Carrier Context :
Unique Projects

  The Ampato Maiden

These have been four or five minutes not soon to be forgotten.

But eternity is short for a frozen mummy exposed to room-temperature air. Almost as if someone had clapped their hands, the church-like silence is broken.

The mummy is inspected one last time and rewrapped. Dr. Jose' Antonio Chavez, the archaeologist who has protected the "Ampato Maiden" since she was first delivered to him, lifts the frozen corpse from the table. Cradled in his arms, he lowers her into a Plexiglas case like a father putting a sleeping child into a crib.

Almost as an afterthought, Dr. Ruth Salas, Dr. Chavez's wife and fellow archaeologist, slips the girl's frozen sandals into the box with her.

Only then do Ferguson and Steve Stopyra, a designer in the Advanced Systems Group, screw the lid down firmly and slide the case into a much larger insulated box that has been cooled down with dry ice to well below zero.

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