The Apocalypse Calendar (13 page)

The call to the President was
brief. In spite of the fact that the call came from a prominent Air Force general, the answer from the President’s chief of staff was irritating; apparently, the President was too busy to talk to anyone at the moment. General Maxwell tried his best to explain that the safety of millions of people in the United States and elsewhere in the world was at stake. Finally, he asked if it was possible to have the President’s science adviser come to Cheyenne Mountain. The President’s chief of staff thought this would be possible. He said he would look into it and get back to General Maxwell within an hour.

Miller said good-bye to his wife and family and to Dolores and Siegfried. Dolores said as she was leaving, “Frank, in a way, I think it is just as well the White House expressed little interest in seeing our little alien toy. The longer the Feds diddle around making decisions, the more time we’ll have to find some answers to questions which we need to address.”

Miller, looking quite dejected, said to Stanley, “I can’t believe that we can’t get the President to come out here. The ‘too busy’ excuse wears at bit thin when so much is at stake. To me, it’s like Nero playing his fiddle while Rome burns. I think we should get one of your superiors at NORAD involved.”

Stanley said, “Cheer up, Frank! Washington will be Washington. They live in a vacuum over there. I will get Major General Anthony Camponelli involved. He’s a good guy and is quite well-versed in what Herman and I have been up to with UFOs. Anthony is amazed at what we’ve found. I believe I introduced you to Anthony at Herman’s memorial service.”

The conversation was interrupted when the phone rang. Stanley said with his hand over the receiver, “It’s the President’s science adviser, Dr. Wayne Cutler.”

“Yes, Dr. Cutler. I’m glad you can come out to Cheyenne Mountain. I think you will be shocked when you see the alien device that we’ve recovered.” Cutler said, “I’ll arrive around noon.”

Miller said, “I’ve dealt with Wayne before. He’s a pretty good hand at geophysics, and I understand that he is pretty open-minded. Wayne was at the NSF for a number of years. I had some dealings with him in a NSF proposal that I was involved in.”

Wayne Cutler arrived promptly at noon.
He was quickly briefed on what was known about the Apocalypse Calendar. Wayne was a heavyset guy, about six feet tall with wavy blonde hair and a prominent Roman nose. Miller guessed that he was probably about fifty years old. Like Herman, he was a chain-smoker. Brushing through a cloud of smoke, Stanley said, “Now it’s time to take a good look at our alien pet. After you take a look at it, we’ll show you the video we made when Frank’s wife, Jane, applied her tremendous ESP power to communicate with the Calendar. Do not touch the green stone emitting light in the center of the device under any circumstances.”

Wayne Cutler leaned forward with considerable interest and evident fear as he watched the video. When the show was over, he said, “It’s easy to see why you wanted President Campbell to see this strange alien device. Our survival is at stake. Frank, I agree with your analysis. Something extraordinary is taking place in the earth’s interior. You are absolutely correct in saying that convection is speeding up within the core and the mantle. It’s no wonder that we’re having all of these disastrous earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. There hasn’t been this sort of tectonic activity since the formation of the Andes some six to ten million years ago. I’m afraid that the scenario we’re seeing here is more like what happened with the titanic forces leading to the breakup of the supercontinent Pangea. The ‘parting of the Red Sea’ event that we are seeing now is the latest example of what’s going on. I am even beginning to wonder whether the severe drought and heat that we experienced during much of last summer isn’t related to an upswing in mantle convection.”

Miller said, “Wayne, I believe that our weather is definitely being affected by an increase in mantle upwelling along mid-ocean ridges. Certainly, the melting of the Arctic ice pack over the Gakkel Ridge’s spreading center is the best example of this. The latest eruption broke through the ice and is forming a new island. However, before this, there were explosive eruptions creating volcanic ash and other coarser volcanic debris on the sea floor in 2009, about the time that my grandson turned the knob on the Apocalypse Calendar. Geologists and geochemists were sure this sort of thing couldn’t happen at such great water depths. Mother Earth proved them wrong.”

