The Apocalypse Calendar (15 page)

It Was five o'clock, and
Gary and Miller were involved in a conversation about reversals of the earth’s magnetic pole—much to the delight of students studying for final exams in the nearby classroom. In the geologic past, there were numerous magnetic reversals. Paleomagnetists refer to each interval between magnetic reversals as a “normal.” The earth’s magnetic field during a normal was basically like it is today. For example, when paleomagnetists looked at the rocks formed during the Jurassic, they found a series of alternating reversed and normal intervals.

Gary said, “I gather that magnetic reversals are due to a corresponding reverse of convection in the earth’s core. It’s hard for me to visualize convection occurring in a viscous, almost solid substance consisting predominantly of iron and nickel.”

As Miller was about to respond to Gary, the phone rang. It was General Maxwell calling. The general said, “Frank, have you heard the news?”

“No, Stanley, what’s up?”

“All hell is breaking loose in the Caribbean. There have been multiple earthquakes ranging in magnitude from 8.0 to 9.5 along the Barbados Ridge off the Lesser Antilles. The ridge has been uplifted from oceanic depths of over twelve thousand feet to the surface for a distance of over three hundred miles.”

“Damn!” Gary said, “Barbados has suddenly become the third-largest island in the Antilles. It is three times the size of Puerto Rico. There should be some good beachfront property available.”

Miller said in a stern, professorial tone, “Let’s not take this too lightly. Some huge tidal waves are going to be generated. It’s hard to determine how large these tsunamis are going be, but given the amount of seawater displaced by the sudden rise of the Barbados Ridge, they could easily be a thousand feet high. All coastal cities will be virtually flattened in the Atlantic and Caribbean. Stanley, I would suggest that you tell President Renzle to evacuate the whole East Coast population and to move his family and all essential staff to Cheyenne Mountain. He should also make sure that the Vice President and the Speaker of the House move to high ground in the continental interior.”

Stanley said, “Okay. I don’t think I’ll have any problems convincing the President to evacuate the East Coast. Hopefully the Homeland Security exercises that have taken place since 9/11 will help some. So will the evacuations that occurred because of Hurricane Irene and Hurricane Sandy. FEMA will have an impossible task trying to take care of all of these people. Most of these tsunamis travel about fifty miles per hour. If this is the case, we calculate that Miami would have thirty-two hours to evacuate, New York would have forty-one hours and fifty-four minutes, and Boston would have forty-two hours and thirty-nine minutes. There are always people that are going to refuse to go; there is absolutely no hope for them.

“Frank, I think that you and your group should evacuate Dallas too. Although Cuba, Yucatán, and the Florida Peninsula may break the force of the tsunamis, I don’t think you should gamble on this. I’ll send a plane down to pick you up at six p.m. tomorrow.”

“You may be right. I’ll round up everyone. I suppose I ought to tell Dolores Clark to come too. She is safe in Pittsburgh. However, we need our whole team present at Cheyenne Mountain.”

“Tell her I’ll send a plane to pick her up around three p.m. tomorrow.”

“Good, I’ll get things moving at this end. Give me a call after you talk to the President. I think we need to feed the press a little more information about the Apocalypse Calendar. I am inclined to think that we should wait until after the evacuation. Otherwise, we might cause even more panic. Many of the people on the East Coast and Gulf Coast have been through hurricane evacuations in recent years. Maybe the evacuation will go relatively smoothly. Most of the people along the Gulf Coast can evacuate to the Appalachians or Ouachita Mountains. Texas is a little more complicated because of its size. Whatever the case, Texans evacuate to high ground every summer to escape the heat. They’ll figure it out.”

Stanley said, “I’ll discuss all of this with President Renzle right away.”

“Good. Don’t forget to give me a call after you talk to him.”

“I think that after I talk to the President, I need to check the Apocalypse Calendar. I’m sure that the light pulse frequency has stepped up again. We’ll talk a little more about the Caribbean disaster when I call you back. I believe I heard about a number of volcanoes erupting in the Lesser Antilles. Even before the Barbados Ridge event, we have had so much volcanic ash in the atmosphere that flying is becoming dangerous except at very high altitudes. We’re lucky that the Air Force developed new dust-resistant engines for planes during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.”

