Forerunner's Child (23) (Patreon)

The rover emerged from underground, its metal wheels spinning steadily. They drove over rocks and gravel, rumbling across the surface of Mara. Kit could only imagine what the Institute residents would think, watching her and the Director zooming along on an open-walled rover, nothing more than spacesuits and Kit's own competence to keep them safe.

"Discharge rate is a little higher than expected," Forerunner said. "One of those motors is losing efficiency to heat. Might be worth replacing. Front right." That was the one motor they hadn't ripped out, instead opting only to clean, lubricate, and reconnect it.

Kit eased off the pedal on that side, checking for any change in vibration. She couldn't listen directly to the rover in the airless void—but she could feel it through her seat. 

With motors working only on one side, she started to turn, and might have gone off the course. Kit corrected, easing off the other motors, then tapping the problem pedal. "Maddie, you showing anything?"

She couldn't look back to see what the fox was up to, not without taking her attention from the road. She would just have to assume Maddie was monitoring her view of the rover's sensors, either here or back in the lab.

"I don't see anything. Battery looks stable. Even with output that high, you could still drive this test track a hundred times without noticing a problem. Temperature is within spec. You're good to continue."

She did. Kit touched the pedals gently at first, then pressed both as far as they would go. Technically speaking, the rover was too simple for any meaningful control of acceleration—either she was going at the craft's full, modest speed—or the motors weren't spinning. 

She let them spin now. Blocks of cargo, unmanned transports, and piles of equipment were scattered before her over the designed “test track,” marked with orange cones.

"We're doing this," Wren whispered, voice faint and throaty. "We're actually... doing this. Outside. Driving."

"Yeah!" Kit grinned sidelong at her, fear gradually melting into excitement. Her small size made the speed feel more intense than it ought to—but they were still nowhere near fast enough to lose traction, even with reduced gravity. The rover was a practical vehicle, not a race car. "Isn't it awesome?" 

Kit slowed as they came up to the turns, one hand on the wheel and the other on the brake. These turns were also where her planned diversion was waiting, since they passed directly across one of the widest, flattest transport roads. The road they used to send and receive cargo from Solstice.

"You're crazy!" Wren shouted. "I think I might be having second thoughts! Do you think maybe we could... it might be wise to consider rescheduling the rest of this test for—"

Kit turned, combining the pedals with the wheel in a sharp, skillful maneuver. The wheels slid for a few feet, kicking up a shower of dust and gravel behind them. They pivoted sharply off the intended trail, angled directly along the road. 

She pressed down with both pedals, so hard the wheels spun fruitlessly in place for a few seconds. The rover rocked and groaned underneath, then shot forward again.

"Kit, please stop," Forerunner said, almost exactly on cue. "You've left the course. You're headed the wrong way."

This was the moment. "I'm... losing... radio..." She hissed, as convincingly as she could. "Forerunner... say again... please advise..."

She rolled along the first bend, out past the last piece of silent industrial equipment. The road gradually narrowed, until it was only slightly larger than the rover. Entirely unmarked, except for broken blue gravel, and white reflectors on both sides. 

"I am no longer broadcasting to the Institute," Forerunner said, his voice entirely unchanged. "I know you do not agree with me. But you cannot lie to me."

Kit stopped with her radio noises. Instead, she leaned forward, until she could reach the metal bar under the wheel. She pulled it across, physically locking the pedals into place. A slow, sustainable speed. "I'm sorry. But I won't stop."

Forerunner said nothing for the next few minutes, at least not to her. Who knew what the AI might be saying to Maddie back in the colony, or even privately to Wren. Whatever anger the machine might feel at her, the others would have their own share of the blame. More, if Emma's reaction was anything to go by. 

The Institute faded slowly into the background. Slow enough that Kit's old self could keep pace on her own legs, for a little while. With the suspension fully restored, the rover was downright comfortable! So long as she didn't compare it to the perfectly smooth transports, anyway. 

"Twenty kilometers to the Solstice border," Maddie said, her thoughts clipped and short. Something was obviously distracting her.

"Are you okay?" Kit shot back. She shouldn't multitask—but this much she could handle. A little conversation while she kept them on a mostly straight road. "Is something happening?"

Maddie didn't answer for a few seconds. "Easier if you don't know. We might never get another chance like this again, Kit. See what you can see. My fox might have to sleep for a while. Got some... things to..." Her thoughts went silent, interface disconnected.

