by Larry Hunt
21 DECEMBER 2012 -
THE CALENDAR BECKONS
(A Scarburg Family Adventure)
(Revised and Updated Edition)
By
Larry Edward Hunt
PAPERBACK EDITION
* * * * * *
PUBLISHED BY
Printed in USA
Charleston, SC
Cover by: Laura Shinn
21 December 2012 -
The Calendar Beckons
Copyright 2011 by Larry Hunt
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, media and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
Edition License Notes
This Book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This Book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners. Thank you for reading this fiction account and hopefully you will have enjoyed the author’s style to purchase another of his works.
Other books by this Author:
The P.H.OT.O. -
The Search (VOL 1)
(A Scarburg Family Adventure)
The P.H.O.T.O. -
The Saga Continues (VOL 2)
(A Scarburg Family Adventure)
***~~~***
ISBN-13: 978-1463605223
ISBN -10: 1463605226
CHAPTER ONE
“MAYDAY, MAYDAY”
“Mayday...! Mayday...!” yelled Captain Knight into his headset microphone. “Mayday! Continental flight 1425 one-hour thirty out of Mexico City.
Mayday...! Mayday...! We have just experienced a large on-board explosion.”
Captain Hugo Knight, Jr., better known as ‘Huey’, a tall man, a couple inches over six feet, lean and muscular and weighing, as the English say, 13 stones (182 lbs).
Mary, his wife of all these years had resigned herself to feeding him until she, as she would say ‘put some meat on his skinny bones’. But alas her efforts haven’t worked. She had at least moved him from his old middleweight fighting class up to light heavyweight; however, Captain Knight, by his nature, couldn’t remain inactive and his metabolism was stuck on ‘high’- she had about given up on the heavyweight class.
His grey hair was almost gone and its number farther reduced by his daily head shave. Leaving his ‘noggin’ resembling a billiard ball. “Chrome Dome” as some of the crew affectionately referred to him. When he wasn't around, naturally. He was a southern boy, born and bred and educated at the United States Air Force Academy. Well known to be one of our countries finest military institutes of higher learning.
He may have the credentials of an educated military man - and he was - but he never could quite shake the Alabama dialect - nor did he want to. His heart and soul were still in ‘The Heart of Dixie’.
His physical appearance aside no better pilot could have been at the airliner’s controls this fateful day.
This particular excursion was to be Captain Knight’s very last flight - culminating upon his round trip return to his home base in the U.S.
He reasoned with all his years flying - first with the Air Force then the Air Force Reserves and later called back to active duty. After his active duty stint he continued his military service in the Reserves and all these years when not in a blue Air Force uniform he wore the uniform of a couple of civilian airlines. Now Mary said it was the time for him to hang up his parachute. Called back to active duty he flew the ‘Warthog’, or A-10 Thunderbolt also known as the ‘flying gun’ or ‘tankbuster’, while supporting ground operations in Operation Desert Storm back in ’91. Bammer, his military call sign, was shot down by a SAM- SA9 (Surface to Air Missile) in February of that year, ejected and captured. Remained a POW (Prisoner of War) by the Iraqi’s until rescued by a team of U.S. Special Forces sent in to extract him. After his military career he logged the remainder of his years with Continental Airlines©. Those years had passed by swiftly. Most of this time he and Mary had spent more time apart than together. Now in their golden years, they both reasoned they might have some time just for themselves.
Little did he know this ‘swan song flight’ was truly going to be his ‘very’ last flight.
'The best laid plans of mice and men…' hummm....
* * * * * *
Captain Knight, yelling at his co-pilot James Harold Doolittle IV above the deafening roar of the air screaming past the hole in the fuselage, “Jim, I’ve got’er. Get back there and give me a quick assessment of the situation.”
Jim, the young 29-year-old co-pilot was following in the footsteps of his famous Great-Grandfather General James Harold “Jimmy” Doolittle, hoping some of his forefather’s luster would rub off on him.
General (then Lt. Colonel) Doolittle led the famous Doolittle Bombing Raid of sixteen B-25B Mitchell bombers on Tokyo in April 1942 during World War II. All 16 planes were lost along with the lives of eleven crewmen. Lt. Colonel Doolittle was later awarded the Medal of Honor for that heroic mission.
The modern day Jimmy Doolittle IV could envision personal accolades that might approach those of his famous relative. And as a bonus, Doolittle senior lived to the ripe old age of 97. Jimmy thought, ‘I’ve got those 97 year old genes too.’
Jim Junior might be a good flier, maybe even as good as his great-grandfather, but he must get extremely lucky if he lived to see his 30th birthday, much less his 97th.
