[ WP ] You 're part of an alien archaeology team . A team that is digging through the remains of humanity .

Karsup dug through the rubble. The small sonic cleaner removed a layer at a time, fine grain particles were swept away, revealing details without destroying what lie underneath. 
 
 I was watching the technician work oh so carefully. It was a melancholy process. Fascinating and depressing at the same time. Xenoarchaeology typically was. We were learning so much. This world was once a booming and bustling center of a sentient species. They were unique in their way as all sentient species were. No two were alike. This one was special even so. 
 
 And sadly, it was extinct. 
 
 The species was relatively tall, endoskeletal, bipedal and appeared to be dimorphic. The differences in skeletal structure were subtle, but present. The exact nature of the dimorphism was still up for debate. We had not close extant relatives to compare with, sadly. Had we, we might be able to do some comparative biology and give us some context for the fossils we were uncovering. 
 
 The fossil we were working on now was extremely exciting. It would give us some insight into their behavior rather than just their anatomy. I watched with excitement and some apprehension. What was it we were going to uncover? What was it we would see? 
 
 The species seemed to have no close relatives in the last several millennia before its extinction. There were some, we found, about twenty thousand local solar cycles before the cataclysm. They were similar in bauplan, but not exactly the same. Some of the relatives were small. Some were more robust. The single species seemed to have emerged as dominant. A single species seems to have advanced to the point of becoming a space faring species. 
 
 And then it died out. 
 
 Farsup cleared away more. The fossil was dated almost exactly at the extinction boundary, plus or minus a few years. We had hopes we had found one exactly then. I'd say yes, but dating fossils and its science at times was not an exactly the most exact science. The fossil was really three skeletons. And something else. Something in the middle. 
 
 Based on what we could see and tell, the species had, like so many others, died in nuclear fire. The radioisotopes were all present as though they had done the deed, but the quantities were smaller than the norm for a species that exterminated itself through exploding radioactive poisoning. It made us wonder. Was extinction really by nuclear warfare? Or was it something else altogether? We would be arguing over that for centuries most likely in our academic journals. 
 
 Dry academia. No sorrow allowed. I gurgled a sigh and Farsup looked up. I motioned to continue. This was too important and my melancholy should not stop the work. 
 
 Our federation of worlds had not originally come here for archaeology. We had intercepted the radio signals of a new civilization. The radio signals had originated 30,000 light years away. We took our time and triangulated the position of the source. It was a monostellar system with a radio source that was growing in brightness, over time, over 50 years, it had become as bright as its host star. 
 
 This was a classic, classic signature. We turned our great telescopes to the world and saw. Cities, lights, all the signs of a civilization. We assembled an expedition for first contact. And off they went. Only to find a dead civilization. A dead species. 
 
 Radio was bound by the speed of light. Our ships were not. Even so, this alien species had been dead ten thousand years by the time we arrived. We grieved for them. 
 
 And now we excavated their history, their works, their very selves, so they would not be forgotten. Intelligent life is precious. They deserved at least that much. 
 
 Farsup pulled back. The fossil was nicely exposed. We'd be able to remove the whole block and it was certainly worth it. 
 
 There were actually four skeletons. The largest seemed to be shielding all three of the others. The second largest seemed to be shielding the smaller two. The smaller two were clutching something. It was not a person or animal. It did seem to be a representation of one though. Sort of. 
 
 It was fuzzy and its artificial fibers had been exquisitely preserved. Two legs, a'face,' two arms. It had been compressed by the pressure of the sediment, but obviously had once been something more three dimensional. I had a hunch as to what it was... because the smallest skeleton seemed to be clutching it tightly before it died.
