The Next Generation (FIRST DRAFT)

Chapter 1

Deep within the red rocks of the western United States, history is about to be made. It wasn’t often a dig site this promising was found and David Leech, archaeologist, was not about to pass it up. Bones had been spotted in a worn away rock cliff near Canyonlands National Park and it was suspected there was more infused within the rock. Early spectators theorized that it was an early human ancestor never to have been discovered before. 

On the ride down to the site, David couldn’t help but feel excited. His team could find something so profound it could change the entire theory of evolution with one discovery. David could hardly believe that he was the one that would get to explore it. 

It wasn’t long before they reached their destination. As soon as the vehicle stopped moving, David leaped out of the van and raced around, trying to prepare everything possible at once. Finally, one member of his team, Tilley Miller, had to come out and calm him down.

“David, we’re never going to get anything done if you keep running around like this.”

“I know, I know,” David sighed. “I’m just too nervous and excited to calm down now.”

“It is exciting,” Tilley laughed. “Which is why we should get heading out. The daylight is fading, fast.”

David looked at Tilley with a smile. She was one of the senior members, having been on the same team as him for five years now. She was his most knowledgeable member as well and had helped him through some pretty difficult to understand discoveries before. She knew things from all over, seeing as she had worked on many teams and projects before settling here. Her knowledge ranged from as far back as Mesopotamia in the middle east to as recent as the 1700’s with the American Revolution. He ran over to her to go help carry some equipment out of the van. After they were finally all packed and ready to dig, his team of six people set off to go begin excavation. 

When they walked up to the side of the cliff with the figure in it, David stopped short. There was something pecularial about this skeleton, more so than looking different from a previous but similar human ancestor, Australopithecus afarensis. Upon closer inspection and further careful chipping away at the rock, this specimen almost perfectly matched the make up for a male Australopithecus afarensis, but it was still very peculiar. The bones had a shell around it following the outline of its body made of a completely different type of rock than its surrounding sandstone.

“Tilley, come look at this.”

Tilley stood up from where she was working and walked over to David. “What?”

“What do you recognize about these rocks?”

“The ones surrounding the bones?”

“Yes.”

Tilley studied the rocks for a minute. “What is this…,” she trailed off. “I-I literally can’t tell how these rocks were formed.”

“It’s strange, right? There is not a single igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic sign anywhere on these stones.”

“How is that even possible?!”

“It gets weirder. See how these stones follow the shape of the bones? It’s almost like this was a shell around him.”

“Or maybe it was him…,”

“Are you suggesting that he was made of rock?”

“I don’t even know what I’m suggesting, David.”

“Hey!” a voice called out from the top of the cliff face. “David! Tilley! You might want to come look at this!”

David and Tilley gave each other a worried glance before standing up and carefully hiking up the side of the rock formation. On top, a team member waved the two of them over to what looked like a worn away stone pedestal . In the middle of the extrusion, there was a dial of some sort, with foreign characters decorating the edges. Upon seeing the symbols, Tillet put on a pair of reading glasses and studied the symbols