Cutler responded, “I think we need to get the President involved as soon as possible. Do you guys have any ideas about how to stop all of this tectonic activity?”

Miller said, “We think that the key to this is the Apocalypse Calendar. It’s a fact that tectonic activity increased fivefold when my grandson innocently turned the knob in the Calendar’s center.”

Cutler said, “I’ll try and get the President out here tomorrow. We’ll stage it as a presidential inspection tour of NORAD. We’ll include the press in the tour of the NORAD command center at Peterson Air Force Base near Cheyenne Mountain. After this show is over, we’ll whisk the President away to Cheyenne Mountain by helicopter. Hopefully, the press won’t be too suspicious.”

The President and his entourage of
Secret Service agents arrived at the Cheyenne Mountain facility around three o'clock. The Secret Service arranged for a presidential double to take off in one direction and the President in another. So far, there was no sign of the press. The President was greeted by both Brigadier General Maxwell and his superior, Major General Anthony Camponelli, and immediately taken to the chamber containing the Apocalypse Calendar. Stanley introduced the President to Miller and Gloria, Herman Swartz’s secretary. Miller thought that it would be good to have Gloria present, since she had all of the UFO data at her fingertips.

The President, addressing the group, said, “Wayne, I hope this UFO stuff you guys are involved in isn’t some bullshit fairytale!”

Wayne said, “Sir, I know you’ve been busy trying to cope with the parting of the Red Sea. However, Dr. Miller, Stanley, Anthony, and I feel that this alien object that we’ve recovered portends to the immediate future of the Earth and all of its inhabitants. They’ve named this alien device the ‘Apocalypse Calendar.’ The damn thing seems to be built like some sort of egg timer that may well control what’s going on in the interior of the Earth. Over the years, General Maxwell and the late Herman Swartz collected alien space debris that consists of the same hard metal that the Apocalypse Calendar is made of. Their studies indicate that this metal is an amalgam of elements that simply don’t occur on Earth. We do know, however, that this metal contains titanium. You can’t even scratch this metal with a diamond! Herman’s assistant, Gloria, has all of the files on similar alien objects, if you want to examine them. Dr. Miller, Would you tell the President how you geologists managed to stumble onto the Apocalypse Calendar?”

“Sure, Wayne. I would be pleased to.” Miller proceeded to unveil the litany of events that led to the discovery of the Calendar.

The President said, “So you actually think that this thing is Moctezuma’s Treasure?”

Miller said, “All our information points to this. Curiously, when we first met Dr. Dolores Clark from the University of Pittsburgh at Tamazunchale, she knew about the symbol that we found at a cave in the Sierra Cruillas about a hundred miles south of Brownsville, Texas. The elders of the remote tribes of Indians that she studied knew all about this symbol. Subsequently, we found the same symbol in a cave near Tamazunchale and at the cave where we found the Calendar along the Río Vinasco. All of the local Indians said that these symbols were pointers to where Moctezuma’s Treasure was located.”

The President asked, “Why do you think that there’s a curse on the Calendar?”

“At the moment, the evidence is still circumstantial and may continue to remain so, but it’s worth noting that every time the Calendar gets moved, people die—usually one at a time. Two members of my geological team died within a period of a year after we found the Calendar and took it back to Dallas. When Herman and Stanley moved the Calendar to Cheyenne Mountain, Herman died in a plane crash a few days later.”

Stanley interrupted, “Herman was a damn good pilot. I can’t believe that he crashed due to pilot error. The FAA is still trying to figure out what happened.” Miller continued, “Dr. Siegfried Nolf from the University of Tübingen is studying the Mayan glyphs on both the alien device and the limestone box that contains it. He thinks that the glyphs on the disk were actually inscribed by the aliens. The Mayans didn’t have the means to write on the disk. It’s simply too hard. Even with our technology today, we couldn’t do this. Siegfried thinks that if there is a mention of a curse, it must be on the lid of the stone box itself. We postulate that a curse may have been placed on the Calendar by a powerful Mayan shaman after the aliens left. Siegfried’s translations are still a work in progress. We hope to have some results pretty soon.”

