------Spoilers------
In the end they discover why the Draconians went extinct. The Draconians developed an economy based on Genetics, in which members of the species were indebted to each other to pass on favorable genes and they ended up dwindling themselves of genetic stock, terminating in mutations and finally extinction. This also resulted because the species underwent stages of sexuality, first males, then females and finally infertile stage. They manipulated themselves to prolong the male stage and shorten the female stage which in combination with limited genetic stock lead them to become "Bankrupt".
The fate of the Scientific research team is also answered, they were left stranded on the planet without any knowledge, they just figured out that it happened after a year went by without the ship returning. Earth didn't even bother sending a message to them. In the end Everyone dies, either suicide, disease, and old age. They couldn't start a colony either becasue the babies died within weeks from an airborne fungus that invaded their lungs.
I really enjoyed the Novel, even it's tragic ending. The process used to figure out what happened to the Draconians is pretty insightful and gives an interesting picture into trying to understand a totally alien species when all you have left is the remnant of their civilization.
