The Seed

Gloria tried to hide her shock. The canister jabbed out of the dirt, ancient grime coating its surface.

Moses said, “I don’t understand, what is it?”

“It’s something that shouldn’t be here.” She chewed her lip in thought.

If they called it in, a branch of the government would hide every shred of evidence. But if she hid it, all her time and effort would be wasted.

“That doesn’t explain-” Her palm formed a hard stop to the rest of his sentence.

“Hush, I’m trying to figure this out.”

“You know what it is.”

“I do.”

“I don’t. Spill it.” His dark eyes left no room for further discussion.

Her gaze flicked up the faint outline of the moon in the day sky and a chill ran down her back. “This isn’t the first time something like this has been found. The Mars Rover found one too.”

“What? Like, on Mars?”

She nodded. “They did it again. Only this time, they were successful.”

“You’re not making any sense. Spell it out for the rest of the class.”

Gloria understood his confusion. More, she felt it but along with concern. It lent credence to the ongoing theory that Earth was more than just a human-inhabited planet.

“NASA believes the one found on Mars was a seed from another civilization but it failed to take. This one brought life.”

His expression spurred more. “Aliens, Moses. I’m talking about aliens. We may be the creations of another species. This is evidence of another lifeform.”

“Aliens?” He scoffed. “Or maybe it’s just another botched missile test.”

The unidentifiable language carved into the side of the strange metal said otherwise, but she hadn’t decided if they were calling it in. Let Moses think it was a botched test, probably safer that way.


This is an entry for

Daily Flash Fiction Challenge  (13+) Enter your story of 300 words or less. #896794 by Arakun the Twisted Raccoon