the cave. It will be safe, but we must wait for the readings to fall before we can go inside.’

‘How long will that take?’

‘Not long. Please, be patient.’

Rudra disappeared inside the tunnel. Minutes passed, then he returned, pulling back the hazmat suit’s hood. ‘It is clear,’ he announced. The Geiger counter was still growling, but at a much lower level.

Amaanat spoke to the other monks, and all but one took metal containers the size of large paint tins from their backpacks. Their contents were much heavier than paint, though. One monk’s fingers slipped, his canister dropping the few inches to the ground with a thud that sounded as if someone had pounded the earth with a sledgehammer.

Meanwhile, the man who had carried the ropes produced something about the size of a basketball, wrapped in thick layers of cloth. From the reverent way he handled it, it was clearly of great value. Nina was about to ask what it was, but the abbot spoke first. ‘Please, follow me.’

Jayesh lit another cigarette. ‘I’ll stay here,’ he told Eddie. ‘Keep my eyes open.’

‘See you soon,’ Eddie replied. A nod was the only reply he needed for reassurance.

Rudra had by now removed the protective suit and returned it and the Geiger counter to the hut. He emerged carrying a pair of lanterns. They were clockwork; he gave a charged one to Amaanat, then began winding the handle to power up the other. ‘He will follow us inside,’ said Amaanat as he switched on his light and entered the cave. ‘This way.’

‘You absolutely
sure
it’s safe?’ Eddie asked. ‘I don’t want to end up with an extra head growing out of my stomach like Kuato.’ Nina looked askance at him. ‘From
Total Recall
,’ he added.

‘I know.’

‘The original, not the crappy remake.’

‘I
know
.’

He flapped his hands before his chest and put on a croaky voice. ‘“Start the reactor!”’

‘Will you be
quiet
?’

‘There is nothing to fear,’ the monk told them as he made his way deeper. ‘But we must leave before the next burst of steam. Which will be in . . .’ he consulted his watch, ‘forty-six minutes.’

Nina examined the walls, and the wooden beams supporting them. The condition of neither made her feel safer. But there was something odd about the rock, she realised. As they moved away from the entrance, she caught faint glints of reflected lamplight from all around, as if tiny flecks of metal were embedded in the walls.

Not just the walls. The wood, too. Whatever it was, it covered everything.

The tunnel sloped downwards into the heart of the mountain, the air becoming hotter and more humid. As they rounded a bend, the light from behind was cut off. ‘It is not much further,’ said Amaanat.

Eddie spotted drips coming from a hairline crack in the ceiling. ‘Water’s getting in.’

‘It is from the snow as it melts. But without it, what you are about to see could not happen.’

‘So what
are
we about to see?’ asked Nina.

The passage narrowed as they rounded another turn. ‘This,’ said Amaanat.

Nina and Eddie both stopped, stunned by the sight.

The cave was made of gold.

Every surface was covered in the precious metal, as if it had been slathered thickly over walls, floor and ceiling. Even the pit props had been absorbed into the shimmering coating. At the far side of the space, a six-foot-wide chasm dropped vertically downwards, the ragged rock also caked in gold. A tall, heavy-duty tripod spanned the gap, a pulley hanging from its top. The arrangement was the only thing in the chamber that had not been completely gilded, but even this had a distinct sheen to it.

‘Whoa,’ Nina said finally. ‘Okay, now I understand why Midas’s name is associated with gold.’ She took in the whole of her incredible surroundings. ‘But this isn’t a natural seam. This has been . . . 
deposited
. How?’

Eddie took a closer look at one wall, examining where a prop met the rock. The gleaming covering had softened any sharp edges as if it had oozed to fill every corner. ‘It must be an inch thick! I don’t even want to think how much this lot’s worth.’

‘And that is why we have kept this place a secret,’ said Amaanat. ‘The violence as greedy men sought to control it would be terrible.’

‘Control it?’ said Nina. ‘Not just take it?’

‘This is not simply a place that contains gold. It
makes
gold. Talonor found it, thousands of years ago, and it has been used to create riches ever since.’

