"It's important?"
The time was the past. But to some things in this world, time has no meaning. Though they live, they do not comprehend time as we do nor do they try to. The location was some new piece of land formed by the incredible event brought down to destroy the Earth called the Flood. On the smooth, glistening, wet sand, something appeared in the moonlight that seemed out of place. It was a shape imprinted into the sand that resembled a foot like that of a man and yet no living man had, as of yet, set foot on this beach since the great event. A trail of them lead from the water on to the beach headed in towards the interior of the land, and there was no one there to see whatever had come out of the water.
. . . . . . .
He traveled all over the world looking for things in the earth. That was his interest and trade for Carl Maia was a geologist, and he would forever be that until the day that he died for there were answers to riddles there and he longed to uncover all that he could. He had long ago reached the unalterable belief that the record of much of life, if not all of it, was written in the earth and the land. The planet itself was a massive record of life just waiting to be read in full and Carl Maia had made it his life mission to uncover all of it.
And thus it was, in the headwaters of the Amazon, that he found himself still trying to reach as far into the past as he could successfully. It did not get that much more difficult than this. The ground was virtually hidden from site by vegetation and the trees took up what the plants themselves did not cover and, of course, men were chopping the whole place down faster than it could grow and this all came together to make things very complicated and difficult. Because of what was going on, the terrain kept changing and there was no telling what was obliterated in the process. At the same time, one had to remember that the ground was unstable and forever in a state of disarray, so the trick was getting there before something happened.
Hard to believe that tracking an earthquake or tornado could actually be easier than this, but he had never liked something if there was not some challenge. A challenge made life worthwhile in the life of Carl Maia. And he never went anywhere without his two friends Luis and Thomas. They helped him look for anything unusual, helped account for transportation and supplies, and chiefly provided much enjoyed companionship. He found it very difficult to go anywhere without the two men for they were family and anchors for they helped him keep from falling as they did not have their heads to close to the earth as he did.
They had been there a number of days, when the peace that reigned in the jungle, despite the sounds of wildlife, was shattered by Luis. Thomas had been out searching for fruit when he heard his friend yelling for him. He ran as fast he could towards the sound. He raced past the tent towards where his friend was staring in horror on the ground towards a cliff face. Carl came from the tent with his camera and equipment to try and quickly spot what his friend had been startled by.
"Please," he asked of one of the other two men who had accompanied him with his friends as he reached out tentatively to touch the fascinating thing as people were want to do in order to confirm if something was actually a part of reality. The man stepped aside upon spotting the camera which Carl promptly focused upon the object which was made horrifying both by appearance and the fact that it stretched out from the cliff face. A most unnatural sight. It looked like some horrific hand, but it was impossible to determine anything right off the bat.
"Wha-What that is Dr. Maia?" This came from Luis with a hint of trembling.
"I do not know Luis," was the reply as Maia with practiced precision primed the camera. "I have never borne witness to a sight such as this before in my whole life."
"It's important then?" Luis could not see how such a thing was important given its appearance, but then he did not understand or see the world as the doctor did, so he did not question his judgement too thoroughly.
"I believe that it is; very, very important." He snapped a picture and readied the camera again. "We shall take just one more picture and then dig it out." He did precisely as he said trading the camera for a pickaxe which Luis passed to him. The man delicately set to work with experience honed by years of study in academics and long labor in the field to retrieve valuable samples intact so as to get the best information.
The "hand" came loose relatively easily, much to the relief of Carl, for he did not desire to have to struggle for hours on end. He held it in his hands and the men crowded around to get a better look. For a minute all were silent before Maia spoke with feverish joy and glowing eyes. "Luis, I am going to Marajo Bay. I am going straight to the institute. You two men are to remain here in the camp and keep this area free of disturbance. I am clear yes?"
Both Thomas and Luis nodded though it was Luis who asked the question on both minds. "Will you be gone for very long?"
"Just long enough to find out precisely what this is. And get help in digging out the rest of the skeleton that is surely buried somewhere in this very spot." He walked back to tent cradling his prize and gazing at it in wonder. "I want a man to remain in the camp at all times," he instructed, one foot positioned across the threshold and through the flap of the tent. "Luis, I am ultimately leaving you in charge."
The rest of the day passed uneventfully, but that was ultimately a blessing to the men. Carl in particular felt this most, for he could hardly wait to depart and seek answers to the many riddles and questions plaguing his mind. Nobody noticed anything…yet something noticed them.