Nina said nothing. Sandra made an annoyed sound, then turned to watch the russet landscape speed past. ‘Okay, we just crossed the highway, which is the only road in or out,’ she said. ‘The bloke who reported a plane going down was driving along it, so it’s somewhere south of here. Rosie came out of Mutitjulu, which is by the rock,’ she pointed at the huge landmark’s eastern end, ‘and came north. So we’ve got an area of about seventy square kilometres to cover.’

‘What was she driving?’ Eddie asked.

‘A Land Cruiser, one of our ranger trucks. It’s white, so it should stand out.’

‘There’s some binoculars in the back,’ the pilot chipped in.

Nina passed a set to Sandra, then she and Eddie began their own sweep of the plain. While dry, it was far from dead, dotted with desert trees and scrub. Green against red – so anything else would stand out clearly, whether white . . . or gold.

‘I see something,’ said Eddie after a few minutes. ‘There’s a truck down there.’

Sandra found it north of the rock. ‘It’s moving – it must be Barney. Another ranger, he’s looking for Rosie.’ She used the radio to contact the man on the ground. ‘He hasn’t seen anything yet,’ she reported.

Nina lowered her binoculars. The ranger’s truck was a clear white dot against the endless red, so the missing woman’s vehicle ought to stand out equally well. She looked further out from Uluru. The desert stretched away to the hazy horizon. Earth tones, as far as the eye could see . . .

‘There’s something!’ she cried, snapping up the binoculars for a closer look. ‘It’s white . . . it’s another truck!’

Sandra looked for herself. ‘Jesus, it’s rolled over! Dougie, get us down there, quick. She could be hurt.’ The pilot changed course as she radioed again. ‘Barney, we’ve found her jeep. We’re going to land – follow us in.’

The helicopter closed on its destination. A dry riverbed weaved snake-like across the plain. The vehicle Nina had seen was indeed lying inverted at its south bank, but it had been damaged by more than a rollover. ‘Christ!’ said Dougie. ‘Looks like it got blown up by dynamite!’ The Land Cruiser was a mangled wreck, torn in half with shredded debris scattered around it.

Eddie gave Nina an unhappy look. ‘One of those bloody spear guns,’ he whispered.

She nodded. ‘I can see its tracks. It came from the rock, then stopped here because it couldn’t get across the riverbed . . . so where was it going?’ Her eyes followed its path northwards—

A shock of fear. ‘Eddie!’ she hissed. ‘It’s there, look!’

The golden vimana was about two hundred metres beyond the dry river. It was half buried in the red sand; whether it had augered into the dirt in a hard landing, or its occupants had tried to hide it, she couldn’t tell.