“Be patient. As our solar system moves through the galaxy, it follows a fourteen-degree-wide path called the ecliptic. The ecliptic crosses the Milky Way in such a manner that it periodically moves into alignment with the central bulge of the galaxy. As the Maya looked to the night sky, they saw a dark rift, or dark elongated band of dense interstellar clouds, beginning where the ecliptic crosses the Milky Way in the constellation of Sagittarius. The Popol Vuh’s myth of creation refers to this dark rift as the Black Road, or Xibalba Be—a nexus shaped like a giant serpent, connecting life and death, the Earth and the Underworld.”

“Again, this is all fascinating, but how does it relate to the deep-space radio signal?”

Mick stops pacing. “Dominique, this radio signal—it wasn’t just some random transmission beamed across the universe; it was purposely directed toward our solar system. From a technological standpoint, you can’t just transmit a radio beacon halfway across the galaxy and hope it somehow manages to reach a specific planetary speck of dust like Earth. The farther the beacon has to travel, the more the signal breaks up and loses its strength. The radio transmission SETI detected was a very powerful, precise, narrow beacon, indicating to me, at least, that whoever, or whatever sent it required a particular galactic alignment, a sort of celestial corridor that aimed the transmission from its point of origin to Earth. In essence, the signal traveled through a sort of cosmic corridor. I can’t explain why, I can’t explain how, but I felt the portal of this corridor as it began opening.”

Dominique sees the fear in his eyes. “You felt it open? What did it feel like?”

“It was a sickening feeling, like icy fingers moving inside my intestines.”

“And you believe this cosmic corridor must have opened up just enough to allow the radio signal through?”

“Yes, and the portal’s widening a little bit more each day. By the December solstice, it will open completely.”

“The December solstice—the Mayan doomsday?”

“That’s right. Astronomers have known for years that our sun will move into alignment along the exact point of galactic center on December 21, 2012—the last day of the calendar’s fifth cycle. At the same time, the dark rift of the Milky Way will move into alignment along our eastern horizon, appearing directly over the Mayan city of Chichén Itza by solstice midnight. This combination of galactic events occurs only once every 25,800 years, and yet, somehow, the Maya were able to forecast the alignment.”

“The deep-space transmission—what was its purpose?”

“I don’t know, but it portends death.”