Evil Star

explained. "It is a sacrificial knife.
    The edges of the blade are not sharp, but the point is. You must look after it and keep it safe."
    "It's beautiful," Richard said. He remembered the Inca's warning.
    "Why wouldn't I want to have something like this? And what do you mean when you say it was made for me?"
    "This tumi has another name," the Inca said. He wasn't answering Richard's questions — but then, it occurred to Richard, he never did.
    "It has always been known as the invisible blade. You can see it, but it cannot be found. When you carry it with you, nobody will notice it is there."
    "How about in airports?" Richard was thinking of the metal detectors. They'd go crazy if he tried to walk through with this.
    “You can take it wherever you wish. No policeman or security person will ever find it on you. It is part of you now. And one day you will find it has a use."
    "Well. . . thanks." Richard reached out and took the leather bag. He dropped the knife in and closed it. He was surprised how light it all was. "Thank you for helping us. And thank you for finding Matt."
    "Good luck, Mr. Cole. Look after Pedro and Matteo. They have need of you."
    Richard turned and walked out of the palace. The prince of the Incas and his amauta watched him until he had gone.

    Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star
    '• • •
    The helicopter took them to Cuzco, where a five-seater Cessna plane was waiting to carry them on the longer leg of the journey to Nazca.
    Matt was amazed how smoothly every-thing had been organized.
    There were no passports needed, no travel documents. They simply landed at Cuzco's airport, walked across the tarmac, and took off again. Not one offi-cial so much as glanced in their direction. It seemed that the Incas still had plenty of influence in Peru — and that while Matt was with them, he would be safe.
    The flight took three hours. Pedro seemed more com-fortable in the plane than he had in the helicopter. He had barely spoken since the golden disc had been shown to them in Vilcabamba, and Matt wondered what was going on in his head. In the seat next to him, Richard was also unusually quiet. He hadn't told Matt what the Inca prince had said to him. Matt had decided not to ask, but obviously it hadn't been good news.
    Atoc had flown the helicopter, but on the plane he was just a passenger, sitting on his own at the back, deep in thought. The pilot of the Cessna was behind the controls, almost completely invisible in a leather jacket, flying hel-met, and goggles. He had said nothing as they came on board and nothing during the flight, but suddenly he called out, shouting to make himself heard above the noise of the engine. Atoc leaned across the aisle.
    "Look out of windows," he said. "We pass over the Nazca Lines."
    The plane dipped, dropping ever lower, as if about to land. Matt felt his stomach rise. They were well below the level of the clouds, flying over a flat, empty desert and he wondered what he was meant Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star to see. The Nazca Lines? There didn't seem to be anything here.
    And then he caught his breath.
    There was a line, drawn in the sand, running dead straight for as far as his eye could see. It must have been carved in the earth and it couldn't have been done by chance. It was too precise. Next to it, he saw a shape, a huge rectangle, narrower at one end than the other, at least a mile long. A runway? No. Like the line, it had simply been drawn in the ground.
    "Over there . . ." Richard said, leaning across him.
    There were more lines, running in every direction, crossing over one another, all as straight as arrows. Matt had never seen anything like it. The whole desert was noth-ing less than a fantastic doodling pad on a gigantic scale. He couldn't imagine how it had been done or when. Nor did he understand how the lines had survived when surely the first puff of wind should have blown them away.
    The pilot called out to them again and the plane tilted and curved.
    Now Matt saw pictures, even more incredible than the lines. The first showed a hummingbird. It wasn't drawn naturalistically, but even so, it was unmistakable, with a long, pointed beak, wings, and a tail. Matt tried to work out its size. It was hard to say, but if he could see it so clearly this high up, it had to be at least a hundred meters long.
    One by one, a fantastic menagerie of creatures appeared on the surface of the desert as the plane passed directly