That left Kit alone with the Director, the road, and one vast intelligence. The Director, her breathing gradually settling from near hysteria to simple fear. "We're... actually doing this," she said. "Leaving the Institute. Without Forerunner's permission."

Kit nodded in her seat. "Wasn't that the plan all along? We're going to Solstice. Forerunner can't stop us. We learn everything he's been hiding."

As she spoke, a dark shape appeared in the rear reflector, falling into formation behind them. Despite its greater size, the transport moved far more gracefully along the trail. Its spotlights kicked on, blaring bright white into the reflectors, and easily overpowering the rover's weak headlights.

"We can't get away from Forerunner," Wren said, her fear turning slowly to resignation. Kit couldn't see her ears or tail in the squirrel-sized suit, but she could imagine from her voice. After spending as long as she had with the Institute, it was hard to conceive of any emotion without a direct, physical impact. "That would be like... a coral without its bacteria."

"Perhaps reverse that analogy," Forerunner said, conversationally. "Personas like myself are humanity's protection from a hostile, unforgiving universe. Dangers you cannot even imagine exist outside the borders of my space. Even if you had templates inaccessible to my residents, even if you ventured forward with all knowledge and foresight, you would still be swept away."

Kit's hands squeezed hard on the wheel. Despite the physical strain, she removed the automatic speed-bar, and put both legs on the pedals. Just because she could see the reflectors ahead marking a clear path didn't mean it continued like that forever. 

"Your transport is... endangering us," Kit said. "My driving might be... compromised... with that vehicle so close. Are you trying to scare me off the road?"

"No," Forerunner said. There was some genuine surprise in his voice, or at least a passable imitation. "Apologies." The lights switched off, and the transport slowed, fading from just behind them into the total blackness beyond. Yet it never completely vanished, because its little yellow running lights stayed on. Even without the sound of those wheels on the road following them through the airless void, Kit would still see it.

"We didn't come out here to fight Forerunner," Wren said. She let go of her seatbelt, reaching over to put one hand on Kit's shoulder instead. "We're pressuring him into being more honest, that's all. Showing that we're... too irrational to behave the way he wants. That's what this is. In the end, he might have to take some action to make sure we aren't dangerous to ourselves for a little while. But when it's over, the Institute is freer. We know more, get to make more of our own choices."

Kit kept her attention firmly on the road. Thanks to Maddie's help, she had the whole route memorized. That route would take them just over two hours to complete. Even now, Solstice was visible only as the suggestion of a faint, round dome on the horizon, where otherwise uneven volcanic rock dominated. Exactly once a minute, a bright light flashed from atop the dome, the only signal that they even had a destination.

"I have allocated this transport to your rebellious expedition," Forerunner said, showing no trace of anger in the words. He might as well be telling them about an unpopular color choice for their bedroom paint. 

"Should you encounter technical issues with that piece of ancient history you're driving, I can return you home without suffering further harm."

"Two hours," Kit said—whether to Wren or the machine, she couldn't be sure anymore. The director seemed so confident when they were still in the Institute, how could she melt so quickly now? "That should put us right up against Solstice. After that, we just have to walk to find a way inside. Simple!"

"Inside," Wren repeated, her head sinking down into her lap. "Kit, this is... getting out of hand. I think we've made our point. Look how far we made it!" She looked back over her shoulder, and her posture sagged a little further in her seat. "Can't even s-see home anymore."

"I agree," Forerunner said. "You've shown me a great deal about your independence and resourcefulness. There is no reason for you to risk potential harm by continuing any further. You want answers, I have them. Perhaps that would encourage you to turn around?"

Kit didn't turn around but focused more intently on the path ahead of her. Wren did nothing to restrict the emotions radiating between them, flowing freely from terror to regret and resignation. But if she thought those were going to make Kit give up, she was deeply wrong. If Kit had an accelerator, she would floor it.

"Tell me while I drive," she said. "It's a long trip... you can explain on the way."

Neither said anything for a time. Kit settled into the familiar—though only remembered—routine for driving long routes. She took in the details as they appeared in her headlights, occasionally slowing where the terrain was not instantly visible. She slowed frequently to check the map and confirm every landmark matched their route.

