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She brought them to a small briefing table, just the three of them so they could face one another. The layout of the room made him think longingly of the Qualcomm Institute in San Diego. They all lowered into their chairs.
“Dr. Estrada,” Director Kershaw said, leaning forward so he could hear her better, “the jungles of the Yucatán have continued to light up beyond the original locations. We’re seeing residual photonic evidence from hundreds if not thousands of structures beneath the jungle canopy. The epicenter was Chichén Itzá. It’s spreading up and down from there. These are large swaths of jungle that are typically dark after sunset, except for a few scattered locations that have power.”
“Director Kershaw, the majority of my research is in Guatemala, not the Yucatán. I don’t know how I can help you.”
“This is bigger than Guatemala or even Mexico, and you’re an expert in Maya history and culture. I don’t have time to read a hundred books. Neither do my agents. So . . . a few questions. Let’s start with Cholula. What is its significance other than being the largest pyramid in the world?”
“It was dedicated to Quetzalcóatl by the Aztec.”
“And Quetzalcóatl is Kukulkán?” she probed.
“Yes. Same god, different language and culture but similar enough. Both names mean ‘feathered serpent’ or ‘precious serpent.’ You know, it’s a common belief that Montezuma thought Cortés was the return of Kukulkán, which is why he didn’t attack the Spanish at first.”
“Is that what scholars believe today?”
“They have been debating it for years. And not just scholars. Some religions believe that Christianity existed in Mesoamerica during, after, or even before the Nativity story even happened.”
“We’ll address the metaphysical later,” Kershaw said. “O’Keefe, is her laptop set up?”
“Yes. We’re logged into the AWS account,” Agent O’Keefe answered.
“Okay. Switch the main screens back to satellite imagery, please.”
Dr. Estrada gazed at the large screens along the far end of the wall. The screens flickered and then showed a global satellite array of North and South America. He could see the terminus of where night had fallen across Brazil and the East Coast, though lights from major population centers provided dots and clusters of illumination.
“Isolate the light spectrum that Wachowski discovered,” she said next.
“Which light spectrum?” Wright asked. “Infrared? Ultraviolet?”
“Man-made ranges. Streetlights. Neon signs. Halogen tubes. Stadiums. We’re matching the light signature we found down in the Yucatán.”
The screen shifted again. Dr. Estrada stared in confusion for a moment, but then he saw it—a serpentine pattern of light going from Arizona, down through Mexico, through the Central American countries, and ending in Peru.
“This is all the same light spectrum?” Director Wright asked, his voice betraying awe and fear.
“Yes. Satellites don’t lie.”
“Have you told the president?”
“I don’t know what to tell the president,” Kershaw said. “Dr. Estrada, Miss Chaska—what do you make of it?”
Dr. Estrada rose from his chair, dumb with wonder, and walked to the front of the room where the screens displayed the images. Illari joined him, her face full of awe. The pattern formed an unmistakable image of the feathered serpent.
“The head of the snake is here,” Dr. Estrada said, pointing to the band in Arizona . . . no—southern Utah. He traced it down its circuitous path, long and slender.
“Tlachihualtepetl is here,” Illari said, pointing to a spot just east of Mexico City. It was glowing in a concentrated way. “In a snake’s biology, this would be the . . . heart . . . I think.”
“What is that?” Kershaw asked. She and Director Wright had joined them up front.
Dr. Estrada looked at Illari. “That makes sense. Tlachihualtepetl is the Nahuatl name for Cholula. It means ‘made-by-hand mountain’ . . . or ‘temple.’ The ancients all built temples on higher ground.”
“And it goes down here to the Yucatán. There’s El Castillo. Tulum. Tikal. So many lights.”
“All the way down to Peru,” Wright said. “I’ve been to Machu Picchu. So you’re saying that the Aztec and Maya built this pattern? It’s man-made?”
“This is incredible,” Dr. Estrada said in awe. “Yes. This is all man-made. But no one civilization made it. The different parts of the design must have been built independently of each other.”
“How is that possible?” Kershaw asked. “They had no GPS. We’re talking thousands of miles.”