Shulamit putters around the backrooms, until it finds the perfect serrated sakirtana fossil to research with today.

Poet says, "So this is the 'sakartina'? Did I say that right?"

Shulamit says, "Today we are studying the serrated sakirtana, again!"

Shulamit says, "More iiiirrrr."

Shulamit nods its head slowly, looking very wise.

Poet says, "Aarrrrrtiiinaaa."

Poet nods.

Poet says, "Ok."

Shulamit holds up the fossil for Poet and the nearby ever present drone to record. "Pressed into sedimentary stone, the curling and hooked shape of a claw or fang of some kind has been immortalized in veins of shimmering milky opal and preserved chitin. Though its color is pale and its fire is muted, it nevertheless strikes a rather eye-catching contrast to the dull stone around the specimen."

Shulamit then keys the nearby lab table to display the visualization on record. "Armored plates bristling with protective spikes, this elongated crustacean crawls along the sea floor on four powerful pairs of segmented legs, or swims with surprising agility using a fat, fan-tipped tail to scoot backwards through the water. It has a dozen or so tiny spherical bumps scattered across an otherwise featureless shell in lieu of a face, with long and pinser-like mandibles" before the visualization gets fuzzy.

Shulamit says, "Bumpy! Featureless shell! Pinsers!"

Shulamit nods its head slowly, looking very wise.

Poet says, "Ahh. Nifty tail. Makes for quick escapes from predators."

Acknowledging Poet's point to be true, Shulamit nods its head gravely at her.

Poet says, "Do we have any idea what it ate? Or, what ate it?"

Shulamit says, "I wonder what the predators looked like back then? We have a drokro ape, but...hooo...that is a tree thingy."

Poet tilts her head and utters a thoughtful, "Hrm."

Shulamit says, "Well, the drokro lived in trees, we thiiiiink, hoo."

Shulamit says, "I don't think we know what ate it! I know what would eat it now, hee hoo."

Shulamit nods solemnly, wiggling the fossil in the direction of the completed colonial cookpot nearby.

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

Poet says, "Oh? What would it ... heh."

Poet says, "Probably be damn tasty in a cookpot."

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

Shulamit says, "Hoo, I'm sure the colonist of Ishbi would have made a lot of fishy things. Are there space fish? That are not Lha-Ti."

Shulamit ponders the situation.

Poet says, "Leviathans?"

Shulamit says, "Are they fishy? I've never seen one. I don't fly enough."

Shulamit says, "They are very covered in hoo, those plates. Whatever hunted it must have been very teethy."

Poet says, "Or smashed it with a rock."

Shulamit says, "Would there have been creatures using tools way back when? If these existed back when, hoo...uhh, big large ocean, and now no big ocean, that must have been a very long time ago. Possibly before tool using creatures?"

Poet says, "I seem to recall some critter somewhere that just smashed its dinner between two stones. Wouldn't say it was tool using, or even a true sentient really."

Shulamit ponders the situation.

Shulamit rubs its chin thoughtfully, raises its eyebrow and says, "I see..."

Shulamit says, "Perhaps then! Wonder what this critter than hunted this critter became. Do you think they became hoo...the...stompy boys."

Poet says, "But I think a toothy fish of some sort is far more likely, as you say."

Shulamit trails off, confused.

Shulamit says, "Oh hoo, toothy fish! Maybe we will see it one day."

Poet says, "Stompy boys?"

Shulamit says, "We still do not know what fossil sixteen fully is."

Comprehension flashes across Poet's face.

Shulamit says, "I...don't know where I was going with that thought, hoo."

Shulamit says, "We know it was an esarhaddon, and an animal, but hoo, very little."

Shulamit says, "Buuut it was also armored, it seems."

Poet says, "This is from where again? Perhaps I'll have to do some digging there, see if we can finish thatg."

Poet coughs softly.

Shulamit says, "So possibly it was also protecting from the same thing the sakirtana was protecting from!"

Shulamit says, "Gunurash, hoo yes."

Comprehension flashes across Poet's face.

Poet says, "Ok. My luck in Ishbi seems limited to cookpot parts."

Shulamit nods.

Shulamit says, "Hoo, samesies."

Shulamit says, "Was hoping for just one more to go with the stesium slug and the metal...shaft."

Poet says, "Ok, lets see. What else can we tell from this?"

Shulamit says, "The stesium slug is terrifying, it has been placed far away."

Shulamit says to Poet, "Whatever went after the sakirtana was likely strong, fanged, or smashy!"

Shulamit nods its head slowly, looking very wise.

Poet says, "Does the surrounding stone tell us anything? Or does it just serve as a frame for this delightfully pretty fossil?"

Shulamit says, "The dirt the it is caked in is very salty. So likely buried until a lot of silt."

Shulamit says, "Also minerally, like ones found in deep oceans. The amaians sell some dirt like it from the depths of Delphi."

Shulamit nods its head slowly, looking very wise.

Shulamit says, "I do not think Gunurash and Delphi are related, just one was water and one is water."

Poet nods.

Poet says, "So definitely a sea creature? As, opposed to a smaller body of water of some kind?"

Shulamit says, "Perhaps I should go back to Gunurash for my next dig, and bring a palaeontologist."

Shulamit says to Poet, "Hoo, I think so!"

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

Poet says, "I'm thinking the same. We seem close to some real revelations about ancient Gunurash."

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

Shulamit says, "I shall put it away then, and we shall hopefully dig up more sakirtanas for more visulization and dna thingies!"

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

Poet nods.

Shulamit carefully packs away the fossil, storing it safely for later research.