Sylvan cut the tape with care. An endless supply of straps and fastenings was holding whatever was inside, in place. Inside the cardboard layer was a styrofoam box. The lid was taped into place.

He was beginning to suspect the package contained a live animal.

'Please don't be a dead fish,' he chanted in his head as he removed the last lid.

Inside the styrofoam box was a medium size fish tank. The water had a strong brine odor. A couple of heat packs were stuffed into the space between the styrofoam and glass walls with stickers saying "Keep warm". An envelope was taped to the top of the lid.

At the bottom of the tank was a crawfish-like creature. It was about ten centimeters long from head to tail, sitting in the middle of the tank.

As he displaced the aquarium lid, the creature scuttled to one side.

'It's still alive,' he sighed in relief.

The attached envelope contained a packet of dried shrimps with a card that said, "Limit to as much as she can eat under three minutes, twice a day".

Sylvan felt sorry for the animal. It must have been starving.

He unzipped the food packet and dropped a dried shrimp into the water. At first, the creature stayed put, watching the morsel sink to the bottom.

After a few seconds of suspense, it lunged at the food with its claws. The entire ordeal lasted a few seconds. Almost half the contents were exhausted before he remembered the instructions to not overfeed.

*****

He called up Vivia.

"What was the package, babe?"

"A fish tank. The doctor sent you a lobster, I think,"

"Lobster? What kind?"

"Not sure. It's not colorful or anything. Plain brown with orangish claws. I fed it some treats that came with the box,"

"Did it have any notes for why she sent it?"

"Well, I didn't manage to take the tank out of the box yet. Maybe there's something at the bottom,"

"Could you send me a picture? Maybe I'll figure something out," She was still treating it as a puzzle from the famous paleontologist.

"Hold on," Sylvan clicked a quick photo on his phone and forwarded it to her.

"Thanks, you try getting it out of the box,"

"I was doing that,"

"I'll let you know if I find something. Thanks for everything. Love you,"

"Love you too,"

Once she hung up the call, Sylvan set himself to extracting the fish tank from the box. He used the box-cutter to saw through the outer styrofoam cover.

He had nearly finished when the phone rang again. It was a video call from Vivia.

"Hey, what's up, Viv?"

She looked excited about something, "Could you show me the animal right now?"

"Uh, give me a minute,"

He pulled the aquarium out of the box and aimed the camera at the scurrying animal.

"This is incredible!" she squealed in glee.

Sylvan was confused, "I mean, it does look different,"

"It's more than just different!"

"What is it?"

"That's a Pterygotus!"

"Terri-got-us?"

"A Pterygotus," she barely stopped to breathe, "It's an arthropod from the Eurypterida order that evolved in the late Silurian period, and disappeared around the Permian–Triassic extinction event,"

"You lost me at pterygotus. It's supposed to be extinct?"

"Is it a rare case of iterative evolution? But then what would be the basis?" she was mumbling to herself.

"I'm still here, babe,"

"Oh, right," Vivia was excited, "This is a groundbreaking find. Why would Dr. Northumber send me this?"

Sylvan was starting to agree. If the creature was what Vivia thought, why would a leading research lab mail something this sensitive over the post to an unknown student of paleontology?

"It's decided!" she suddenly chirped, "I'm coming home today,"

"But your museum trip?"

"Are you kidding? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity,"

What was he to do with this crazy girl?