Before Watchmen: Dr. Manhattan

A mystery is being buried in the earth, its contents unknown to all but the one who observes. Dr. Manhattan watches the procedure from a detached vantage point, his perception unbound by linear time. The act of interment is a fixed point in a continuum he perceives all at once, its past and future implications clear only to him. In a separate reality, the saga of the Crimson Corsair continues its grim voyage across a desolate sea. These parallel events unfold without commentary, each a closed system of cause and effect observed from outside. The soil settles over the box. The Corsair's ship cuts through another wave.