The equipment hummed in the silence of the tent. I calibrated the density for stone, but the sensors kept throwing errors. “Invalid Material Density,” blinked on the screen. I changed the settings, lowering the beam power, as if we were scanning pottery or… organic matter.
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Sarah stood by the monitor, biting her lip. “Dr. Evans, look at the spectral analysis of the surface,” she said, her voice shaking. The chemical composition of the outer layer was a mix of calcite and… volcanic ash? It was similar to what happened in Pompeii, but these statues were found thousands of miles from the nearest volcano.
I initiated a full scan of the statue’s torso. The loading bar moved slowly across the screen, peeling back layer after layer. First, we saw the outer shell. Then voids. And then, an outline began to form on the screen that caused Sarah to cover her mouth to stop a scream.
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