Schizogenesis [chapter 1]

Big Dave brought a piece of something that looked like wood home from the pit tonight.

It had been left in the truck bed after Dave made his last dump of the day. He brought his truck home each evening, and tonight he noticed the piece while washing out the back.

He climbed into the bed and picked up the object. He was going to toss it over the side rail, but the unusual texture made him pause. Curious, he examined it, turning it in his hands.

The object was about two feet long, and he would have thought it was a short section of two-by-four lumber, except that it was slightly rounded without sharp edges. The thing felt spongy as if it had been in water for a long time, but Dave’s hand didn’t feel any dampness. Even more strange, instead of the coldness that lengthy saturation would naturally bring, it warmed his hand. He felt its heat spreading up his arm.

After experiencing the uncommon sensation, Dave carried his newfound anomaly to the garage out back. He began cleaning off the white caliche from around what now appeared to be a piece of strangely carved material inlaid with shiny metal.