Number Three

The photo unrolls itself slowly. Above the feet are legs in thin cotton trousers, bound together by a cloth. Unrolling further reveals shriveled hands with clawlike fingers curled around a small ocarina. Then you see the upper body in a rustic cotton shirt, hunched shoulders, and finally the face, framed by long blond hair.

You are looking at a young man who had been frozen into the ice. Lying on his back, slack-jawed and pale, he stares dully out into space. Dark lips have curled away from the teeth.

"It's as if he was trying to tell us something," Claudia whispers.

"Like help," you suggest.

"Or his name." She points. The photo is labeled simply "Ice Grave #3."

An Access Excellence Science Mystery sponsored by Genentech, Inc.
Copyright © 1997 Genentech, Inc.; all rights reserved.