“We need to give the lesser Ark time,” I say. “A few extra days might be enough. A diversion, a distraction … draw the Flood in.”

How unified are Flood components? How unified and singular is a Gravemind? An intriguing question, one that moves to the heart of some of the major problems in biology. A question to distract me during our jump. And perhaps to have answered when we arrive.

“After that,” I say, “we need to contact the lesser Ark.”

“Attempting now, Lifeshaper. For what purpose?”

“If Bornstellar has survived, we will need his help to procure a very important ship.”

“Very well. I will send this message at once. Do you believe he has survived?”

I cannot answer.

Without him, hope for all sentient beings has at last been extinguished.

String 35

STRING 35

MONITOR CHAKAS

I WATCH OVER the IsoDidact. His armor is severely scarred, and he has not yet recovered from the blunt-force injuries he incurred during destruction of the greater Ark and the Omega Halo.

The Gargantua-class transport with which I rescued the Bornstellar Didact now drifts lifeless after the firing of the Omega Halo.

I had hoped to find other survivors in the debris field, and load them onto the ship, but there are none to be sensed. And little time to search further. We will have to settle with whatever specimens the Lifeshaper and I managed to save before the Ur-Didact assaulted Halo. Several hundred different species, mostly indexed genetic composites, have been saved.

With gentle nudges, I maneuver this balky, healing, but very powerful vessel from the debris field, knowing that at any moment our energy signatures could attract our enemies.

Finally, a path out of the wreckage, the fleets, and the loosening tangle of broken and damaged star roads, presents itself, and I devise a course solution for our first jump.

Have I proven my value yet?

* * *

The wreckage of the greater Ark is a few tens of light-years behind us. But the distance to any reachable haven is still tremendous, even for a vessel of this magnitude. And to my disgust, the drive cores are nearly depleted. Halo’s firing apparently wore this ship down to its last reserves.

To reach the safety of an uninfested system, we will need to find a portal. There are few portals we can trust—very few outside of star road influence. My choices are chancy to none at all.

Throughout, caught up in all I’ve seen, I feel the weight of machine. I am not what I once was—but still, there is initiative, and oddly enough, loyalty. The IsoDidact was once a friend—in the peculiar sense that Chakas liked people he was able to trick. Chakas tricked Bornstellar, and because he tricked the young Forerunner so well, we are now here, so I feel responsibility. Or perhaps it is just the machine conditioning, that monitors will serve Forerunners. No matter.