I
It was around 3am when it appeared.
At first, no one noticed. Many would latter comment on its exact location. It ran North to South, in the middle of the Tayrona. Whatever intelligence placed it there, remained inconspicuous.
Dawn broke early that day, just two hours later, and even though the world had changed, it remained oblivious to it. It wasn't like the anomaly was invisible, radar stations noted its existence, but due to its location nobody gave it a second thought.
It was noon when it was discovered.
Dawn had died, and the day was in full swing, the sky was blue, few clouds in the sky, the sun was shining, and it was hot, really hot, as it was accustomed in the tropics, and yet, the soldiers of the twelfth platoon couldn't stand it, their uniforms were sticky, almost like latex, and many of them had downed a liter or more water from breakfast to lunch, they were of the mountains, of the cold, and they were in a jungle, the snowy mountains of Santa Marta were near them. But not close enough, they were MPs deployed in the lower part of the national park, the mountains belonged to the tribes, as had been for centuries.
They endured, and the days went on quickly, but not today, they were called by the park rangers reporting something strange, they couldn't put their finger on what was exactly, but the commander felt it was necessary to assist, so off went the whole twelfth platoon.
"So, where exactly is this place?" the newbie asked.
"Two more kilometers, keep going" the leader answered in a gruff voice, but suddenly stopped, the radio went live, and command said something.
"Double time men, double time!" the leader barked.
The platoon covered the rest of the route in ten minutes, and stared wide-eyed when they arrived, a black-outlined circle, with a radius of ten meters give or take, like an empty mirror that reflected nothing, not their faces, not the forest. It was pitch black, a plain with grass and some lonely tress on the other side, and the outlines of the sky were just on the corners of their eyes, a beautiful starry night, no clouds in sight, and the outlines of a full moon.
It was 1pm when they called command.
At first, they tried to keep it quiet.
The rangers and the MPs were ordered to form a perimeter, and the tourist hiking route was closed off for the day, the commander himself arrived to observe the anomaly, and called for air support.
By dusk that day, command had changed hands a dozen times. At least five hundred soldiers and police officers formed the perimeter, the minister of defense was called in and assumed control when the day finally died.
Just in time for the media to arrive.
Who leaked the information? Some grunt or tourist, and even though they tried their best to close off the Tayrona, by eight o´clock it was in the front news of the most important media outlets in Colombia, by nine o´clock, it was on social media all over the world.
And at ten, day broke on the other side of the anomaly.
The landscape remained the same, the starry sky gave way for a clear, blue day, some animals were spotted by the people forming the perimeter, eerily like Earth, sheep, cows, and even the outlines of humanoid figures were spotted in the distance.
It was the biggest day in the history of the media. And in the history of science, scientists arrived from Bogota, and medics from local hospitals.
The area was too untamed to build a permanent HQ close to the anomaly, they settled three kilometers south of it, using the rangers and MPs barracks for it, and was decided to close the park and evacuate all tourists that same night. Many calls came in during the afternoon, but most of them came at night, the mayor of Santa Marta, the governor, and finally the president, when it was clear it was not an elaborate jest, even the UN called HQ.
But interest sparked when the inner perimeter reported some of the humanoid figures were approaching, by midnight they were close enough to clearly observe.
They were humans.