Speaking of famous forefathers Captain Hugo Knight, Jr’s father Hugo Sr was a military hero also. He was killed in action in Southeast Asia in 1967. For his acts of heroism he was awarded, among other medals, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Silver Star and posthumously the Purple Heart. He was recommended for the Medal of Honor but the recommendation was denied due to the lack of the required personal confirmation of his heroic actions by a U.S. military commissioned officer
At the moment Captain Knight had no knowledge that he had a forty + year-old connection to some of the SCAR passengers currently on his flight to Mexico. Strange, yes, but that’s not his only connection. What! Who else could be on the plane? Maybe they weren’t on the plane but Captain Knight’s life had somehow intertwined with theirs? Were they connected to SCAR? Seems likely!
After fumbling to un-buckle his seat belt Jim leaped to his feet, extended his hand and grabbed the cold handle of the cockpit door – almost afraid to turn the steel latch that he had done so many times before. Instinctively he
envisioned that he did not want to see what was on the other side of the hard metal structure separating the passenger section from the safety of his cockpit, but as First Officer he must put fear aside, duty came first.
Swinging the steel cockpit door open he was unprepared for the macabre scene confronting him – from the open door he should have been able to see a lavatory on his right (the port side of the plane), next would be the huge entrance/exit door, then a storage closet for passenger carry-on, followed by Row 1 through 4 of the 1st Class section.
Behind Row 4 another lavatory and the economy class of seats began at Row 9. The lavatory occupied what should have been Row 5, 6, 7 and 8. At least that was the appearance of the cabin layout the last time James Doolittle closed the cockpit door and settled into his right hand co-pilot’s seat when the flight first originated.
Now all he could see from Row 3 to Row 9 was a gigantic gapping hole with a panoramic view of huge fluffy cumulus clouds floating gently above the wide blue-green waters of the Gulf of Mexico miles below… the entire bulkhead wall was gone… along with seats 4A and B, the lavatory and seats 9A, B, C, 10A, B and C. The plane was so filled with smoke and flying debris he could see no farther into the passenger section. Further hampering his line of sight were the dozens of yellow oxygen masks that that had fallen from their emergency perches to enable the passengers to obtain a fresh breath of air. At the moment hysteria ruled the day - no one thought about the masks.
The noise in the cabin was deafening. The roaring sound was so loud Jim ‘could not hear himself think’. The ear-splitting noise was literally painful to his ears. At least the howling wind rushing past the exposed hole blanketed the terrified screams of the panicked passengers.
At first the co-pilot pondered whether the plane might actually break in two. ‘There isn’t much metal holding this ol’ ‘Queen of the Skies’ together’, he thought. Without taking another step the first-officer turned instantly to relay the horrific news to Captain Knight.
The air traffic controller at the International Airport in Mexico City responded, “Continental 1425 are you declaring an emergency?”
“Hell...Mexico City what do you think Mayday...Mayday...means? Would you say loosing half of my airplane in an explosion is an emergency? Damn right we’re declaring an emergency. I don’t know if I can keep her in the air long enough to reach your destination.” Captain Knight said trying not to further bad-mouth the imbecilic Mexican air-traffic controller at the other end of the radio transmission.
“It’s bad, real bad!” Jim yelled, with both hands cupped around both sides of his mouth, as loud as he could to get the Captain to hear him.
Back in the cabin Dr. Buddy Scarburg was struggling to get back upon his feet, which was being tremendously hampered by a constant barrage of paper, books, luggage, and a menagerie of personal effects flying from the cabin interior out into the nothingness of the tranquil sky over the huge Gulf waters.
Checking around he saw a couple of other passengers and one flight attendant. They had all been caught directly in the path of the blast. They were shaken up, cut, burned and bloody but none of them appeared to have been killed.
His immediate attention was drawn to his older brother Forrest lying in a pool of blood on the cabin floor - motionless and barely breathing. Hot sticky blood was gushing from a large mangled hole in his chest.
In addition to Forrest’s critical situation Bud noticed two persons were missing - the mysterious thief with his metal briefcase and the cute blonde flight attendant...
* * * ~~~ * * *
CHAPTER TWO
APPROXIMATELY THIRTEEN HOURS EARLIER
The rising sun was beginning to sneak a peek above the emerald green of the Atlantic far off toward the eastern horizon of the good ol’ US of A. The early morning beams of sunshine cast a glimmer of light on the big wide-body Boeing 757 Queen of the Skies whose captain was pushing the throttles forward to “FULL” for take-off.
The two nose wheels and eight giant rubber Goodyear® tires hummed against the cool black tarmac until sufficient speed was attained to deify gravity and leave the safety of the ground. The dream of the Wright brothers was again being realized by this behemoth of metal, plastic and rubber - flight.
United Airline’s© huge white and blue Flight 1085 began its journey lumbering down the runway of the old Washington International airport now the DCA (Ronald Reagan Washington National) – headed south to ATL (Hartsfield-Jackson International Atlanta, GA). For most passengers boarding 1085 in D.C. their final destination was to be Mexico City.
