Disclaimer: The characters of the Stephanie Plum Series belong to Janet Evanovich and are used here without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.
Note: This is set in the very, very distant future - about 1800 years or so
The Find Of The Century
By TT
The year is 3820. Society has changed as has the American coastline. The inevitable wearing away of the ocean combined with tidal surges, hurricanes and other natural events has left much of what was the East Coast under water.
“Sir! Sir!” the excited intern cried as she raced into the lab.
“Just a minute Saunders,” the gray-haired scientist commanded.
The young woman stood impatiently, shifting from foot to foot, too excited by her discovery to stand still.
“Yes, Miss Saunders?” Dr. Dribble asked.
“We've uncovered the most amazing find!” she gushed. “We were researching an area of what used to be New Jersey and found... Well, you have to come see it to believe it.”
With a sigh and the expectation of seeing yet another set of dishes, Dr. Dribble followed behind his excited intern.
As they reached the door of the recovery bay, Miss Saunders paused and turned to face her mentor. Her eyes were large and excited as her mouth opened.
“Just open the door, Miss Saunders,” Dr. Dribble sighed, really not in the mood to hear the over-enthusiastic babble of his student.
Throwing the doors open, Miss Saunders walked into the large room and began explaining, “We found it in the remains of a household temple. We know from the histories we discovered that these early machines were objects of great importance and frequently denoted the status of the family. I've seen pictures of the relics and even uncovered the basic structure of one before, but this... this is beyond all imagination. It must truly have been valued and belonged to one of the most powerful families of its day.”
Dr. Dribble just nodded as they walked past various stations where recovery of the artifacts from the “Trenton-Newark” area dig were being preserved. As they rounded the final corner, he stopped in his tracks and gasped.
In all his years of working on digs and uncovering the past's secrets, he had never seen any specimen so amazingly well preserved. Pausing a moment in reverent amazement, he didn't blink, didn't breathe. Never would he have thought he would find such a specimen. In all the years he had been studying and uncovering history, there had never been anything so complete, so amazing.
Walking up to the perfectly preserved find, he reached out a hand as if to touch it before drawing his hand back.
He glanced over at his intern who was now practically vibrating in place from excitement.
Turning his attention back to the object, he walked around it, taking in the well-defined form, the perfectly intact exterior and the untouched interior. As he walked around the back of the find, he searched his memory for the translation of the squiggles he found on the back. It didn't take him long to do the conversion as he read: B – U – I – C – K. “Buick,” he murmured, amazed by the unusual shade of blue and the large projections on the back he knew were called “fins”.
End