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case. He recalled that even model ships inside bottles had cork seals, but there wasn’t even a seam on this encasement. He had no explanation for this phenomenon. When the dirt was finally soaked away, Karl said, “I don’t think there’s any other way than to smash the glass.”
    “Just be careful,” Mitch warned. “Just be careful.”
    Karl took a roll of surgical tape from the supply cabinet and applied it to the glass. Then he tapped on the tape very lightly with the handle of his scalpel. He supplied a bit more force and still more until the glass cracked. He lifted out the broken fragments and repeated the painstaking process until all the glass above the creature was gone.
    Karl put on a pair of gloves and moved to the head of the case. “Mark, I’d like you to lift the feet. Mitch, how about taking the mid-section.”
    On a given signal they lifted the Being out of its enclosure and placed it on an adjacent table. Karl was admittedly relieved. He’d half-expected it to crumble at their touch but it hadn’t. On the contrary, it was stiff—even frozen. The creature was exceedingly cold and dry. Karl felt along the usual places but wasn’t at all surprised when he didn’t find anything resembling a pulse.
    “A real museum piece,” he remarked.
    “Get to work on it right away,” Holly told him. “But try to keep him in one piece. I think a lot of very important people would like to get a good look at him.”
    Karl nodded. “I understand. I’ll do as many of the tests as I can using the scanner. But I shall have to slice off a bit here and there.”
    Holly turned to the others. “All right. Let’s get back to work. This is only the beginning. No doubt there’s more out there and it’s up to us to find it. I want you—Gail and Kate—to return to the tomb and keep piling the tablets on the forklift. When you’re finished with that, take pictures so we have a complete record of the expedition.”
    “I’ll get those tablets into Mitch’s study so he’ll have something to start on,” Mark said.
    “Good idea,” Mitch agreed.
    “Okay, let’s move out!” Holly ordered.
    After the others had gone, Mitch lingered behind for a few words with Karl. “I just wanted to say, I’m sorry for overstepping my authority before. Holly was right. It’s your decision.”
    Karl put his arm around his black friend. “Hey, don’t worry about it. It’s all behind us. It’s easy to get excited and fly off the handle. You felt something and had to say it. I wouldn’t expect any less from you.”
    “Let me know what you find out about our friend there,” Mitch said.
    “You’ll be the first. That’s a promise.”
    So the time had come for Karl and Sandy to get down to work. The first thing to do was put the creature on the scanner. They rolled the examining table parallel to the glass-topped scanner and slid the body on to it. Karl attached the impulse leads to the creature’s chest, forehead and thighs. When that was done, he pressed a sequence of buttons and turned the correct knobs before pulling the activating lever. Seconds later, the first of the charts and graphs came spewing out of the side of the machine. The doctor eagerly lifted them out of the tray. But he couldn’t believe his eyes. The picture that came through showed nothing at all. It was as if thin air had been scanned. Not a damn thing had been indicated.
    Karl checked the equipment to make sure it was functioning correctly. It seemed to be. But he ran a second series of tests just to make sure. As he’d feared, the results were the same. Blank!
    “What does it mean?” Sandy wondered.
    “I don’t know. It can’t be hollow,” Karl insisted. “I can only guess that the scanner isn’t programmed to handle a subject like this. Of course, it’s designed for humans and animals. I suppose this creature doesn’t belong to either category.”
    The doctor and his assistant began to perform other tests. Karl sliced a sliver from the