His elegant fingers turned over the chromalin, and he gazed intently at the image. The body was naked hands crossed over the genitals, the right hand gripping the left wrist; a man’s body, lean and gaunt. The image was monochrome, and it looked odd, like a photographic negative. Startingly, atop the body was the image of a face that was not in negative, or so it appeared at first sight. Then Michael realized that the oddly smiling face gazing out at him was that of a black woman. She seemed to have some kind of headdress or crown, and there were dark streaks on the forehead. Likewise, there were dark streaks, droplets, on wrists and feet and what appeared to be a ragged tear on one side of the chest of the torso, low down and near the hip bones.