A group of alien archaeologists is sent to Earth to learn more about the now-extinct human race. Currently, only animals and monkeys inhabit Earth. The scientists land in Africa and search for artifacts in the Olduvai Gorge, where humanity is supposed to have started. An alien called He Who Views can absorb artifacts and see the history of the artifacts. There he learns about the destructiveness of the human race.

With one artifact, he discovers that humans enslaved other humans. With another artifact, he realizes that the colonizers treated the African people as inferiors. The final artifact details how humans had polluted the Earth so much that it had become uninhabitable. He also learns that humans attempted to create spaceships to survive. However, one man refused to leave Africa as it was his home. This man stayed on Earth and thus became the last human before he died from the pollution.

The expedition group is about to return to their planet when one of the female archaeologists decides to explore the gorge for an artifact. When the female archaeologist doesn't return, the rest of the scientists search for her. However, all they discover is a piece of bone that they believe belongs to the female scientist. He Who Views absorbs the bone to identify who it belongs to and declares it is her. Saddened by their fellow scientist's death, the group board the ship back home.

As the ship departs from Earth, He Who Views quietly contemplates his actions. He won't reveal the truth of who the bone belonged to the other scientists as the discovery was so worrying. He Who Views had found that the bone belonged to one of the monkeys. When He Who Views had absorbed the bone, he found that the monkeys are actually what the humans have become. He also learned that the monkeys are cruel and only want destruction. This realization causes He Who Views to see humans as evil, and he contemplates whether he should exterminate these primates so that they can't cause harm.