The big jumbo jet, the first wide-body ever produced, rolled off the assembly line back in '69. It was expected to remain in service for only a few years, but was so reliable she still remained on duty and performed admirably. At least all on board this early morning flight said a silent prayer hoping this remained true.
In all the years the Boeing© 757 has been flying the friendly skies of the world she had achieved a remarkably good safety record; now it’s giant high by-pass turbofan engine’s were changing from a high shrilled whine and beginning to take on a labored moan as the captain pulled back on the yoke increasing the nose into a steeper and steeper ascent. The giant was attempted to gain altitude and airspeed hoping to allow the Queen of the Skies to retain its good safety record.
All the white knuckled passengers on their first flight were digging into the armrests with their fingernails and slightly lifting their feet in an unconscious attempt to help the pilot get this huge metal machine off the ground and into the cool morning air. The time: 6:10 am, Eastern Standard Time. Final destination: Mexico City via a pretty long wait for a connecting flight from Atlanta, GA.
* * * * * *
Before continuing their journey to the stifling heat of Mexico they had a long layover and a carrier transfer to another 757-200 - Continental© flight 1425 in Atlanta, GA. Total direct flying time 3 hours 30 minutes from Washington to Mexico City; however, the layover in Atlanta was practically all day. Their arrival in Mexico City would not be until early in the evening. In Atlanta, Continental’s home base, a new pilot Captain Hugo Knight, Jr. and co-pilot First Officer James H. Doolittle would take over the controls for the final leg to Mexico. Both were well rested and eager to began.
From Mexico City the SCAR’s next portion of the trip would be by bus, to Tonina, a Mayan ruin just outside of Ocosingo, a couple of hours’ drive from San Cristóbal in the State of Chiapas, Mexico.
Unfortunately Tonina wasn’t the end of the line – from there they had to arrange transportation to travel another 20 + miles to a farmer’s remote farm.
The six passengers in Economy seated together in Row 9 seats A, B and C and Row 10 seats A, B and C were all members of S.C.A.R. (Studies Concerning Antiquated Records). SCAR is a Washington, DC research facility/think tank specializing in verifying, validating and “interpreting” ancient documents, records, carvings and anything printed or written.
Today’s odyssey was to take the SCAR team to a remote farming community outside the small town of Tonina where it had been reported a farmer had unearthed a tall rectangular object with inscriptions, known to be ancient Mayan. At first researchers at SCAR thought it could just be another ancient Mayan column calendar.
One other Mayan Long Count calendar column had been found in Quirigua, Yucatan peninsula, Mexico, in 1929. However, pictures obtained of the recent object verified it was indeed a Long Count calendar but it contained some very interesting features never before observed on Mayan glyphs (Mayan pictorial writings).
* * * ~~~ * * *
CHAPTER THREE
The Mayan Calendar
Various scholars, including renowned archeologists have stated that the Mayan Long Count calendar computed the end of our world would occur on 21 December 2012. This Gregorian date is denoted as 13.0.0.0.0 on the Long Count calendar, signaling the end of the current Great Cycle. The operative word is ‘computed’.
Is there something important a
bout the Winter Solstice date of 21 December 2012 one would ask?
The answer is a definite -Yes.
On this first day of winter a rare astronomical and Mayan Long Count event will occur. Mythically, at sunrise on 21 December 2012, the Sun - the Maya Father - rises to intersect the Milky Way at a 60-degree angle near the constellation Osiris.
This date ends the Mayan Great Cycle; however, it has always been known - that there were NO MAYAN INSCRIPTIONS or WRITINGS predicting the actual date the end of the world will occur; repeat... no actual date has ever been found to indicate the actual day, month and year.
It must be noted that present day astronomers, including the scientists at NASA, have known for sometime that this very date is very important. On this day, 21 December 2012, at exactly the moment of the winter solstice, all the planets in our solar system, even including Pluto that now is not considered a ‘real’ planet, will be aligned in a perfectly straight line pointing directly towards the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.
In reality, what will happen? Maybe nothing... but no one knows for sure. Will the alignment create additional ‘pull’ of gravity on Earth? This could cause giant earthquakes, volcano eruptions or even, as some speculate, a tilt or reversal of the Earth’s magnetic North and South poles. Could the alignment cause asteroids to become dislodged from the ‘asteroid belt’ between Mars and Jupiter? Any asteroid pulled from its orbit could, possibly, be headed toward Earth!! All of this could happen or none of this could happen - depending upon ones point of view.
As was stated earlier the date 21 December 2012 is a ‘computed’ date based upon a starting time frame begun 5126 years ago and no Mayan calendar would actually represent the end date in glyphs (Mayan pictorial writings); however this was found to be incorrect - a picture sent to SCAR of the unearthed column calendar shows the actual Mayan date at the top of the column as 13.0.0.0.0 on the front and back and the actual Gregorian date, in English, as 21 December 2012 on both the right and left sides.