Stanley added, “We tried to make markings on the alien device with our state-of-the-art laser equipment here at Cheyenne Mountain. This totally failed. The metal substance appears to be laser-proof!”

Wayne Cutler said, “We’d better get on with it. The President is a busy man. Frank, why don’t you show him the video that you let me look at yesterday. Sir, this video was made when Frank’s wife, Jane, used her ESP powers to communicate with the disk. This was actually the second time that she did this. There was no recording made the first time. Jane fainted at the end of the video that you are about to watch. That’s why you will notice that it stops abruptly.”

Miller said, “I’ll turn on the projector. Mr. President, you’d better hold on to your seatbelt. This is pretty amazing stuff.”

The President’s look of amusement quickly changed to one of horror and fear as he watched the video. When Miller turned off the projector, the President said, “My God, this is really getting frightening. What can we do to stop all of this tectonic activity?”

Miller said, “Mankind can do little to control Mother Earth. When she gets tired of us, she will simply flick us off like she did to the dinosaurs. However, we do believe that the Apocalypse Calendar itself may be able to stop all of the devastating earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. We’re working on this. Stanley has a psychic with tremendous ESP power available. We may use her to continue what Jane wasn’t able to finish.”

The President asked, “What do you think will be the most serious danger to the United States?”

Miller said, “I believe that there are two major dangers. First, it is likely that the sea level is going to rise thirty to forty feet due to the melting of the Arctic ice pack over the Gakkel Ridge spreading center. I am sure there are ways to protect major cities such as Boston and New York from this. However, the main danger is the generation of huge tidal waves due to a series of major earthquakes. It’s conceivable that these tidal waves may be up to a half a mile high. You would have to evacuate millions of people to west of the Appalachians well in advance of the tidal waves. It’s just about an impossible task.”

“I feel helpless. The United States is the most powerful nation on Earth, yet we can’t prevent this sort of thing from happening, even with all of our advanced technology. Are there any kind of indicators that we could use for advance warning?”

Miller said, “A cluster of 7.0-plus-magnitude earthquake centers generated anywhere in the North Atlantic in a hundred-square-mile area would be a sign that something major is going to happen. I would get the entire East Coast population behind the shield of the Appalachians. People should be safe there.”

“How about the Gulf Coast?”

Miller said, “The entire Gulf Coast population should be moved above a five-hundred-foot elevation. Probably going as far north as Dallas would be okay. It’s likely the force of any tidal waves generated in the Atlantic would be blunted by Cuba and the Florida peninsula. All of the countries in Western Europe and Western Africa that border the Atlantic would also be severely affected. You will eventually have to warn them about the dangers we face. I am afraid, Mr. President, that there is nothing much you can do until we get this sort of indicator. We will probably see tectonic events all over the world in the meantime. It’s pretty scary, but if we can obtain more information from the Apocalypse Calendar, we might be able to save millions of lives.”

The President, becoming increasingly worried, said, “I notice you haven’t said much about the West Coast. This area is always the one we’re more concerned about.”

“Good point. The people on the West Coast are well tuned into earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. All of the North Pacific has a good warning system for tidal waves. If major tidal waves occur, they should be able to move to higher elevations—for example, the California Coast Ranges, the Klamath Mountains, and the Sierra Nevada.”

Miller and Jane were relaxing and
watching TV on Saturday night. Suddenly, the movie they were watching was interrupted by a news bulletin. The frantic news commentator said with a clear sign of fear, “There has been a series of major earthquakes in the Gulf of California. The US Geological Survey indicates that each of these earthquakes has a magnitude of over 7.5, and they all occur along the axis of the Gulf of California spreading center over a distance of seven hundred miles. Geologists indicate that the spreading center in the Gulf is an extension of the East Pacific Rise spreading center. Apparently, this tectonic activity has resulted in the farther opening of the Gulf of California. As a consequence, Baja California and the Mexican mainland are moving in opposite directions. This sort of process is known as ‘rifting.’ A series of faults known as ‘transform faults’ parallels the axis of the Gulf of California spreading center. One of these faults apparently joins up with the San Andreas Fault. If this is the case, Baja California may start moving towards Alaska over the next several million years. I should also add that there are reports that the Gulf of California has joined up with the Salton Sea. All of Imperial Valley is now covered with seawater. From the reports that we have received so far, the earthquakes have affected the cities of Puerto Villarta, Mazapil, Cabo San Lucas, Tijuana, San Diego, and Los Angeles. We have no assessment of damage or casualties yet. Tidal wave warnings have been posted for the entire Pacific.”

