The object soared through the sky engulfed in a streak of white flame, crashing down thunderously in the distant forest. It sizzled away in its crater of dirt and torn vegetation for hours before someone managed to follow the serpentine pillar of smoke to its location.

“There it is,” said Mias, clothed in a brown robe and a drooping animal-skin hat, pointing to the white-hot metal sphere at the center of the crater.

“I’ll be,” said Bisbin, clothed in similar, though more loosely fitting attire. “You weren’t lying. Not totally at least. You said you saw it fall from the sky?”

“Of course! When have I ever lied?”

“We are merchants. It is our job to lie.”

“Only to customers! When have I ever lied to you?”

“Well, no matter. What do you think it is? Do you think it's valuable?”

“Didn’t you hear me say it fell from the sky? There is nothing else like this in the world. Kingdoms will go to war for this."

"Well, let's hope so."

The object continued to burn, the substrate beneath it starting to blacken. The merchants felt the heat as they approached.

"Don’t touch it!" said Bisbin. "It's hot."

"I wasn't going to touch it, nincompoop!" said Mias sharply. "Go grab a waterskin."

Bisban did as he was told. He held the bloated sack over the object and poured its contents on top of it. The object hissed aggressively as the water instantly vaporized into a thick, white cloud. When the steam cleared, the object, still too hot to touch, returned to its metallic-gray state. Mias grabbed a second water skin from their nearby camp, which finished the job.

Mias reached for it.

Bisbin grabbed it first.

“Be careful, fool!” Mias hollered, swinging a balled fist at him wildly.

“You be careful! If you hit me, I’ll drop it, then where will we be?”

“Idiot! It fell from the sky! You think it can’t handle being dropped.”

Bisbin ignored him, focusing instead on the sounds and sensations echoing faintly from within the sphere. “It’s hollow,” he said.

“Of course, it’s hollow, idiot!”

“How would you have known it was hollow?”

Mias froze for a moment before folding his arms and spitting. “Well, what’s inside?”

“Do you think it can be opened? Should we take it to a blacksmith?”

“Of course not! Whatever is inside must be as valuable as the rest of it. We should keep it whole.”

Bisbin thought for a moment. “But, as you said, there is nothing like this in the world. If we can disassemble it, we might be able to sell it in parts and make even more money.”

Mias’s eyes widened. “Give me that!” he said, snatching the surprisingly light object from Bisbin’s hands. He examined it, feeling the erratic pulsing inside. He pressed his ear against it, hearing what sounded like slow shuffling.

Mias marched out of the crater and over to a tree that had toppled over when the object first landed. He held the object over his head before bashing it repeatedly against the tree’s jagged edges.

Bisbin raced over to his partner, grabbing him by the waist. “Have you gone mad?” he said.

“I want to see what’s inside!” Mias said, managing one more bash before Bisbin successfully wrestled the object out of his arms.

“You’ll damage the outside, fool! We don’t know what–”

There was a low slurp followed by a plop. The merchants examined the source.

The object had a hole in it; a perfect circle that seemed unlikely to have been caused by the bashing, though neither could be sure. A line of gray slime reached from the hole to a gelatinous mass on the ground. The bump pulsated dumbly as more of it poured from the sphere.

“GROSS!” both merchants cried.

“How did this mess get in there?” asked Mias.

“I don’t know,” said Bisbin as he shook out the rest of the gray slime.

“Good thing we managed to get it out,” said Mias. “No way anyone would buy it with that in there.”

The merchants made their way back to camp with their find. Tomorrow, they would return to the village, the metal sphere expertly displayed upon their caravan. They will have worked out their pitch: describing how the object fell from the sky before them, how they rescued it as it was being engulfed in flame, how nothing in all the land compares to it, how its properties are a mystery yet to be resolved, and how there was never a single drop of gray slime inside of it.

Meanwhile, the gray slime pulsed away on the forest floor. It bubbled and folded over itself with increasing purpose. Two large bubbles began protruding from the top; only these bubbles did not pop like the others. The bubbles solidified. A dark dot appeared on the surface of each. The dots floated around aimlessly before snapping in place.

And then it blinked.