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"You are being transferred froed body--a process that wil soon be finished You are becoical records of your race That seee your meerous components of the Librarian’s experiments You wil continue to serve the Librarian Andme, then?"

"You are already dead--in that sense The body wil be disposed of Wil you miss your physical for numb

"The body’s complete record is stored within you," the Didact said "If you wish to access any of its physical sensations, you canBut then, the numbness would come to an end and the pain would return

"You have worked ith the Lord of Admirals, my old opponent Are you stil there, Forthencho?"

A sulen silence

"The Lord of Ad," the Didact said as we exited fro Sickness?"

"The Flood"

At this, the old spirit stirred

"On the inner surface of this instalation, thousands of biological stations were converted into Flood research centers," the Didact said

"The Palace of Pain"

"Many such Hardly palaces, though Al were ad under the direction of the Captive"

"Is the Captive down here?"

"Yes Prepare yourself, young human Even stable and in your present form, e are about to learn could be destructive"

It nearly destroyed us before, my old spirit said

Chapter Forty

A MISTY CIRCLE of dead bluish light filed the center of an arena 104 meters wide

I discovered I could precisely ht stood a round, elevated stage twenty- one meters wide and surrounded by a thicket of interwoven black rods

The slightest sound ofof the echoes, I kneere in a heh the thicket of black rods the head becarayish brown, flat, jeweled eyesan arachnid’s perpetual watchful sadness--no neck, the head’s broad wings curving down over narrow, leathery shoulders

Closer My numbness was less and less of a defense

"I’m not ready," I said

"You’re as ready as I am," the Didact said "As ready as we’l ever be"

Now I saw, beneath the startling and ugly-beautiful head, a thick, grossly fat torso ether like sticks and embraced by two shriveled yet stil impressive arms--arms with multiple joints, cased in wrinkled, leathery skin The skin was covered hat rese solid, like frozen dew

The Priain, yet quietly watchful

Ancient for humans, but also for Forerunners Ancient beyond our measure

The Beast

My sense of measure suddenly became confused I could not seem to focus The many-faceted eyes measured us in return; the Primordial knew al our dimensions intimately The mouthparts concealed under the front of the wide head thrust down and out and sounds ca or clicking The sounds see questions, but did not expect answers It also welcolad to see us--much as a parent feels joy at the return of a child

The Didact stepped forward first I struggled to find soreat, bulky form, but I could not The Manipular had been completely absorbed by the old Warrior- Servant

And so it was appropriate that these two ame of chance with the dried, discarded bones of our bodies, to sit and reonies and horrors visited upon humans and other races in their eternal satiation of curiosity and power

The Didact gave voice to a chant, a Forerunner prayer, it seemed --and suddenly I saw myself in the caves outside Marontik Clear as if I relived it, I felt my body covered in blood and clay, surrounded by the flickering light of talow la to understand why the elders who conferredmy shoulders and ribs and chest with slow bone knives--why the rules of life were so perverse

Why love had to partner with pain and death

The Didact’s prayer was not so different from my own

But it unfolded soon into questions

Chapter Forty-One

HAVE YOU FOUND what you came here for?" the Didact asked the Primordial

For a e we could understand, but the sounds froan to produce words --so like speech At least, I heard speech

"No Life des and is selfish"

"Why did you come here at al?" the Didact asked

"Not by choice"

"Were you brought here--or did you co you?"

The Beast now chose not to answer Except for its mouthparts, it barely moved

The Didact persisted as we drew closer to the ain hoping to take vengeance upon Forerunners for defying your race and surviving? Is that why you bring this plague down upon us al?"

"No vengeance," the Priue Only unity"

"Sickness, slavery, lingering death!" the Didact said "We wil analyze everything here, and il learn The Flood wil be defeated"

"Work, fight, live Al the sweeter Mind after mind wil shape and absorb In the end, al wil be quiet isdoe or fear I could not tel

"You told ed its limbs with a leathery shuffle

Powder sifted fro?" the Didact asked "I see now that you are nothing more than a mash-up of old victims infected by the Flood A Grave shuffle

"Or are you after al only an imitation of a Precursor, a puppet --a reanione--or is it that the Flood wil make new Precursors?"

"Those who created you were defied and hunted," the Captive said "Most were extinguished A few fled beyond your reach