When General Maxwell hung up, Gary said, “You know, if you look at the geologic history of Barbados, you could have easily predicted this catastrophe. Barbados has gone up and down like a bloody damn yo-yo during the past forty million years.”

Miller said, “You’re right. All you have to do is look even at part of your yo-yo tectonics story to be convinced. I can’t help but think of the Oceanics Formation being overlain by the Coral Rock Formation; this is the kind of message that any undergraduate geology major can understand. Every layman knows that corals live in shallow water! The Oceanics Formation consists predominantly of radiolarite. As I am sure you remember, radiolarite is formed from the siliceous skeletons of one-celled organisms known as radiolaria.

These guys are floaters; that is, they are planktonic in nature. Radiolaria live at all depths between the surface and the great ocean deeps, down to depths of over thirty-five thousand feet. As they die, their skeletons rain down like tiny snowflakes on the sea floor. At depths below about twelve thousand feet, where the ocean water becomes more acidic, radiolarian shells, together with a few fish teeth and siliceous sponge spicules, are about all that is left. Calcareous skeletons of organisms that also occur in the water column, such as planktonic foraminifera and coccoliths, usually dissolve away.”

Miller’s discourse was abruptly cut off when his cell phone rang, blurting out some obnoxious quasi-musical sounds. Miller fumbled around on a desk covered by a mixture of books, papers, and assorted rocks. He always used one of the basic principles of geology, the Principle of Superposition, to find things on his desk. Basically, this meant that the older things would be at the bottom of the pile and the younger things would be at the top. Fortunately, Miller remembered where he deposited the last pile of papers on his desk; the cell phone was there beneath it.

Miller picked up the phone to hear, “Frank, this is Stanley. I talked to the President, and he agrees with all of our suggestions. I should add that I also visited the Apocalypse Calendar—it’s going bonkers. The light pulsation frequency has doubled again since I last looked at it. All of this is being plugged into the NORAD supercomputer. We’ll see what the computer comes up with. So far, the computer results are not worth a damn, but I continue to be optimistic.”

Miller said, “We seem to have another major tectonic event each time the Calendar shifts gears and reaches another plateau in light pulsation intensity. If this is the case, the worst is yet to come.”

Gary volunteered, “Frank and I were talking about magnetic reversals before you called. There would be really hell to pay if a reversal of the earth’s magnetic field occurred along with the next mega tectonic event.”

Miller said, “I doubt if this will happen—but who knows?”

Stanley said, “I’ll see you guys tomorrow. I have the feeling that we’ll all be glad to be tucked away in Cheyenne Mountain. Although I originally said I would pick you all up at six p.m., I have had some afterthoughts about your traveling. If there is a Mayan curse on the Calendar, the two of you should fly separately. Frank, I’ll pick your group up at five and Gary and Rosita up at six. Siegfried can tag along with either group.”

The Miller group arrived safely at
Cheyenne Mountain on Friday. The Mayan curse on those that moved the Apocalypse Calendar took a day off. He wondered whether the device actually wanted all of his party to be together at Cheyenne Mountain. Perhaps it wanted to communicate with them through his wife, Jane. Whatever the case, Miller was glad that he had followed General Maxwell’s advice; it was better not to gamble on everyone’s safety. He felt the Mayan curse was responsible for the death of three of his friends, all of whom were involved in moving the Apocalypse Calendar from one place to another.

At eleven a.m., a meeting was held between the Apocalypse Calendar group and President Renzle. By then, it was already known that the tsunami had wiped out Miami at one a.m. There was a knock on the door of the meeting room. An Air Force messenger handed General Stanley Maxwell a dispatch, which indicated that New York City and all coastal cities to its south had been totally flattened. The tsunami was expected to hit Boston in a half hour. Needless to say, few people survived in the Caribbean and along the east coast of South America.

The evacuation of the East Coast and the Gulf Coast proceeded quite smoothly, considering the difficulty of the situation. Preliminary reports indicated that the tsunami was considerably smaller along the Gulf Coast. Apparently it had been weakened by overrunning Cuba, Yucatán, and the Florida peninsula. As a consequence, it only reached an elevation of two hundred feet. This news, though tragic, was at least in part good; Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio would be spared. Houston, Corpus Christi, New Orleans, Biloxi, and all other coastal cities would be reduced to matchsticks.

