taking their equipment with them and leaving the islanders alone again. What happened was that the islanders built mock runways complete with air control towers, hangars, and aircraft made of straw. They even sat in them wearing wooden radio earpieces, trying to make contact with the great gods and their powerful sky machines. They would have flaming torches at night on the runways to guide down the ‘airships,’ or march up and down with either salvaged or wooden rifles like parading troops, mimicking American dress styles and behavior.”
“And all of it to bring the Americans back?” Ethan asked.
“Pretty much.” Rachel nodded. “The practices eradicated any existing religious observances they previously had. The leaders of the cults promised their people that if they did all of this, then the ‘gods’ would return. It got the leaders power, and it gave the people hope that they were not alone anymore, that they were special.”
Ethan shook his head in wonder.
“Hassim Khan was right. The ancients didn’t have extraterrestrial help in building their megastructures: they built them themselves in an attempt to reestablish contact with their godlike visitors.” He looked at her. “How many cargo cults could there have been?”
“In history? Thousands,” Rachel said. “The Nazca’s lines in Peru, depicting animals on such a scale that they’re only visible from the air, would be among the most likely candidates.”
“Right,” Ethan agreed. “I’ve heard about them, and as icons visible from great heights they’d be perfect.”
“Most of the pyramidal structures built by civilizations around the world could have served a similar purpose,” Rachel agreed, “and they’re everywhere, not just in Egypt. Mesopotamian ziggurats that were once colorfully painted, Nubian pyramids in Sudan, the Sula Temple in Java, the granite temples of the Chola Empire in India, others in Samoa and Greece and those of the Maya and Aztecs at Teotihuacan in South America. The pyramids in Egypt are the most famous, but few people realize that there is not a single hieroglyphic anywhere suggesting that they were burial sites for pharaohs, or that they were once covered with smooth white sandstone: they would have shone like beacons in sunlight, perhaps brightly enough to be visible from space. Virtually every religion on Earth could have started out as a sort of cargo cult and just grown from there.”
“And pyramids would make sense as they’re a stable structure,” Ethan said. “I’ve read that we know they were built by human hands because the graves of the builders were found near the pyramids themselves in Egypt, complete with hieroglyphics recording their achievements.”
“Stability is one reason,” Rachel said. “But we’re used to seeing pyramids from the ground. If you fly directly above one, you see a big X in a box.” She smiled. “Sometimes, X does mark the spot.”
Ethan grinned ruefully.
“What are you going to do when we get back to the city?” Rachel asked him.
“Meet with Ambassador Cutler, Shiloh Rok, or anyone in the Knesset who’ll listen and tell them what’s happened. We need them aware that MACE is involved in this.”
Rachel sighed. “We still don’t know that for sure. They were at Lucy’s dig site and they pursued us, violently, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they abducted Lucy.”
“MACE,” Ethan said carefully, “whoever they are and whatever they’re doing here, have no interest in Lucy’s survival.”
“They were at the site. It doesn’t mean they abducted Lucy, only that they found and were excavating the remains. We can’t lay blame without proof; that’s not how the law works.”
Ethan felt disbelief sluice through his gullet. “You’re living in denial.”
“Tell me what happened to your fiancée.”
Rachel’s unexpectedly direct question stumped Ethan.
“It’s not worth the telling.”
“It is, to me.”
Ethan turned away from her and looked out of the window even though there was nothing to see but the inky blackness. He looked down, and saw his hands trembling in the darkness. Nervous exhaustion, lack of sleep. More hallucinations would come next, probably, like the one in the market square in Jerusalem. He folded his hands tightly together, looking out the window and seeing Rachel’s reflection watching him in the glass as she spoke.
“Since we came here I have trusted you, relied upon you, and taken risks with you because my father told me that if anyone could find Lucy, it was you. I think I have a right to know why that is.”
“I haven’t found your daughter yet and I never said that I could,” Ethan murmured.
“No,” Rachel admitted. “That’s why I want to know the truth. I may have to