[ WP ] Humanity is , for whatever reason , wiped out within the next 100 years . Write about an average day for an archeologist from the next sentient species to arise .

Iqti woke with the rising tide to begin the long swim to the dig site. He was hungry, and tempted to stop for a few fish, but reminded himself that he had precious few hours at the site; in the shallows, it was only accessible during the king tides, and he could n't let the opportunity pass. The few artifacts he had uncovered so far were fascinating. Besides, oysters often grew in the banks near the places most artifacts had been found, a convenient snack during a long excavation. 
 
 
 A few others were already working in the deeper waters when Iqti arrived at the site. The ancients had evidently been a people of the shallows. Iqti assembled his tools and swam to the shallowest reaches, his belly nearly resting on the sand. He'd started digging here the previous high tide; from the sand protruded a thin piece of metal curved at a 90 degree angle. Though corroded, it was far beyond what the smiths could forge. The only water hot enough was at the deepest vents, and nobody could survive down there. He aimed the nozzle at the sand and carefully directed a stream of water at the mystery metal, slowly exposing more and more. 
 
 
 Archaeology required patience. The tide had risen and was beginning to fall when Iqti finally began to get a sense of the thing he was digging up. It was large, plates of metal arranged, a few with strange patterns. An odd black substance had been exposed that disintegrated as soon as it made contact with the water, leaving behind a perfect metal circle. Archaeologists had found parts of these before, metal boxes with circles on one end, but most of them had been eaten away by corrosion. How had the ancient ones managed to prevent the damage of salt water on metal, even metal as strong as this? 
 
 
 He had drifted off into his thoughts when Kyuki prodded his tail. `` Time to go,'' he whistled. Iqti protested briefly, but soon agreed to go. Only a few tides ago a colleague had been stranded on the dry parts. She had manage to push herself to safety, but not everyone was so lucky. The artifact would n't be going anywhere. 
 
 Kyuki suggested they get a roundfish and Iqti, though he usually did n't partake, agreed. It had been a long day and a long swim. They found a good one, spiny and spherical, and passed it back and forth in a slow current. As he bit into it, Iqti could feel his body relax and his mind begin to wander. 
 
 
 `` Do you know what I think?'' 
 
 
 `` What do you think?'' Kyuki whistled back through a mouth of roundfish. 
 
 
 `` That thing I found today -- all the things we find, they do n't last. Even when they were new, they would n't have lasted in the water. I think the ancient people --'' he swam forward, and turned his head to look Kyuki in the eye. `` I think they ancient people lived on the dry parts. That's why we only find them in the shallows.'' 
 
 
 `` That's ridiculous,'' Kyuki replied. `` You know without the buoyancy of water a brain big enough for sentience could n't be supported. The only things that live on the dry parts are bugs and crabs and some of the flying ones. Nothing big can survive there.'' 
 
 
 `` What about Tall Stars?'' Iqti said. 
 
 
 Kyuki laughed. `` Do n't tell me you believe in *Tall Stars*. We have studied sea stars for years now and we know they stay on rocks.'' 
 
 
 Iqti's tolerance for roundfish was low, and he struggled to keep from laughing too. `` My mother used to tell me that when sea stars got big enough they would stand up on two arms and walk onto the dry parts, and --'' 
 
 
 `` Your mother is n't a scientist. It's a myth.'' 
 
 
 `` You've heard the stories too. Explorers, getting washed up by a wave, and the Tall Stars carrying them back to the water. We call it a myth now, but we used to think that the Hunters were just a myth, and then they found those bones. I'm not saying they were actually sea stars that grew big enough to stand, but maybe the stories are based on truth, maybe there are still remnants of the people of the dry parts...'' 
 
 
 Kyuki just laughed again and passed the roundfish back to Iqti. `` You think that the ancient people are *Tall Stars*.'' 
 
 
 `` I just said, not Tall Stars like we think, that's just the name people gave them and how they explained them. They were really some kind of dry part people, who could walk on two arms and had other arms for carrying things. That's why their metal did n't corrode, and how they could make the metal, and why their artifacts are always in the shallows, and why we have n't found any bones yet. It explains everything.'' 
 
 
 Kyuki cocked his head and looked Iqti in the eye. `` You've had way too much roundfish.''