After everyone had digested the horrible news, Stanley said, “The Apocalypse Calendar is transmitting light impulses even more rapidly; I estimate that they’ve doubled in speed again.”

The President said, “It’s hard to imagine things getting much worse. I have to address the nation tonight. I am considering telling our citizens more about the Apocalypse Calendar. Do you guys think that this is a good idea?”

Miller said, “You might as well lay it on the line. I assume there will be a press conference afterwards. It might be a good idea if all members of our group were there.”

“Okay, that sounds good. I will definitely need your support.”

Miller asked, “Are there damage reports from Europe?”

Stanley said apprehensively, “Not yet—but all cities below an elevation of five hundred feet should suffer the same fate as New York. Major cities along the west coast of Africa will be flattened. We expect the tsunami to hit Lisbon tomorrow; much of Lisbon will be destroyed. London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen should suffer little, if any, damage because of the configuration of the English Channel and the entrance to the North Sea as well as that of the Baltic. Madrid should be spared; it sits at an elevation of over two thousand feet. We believe that the Rock of Gibraltar should almost totally break the impact of the Tsunami into the Mediterranean. Cities like Casablanca and Barcelona will suffer only minor damage.”

Gary said, “It should be one hell of a sight, seeing a tsunami over five hundred feet high hitting the Rock of Gibraltar!”

The President asked, “How long should we hold the evacuation of the East Coast and Gulf Coast?”

Miller said, “Except for emergency crews searching for survivors, I would not let anyone back for at least a month.”

Siegfried Nolf volunteered, “It is now clear from my examination of the hieroglyphics on the Apocalypse Calendar that the end of the world is going to occur on the twenty-first day of the last month of the year. As I see it, the correct date for the end of the world is December 21, 2013, not December 21, 2012. Many scholars believed that this date is the correct one anyway.”

Miller and Jane were awakened by
a ferocious grinding sound in their quarters at Cheyenne Mountain. It sounded like a giant rock crusher trying to grind up huge pieces of hard rock. The floor of the granite-encased chamber that housed the Millers shook. Objects fell off book shelves. An earthquake of enormous proportions seemed to be taking place. Sirens in the Cheyenne Mountain facility blurted out their warning signals, indicating that extreme danger lurked in the outside world. An Air Force military policeman knocked on the Millers’ door and said, “I have orders from General Maxwell to escort you both to meet with the President. Please get dressed as soon as possible.”

The Millers were taken to the underground chamber containing the Apocalypse Calendar. When the door was opened, they could see that the familiar eerie green flashing light was pulsating at an even higher rate. Obviously, this was caused by the new tectonic event. God only knew it was already pulsating at high enough speeds after the Barbados Ridge event.

General Maxwell said, “I am sure that everyone heard that weird grinding sound and felt the ground shake. The US Geological Survey at Denver indicated that several huge earthquakes with magnitudes of about 9.9 occurred along the East Coast. Apparently, Manhattan Island, Long Island, Boston, and cities as far south as Norfolk, Virginia have totally disappeared beneath the sea without a trace; the shoreline of the Atlantic Ocean now borders the Appalachians. The Geological Survey reports that old fault lines that formed during the breakup of Pangea have become reactivated. I am not sure what to make of this. Frank and Gary, what do you think?”

Miller said, “Gary and I have had a lot of ‘what if?’ tectonic-horror-story discussions. Given the seismic activity and volcanic activity along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, we toyed around with the idea that the North American Plate might some day decouple itself from the North Atlantic Plate. We hypothesized that if this sort of event occurred, the thinner oceanic North Atlantic Plate would be subducted or dragged under the much thicker continental North American Plate. I personally believe that what we are seeing is the beginning of this process. The 5.8-magnitude earthquake that occurred in August 2011 at Mineral, Virginia is probably related to all of this too. Although the North American Plate is still fairly thick in this area, old Mesozoic fault zones were reactivated by the outboard subduction process, which is occurring farther out to sea. This is not the first time that cities have disappeared in historic times. Port Royal used to be the largest city in Jamaica. It totally disappeared beneath the sea on June 7, 1692. Thousands of people died, both from the earthquake itself and from the tsunami afterwards.”

