Marco Di Caprio

ARCHAEOLOGISTS

Mario Valentino: Introverted, shy, brilliant, and sometimes impulsive.

Alicia Bresciano: Impulsive and extroverted; for her, everything is open to doubt.

Patrick Ford: Still mourning his wife. For him, the Mystery becomes linked to the child they never had.

Jerry Davis: A brilliant archaeologist, stoic and devoted to working out. He develops a dangerous relationship with a colonel’s wife. She tries to blackmail him because she knows the truth about the Mystery.

AUTHORITIES

King Hotukau: Opposed to modernity. He wants to free his people from the plantations and is allied with Russia.

Sergio Rapu: A modernist and ally of the Americans. He wants to bring dignity and progress to his people.

Queen Hina Moana: Suspicious of modernity, faithful to Christ and the ancestral gods. She believes Russia wants to destroy all forms of spirituality.

General Blackwell: Wants the best for America. Though retired, he wished to go to Vietnam, but the American authorities assigned him to Easter Island because of his age.

The Colonel’s Wife: Driven by a fear of loneliness, she is twenty years younger than the colonel. She reveals the truth about the Mystery to Jerry.

Colonel Vladimir Pavlov: Emotionless on the surface, he is allied with King Hotukau and wants him to become a people’s leader.

OUTSIDERS

Sage Ariki: Lives alone on the volcano Poike. A former friend of King Hotukau, he drinks and smokes heavily. He knows about the ancient tablets that contain the puzzle leading to the Mystery. A cat spends most of its time resting on his lap.

Maria Corazon: Patrick’s late wife. Coming from a complicated background, she dreamed of having children with him. She dies of cancer, leaving Patrick in despair and searching for meaning.