W.D. Hogan

Archaeology Professor Neil Martin hasn't done field work in fifteen years, ever since his divorce and needing to take care of his son, Colin. Now twenty, Colin convinces his father to accept an assignment offered by Kathryn Keen of Poly Dynamics, a research company that tries to find solutions to global issues. That assignment, which continues the work of a now deceased Professor Robert Bowles, looks into an unusual find in a lead mine in Peru. After traveling to the site with Colin and Kathryn, Neil believes the find, a tablet with some astrological glyphs, including one of Planet X - the ninth planet - is part of a key to some recent natural and destructive phenomenon, including a couple of meteor storms, one which killed Dr. Bowles and one which almost killed Colin. They also uncover a seemingly radioactive stone buried behind the tablet. He believes the stone and the tablet are only parts of the puzzle to the reason behind the destructive natural phenomenon, twelve which will occur, each related to a sign of the zodiac, after the twelfth and the last one which results in the apocalypse. It is only after they take the stone back to States that Neil and Colin learn that Kathryn has no interest in the work beyond the recovery of the stone, which she and Poly Dynamics, under the direction of the Department of Defense (DOD), want to use solely to do research of its potential as an alternate energy source. Neil and Colin have to try to recover the stone and put together the pieces of the puzzle to stop the apocalypse, all while evading the DOD thugs and not getting caught in the remaining natural disasters to come.