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As I hung, the huge hand rotatedflaures These looked human, male and female--but not like me and not like Galed me like a child-- "Ah, finaly!" the Forerunner said in a thin, ht as a breeze "We’d feared you were lost for good" Then he addressedwith a chuff and a clack of teeth, and the clutching hand lowered ers, and shoulder hurt

"Your na the fla and ures The humans were not any variety I had seen before, but more like me than the Forerunner, and certainly , black-furred shape

I answered that was h the circle and stood in front of me, arms extended, as if to protect et her to leave--I did not want to be responsible for anything that e

"Indeed he is not," the Forerunner agreed, stretching out his hand and spreading those long, slender fingers "His co was anticipated He was to be the Master Builder’s prize Do not fear us," he added, more for Vinnevra’s benefit than mine "No one wil be taken to the Palace of Pain That time is soon finished, and there is no need for punisheance The Master Builder’s dooine"

MONITOR INTRUSION ALERT

Ship’s data accessed: Historical/Anthropological Files, re: Earth Africa/Asia Source determined to be Forerunner Monitor

CAUTIONARY NOTICE FROM STRATEGIC COMMANDER: "Any further break-ins to ship’s data and I’ll toss that da fortune cookie how et to the point!"

RESPONSE FROM SCIENCE TEAM DELETED FOR BREVITY

AI RECALIBRATION

FIREWALLS PUSHED TO INFINITE RANDOM MAZE MONITOR STREAM NUMBER THREE (Nonrepeating)

In the ht, we folowed in the train of the Forerunner, taking a winding vine-covered path to higher ground The foothils to the le The mountains themselves trapped the cloudy masses of moist air that echoed back and forth across the span of the Halo and forced theht, and so the false rocks and ridges ran with cascades of foareen and black Those probably e

The air too et, and the ground beneath us warh the foundation (and perhaps they did)

Once, on Earth, there were many types of hoht of themselves as People I was closest in forate me; Riser was smaler, of a different species Gamelpar and Vinnevra I suspect ines, from the ancient continent of Australia

The humans who accompanied this lone Forerunner bore some resemblance to those you now refer to as Denisovans They were taler than me, chocolate broith spare bodies, reddish hair, and square heads The e black shadoith long arorila--I believe is known to you only through a few fossil antopithecus, the largest anthropoid ever seen on Earth, almost threeup

And this one was a fe to your records, thein countenance but gentle in behavior, the great shadow-ape see to Gamelpar and Vinnevra and carried theray-tipped dark red fur frae lips pouched down around squat, thick incisors large enough to chew through wood and crush bone--but in our presence she ate h over us, clutched the dense fur on the ape’s shoulder and smiled al the while Vinnevra looked happier than I had yet seen her Several ti the Denisovans--three males and two females, laconic andback to eas This is what I should have seen"

Eventualy, the ape’s loping gait and frequent passage under low- hanging branches forced Vinnevra and Garound to walk on their own

The Denisovans, who appeared to find Ga, studied his weariness with syether a litter, and for a while he rode that way, Vinnevra walking by his side

The old man’s lips drew back in a broad s about this process--the regular way the litter swung, the sht her The canopy thinned We could see much of the sky By the ti band of the sky bridge, and shadoas equidistant from us to either side --"noon"--we arrived at a plateau

The Forerunner caled forth several hovering, round, blue-eyed le He addressed the particular attention to Vinnevra and Gamelpar--then to

bals remarkable

"They’re caled monitors," the talest of the e nose, and thin lips "They serve the Ladymostly"

The old man leaned on his side in the litter while one of the ht over his skinny frame The machine then did the same to me, and spun around to face the Forerunner, who accepted some communication we could not hear and seemed satisfied

We had traveled some distance The ape had found a little food suitable to the rest of us--fruit, reen tubes with pointed ends and round, pulpy masses encased in reddish skins-- but ere stil thirsty Worse,to our blood and buzzed around us in annoying clouds

"Why does the Lady alow such nuisances?" Vinnevra asked randfather

I shook my head and swatted

"This is a special reserve," the tal Denisovan said "We feed the flies, the flies feed the bats and birds and the fish It is the Lady’s way" But I noticed the insects ignored the and slapped and murmured, "It was better back in the city"

"Back in the city, you were under the rule of the Master Builder,"

the tal Denisovan said, as if that explained anything "Was it better to be taken to the Palace of Pain?"

Vinnevra shuddered "We are the People!" she said defensively, giving that last word the peculiar emphasis that denoted superiority