The Great American Pyramid – Jasper Jordan-Lang

March 2, 2026

The giant beam on the Luxor Pyramid in Las Vegas was 260 degrees Celsius in the control room and measured 11km high when it was fully activated. Pilots complained of the safety hazard it posed and negotiated with casino staff to only partially illuminate the beam. Even at half power it was strong and could be seen throughout the surrounding desert. At night, locusts drawn to the light, descended on the city. Casino managers rushed around in attempt to close as many windows as they could. The locusts were already inside. At Caesar’s Palace, they made it onto the gaming floor and tore through the slot machines. The big win is around the corner, said the gambling addict to himself, ignoring the insects swarming around him. Nineteen is today’s lucky number, said the woman with a smoker’s cough. The locusts coursed past the blackjack table, soiling its felt. At the Bellagio, the locusts made it into the swimming pool. The average size of a locust swarm in North America is one hundred and fifty million. Even just small part of this swarm would constitute hundreds and thousands of locusts. The indoor swimming pool at the Bellagio is chlorinated. The room is large, but not large enough to accommodate for the amount of insects that had made it inside. The size of the swarm in proportion to the room pushed the animals into the pool, many eventually drowning in the chemically saturated water. Later, once the swarm had dissipated, the pool was found full of floating thoraxes. Bathers screamed and attempted to leave the area as quickly as possible, their bare skin developing instant lesions through friction caused by the animal’s wings. At Fontainebleau, the locusts hadn’t made it into the building, although they had managed to eat through the telephone wires. Luckily, the concierge had a satellite phone he was using to call the national guard. A priest had been summoned to ordain a shotgun wedding. He had only made it so far as the lobby. ‘Exodus 10:6; They shall fill your houses, and the houses of all your officials and of all the Egyptians—something that neither your parents nor your grandparents have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day.’ In the Bible, God brings down ten plagues on the Egyptians. The eighth is locusts, consuming the crops and food source of the people. Las Vegas doesn’t have much in the way of farming, its economy survives on gambling. As the priest looked out of the lobby window of the casino, he could see the beam from the Luxor Pyramid, The Great American Pyramid. In the blue light, he could see millions of locusts swarming. In the control room at the top of the pyramid are thirty-nine light bulbs which power the beam. As ordered by the city, only nineteen were currently functioning. The priest watched and the light weakened as bulbs cut off. Eventually, it dissapeared completely and he could no longer see the locusts flying above the Great American Pyramid. The concierge’s tone became more urgent.