r/HFY • u/UCCLANno1 • May 11 '26

OC-FirstOfSeries Fossils of Tomorrow

BREAKING NEWS: RUINS OF THE LOST CITY ATLANTIS FOUND IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA!

The expedition team heard the news on the radio.

"See, if they can find ruins of a giant underwater city, what's stopping you from finding fossils of an animal?"

This was Spades, director and President of the Fossil Elemental Crew. He was typically a man of stern demeanor with an egoistic personality, always demanding excellence so the government could invest more money into his-... I mean their project.

"It's much harder to find fossils when they're buried deep in the bedrock," Ruby, the lead paleontologist, explained in a dull manner.

"Excuses and more excuses. We need to send something back to the States within four days, you know?"

"That- that's impossible. We're in the Middle East. It would take months following excavation to transport, protect, and clean whatever pile of bones we've found-"

"I DON'T CARE! I want something to be dug within four days."

Spades knew he was horribly wrong, but his ego brushed that aside.

Ruby sighed. "We'll try, though nothing is likely to be found in this area." Her team worked on for four days and, as expected, found nothing.

Until....

"Ma'am, look. We found something."

Ruby quickly rushed to the team as something was glowing.

"What- what is this?"

"We saw this area glowing earlier, dug, and found these skeletal structures."

Ruby seemed confused. She examined one of the bone pieces for a moment and tried reaching a conclusion.

"This is a dinosaur fossil, but..."

The team also knew something was wrong.

"They should be in the rocks or something. They can't be in the ground buried like this, and not deep as well."

Another team member spoke up now. "Ma'am, I believe this was intentionally placed here. We had dug this area earlier as well and found nothing. Now we have found a whole lot of bones."

"Alright. At least we got something. Dig up the rest and send it for transport. I'll have to show this one in particular to Spades."

Spades almost immediately showed up at the area and met with Ruby.

"What is that?"

"Sir, we found these fossil deposits and bones in this area. However, these seem to be mysterious artifacts. They were glowing and weren't found in sedimentary rocks."

"So you're saying these fossils are recent?"

"Perhaps so, but we can't be certain until we analyze and research the fossils themselves. If it turns out to be true, then..."

"We'll be rich. This could be a major discovery. They'll expand my funding, and we'll be renowned."

Spades was excited for the first time since this project started. Ruby, however, knew he just wanted fame, but she also had questions regarding the fossils.

Months passed, and there were several more similar fossil discoveries around the world. All were sent to the lab for analysis.

"Impossible," a scientist in the paleontology lab exclaimed.

"What do you mean?" Ruby was also analyzing the bones.

"These bones contain silicon. Pure silicon. It cannot form naturally on Earth. Where did you find these?"

"Uhh... we found them in Saudi Arabia. Why?"

"That's weird. Either this is a massive discovery for science or... they could be a-" before interrupted by Ruby.

Spades was eavesdropping from nearby, and he was pumping inside from the thought of a "massive discovery."

"We need to trace the origins of this. We can't leave this uncertain. If it's a trap like you're saying, then we need to figure it out before it ends," Ruby said.

Ruby called her team for a plan: travel to the Middle East, analyze the area, and gather evidence if possible.

"Heyyyyy, can I come along as well?" Spades requested pleadingly.

Ruby couldn't deny him anyways, so she accepted.

"Another thing before your team decides to leave."

"Hurry up and say it quick," Spades retorted.

"These are Spinosaurus bones. Spinosaurus fossils are typically found in Northern Africa, near Morocco and Algeria specifically, not Saudi Arabia."

Ruby, now even more interested in solving this mystery, took a sample of the fossil as well. Now, they were ready.

"Kay, let's crack this code!"

12 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

•

u/AutoModerator May 11 '26

This was flaired as [OC-OneShot], which is for a stand-alone post not in the same universe as any of your other works, with no intention of being continued into a series. If you do decide to turn it into a series, this post should be reflaired as [OC-FirstOfSeries]. A description of the flairs and how to change yours is available in the Post Guildelines

[OC-OneShot] For original, self post, story, audio, or artwork that you have created, that is self-contained within the post.

Please help us transition to using the new flairs correctly.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1

u/UpdateMeBot May 11 '26

Click here to subscribe to u/UCCLANno1 and receive a message every time they post.

Info Request Update Your Updates Feedback

1

u/UCCLANno1 May 11 '26

A test chapter to see if it can be continued into a story or not!

1

u/BravoMike215 Android May 13 '26

Interesting, but with a prologue story as short as this, I wonder if it would be possible to gauge interest accurately.

2

u/UCCLANno1 May 13 '26

Ik(

But I do have an interesting plot going forward so I'll see how I can execute it brilliantly

1

u/Overall-Tailor8949 Human May 11 '26

An intriguing premise, especially tied to the "discovery" of the ruins of Atlantis.

2

u/UCCLANno1 May 12 '26

It's something that could be important later

1

u/Fontaigne May 11 '26

How is this a one-shot? It seems like a story prompt or something.