Excelsior Read Online Free PDF Page B

could wind up being just as much of a find as the sword discovery.”
    Katherine simply nodded and then turned back toward the door they were quickly approaching. From behind the door, Katherine and Dr. Ritgen could hear the mixed chatter of their team of analysts, and the excitement level had reached a point where Katherine could feel it like a bolt of electricity coursing through her veins. She reached the door and pushed it open, entering the large room with her team hard at work.
    The room had much brighter light than the fluorescent ones in the hallway, with a powerful lamp positioned in the center, beaming down onto a narrow coroner's table. The analysts closest to the table were too engrossed in studying the body to notice them enter, but the men and women with an obstructed view looked up, saw who it was that walked in and then turned back toward the table.
    The 30-year-old woman closest to the door smiled as Katherine passed by her. “Good morning, Dr. Sierra,” she said as she rocked back and forth on her heels. Katherine smiled at her as she passed by. Another analyst who was only a few years older than the one by the door sucked in his gut and stood up straight as Katherine looked at him.
    “I think there's a spot here where you can get a good view, Dr. Sierra,” the love-struck analyst blurted out, prompting several quiet giggles from the men and women nearby.
    “Thank you, Richard,” she answered. And just like that, another man was captivated by the mysterious woman's lasting beauty.
    While Katherine looked over the shoulders of the analysts standing in front of her, she managed to see several patches of the being and was alarmed at the flesh she saw. Based on the amount of time it had been lying dormant, it should have been reduced to dust by this point, and yet here it was. And not only was it in one piece, but the body still had skin wrapped around its bones as if the being had died only a few years ago.
    Ritgen called attention to himself by asking his analysts in a booming voice, “Okay team, what did we miss?” He quickly forced his way through the crowd so he was standing directly in front of the table, across from where Katherine was still struggling to get a better view.
    The analyst in front of Katherine raised a finger before speaking. “The preservation is simply unbelievable, Dr. Ritgen. No air or moisture causing deterioration. It's been excavated for weeks now, and it doesn't look like any damage was caused to the body since it was found.”
    Ritgen responded to that observation. “We're going to have to schedule a partial autopsy to see what made this thing stay in one piece for so long.”
    Katherine’s mind was racing at all of the possibilities when she overheard one of the analysts. “Are those scales?”
    Katherine quickly peeked past the analyst’s shoulder. Sure enough, she saw patches of skin on the being that had scales running up its arms. Katherine gasped as she looked up at the being's face, which was just as preserved as the rest of the body.
    Another analyst pointed at the eyes. “It looks like there are two sets of eyelids on its face. You can see the nictating membrane right there. Where do you suppose something like this came from?”
    Katherine worked her way through the crowd and got a better look at the being on the examining table. She saw that while its eyes were covered by tightly shut eyelids, there was another set that was halfway open over them. Its mouth was clenched shut, a frozen grimace of pain on its face. As Katherine continued to scan over the discovered corpse, she noticed a series of deep large cuts in its torso.
    Dr. Ritgen pulled out a laser pointer from his pocket and used it to highlight the torn chest and stomach. “Whatever this is, it looks like it was on the losing end of a battle with some kind of animal. Nothing too large, since it would have torn it to shreds.” Ritgen looked up at Katherine, who did her best to mask her concern.