The Apocalypse Calendar

170 Pages·2013·1.52 MB·English

by  Pessagno Emile A Jr

The Apocalypse Calendar
A Novel
Emile A. Pessagno, Jr.
Copyright © 2013 by Emile A. Pessagno, Jr.
Publish Green
212 3rd Ave North, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401
612.455.2293
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior
permission of the author.
ISBN: 978-1-935204-89-3
Table of Contents
Cover Page
DEDICATION
PROLOGUE
PART I: THE GEOLOGISTS
Chapter 1: Workshop in Geology Friday, January 28, 2000
CHAPTER 2: Workshop in Geology Friday, February 4, 2000
CHAPTER 3: Workshop in Graduate Geology Friday, February 11,
2000
CHAPTER 4: Workshop in Graduate Geology Friday, April 28, 2000
CHAPTER 5: Field Expedition Thursday, May 4, 2000
CHAPTER 6: Field Expedition Friday, May 5, 2000
CHAPTER 7: Field Expedition Saturday, May 6, 2000
CHAPTER 8: Field Expedition Sunday, May 7, 2000: Tamazunchale,
Day 1
CHAPTER 9: Field Expedition Monday, May 8, 2000: Tamazunchale,
Day 2
CHAPTER 10: Field Expedition Tuesday, May 9, 2000:
Tamazunchale, Day 3
CHAPTER 11: Field Expedition Wednesday, May 10, 2000: Travel to
Huayacocotla
CHAPTER 12: Field Expedition Thursday, May 11, 2000:
Huayacocotla, Day 1
CHAPTER 13: Field Expedition Friday, May 12, 2000: Huayacocotla,
Day 2
CHAPTER 14: Field Expedition Saturday, May 13, 2000:
Huayacocotla, Day 3
CHAPTER 15: Field Expedition Friday Sunday, May 14, 2000: Travel
from Huayacocotla to San Pedro del Gallo
CHAPTER 16: Field Expedition Monday, May 15, 2000: San Pedro
del Gallo, Day 1
CHAPTER 17: Field Expedition Tuesday, May 16, 2000: San Pedro
del Gallo, Day 2
CHAPTER 18: Field Expedition Wednesday, May 17, 2000: The drive
to Torréon
CHAPTER 19: Field Expedition Thursday, May 18, 2000: Torréon
CHAPTER 20: Field Expedition Friday, May 19, 2000: The drive to
San Antonio
PART II: ALIENS AND CONQUISTADORS
CHAPTER 21: Visitors from the Sky
CHAPTER 22: Rise and Fall of the Aztec Empire
PART III: CONFRONTATION WITH CATASTROPHE
CHAPTER 23: Miller’s Office Saturday, May 16, 2009
CHAPTER 24: Visit with Dolores Clark Monday, May 18, 2009
CHAPTER 25: Meeting with Herman Swartz at NASA Tuesday, May
19, 2009
CHAPTER 26: Return to Dallas Tuesday, May 26, 2009
CHAPTER 27: Miller’s Office Monday, January 18, 2010
CHAPTER 28: Workshop Class Tuesday, April 27, 2010
CHAPTER 29: Miller’s Office Thursday, August 26, 2010
CHAPTER 30: Call from NASA Monday, March 14, 2011
CHAPTER 31: Conference Call Tuesday, March 15, 2011
CHAPTER 32: Conference Call from Miller’s Office Friday, July 15,
2011
CHAPTER 33: Workshop in Geology Class Tuesday, October 23,
2012
CHAPTER 34: Meeting at Texas Institute for Scientific Research
Friday, October 26, 2012
CHAPTER 35: DFW Saturday, October 27, 2012
CHAPTER 36: Miller’s Office Wednesday, December 5, 2012
CHAPTER 37: Miller’s Office Friday, December 7, 2012
CHAPTER 38: Cheyenne Mountain Monday, December 10, 2012
CHAPTER 39: Call to the White House Tuesday, December 11, 2012
CHAPTER 40: Cheyenne Mountain Wednesday, December 12, 2012:
Meeting with the President’s Science Adviser
CHAPTER 41: Cheyenne Mountain Thursday, December 13, 2012:
Meeting with the President
CHAPTER 42: News Announcement Saturday, January 26, 2013
CHAPTER 43: News Bulletin Tuesday, February 12, 2013
CHAPTER 44: Cheyenne Mountain Thursday, February 14, 2013:
Meeting with President Renzle
CHAPTER 45: Miller’s Office Thursday, December 5, 2013
CHAPTER 46: Cheyenne Mountain Saturday, December 7, 2013
CHAPTER 47: Cheyenne Mountain Saturday, December 14, 2013
CHAPTER 48: Meeting with the Shaman Thursday, December 19,
2013
CHAPTER 49: Descent into the Canyon of the Río Vinasco Friday,
December 20, 2013
EPILOGUE
ABOUT THIS NOVEL
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maps
DEDICATION
This novel is dedicated to my wife, Alice, who provided me with the
encouragement to write this novel and who has stood at my side during good
times and bad.
PROLOGUE
At sunrise in the Canyon of the Río Vinasco, west of Veracruz, a cacophony of
sound arises from the jungle. Howler monkeys screech, flocks of squawking
parrots fly overhead, and every living thing awakens as dense fog begins to lift
over the canopy of tropical vegetation. The sounds at the bottom of the canyon at
sunrise are deafening.
The Sierra Madre Oriental, northwest of Veracruz, arises from a narrow
coastal plain and rolling foothills to the east like a giant green wall. The Canyon
of the Río Vinasco is over two and a half thousand feet deep. The village of
Huayacocotla sits along its northern rim in a pine forest like those in the Sierra
Nevada of California or at high elevations along practically every mountain
range in Western North America. A windy trail leading from the village to the
canyon bottom extends from the temperate climatic zone at Huayacocotla to the
tropics at the canyon floor. At daybreak along the trail, small Nahuatl Indian
women, preparing to start their family’s first meal, carry huge bundles of
firewood on the top of their heads and scurry along with children, who carry
containers of sloshing water. Indians who live in the canyon speak their own
distinct dialect and often cannot speak Spanish or even understand the language
of Indians in adjoining mountain valleys. They are very wary of any strangers
who cross their path. As one descends the trail to the bottom of the canyon, he
feels as if he were traveling backward in time from the present to sometime in
the distant past.
Strange things happen in the Canyon of the Río Vinasco. In 1983, a large
helicopter owned by the Mexican power company crashed for no apparent
reason. Gringos who attempted to study the geology and wildlife of the canyon
mysteriously disappeared.
At sunset, a mysterious green glow arises from a cave on the canyon floor
and extends two-thirds of the way up the canyon wall. The Nahuatl Indians are
afraid to visit the cave because they believe it is the entrance to their spirit world.