Object
Fossilized Animal Remains (Surata IV)
A scattered field of mineralized animal remains studding the planet's surface: brittle, stone‑like bones, partial skeletons, shell and scale imprints, and compressed organic casts fused into the soil. The fragments vary from tiny exoskeletal plates to limb‑sized shafts, all weathered to gray‑brown tones and encrusted with sediment. Data sweeps the area with tricorder readings while Geordi physically pries specimens free for sampling; both treat the material as a forensic archive rather than recent detritus, noting the complete absence of soft tissue and active fauna.
3 appearances
Purpose
To serve as environmental and forensic evidence—physical samples and archive of past animal life used for biological analysis, dating, and to reconstruct the planet's ecological history.
Significance
These remains reframe the mission's stakes: they prove Surata IV once sustained abundant fauna now reduced to fossils, support the theory of a planet‑wide biological collapse or transformation, and motivate the hypothesis that the rhizome predator interacts with or incorporated animal tissue (possibly explaining Riker's injuries). The fossils catalyze urgent sample retrieval and medical/biological analysis.
Appearances in the Narrative
When this object appears and how it's used