Shulamit finally nudges the camera just right, sending the tiny drone into the sky.

Ioe says, "Testing, testing. Is this thing on?"

Shulamit says, "Hoo hoo, are you there drone? Oh you are."

Ioe says, "Looks good, Curator."

Picram nods.

Shulamit says, "Hoo! Information about this antiquity. This is an ancient Gunurash cradle. Parts were found on Gunurash, with one, the extremely delicate fabric, purchased from a buyer. Morgan knows more, but Morgan is away."

Shulamit shows off the cradle for all to see - "This cradle is rudimentary and harsh with its stone construction, but engineered for incredible stability and security of the occupant. A thin runner of curved stone allows the unit to rock in place and several bars would ensure the small creature within could not escape without assistance. "

Shulamit allows the drone to photograph the cradle so it can be reviewed later when it's put back on display.

Shulamit says, "It is made of four major parts. A curbed length of stone, a rusted basin, some thin stone rods, and the very brittle fabric."

Shulamit says, "H...hoo. Curved. Not curbed."

Shulamit coughs softly.

Shulamit says, "With me are Ioe and Picram! Lord Commander Picram, of course."

Shulamit nods its head slowly, looking very wise.

Picram observes the cradle from various angles, most of them being somewhere above due to its height. "Is there any reason for making it out of stone? Did it need to be heavy? Was there no other, potentially easier to work material available?"

Shulamit points at Ioe and Picram , making sure the drone sees.

Ioe waves at the camera.

Ioe says, "Given the bars, maybe it was intended to ensure the baby couldn't break out?"

Shulamit says to Picram, "Gunurash is a harsh land, so it was likely made after the oceans that we believe use to be there receded, leaving only stone."

Shulamit says, "There is metal, it's been used in other antiquities. But not very much of it. Perhaps they didn't want to use any on a cradle."

Shulamit gently runs a tendril along the stone basin. "The basin is rusted though, so the stone itself has some metals within?"

Ioe says, "The builders could have used a woven net, I suppose. Fabric was clearly an option, given the bedding. But given how many hands a baby Krona has, that seems very escapable."

Picram says, "How about contemporary Krona cradles? Are they built as sturdy as well, or did Krona children lose their tendency for violent cradle breaks somewhere in the past?"

Shulamit nods solemnly at Ioe, pondering the escapable krona children.

Shulamit says to Picram, "Hoo, you know. After this I should go and speak with the krona on Gunurash. I've never seen a cradle, but I wasn't looking for their saplings at the time. I was...busy with food."

Shulamit acknowledges the point with a grave nod of its head.

Ioe says, "Most traditional Krona furniture is made of stone, even to this day."

Shulamit ponders the situation.

Shulamit says, "True, hoo. All those stone bookshelves around!"

Picram says, "Ah, so a stone cradle would not be an outlier then."

Ioe nods at Picram.

Shulamit says, "I'm surprised the fabric survived at all. Desert sand could not have been kind to it."

Picram ponders the situation.

Ioe says, "Where was this found, actually?"

Shulamit says, "We did find others, after Morgan left. But oh so rarely."

Shulamit says to Ioe, "Where exactly, or where was...parts of it found?"

Picram says, "On the contrary. Moisture is what really speeds up the decay of organic matter. If it got buried quick enough, the desert sand and dry climate might have helped to preserve it."

Shulamit ponders the situation.

Shulamit says to Picram, "Perhaps the reason they are hard to find is because they are so thin, the pieces of fabric."

Shulamit says, "The act of digging them out of the sand, poof."

Ioe says, "The fabric, I mean. Was it in a tomb, a ruin, or directly in the ground?"

Comprehension flashes across Shulamit's face.

Shulamit says to Ioe, "I do believe the ones I found were just out in the desert, a bit past hoo...some trees. Near a sunken speeder? Well, hoo, my digsite people setup there."

Shulamit says, "Not trees. The...spikey trees."

Picram says, "Cacti?"

Shulamit ponders, confused as to the word before remembering. "Yes! Those!"

Shulamit nods its head slowly, looking very wise.

Shulamit thanks Picram profusely.

Ioe says, "It does strike me as somewhat odd that they would have a cradle in the wilderness. Perhaps it was a travel version?"

Picram says, "There could have been a settlement or something."

Shulamit gets in quite close to the cradle, pulling a magnifying glass out of a box in the room. "You can just about see there was written stitches in the fabric. Oh hoo! Well, the digsite in general was nearer to Uryet. Perhaps an old settlement there?"

