No culture without cult, and sects-obsessed secret societies. Tinfoil origami will not suffice, we’re not tearing the wrapper off some half-baked Illuminati confectionery.

But the truth isn’t too far off.

Yes, there is an all-seeing eye, but it is not mammalian, does not have one round little pupil circled by fluttering eyelash hedgerows. Theirs is a compound eye, all angles and edges, unmoving, inescapable.

Yes, there is a pyramid, but it does not represent a single, solid entity. Pyramids are constructed of layer upon layer of interconnected stone slabs, each a member of its own society, its sprawling concrete community. One society sits upon the next and the next, each layer needing fewer members than the one beneath.

Yes, there is a small, tightly knit group of elites at the top, but they are supported and enabled by countless others who hate them and yet copy them exactly, wishing they themselves were higher up.

I am inside the pyramid. It is dark and the air is cold. There are many interconnecting tunnels. Most lead to deadly traps, a few lead to precious treasures, and there is only one way out.