Sam continued,
"At night, under the Egyptian stars, I often tried to discussed these implications with Fang - but he "couldn't" ... or more probably, "wouldn't" understand why this "doubling" of our history - backwards, in time, excited me."
Sam said,
"It took awhile but I finally saw what Fang always seemed to know."
"One night ... during a bottle of fishwine - we call it, 'Sake,' Fang made an interesting comment."
He said,
"Mankind is always selling itself short. You "people" don't understand ... You don't "evolve." You just are!" Fang said, "If we had listen to the ancient fish we would know that we have always been ... and will always be ... just as we are now."
Fang became excited,
"Evolution ... Poof ! That has never been the question!"
According to Fang, His research has already taken us back 10,000 plus years and he sees no difference in Man's capacity to figure out problem's then and now.
"Only your "levers" have changed," he told me. "You made as many dumb mistakes putting things together, then, as you do now."
Fang paused,
"I really can't figure out why you made pyramids, then, or skyscrapers, now ... but, I don't care, either."
At this point, I could see Fang becoming depressed. I knew his concerned about the way his research had been going. True, he had found something startling and significant for mankind, but he had not discovered anything of great importance about ancient fishistory.
"... and this brings me to why I am here," said Sam, finally.
"One day at the excavation site, Horace Haddock made a comment that he had seen something related to ancient fish at the Fishsonian. At the time it didn't seem important and now, he couldn't remember the details. Langston knew nothing about this. Even so, Fang-and probably to get me out of his fins so he could get back to work-asked me if I would return to the Fishsonian and check it out."
"I said, "Yes" ... and here I am, today."
Sam continued,
"... but I see nothing here that would be of any interest to Fang or his colleagues ... so..."
He paused,
" ... we might as well leave."
I agreed and we began to walk toward the door.
As we walked by the first glassed Egyptian display case that we had looked at, before I stopped to take one last look and think about what Sam had been telling me.
Again, I saw the same Egyptian figures grouped around a table ... and again, I noticed the small insignificant clay tablet lying among the pots and plates that made up this interpretative setting ...
... only this time, I almost fainted.
Embedded into the clay tablet were the same markings that, before, had looked like the work of some ancient hand pressing a corn pattern onto a wet clay slate.
But ... No! This time I saw not corn imprints but the unmistakable patterns of fish scales pressed into clay ... and this time, the geometric markings around these impressions - looked like drawings of mechanical levers ... as in ... an engineering text book.
"Sam, come over here," I said weakly. "I want to show you something!"
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