After all, I am in good company: Darwin was a heretic; and Galileo before him; 400 years ago, Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake because he insisted that other worlds besides our own existed.

Like Bruno, I will be dead long before humanity’s bitter end arrives. Here lies Julius Gabriel, the victim of a diseased heart. My physician urges me to his care, warning me the organ is but a ticking time bomb set to detonate at any moment. Let it explode, I say. The worthless organ has only given me grief since it broke eleven years ago after the departure of my dearly beloved.

These are my memoirs, an accounting of a journey that began some 32 years ago. My purpose in summarizing this information is twofold. First, the nature of the research is so controversial and its ramifications so terrifying that I realize now that the scientific community will do everything in its power to suffocate, stifle, and deny the truth about man’s destiny. Last, I know there are individuals among the populace who, like my own son, would prefer to fight rather than sit idly by as the end approaches. To you, my “warriors of salvation,” I leave this journal, thereby passing the baton of hope. Decades of toil and misery are hidden within these pages—this slice of man’s history, extracted from eons of limestone. The fate of our species now rests in my son’s hands—and perhaps yours. At the very least, you’ll no longer be part of the majority Michael calls the “innocent ignorant.” Pray that men like my son can resolve the ancient Mayan riddle.

Then pray for yourselves.

It is said that fear of death is worse than death itself. I believe that witnessing the death of a loved one is worse still. To have experienced my soulmate’s life slip away before my eyes, to have felt her body turn cold in my arms—this is too much despair for one heart to handle. At times, I am actually grateful to be dying for I cannot begin to imagine the anguish of witnessing an entire population suffer amidst the planetary holocaust to come.

For those of you who scoff at my words, be forewarned: The day of reckoning is fast approaching, and ignorance of the event will do nothing to change the outcome.

Today, I sit backstage at Harvard, organizing these excerpts as I await my turn at the dais. So much rides on my speech, so many lives. My greatest concern is that the egos of my colleagues may be too large to allow them to listen to my findings with an open mind. If given a chance to present the facts, I know that I can appeal to them as scientists. If ridiculed, then I fear all is lost.