Gary asked with an intense look of interest, “Wasn’t Port Royal the pirate headquarters of the Caribbean?”

Miller said, “For years it was known as the wickedest city on earth. It was the home of Captain Morgan and all of his friends who ruled the Spanish Main.”

President Renzle said, “I feel pretty damn helpless. My job is to protect the American people, but it would appear that the Earth can and will do anything it wants to do. We’ve all been reduced to the role of spectators.”

Miller responded, “I believe that the Apocalypse Calendar is the key to stopping and controlling these huge earthshaking tectonic events. When my grandson, Alfred, innocently turned the green stone knob that you see in the center of the alien device, it would appear that all tectonic processes on Earth speeded up. Usually, tectonic events like the ones we are now experiencing take millions of years to occur. What we are seeing now is an extreme compression of geologic time. General Maxwell, I think we need to round up the psychic that you and Herman used to attempt to communicate with the UFOs. She should be able to communicate with the Apocalypse Calendar.”

“Frank, I’m afraid I have bad news. My UFO psychic had a heart attack when she found out that her son had died in an auto accident during the evacuation of Philadelphia.”

The President asked, “Can we find someone else to do the job?”

Jane said, “I’ll have a go at it again. I survived the first two times. I sense that the alien device wants to communicate only with me. I don’t think that it means to harm me.”

Frank said, “I don’t approve of having you go through this ordeal again. I worry about your health. This is very dangerous.”

“Somebody has to do something fast. Otherwise, all is lost. Mother Earth will get rid of us all just like she did the dinosaurs. I feel it’s my duty, President Renzle.”

The President responded, “I appreciate your volunteering to help. If I had your ESP ability, I would do the job myself. I am sure everyone else feels the same. Hopefully, your health won’t be in danger.”

Miller said, “Okay. I still don’t like the idea, but if Jane feels she should do this, I won’t interfere. When Jane makes up her mind, nothing is going to stop her.”

The President said, “Let’s get started. I want all of this recorded again. I would like also to have a stenographer present to record everything that it is said in this room. Stanley, do you have anyone around that we can trust and knows something about all the scientific gibberish that you guys are handing out?”

“Gloria Milano, Herman Swartz’s secretary, is a member of our group. She is not only an excellent stenographer, but she has also dealt with all of this weird UFO stuff before. I’ll make sure she’s here. Give me about a half an hour to get ready.”

While everyone milled around waiting for the equipment to arrive, Siegfried Nolf said, “Did you notice that the moon was deep red in color last night?”

Dolores Clark said, “Yes, I saw that too—but did you notice that the sun was nearly obliterated this morning?”

Gary said, “It was almost blackened out!”

Siegfried said, “These are signs of the Apocalypse. Everyone needs to look at the Book of Revelations in the Bible.”

Miller said, “That’s pretty spooky stuff, Siegfried! The color of the sun and the moon are due to the presence of so much volcanic ash in the atmosphere. The eruption of the Yellowstone Supervolcano alone could contribute enough volcanic ash to affect the color of the moon and the sun. Who knows—maybe Saint John the Divine knew about our tectonic nightmare when he wrote the Book of Revelations.”

Stanley said, “I think we’re ready. Would everyone except Jane be seated. Jane, I’m going to take the Apocalypse Calendar out of its two containers, and I’m going to give you a pair of sunglasses to cut down on the glare from the flashing light.”

Jane placed her hands on the alien device. The communication began with Jane talking again in a strange monotone voice. “People of the planet Earth, you are on the threshold of total destruction. You have seven days to stop the annihilation of life as you know it on your planet. To prevent this, you must perform two acts: turn the green stone in the center of the disk to the right until the arrow points straight upwards, and return the device to the cave in which you found it.

“No one can return the device to the cave except one of those who originally found it. When we found the ancient spacecraft in what you now call ‘Yucatán,’ we learned from a still-active device on board known as the Clock of the Universe that your planet was doomed to destruction in Universe Year 4.5. This corresponds to fifteen hundred years after our arrival. You should be advised that we quickly rigged the device that you see before you to protect your planet. Once you turn the green stone knob to its original position, you will have seven earth days to return the device.”

