Temple of the Gods - Andy McDermott [39]
They touched.
And Nina’s senses were thrown into another world.
The effect was only brief, her shock causing her to break the link between the statues, but the results were almost overwhelming. Just for that moment, she felt as though her mind had left the confines of her body. Not a dislocation, but an expansion, spreading into the room, down through the building, into the city and the land beneath it.
And, somehow, she also felt . . . life.
She sensed Takashi’s presence a few feet from her, and others farther away – above, around, below. And not just people. Birds roosting amongst the machinery atop the skyscraper, the plants in Takashi’s office, insects and rats in their hiding places within the building’s structure. The lawns around its base – and beyond them the mass of living creatures of every kind within Tokyo. She was connected to them, some strand between all the different forms of life linking them in an inexplicable unity, a feeling of oneness.
And there was another sensation, equally strange, like a tugging at her soul. Something far away, yet also a part of her – and of everything else. She could feel it without touching, knew where it was without seeing—
Then it was gone, her consciousness snapping back to reality as her shock made her stagger. She instinctively grabbed the display case for support, letting go of the statues . . .
They didn’t fall.
Before, the figures had always stopped glowing the instant they left her touch. Now, though, they continued to shimmer – as they hung impossibly in the air, slowly drifting apart. Both Nina and Takashi stared at them, she in astonishment, the tycoon with . . .
Vindication?
The glow quickly faded. The figurines dropped, at first in slow motion but rapidly picking up speed—
With a stifled shriek Nina grabbed two of them, Takashi lunging to catch the last as it fell. Suddenly breathless, she leaned against the case. The pair of statues in her hands were glowing again, but the incredible experience did not return. ‘What the hell was that?’ she gasped.
Kojima hurried back into the room and went to his boss’s side, but his urgent and concerned questions were waved away as Takashi kept his gaze fixed on Nina. ‘You felt it?’ he said urgently. ‘You must tell me! What did you feel?’
‘I dunno,’ she said, bewildered. ‘It was . . . I don’t know how to describe it, just – just overpowering. But the statues . . . they were floating! How is that even possible?’
‘Diamagnetism,’ said Takashi.
Nina blinked. ‘What?’ Considering what he had just witnessed, he seemed remarkably composed. ‘What do you mean? I’m an archaeologist, not a physicist.’
Kojima provided a partial explanation. ‘All materials can be affected by magnetic fields, even ones we don’t think of as magnetic. You can levitate a train with magnets – but with enough power you can levitate an animal, even a person. Diamagnetism is the name of this property.’
‘You charged the statues with earth energy,’ continued Takashi. ‘For just a few seconds, they held that charge – and were levitated against the energy fields of the planet itself. It was an effect we had predicted. But,’ he admitted, ‘seeing it for myself was . . . startling.’ He regarded the figure cradled protectively in his hands.
‘Wait, you predicted this?’ Nina demanded. Her initial amazement was already being tempered by a growing feeling that she had been played: Takashi knew far more than he was letting on.
He lowered his head. ‘I apologise, Dr Wilde. We thought we knew what to expect, but there was no way to know exactly what would happen when you brought the statues together.’
‘There’s that “we” again,’ she said. ‘Who else knows about this?’
Takashi ignored her question. ‘What did you feel while you were holding the statues?’
‘You answer me first.’
A flash of anger crossed his face at being challenged in his own domain, but he quickly regained control. ‘I am a member of . . . a group that believes earth energy is the key to the world’s future.