Ode To The Cambrian Explode
Somewhere nestled in a tiny pocket of space is a bare planet in its earliest stages of development. On it, there are no sentient creatures, and nature lay stark and untouched. The air is searing hot, and the few things alive exist safely in the depths of a deep ocean. The sun rises every day past the blue horizon, but there are none who can see it, or even know it’s there. The few bits of land scattered along the ocean world are dry and lifeless. Craggy, eroded islands offer the only change of color in the endless stretch of blue. And when the sun sets, a glittering sky rains orbs of light which drip onto the black water. While there is not much to show for above the surface, below, a different scene begins to unfold.
From the remnants of single-celled organisms sprouts a subaquatic kingdom of unconventional creatures. Arthropods, with compound eyes and exoskeletons, parade the basaltic plains of the deep sea in their trillion hordes. Mollusks - the most abundant phylum - spread along the mineral-deposited ground and paint the gray depths in vivid color. Cephalopods, harboring a biology so alien to the organisms thus far, defy the gravity of the heavy ocean-atmosphere and undulate through the frigid depths. It is a frenzy unlike anything before on this planet. A mere million years before, when the ancient sedimentary floor was guarded by infinite microbial webs, there existed only fundamental building blocks of life, spread worlds apart with no conceivable way to greet each other. Yet somehow, cells merged, and things began to prod through the bacterial net and exploit the realm for its sustenance. Change was finally made, and it birthed a new age of terrain-scraping organisms. But in the wake of oceanic prosperity emerges a new class of never before seen predators.
The ocean, only ever alive in its motion from the sweeping air above, now housed the anarchic Anomalocaris. Hideously proportioned and gargantuan in size, it terrorized the primordial world. It was different from the rest, as it did not absorb nutrients through its skin or feed on microscopic organisms. To fuel its infernal engine it required blood, bone, and flesh. It waves through the ocean on its broad fins, keeping close to the ground while navigating with its two bulbous eyes. Once it spots prey, it stalks them mercilessly, making no attempts to hide its enormous presence. It eventually reaches its victim, grabbing them with long, spiked arms and bites into their flesh with its spear-toothed jaw. Blood clouds the murky water, and it seems there are no organisms lucky enough to withstand this brooding omen of death.
However, unbeknownst to the Anomalocaris, the primeval ocean holds in its stomach a secret. A thing, hardly developed in the new age of shapely masses, is floundering under the weight of the carnivorous sea. Its body blends into the plethora of strange creatures, with no shape, texture, or sound unique compared to the others, but inside, its DNA harbors something promising. Over millions of years, it will surge farther than any creature, piercing the midnight capsule of the ancient depths and find blue. Once it reaches the safe shallows, it will walk along the jagged ground until its slimy skin rips through the surface, and for the first time in history, will touch air. That painful first breath, as the ozonic wind invades its gills, is a quiet experience, hardly comprehended by the thing itself, but will mark a breakthrough in the new age of land creatures. It will come to understand the nature of the second world, birthing water-filled eggs and keeping close proximity to the ocean. But over time, it will thrive and develop a prosperous terranean kingdom. Now inhabited by non-vascular plants, the once dull rocky plains are ripe with vibrant color. Mosses and liverworts carpet the ground, allowing the first step of mammal to be lush and inviting. The air, now cooler, is protected under a layer that keeps the scorching stare of the sun from sucking the world dry. And as it sets, the horizon, streaked in amber glow, can finally bestow its color on the eyes of something. At night, the sky still sparkles, not just on the black stretch of sea, but in the black pearls of the creature's eyes. Hundreds of millions of years will pass, and while revolutionized, this moment will be lost to time forever. But right now, as the waking sun ascends the dark sea in orange twilight, the first mammal opens its eyes to morning’s promise.