At this point, Jane fainted. Finally, she came to and asked, “How did I do?” President Renzle said, “After that performance, my dear, you deserve the Medal of Honor!”

Frank said, “I’m glad you are alright, my love. That was a very courageous thing you did.”

Gary said, “Well, what next? Frank, it looks like one of us is going to have to take the Calendar back to its original home in Mexico. To think, we all thought the damn thing was Moctezuma’s Treasure!”

Miller said, “I’m a lot older than you, Gary; you’ve got a full life ahead of you yet. I’ll take the device back to the cave on the Río Vinasco. However, I’d like you to come along, too. If something happens to me, you are going to have to do the job. I also think it would be a good idea if Rosita came along with us; she can help us if we get in trouble with our Spanish. One way or another, we will be enlisting her father, Dr. Guillermo Toa Vaca, to help us at Huayacocotla.”

Dolores Clark said, “I think that I need to come along as well. I need to visit with a shaman among the native Nahuatl Indians living in the canyon and see what he knows about the cave. Most of these people don’t speak a word of Spanish. I suspect they still believe that what we know as the Apocalypse Calendar is really Moctezuma’s Treasure. They probably watched you geologists take the Calendar from the cave. I need to tell them that the Calendar is not Moctezuma’s Treasure and that it has a Mayan curse on it. Anyone who takes it from the cave will die. The Nahuatl Indians also need to be told that the Apocalypse Calendar is responsible for all of the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that they’ve recently experienced. I think, if I do this, the Nahuatl Indians will leave the Apocalypse Calendar alone after it is returned to the cave.”

Stanley said, “Frank, I suggest that you turn the green stone knob on the Apocalypse Calendar to the position that Jane indicated. This should stop all severe tectonic activity throughout the world for a week. Gloria, keep recording all of this. I want all conversations recorded until we leave this room. This will serve as a backup of the video recording. You never know what might happen; we might loose everything on the video.”

Frank, said, turning the dial on the Apocalypse Calendar, “Okay, here goes! I hope this works!”

Stanley said, “We need to think carefully about how to take the Calendar back to Mexico unnoticed. The Mexican government is pretty pissed off about you geologists taking the Calendar out of Mexico in the first place. We have to be careful not to let Mexican officials get ahold of our pet. I can just see the Apocalypse Calendar being dragged off to the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City and being called Moctezuma’s Treasure. Although this is perhaps an amusing thought, it is fraught with danger. We all know the consequences of not getting the Calendar back to the cave. Does anyone have any ideas about how to get the Calendar back to Mexico unobserved?”

Major General Anthony Camponelli said, “I’ve been thinking about this. What we need to do is dress up an Air Force cargo plane to look like a FedEx plane. I am sure we can get FedEx to help us with this. We’ll tell them that this is part of a covert operation with the C.I.A. FedEx will buy this; they’ve helped us before in covert operations. We ought to be able to fly it into Pachuca northeast of Mexico City without any trouble. FedEx can arrange all of the paperwork for Mexican customs.”

Gary said, “I think we need to ship the calendar to Rosita’s dad, Dr. Guillermo Toa Vaca. He can pick it up at the airport in his van. Frank, Rosita, and I will accompany him to Huayacocotla. I do, however, foresee a problem that we still haven’t considered. The Apocalypse Calendar still has a green glow, even though there are no light pulsations. How are we going to get around this? If Mexican customs picks up on this, they will go absolutely bonkers!”

Stanley said, “I think we can design something here at NORAD to shield the device from prying eyes. I’ll get some of the NASA people to design it. They need something to do after being displaced from Florida and Texas.”

Gary said, “Maybe your guys can hide the Calendar inside of something that looks like a large water pump. We can claim the pump will be used by the town of Huayacocotla for its water supply.”

“I am sure I can get the NASA people to come up with an imaginative design for a pump. Perhaps they can use some of the materials used in the Stealth Bomber to help mask the green light emitted from the Calendar.”

Gary, with tongue in cheek, said, “If this is the case, I guess we can call it a ‘stealth water pump.’”

President Renzle said, “We don’t have much time to pull this off. I would suggest that we have all of this ready to go by December 16. That gives you guys only five days to work with.”