We have never, at any point in our history on Earth, properly understood or appreciated what came before us. Our own hubris, our own determination that we, homosapiens, are the peak of evolution, prevents us from seeing what is right before our eyes. Or even what is below our feet.

We do as we’ve always done. We take from the land. We take from the sea. We take from wherever we can extract anything which may be to our benefit—our profit—irrespective of how it may affect our world. We push, and we plunder, and we dig. And we dig. We rip the very ground from under us, destroying the trees, and the minerals, replacing them with the never ending concrete monstrosities we call cities.

Humanity is a rash; an ever-spreading blight on the surface of a beautiful green planet. We have waged war with nature, and, until now, nature has been on the retreat. Until now. The consequences were always going to catch up with us, and now they are here. Now, at last, we will reap what we have sown, because this time we dug too deep.

This time we found a jewel we were never meant to find; an ancient artifact; not, it seems, of human origin, but certainly of human interest. And, as we always do, we ignore the beauty of our discovery and, instead, look for what it can do for us. A magnificent glass-like sphere; soft to touch; pristine in its clarity; with but a single translucent droplet of liquid ricocheting from side to side to side. A tiny raindrop, seeking escape from its confines.

We cannot help ourselves, can we? We must learn more about this strange fluid. We must release the mystery.

But did we find it… or did it find us?