Tevun-Krus #76 - AfroFuturism

Cradle of Humanity - A Short Story by @jinnis

Cradle of Humanity 

Yaro rubbed the sweat from his face with a dirty towel and offered it to me. I stared at the rag, offended, and shook my head. Why would I want to clean my face with an already soaked piece of cloth, streaked with dirt and sweat?

"Thanks, I'm fine." I took a swig from my water bottle, subconsciously weighing it in my hand. Still more than half full, I could last a few more hours. "Let me search the slope over there. I thought something blinked in the sun, earlier."

"Imani, bones don't blink. Fossils never do." He stretched his back and checked the sun. "Another three hours to continue. Go do whatever you want. I'm climbing further down into the chasm here."

I nodded and picked up my backpack, the rock hammer hanging from my right wrist at its strap. "Fine, I'll stay within shouting distance. See you later."

The walk along the rim of the gorge offered a beautiful view of the Great Rift Valley. Soon, I reached the place I had picked for my descent to the layers most promising to hold the precious finds. It had been my dream for years to join a mission digging here, where traces of the oldest humans were abundant since their discovery back in the twentieth century.

The human remains fitted with meaningful names like Lucy and Eve had inspired my teenage imagination. To stand here, above the chasm called the Olduvai gorge in my homeland Tanzania, was the fulfilment of every wish that drove me to excel in school and finish my studies against all odds.

A quick glance told me Yaro was already back down where he had been searching before, scanning the slope with meticulous care. If I wanted to check out my former hunch, I had to hurry.

To find a way down the slope was a tricky business, but I was persistent. It took me about a quarter of an hour to reach the spot I'd tried to memorise. It was easy to recognise the claystone of "Bed I", the oldest layer to deliver hominin remains. But where was my reflecting surface?

Determined, I followed the slope, sure my eager eyes would spot anything bright enough to reflect the sunlight. An hour passed, and a second one. I'd travelled a fair distance and was almost out of sight of Yaro's survey site. Regret about a lost opportunity lured me on, but my boss had the keys to the jeep. If I wasn't back at sunset, I would have to spend the night out here.

Backtracking, I found it by accident, only moments before I reached the place of my initial descent into the gorge. My boot slipped on a hard surface, and when I checked, I found it wasn't a stone but a strange alloy. With my hammer, I hastened to uncover more of it.

Half an hour later, I knew it was part of a metal cylinder, neatly cut by a sharp tool, and used as a slate for engravings. The material was hard, and I couldn't imagine what it took to mark it with the foreign letters. And then it hit me. These letters didn't belong to any human language I'd ever seen.

My heart thumped like a drum in my chest while my fingers followed the lines of alien writing. What was this? A grave marker? A message to a rescue team that never arrived?

"Imani? Time to wrap it up, dinner is waiting."

Yaro's shout tore me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see him standing directly above me, on the rim of the chasm.

"Imani? What's the matter?"

"I..." Should I tell him? This was not what we came searching for. In fact, it was the contrary. While the importance of my find still sent shivers down my spine, other implications cried for attention in my head.

I picked up my gear and started climbing, still indecisive. We might become famous, Yaro and I, the stars of the evening news. The spaceship would be unearthed and then... I stopped in my tracks. From where I stood, I still could see the piece of metal while it remained hidden from where Yaro waited, now urging me to hurry.

A big rock right beneath the rim caught my attention. What if I left it with the gods of my ancestors?

I climbed faster over the loose material, using my free left hand as well as my sweaty right clawed around the handle of my hammer to prevent me from slipping. When I reached the big rock, I hesitated and slipped on a patch of gravel. A short moment of imbalance, a kick against the rock, and an avalanche of pebbles and dirt tumbled down the slope, getting faster, raising a huge cloud of dust.

"Imani? Are you all right?"

I coughed, shocked about the effect of my little manipulation, clinging on all fours to the still shaking ground. "I think. Can you help me?"

He reached out to me, and moments later, I stood on firm soil again. Beneath us, the slope had changed beyond recognition.

The ancients had decided—the secret of humanity was safe once more.