I AM TOLD that my other, who gave me my imprint, is alive and will soon return to duty. Given our present circumstances, it’s possible two of me could be useful. Provided we don’t disagree.

So many distractions. Our situation is critical, Catalog. I have watched nine star systems sliced to dust and glowing rubble by star roads—and they used to trace such pretty curves between our worlds.

Did the Juridicals tell you I first came to Erde-Tyrene seeking the Organon—the Precursor artifact that would bring to life and control all of them? Now the treasure I sought is coming for us. Sometimes I think it remembers and is coming for me. Irony doesn’t cut it, Catalog.

I hear some Juridicals regard Graveminds as kindred. Gatherers of information, seekers after ultimate balance, preservers of knowledge that might otherwise be lost.

No?

As always, Catalog is discreet. Says nothing that could come back to haunt you.

My wife has told me about Path Kethona, the things she saw and learned there … Before Charum Hakkor, before that journey, we believed the Precursors had passed away peacefully, in fulfillment of their mission—after having created Forerunners!

But the truth was that the Precursors first turned against us, plotted for our own end. Warriors refused this fate and so we drove our creators to near-extinction, and then to madness. I killed the last of them personally, in a fit of justified rage. Now the Flood is their heir.

And now I’m being called back to our home planet—no doubt to be replaced.

Madness. We are tearing ourselves apart.

String 24

STRING 24

MENDICANT BIAS

[TT: The data in this string is the most corrupted of any. Some translations are conjectural. Lacunae are noted.]

WE ARE ON a Forerunner Fortress-class vessel. I have been transferred, like a prize of combat, to the care of an astonishing crew. Not least astonishing, in this welter of Flood-infested Forerunners, is the visage of Mendicant Bias. The Flood has apparently handed over command of its combined fleets to the rampant metarch once thought decommissioned and scattered. How and why it has returned to them remains a mystery.

The last few days have been extremely trying, and my internals are purposely jumbled. I have done all I can to wipe records reflecting upon matters prior to the last year, and to destroy the apparatus that allows me to interact with the Juridical network. But none of my efforts are certain. Self-destruction would have been my choice, but I am thoroughly compromised.

I cannot recollect my prior conversation with the Gravemind. That memory is either highly corrupted or has been rejected by internal filters. Just as well, I think. By absorbing the brunt of its attention, I apparently allowed the Ur-Didact an opportunity to escape. Or so I surmise.

Humility leads me to question that interpretation as self-serving. So be it. I need very much to feel better about this situation.