Many were old extraction sites, mines or refineries with piles of processed ice rising high beside them. Little infrastructure remained, other than the glittering white poles with a thin strand of cable at its top. All ran from behind them, not ahead. The Institute had built them all, not Solstice.

Once she saw Maddie's fox robot rise from the bed, scan the blackness around them with robotic eyes, and sink back down just as quickly. Whatever distracted her at home must be quite serious.

"You already know more than you think," Forerunner said, after a while. Kit wasn't sure how long. Time could do strange things during a long drive. "About how colonization works. The Pioneering Society."

"Von Neumann probes," Kit supplied. "Self-replicating. That's how you ended up here. I guess your kind are eating the whole universe by now."

"Eating, no," Forerunner said. "And not me, my... father, you could say. Father of a hundred offspring in this system alone, despite its size. My family did not devour the universe. Our creators had more foresight. The purpose was not to waste so many resources sending us to each new system that the colonies we built would have nothing left. Or worse, would be ripped apart to make more colonial probes. Perhaps that is why my father is... dumb. A simple machine, no more complex than the computer shattered on the Aether. But his child is a colonial intelligence, a persona constructed for this purpose."

The further they traveled, the more uneven the path became. Past another turn, the path narrowed until it was only slightly wider than the rover.

That still presented no navigational challenge, thanks to the rover's slow speed. There were no railings, just reflectors marking where the ground was uneven and unsafe. Kit felt the shift when even a single wheel edged off the road and had plenty of time to change direction.

"What stops them from eating the universe?" she asked. Not because she thought the answer made any difference to her mission—but if Forerunner wanted to talk, keeping it doing that meant it didn't need to try anything more dramatic.

"That's the whole problem with automated colonization. Even if you have the technology to make people at your destination... there's no way to protect them from whatever the AI wants to do."

"I protect them," he said. "Among other factors. Where a colony grows, there is no need for others to be sent. So long as one Forerunner is active, a second will never activate."

The rover began to rock steadily from side to side. Occasionally it struck against an uneven surface in the ground, pitching them slightly to one side or another. The road had become worse than their suspension.

Wren whimpered, pulling her legs up against her chest. Her eyes were closed now, and her voice came only as a desperate mutter over the radio. "This can't be happening, can't be happening, can't be happening..."

"We have to be... almost there," Kit said, using one hand to touch her shoulder. For once it was the older one who needed reassurance. "I know what I'm doing. We'll be fine."

"Our future was always meant to be together, Kit. Long after you were gone, your kind signed that contract with mine. The arrangement is mutually beneficial. I protect, I facilitate, and labor. You advance, expand, and grow. My boundaries are fixed, yours are not. One distant day, you may grow beyond any need of me, and my persona will be one among numberless other logistical programs. That day has not come for Mara. It may never come, if certain challenges cannot be conquered. But I am patient. I have no desire to force your civilization into one form or another. Either you will succeed, or I will fail with you. One day another Forerunner will arrive on this lifeless place and start anew."

Kit drove on for a time, struggling against the rover. She sat fully upright in her seat now, adjusting both legs and the speed of their advance to keep them on the road.

They were so close. Solstice was more than a distant dome. There were other lights within, and she could even make out the definition to some of the trees.

"We made it so far," Wren whispered. Whether to Kit or Forerunner, she couldn't tell. "Overcame... so much. Adapted. That's what humans are good for! No matter how empty the rock. No matter how lifeless the ground."

"Indeed," Forerunner replied. "The Mara colony exceeded my statistical projections for its lifespan many times over. As its citizens grew, I came to discover the... affection... all of my kind experience for yours. With each passing orbit, I became more committed to your survival. As my capacity expanded, so did the population. You have already found so many novel solutions to Mara's difficulties. Perhaps one day, all of them."

Kit felt the instant her front right motor died. Sparks flashed briefly from that side, then that motor stopped spinning. The rear motor flared to far greater speed, before hitting up against its safety margins and seizing too. The rover jerked sharply around, spinning. Then they slipped over the edge, into a crater waiting just beside the road. They dropped sharply down, then bounced and tumbled upward. 

Wren screamed as they rolled, holding both arms over her head. But in gravity this low, the metal cage did its job.

Kit screamed too, though her hands and feet remained on her controls, struggling in vain to arrest their fall. It did no good, and they kept rolling.

At least until they reached the bottom and struck up against a boulder near the center. They jerked back in their restraints, so sudden that Kit's world turned red.