No one will mind if the case is removed

“Tom,” Moira started.

“Mm?” he answered.

“What would happen if we did this instead of waiting?”

“Did what?”

Moira suddenly jumped forward and began lifting the glass case.

“Moira, what are you doing?” Tom said setting his unfinished sketch down on a nearby lab table.

“Researching. That’s what we do. It’s bad enough that I get stuck inside a laboratory all the time, I’m not going to sit around waiting on other people.” She sat the case down on the floor nearby and began to reach for the idol.

“Moira! You really shouldn’t” Tom warned.

“Why? This thing has been handled by researchers all over this college, and by Doctor Chapel himself when he found it. What more could happen?” She placed both of her hands on the statue and began to lift if from the case.

It was so beautiful. It depicted a large breasted fertility goddess of some sort, only it seemed to possess a strange phallic symbol as well, on the reverse side. It sat cross-legged and held it’s four arms outstretched, as though it was inviting the viewer into its warmth. Under its legs was a pile of some foreign object that none could guess at. Moira loved the detail especially. The clothing and base had all forms of braids and crests inscribed all over, many which looked Celtic or Viking in nature. In fact, that was part of the statues oddity: the main statue looked almost Indian, the ornament looked Northern, and it was found in South America, in a part of the Amazon that no major cultures were known to exist at all. The thing was a complete enigma.

“Moira, the thing has been handled but only enough to scrape basic samples off the bottom or to put it in a bag or case. It’s not been truly held at all yet.” Tom was now beginning to be intrigued too and slowly approached the young redhead.

“Tom, look here. There seems to be a small seam beneath the hairline on the backside. What would a seam be doing on a piece that obviously wasn’t created by machines?”

“Don’t know, but I wouldn’t touch it if I were you.”

“You sure are a fuddy duddy for someone who can’t control his urges,” she said as she began to dig her nail into the seam.