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"Correct" He sounded proud, as if I were some son who had perforrapher, the core of the wheel’s structural knowledge The Halo’s autoed by rebelious Forerunners before they were infected and died The Cartographer is al that remains-- but it wil suffice

"Three rapher’s nals, they wil be nearly blinde wavered When it returned, Forthencho seemed perturbed, even distressed, if that was possible for hi

"One of our questions is about to be answered," he said "Brace yourself, young hu the controls ourselves Gods help us al"

The war sphinx wove through and around beautiful, graceful structures that seemed untouched by recent battles Mywith visual impressions, and now I siive myself tihts into useful categories

I could no longer feel hts blurred into fever But stil--no respite With a lurch, the sphinx flew fast as a hornet up against a wal, stopped instantly--and connected The hatch opened The ed fro pale curl, like a tongue pushing out an unwanted gobbet of food

For a moment, I seemed to see my body from another location --above and to one side The body opened its eyes

Then we rejoined,did not died since the idyl in the false woods

I stood on a flat space surrounded by a tangle of other platfored in many directions --a dozen ups and downs Each platforlowed complicated visuals of the wolf-faced planet, the far stretch of the wheel, close-ups of daions--even other control stations

"This is the Cartographer," Forthencho said

"Why are we alone?"

"Are we? Enjoy it while you can," he said

The wal behind us shivered as other vehicles attached and spewed out nine ed ht have to crawl, but I was able to walk along the curve, upright, toward another level at right angles to where we had begun

In norht have

Other humans, for the most part elderly, were chivvied onto opposite platfor as me

No Riser Not at this station

Then, from the opposite side, came those whom Forthencho had been informed were to handle the actual controls Another cold spike went through ue-stricken corpses we had seen on our journey had been in the last stages of the Shaping Sickness, supported and e variety of armor--products or patients, of that mysterious entity the Lord of Admirals had caled the Composer--which must have existed even in his day

But even in their worst contortions, those remains had displayed none of the perverse and infernal creativity lavished on these livid, ghastly co scales, shared by two partial bodies, with four legs-- A great lue of drooping appendages, ten shrunken ar out and back to transport the mass to its position-- And around these wretches another type of constraint or support: flexible harnesses, finefro with sinuous motions, then raised a torso, from the chest of which a ja what reht ray, deeply inteligent They reminded me of Bornstelar or the Didact

And suddenly I felt pity--pity mixed with abject horror "I can’t do this," I whispered "Let theht here!"

"If it does end here," Forthencho told me, "then humanity ends here Al that you know, al those whom you know and al that they have ever known--finished! Get up and stand for your species

This is our last chance"

His disee hardly fazedway beyond fear, into an acid nothingness of pure panic

And with the fear ca!

Forthencho’sout a swift dart that struck h My panic faded instantly, as did half of e to preservation

I actualy smiled

"This wil last for a brief time," the ht patterns Take care You are beingdrool from my lips

Forthencho seemed far off now, like an insect lost in thecurtains

"Who’sme? Why?"

No answer

The serpentine creature that had stared at me joined us on the platfor, wires, and scraps of sticky fabric, and rose up again, then reached out to empty air--while the skewed platforers

With a sidewise glance through agonized eyes, the transformed Forerunner assumed a firm stance-- Studied me

And took control

The Lord of Ad flowed outward from the monitor, around both my head and the monster’s torso, andperspective on the wheel and the planet

Turning reat detail, with a fine sense of depth My "eyes" ht have been hundreds of kilo distance between the Halo and the wolf-faced planet; I could also see a portion of the wheel beginning to torque in the gravitational pul of that icy, rocky sphere

I understood a few of the symbols that now appeared in and around these objects But the Forerunner beside me--I could sense its cold, sour presence both uided estions