Shulamit holds out the magnifying glass, allowing Picram or Ioe to take it if they wish.

Ioe says, "We should make a note to look into historic settlement patterns in the region."

Shulamit nods at Ioe before entering that into a small datashard tucked away in its large branches.

Ioe gestures to the Lord Commander, allow it the first go with the magnifying glass.

Picram accepts the magnifying glass and tries to read the inscription, then passes the glass to Ioe. "Afraid my ancient Krona is not really up to deciphering this."

Shulamit nods solemnly. "I suspect there are few who can read it, if it's even legible."

Picram says to Shulamit, "Is anything known about this style of cradle? Like... when it was roughly popular to build them like this?"

Shulamit seems to think for a moment, before shaking its canopy. "Not that I know of. It is the only one we currently have, so nothing to compare it to. It seems to use similar art work as to the, hoo..."

Shulamit stops, searching through a cabinet as it tries to find something.

Shulamit says, "Hoo, similar to the battle wraps also found on Gunurash."

Ioe says, "I certainly wouldn't claim to. But if you look here... What would you suppose the thread is made from? Animal fiber, yes?"

Shulamit nods slowly at Ioe.

Ioe says, "Perhaps we could put some error bars on the date if we can identify the animal and when it was domesticated."

Shulamit says, "Hoo, perhaps! They did have various animals in the area. And still do."

Shulamit says, "Although many are insectoid, yes? The...what is that creatures name. Big...no, hoo."

Picram says, "It could be plant fiber, too. Most plants have some fibrous bits you can extract, although some are a lot more of a pain to work with."

Ioe says, "If it is plant fiber, that would be very informative. The region is largely desert, so bulk plant based fibers would likely be a luxury item."

Shulamit says, "Hoo, zhubeast! They're scaley, so no fibers from them."

Acknowledging Ioe's point to be true, Shulamit nods its head gravely at them.

Shulamit says, "I'm surprised we have yet to find bone trinkets made from zhubeasts bones out in the desert. But perhaps they were used in cooking instead. Cook down the bones, especially if there's not much else there."

Ioe says, "I beleive that the stripeback is a mammal native to the region?"

Picram says, "That is a good question though. Zhubeast are hardy creatures, so their bones might make a great crafting material, especially for something you'd want to move about."

Shulamit scans through a databank of creatures, before agreeing with Ioe. "At least, they're there currently."

Shulamit says, "I'd certainly work with zhubeast bones for artistic endeavors, art on the hoof so to speak, hee hoo."

Shulamit says, "Perhaps they didn't use bones in the construction of the cradle because it would be seen as courting death to have bones near a sapling? Some cultures do not like it."

Ioe nods at Shulamit.

Shulamit nods its head slowly, looking very wise.

Ioe says, "That would be entirely inappropriate in Shen culture, for example."

Shulamit says, "Sometimes some Decheeran saplings need bones though mixed into their soil, for the calcium."

Shulamit nods its head slowly, looking very wise.

Shulamit says, "But that is off topic! Decheeran are not raised in cradles."

Shulamit nods solemnly at the stone cradle. The stone cradle does not move.

Ioe says, "Do we think it could be a silk analog?"

Shulamit ponders the situation.

Shulamit says, "It is certainly thin enough to possibly be. Do we know if spiders are native to Gunurash? And if so, what kinds? Another thing to go ask them next time I'm there."

Picram says, "Could be, but did Gunurash have access to silk before the Krona developed space flight?"

Shulamit plugs away at a datashard, adding "Ask about spiders" to the list as well as "What cradles do they currently use". At the top "oceans???" is in bold and looks much older.

Picram ponders the situation.

Shulamit says, "Unsure if we will get more information out of it without asking the krona some questions, hoo hoo."

Shulamit says, "Would love to be able to do research in the field, but the drone doesn't go that far."

Picram says to Shulamit, "I've seen a recording of one of your other research sessions, in which you were observing a creature that seemed oceanic in nature. Do you think an oceanic Gunurash and the stone cradle occurred at the same time?"

Shulamit ponders the situation.

Shulamit shakes its head.

Ioe says, "It occurs to me that there IS evidence of pre-spacefight contact between Gunurash III and other spacefaring species. Assuming you accept the drakkafly-needleback common ancestor hypothesis."

Shulamit says, "I think the sakirtana creature is much much older. Much deeper in the layers."