Eddie shook his head sceptically. ‘That’s impossible.’

‘Where do you think we get the gold to make our statues and jewellery? The monks of Detsen hold the secret, and we have used it. Carefully, a little at a time, to avoid attention. But we can create gold by the gram, by the kilo . . . or by the ton.’

‘How?’ Nina demanded. ‘How is that possible?’

‘I will show you.’ The elderly monk moved towards the chasm – and Nina gasped as his light suddenly illuminated a figure hidden in the darkness.

‘Who’s that?’ said Eddie, instinctively interposing himself between his wife and the lurker.

Amaanat replied quietly, almost reverently: ‘That is the daughter of Midas.’

Her initial shock now past, Nina saw that the person was unmoving. A statue. No, not even that, more an abstract representation of the human form, all features smoothed to the nothingness of a sea-worn pebble. It was half crouched, twisted at the waist, both arms raised to shield its empty face.

She realised that Amaanat’s words were literal, not merely naming a piece of sculpture. ‘There’s somebody
inside
it?’

‘She died here,’ he said, almost sadly. ‘By radiation, by steam, being choked by gold – we do not know. But Talonor named the cave in honour of his friend’s loss. She was Midas’s only daughter. A woman of importance, a princess. She thought this place was exactly the same as another in Atlantis. She was wrong. The time between each breath of the dragon is shorter here, and she was caught inside when one took place.’

Nina nodded thoughtfully. ‘And was turned into gold. Or coated in it, but it must have looked like the same thing. So that’s where the myth of Midas came from. Atlantean history, passed down to become a Greek legend.’

‘That’ll be a good chapter for your next book,’ said Eddie.

‘Except we can’t tell anyone about it, can we?’ She looked at Amaanat. ‘I gave my word.’ The abbot smiled.

The tramp of feet signalled the arrival of Rudra and the other monks. The lantern-bearer was in the lead, a length of rope over one shoulder. The man carrying the shrouded object was behind him. The others bore the metal canisters. ‘This is the true secret,’ said Amaanat as the mysterious item was carefully unwrapped. ‘Without it, there would be no gold; the cave would create nothing but radiation. This is the Crucible.’

The artefact mentioned in both her mother’s notes and the Secret Codex. Nina watched as the last layer of cloth was removed, eager to see what was revealed . . .

It matched none of her expectations.

The name suggested a man-made vessel, but what Rudra lifted out resembled some sort of geode: a natural, roughly spherical reddish crystal. An opening at the top gave her a glimpse of the hollow interior. It was faceted, reflective, like an agglomeration of gemstones. Jagged rib-like ridges ran up the outer shell. From the great care the monk was taking, she guessed they were as sharp as they looked. The whole thing was contained inside a man-made cage of thick wire with a tall handle looping over its top.

Amaanat anticipated her next question. ‘We do not know where it came from. That secret was kept by Talonor. But we know what it does.’

‘Makes gold, at a guess,’ said Eddie.

‘
How
does it make gold, though?’ Nina asked. ‘It can’t just magic the stuff up out of nothing.’

‘We shall show you.’ Amaanat stepped back as Rudra placed the Crucible on the floor near the tripod. ‘But first you will need protection.’

The Englishman smirked. ‘Too late for that, we’ve already got a kid.’

One of the other monks opened a bag and took out several breathing masks, which he distributed. His brethren donned them. ‘The Crucible turns mercury into gold,’ explained the abbot, voice muffled by the filter. ‘But the mercury gives off vapour. In a confined space, it is poisonous.’

‘You’ve got mercury in those cans?’ said Eddie. ‘Nasty stuff.’

‘We take great care with it. We do not want to pollute the mountain – the water from this cave flows down into the rivers, and on into the sea.’

Nina remembered the drips from the ceiling. ‘There isn’t much of it, though.’

Amaanat stepped to the edge of the chasm. ‘Not that water.
This
water.’ He tilted his lantern to illuminate what lay below.