Miller said, “Wow! I guess I’d better get in touch with Gary and General Maxwell. I am sure that our new President, Robert Renzle, is about to wet his pants. Hell, he was just inaugurated six days ago. I hope his predecessor briefed him on the Apocalypse Calendar.”

Although it was getting late, Miller, Gary, and Siegfried Nolf decided to go to the Institute and use the phone equipment there to set up a conference call with Stanley Maxwell and Dolores Clark.

Miller said after he had set up the conference call, “Hi, guys! What do you think about the earthquakes in the Gulf of California?”

Gary said in a tone of almost childish glee, “It fits our model of a speedup in mantle convection.”

General Maxwell said, ignoring Gary’s statement of the obvious, “I just checked the Apocalypse Calendar. I hate to spoil your evening, but the flashing green light pulses have gone absolutely wacko. The speed of the pulses has more than doubled.”

Dolores Clark said, “It looks like we’re in for it. This is really getting scary!” Miller asked with a worried tone, “Does our new President, Robert Renzle, know about the Apocalypse Calendar?”

Stanley Maxwell said, “I doubt if he’s been briefed. I’ll call the new science adviser. I am sure that we’re going to have to get our new president and his science advisor to come out to Cheyenne Mountain to see the Calendar themselves. Whatever the case, I can take care of this myself. There is no need for the rest of you to get involved.”

Gary, staring at his computer in disbelief, said, “I am getting casualty and damage reports on the Internet. Preliminary estimates of casualties are five thousand dead in Cabo San Lucas, about thirteen thousand dead in Mazapil, fifteen thousand dead in Puerto Vallarta, six thousand dead in Tijuana, and no deaths in San Diego or LA. In the latter cities, there have been a lot of injuries from falling debris. The damage to the infrastructure in both countries is major. Roads and railroads have been severely damaged. Apparently, there have been huge landslides on Interstate 8 east of San Diego. The highway is blocked in both directions along several mountain passes. Perhaps the most serious damage is to the Hoover Dam near Las Vegas. Cracks have developed in the concrete. They are saying it might fail at any time. If it does, there goes all of the water supply and power for Las Vegas. I would suspect that much of the water supply for LA would be wiped out as well. The whole power grid for the West is going to be screwed up. There is talk that the engineers are going to lower the level of water behind the damn in order to repair the cracks. Let’s hope they succeed.”

Siegfried said, “You know, many of us believed that the Mayan Calendar predicted the world was going to end on December 21, 2012; clearly, this interpretation is incorrect. We may be headed for the Apocalypse in 2013.”

Miller said, “I have a feeling that another major tectonic event is going to take place in a few days. I’ll bet that happens before President Renzle arrives at Cheyenne Mountain. Often these events happen in pairs.”

Siegfried, getting close to Miller, spat out, “I’ve been able to determine that a curse
is
mentioned in the Mayan inscriptions on the stone box, but I’ve no idea what the curse is all about yet.”

Miller, carefully moving a safe distance from Siegfried Nolf, said, “Good work, Siegfried. You have confirmed what Gary and I suspected. Now you need to find out what this curse really is. When you get this done, we’ll be in business.”

Gary said, “I’ll go to Cheyenne Mountain to meet with the President this time. It’s best that Frank and I take turns traveling. I’ll bring Rosita along, if that’s okay with the general.”

Stanley said, “No problem. I’ll send an Air Force jet to pick up you and Rosita at Love Field. I suspect that it will be awhile before I round up the President and his adviser.”