Shulamit stares at Ioe, tilts its head quizzically, rubs its chin thoughtfully, raises its eyebrow and says, "I see..."

Ioe says, "It would be Elder Race era, if not pre-Ishavana. Very speculative."

Picram says to Ioe, "But... if it was brought in from space, it would have most likely been an incredibly expensive luxury product."

Shulamit says, "The tiny pincher might be the same period of time, but we've done no research on them yet."

Ioe nods at Picram.

Shulamit says, "Hoo, the pincher is very small. Perhaps the fabric was meant to keep them out."

Shulamit mimes a tiny pinching creature with it's tendrils, making tiny pinching movements.

Ioe says, "The question then, does this strike us as an expensive luxury object? I would submit... probably not."

Shulamit ponders the situation.

Shulamit says to Ioe, "I have to agree it doesn't feel like a luxury item. Mostly because it is a near a sapling, and they are not known for grace or care."

Ioe says, "And if they were going to use an expensive fabric, why stone?"

Shulamit says, "Can you make fabric from cacti? Hmmm, I'll add this to the list."

Picram says, "They were locked into a stone cradle. I doubt that's the kind of being you'd put hard to obtain fabric close to."

Acknowledging Picram's point to be true, Shulamit nods its head gravely at it.

Shulamit says, "Something sturdy, something to possibly keep out insects, but not something hard to replace."

Ioe says, "Something else to look into: do we have evidence of insect netting on building windows?"

Shulamit carefully plugs that into the datashard as well.

Ioe says, "If you could keep insects out of a cradle, you'd likely want to do it for the whole household."

Picram says, "For the insects we can observe in the desert today, fabric might not be enough."

Shulamit ponders this slowly. "Unless adult Krona are less susceptible to smaller insects, and only saplings are?"

Shulamit says to Picram, "I always thought those were hoo, like...apex insects. Not the small ones! There are some smaller ones out there."

Shulamit says, "So small my scanner can't get them."

Ioe says, "Drakkaflies come in a variety of sizes and would be very dangerous to an infant. They lay their eggs in live prey."

Shulamit shudders violently, bark creaking. "Horrible, horrible."

Shulamit adds "Drakkaflies  dangerous to saplings??" to its datashard.

Picram says, "That fabric seemed rather fine though. Much finer than you'd need just for insect netting."

Shulamit says, "Some are very protective of their saplings, so I hear. More than required."

Shulamit nods its head slowly, looking very wise.

Shulamit says, "Although, perhaps also to keep dust out in general? Weaker lungs on smaller creatures, dust might make them cough."

Shulamit ponders the situation.

Picram says to Shulamit, "Drakkaflies can be deadly to grown spacers, so I think you can easily assume they are something you'd want to keep away from a young one."

Ioe says, "Looks like we have plenty of followup questions, if not many answers."

"Heh heh heh," Shulamit chuckles.

Acknowledging Picram's point to be true, Shulamit nods its head gravely at it.

Acknowledging Ioe's point to be true, Shulamit nods its head gravely at them.

Shulamit says, "Answers will come in time! Hopefully!"

Shulamit hums a happy tune.

Picram says to Shulamit, "Well... if a being grows up in a desert like Golpur, it might be well advised to have some tolerance for dust."

Shulamit says to Picram, "Perhaps they build it up over time?"

Shulamit says, "Let in a little dust, then bigger mesh, then bigger, then hoo, none!"

"Hmm," Ioe says.

Shulamit says, "I do not think we will figure out much more today though. Should I pack it away?"

Shulamit turns towards Ioe and Picram in turn, awaiting their opinions.

Ioe says, "I think we've done good work."

Picram says to Shulamit, "New questions can lead to progress."

Acknowledging Picram's point to be true, Shulamit nods its head gravely at it.

Shulamit says, "Any information found from questions on Gunurash shall be brought up next time!"

Shulamit acknowledges the point with a grave nod of its head.

Ioe says, "Oh, hello Poet!"

Shulamit says to Poet, "Oh hoo! We were just finishing up."

Picram inclines its head politely at Poet.

Shulamit nods at the drone, as though to tell it to get Poet in shot. It seems to refuse with a beep.

Shulamit says to Poet, "Hoo yes! Let me tell you after I put away the cradle."

Ioe says, "Lots of new questions."

Picram says, "Mainly that we really don't know much about Krona society, and even less about ancient Krona society."