Nina joined him, looking down, and saw that the rift was flooded. The surface some thirty feet below shimmered gently, suggesting that it was being gradually filled by meltwater flowing through faults in the surrounding rock. The coating of gold stopped abruptly around five feet above the rippling pool.

‘Okay,’ she said, admitting defeat at any attempt to understand what she was seeing. ‘What
is
this place? You say the Midas Cave turns mercury into gold, but how? How is that possible? You’ve got a pool of water, and some sort of weird crystal from Atlantis – how can that possibly have made all . . . all
this
?’ She waved her hands to encompass the golden walls.

‘The answer is simple, Dr Wilde,’ said the old man. ‘You are standing inside a nuclear reactor.’

At first Nina did not respond, unsure if she had heard him correctly. Eddie, on the other hand, jumped as if he had received an electric shock, clapping both hands protectively over his groin. ‘A nuclear fucking
what
?’ he yelped.

‘Okay, that was definitely swearing,’ said his wife.

‘Yeah, and it was fucking justified!’

‘It is a natural reactor,’ Amaanat went on. ‘There are uranium deposits in the rocks below.’ He pointed. Veins of grey metal ran through the stone beneath the golden line. ‘Now, they are safe. But as the water rises, it acts as a . . . neutron moderator.’ His hesitation suggested he was familiar with the process, but had never explained it in English before. ‘This brings the uranium to critical mass and starts a nuclear reaction. It becomes so hot, the water boils away – very quickly.’

‘So you get that big blast of steam,’ said Eddie.

‘Yes. Once the water is gone, the reaction stops. Until the pool fills again, and another begins. The cycle takes fifty-eight minutes.’

Nina searched her memory. ‘There was a natural reactor somewhere in Africa. I remember reading about it . . .’

‘At Oklo, in Gabon,’ the monk told her. ‘It was discovered when the atomic authorities thought fissile uranium had been stolen from a mine, because there was less of it than there should have been. But the natural reactor had burned it up more quickly. That one died a long time ago when the fissile uranium decayed, millions of years. But this,’ he gestured into the pit, ‘is still alive. And it is used with the Crucible to make gold.’

‘So there must have been another reactor in Atlantis!’ The disparate fragments of information she had discovered suddenly came together. ‘The furnace! That’s what Talonor was searching for, the reason the Atlanteans sent him out to explore the world. They had their own literal gold factory, but it was running out of juice.’ Excitement filled her voice at the realisation. ‘Gold was at the heart of their civilisation – it was a symbol of their power, a way for them to show how rich they were compared to their rivals. But they didn’t mine it, or plunder it. They
made
it. And when they realised they wouldn’t be able to keep doing that, they needed to find a new reactor.’

‘And they came all the way out here to find it?’ Eddie said. ‘They must have been pretty determined. Or desperate.’

‘Everything Talonor learned came in useful when the empire’s last survivors settled in the Himalayas, though.’ The sound of a monk unscrewing the lid of a container in response to a command from the impatient Rudra caught her attention. ‘Oh. Hint taken!’

She and Eddie donned masks as the monk removed the top. Lantern light glinted off a new kind of elemental metal: liquid mercury. Two other men held the Crucible firmly in place as he carried the heavy can to it.

Rudra placed a funnel inside the crystalline sphere. The quicksilver was carefully poured in, filling about a fifth of the Crucible. The empty canister was removed and the next brought. ‘Does
all
of that turn to gold?’ Nina asked, scepticism rising again. If it did, that meant the monks could produce
pounds
of the metal at a time, worth tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Mercury was not cheap in such quantities, but even a few ounces of gold would more than cover the cost.

‘No,’ said Amaanat. ‘There is a certain isotope of mercury found naturally in the whole. It is only a small part, but this is what is transformed.’

‘How?’ Eddie asked. ‘This all sounds like magic – or, you know, legend. Midas touching stuff and it turns into gold.’

‘A process called nuclear transmutation,’ explained the abbot. ‘One atom can be changed to another, and mercury is next to gold on the periodic table. Scientists discovered this could be done in a nuclear reactor in the 1940s, but the Atlanteans knew the secret of creating gold in a
natural
reactor many centuries before.’