Integration - David C Sterling

At the edge of the world, amid silent ice and raging storms, a group of scientists discovers something that should not exist.
On the shore of a remote island lies a black, teardrop-shaped capsule made of an unknown material.
Fragments of coal are fused to its surface - coal over 250 million years old, from a time before the dinosaurs, the age of primitive reptiles.
Smooth, organic, as if created by something not human.

When it is activated, reality itself begins to fracture.
The protagonist finds himself caught between two forces: humanity's thirst for knowledge and the horror of the incomprehensible that defies the laws of nature.
The deeper he delves into the mystery, the more he realizes - the capsule is not just an artifact.