“You are rash. You are impulsive. You are loud. You make sudden movements. You are a troublemaker. You startle us, and you attract attention. When we sponsored you, it was at the behest of our partner. I worried against it, but we thought perhaps it was for the best. I was waiting to respond to this new predator in the forest, to study its movements and its implications. Your declaration has removed the ability for thoughtful reaction. You have invoked a stampede, and we will not stop running until we are safe.”
“None of those are questions,” I said.
“No, they are not. This is judgment. I ask no questions of you. I do not consider you an enemy. But you are too dangerous to walk amongst the herd.”
“Yeah?” I said. “Why are you even here if you didn’t want this to come up?”
The goat jumped to her feet.
“Howdare youask questions of me when you weren’t invited! How. Dare. You?”
“Well, thatwasa question, so I’ll ask again. Clearly you guys aren’t normally on this show. So why are you even here?”
She burst into tears.
“Now you’ve done it,” Donut muttered.
The goat started making loud, snot-filled gasps as she went from a stoic leader to a blubbering mess. I hadn’t realized this sort of reaction was a caprid-specific thing and not just a Prepotente thing.
She blubbered, literally shaking as she talked.
“We wanted to do something special for you because you’re doing such a good job and you’re best friends with our champion. And the council really wanted to meet Princess Donut because she’s so wonderful and beautiful and sassy. Thekids all love you both. I’ve been too scared to tell everyone about what’s happening because I just knew they’d take it as a sign that the end-times are here. We can’t startle my people with information like that, or they react. I was going to go slow. I didn’t think.” She started smacking herself in the head with her hand. “Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.”
“Err,” I said.
One of the two fainted goats jumped to his feet, looked about the room, let out a yelp, and promptly fainted again, arms and legs once again stiff.
I met eyes with Lexis as the goat continued to smack herself. Lexis mouthed,What the fuck?
“Okay,” I said after a minute. “Stop. Just stop. Listen, I?—”
Crack!
“Mother,” a new voice said.
“Oh, fuck,” I said, jumping out of my chair. I tried to step away, and I stumbled because of the damn suit.
Harbinger. The giant goat liaison had teleported into the room right behind me. He was really here, standing right behind us. I could smell the heavy, animal musk of his presence. The giant caprid had an enormous pulse rifle. He wasn’t looking at me, but at Gamori, who stopped hitting herself and stared up at the newcomer.
Donut yowled in surprise and jumped to my shoulder, her claws out, digging dangerously into me.
“I told you of my suspicions,” Harbinger rumbled. “I warned you what was going to happen. You did not listen. And now you have not prepared the herd for the truth.”
“Did he just call her ‘mother’?” Donut whispered.
“You have been judged unworthy of the herd. You have been expelled,” Gamori hissed at Harbinger as she wiped her snotty nose and eyes on her own fur. “Youknowyou can’t be here. Youknowyou can’t speak to me.”
“Yet I protect the herd, and you do not,” he growled.
She pointed a finger at the goat. “You have no right. No right to even speak to me. Begone!”
I eyed the gun warily. I made a little hop backward. We were in the production facility, not the dungeon. I only had limited ability to respond. My tech shield would work, but I’d never seen that sort of pulse rifle before. It was huge. At this range, two or three shots would probably melt me.
The second fainting goat awakened, got to his feet, and bolted.
“I have sacrificedeverythingto protect the herd,” Harbinger barked. The bass of his voice rattled my teeth. “The moment I saw how many Residuals were in the dungeon, the moment I learned how unstable the AI was, and how it favored thispredator, I feared this exact thing would happen. I told you. I warned you. I warned you all. You didn’t respond. Nobody helped me. I have been alone in this. I am so lonely. But I have not forgotten my duty,Mother. You asked me once why I didn’t exert myself at the end of our circles. Exertion is supposed to be an expression of joy and of comfort. Well, Mother, I will exert myself now. I will protect the herd. I will protect theuniverse. I will do what should have been done from the very start.”
He turned to me and raised the gun.