“They made you their goddess,” Gamay said.

“You can see why. The Chulo retreated from the onslaught of the white man a long time ago. They've been completely cut off from the world. Then I come like a comet flaming from the sky. Gods are supposed to behave that way to keep people in line. They figured the chief had angered the gods. I became the center of their religion.”

“A cargo cult?” Gamay offered.

Paul said, “Back during World War II, natives who saw planes overhead for the first time built replicas on the ground to worship.”

“Yes,” Gamay said. “Remember that movie The Gods Must Be Crazy? A Coke bottle dropped from an airplane became an object of religious veneration and started all sorts of trouble.”

“Precisely,” Francesca said. “Think of how those natives would react if they had an actual plane in their possession.”

“That explains the shrine with the plane at its center.”

She nodded. “They hauled the pieces of the jet there and did a fairly good job of reassembling it. Sort of a 'chariot of the god.' We have to sacrifice an animal now and then so the gods won't wreak more destruction on the tribe.”

“The plane was blue and white,” Gamay said. “The natives paint themselves with the same color scheme. No coincidence?”

“They believe it will give them protection against their enemies.”

“How did Tessa come to be here?”

“Tessa is half Chulo. Her mother was captured during a raid by a neighboring tribe and traded to a European who was Tessa's father. He was killed during a tribal dispute, and Tessa became Dieter's property. He knew of the Chulo and married Tessa when she was still a girl, erroneously thinking it would give him entree to the tribe and its medicinal herbs, which he trafficked in.”

“Why did she stay with Dieter?”

“She thought she had no choice. Dieter reminded her constantly that she was a half-breed, spoiled goods. An outcast.”

“What about the Indian whose body we found?”

“Tessa wasn't the first child born to her mother. She had a half-brother who lived here. He was determined to find his family and began to make explorations beyond the falls. He learned that his mother had died but that he had a sister. Tessa. He went to bring her back. The Chulo take family honor very seriously. The plant pirates working with Dieter captured him. They wanted him to show them where to find blood root.”

“Arnaud mentioned the plant.”

“It's the miraculous species that was used to help me after the plane crash. The tribe considers it to be sacred. He refused to tell them where to find it, so they tortured him. He was shot trying to escape, and you found him. Dieter stole the specimens. I sent a search party to look for Tessa's brother. She was trying to get back here when they ran into her, and she told them the story. I sent her back to Dieter's with instructions to keep us in formed about what was going on. Then you showed up unexpectedly. Tessa tried to warn you off. When that didn't work she helped you escape. Or so she thought. You reappeared on our doorstep.”