The Shepherd
A stranger arrives with the truth about our past, and a warning for what lies ahead
The black torus dropped out of hyperspace into the emptiness beyond Saturn and started scanning the solar system. The ultrawave flickered over the gas giants and their icy moons before moving quickly inward to the rock worlds and finally to the water planet, where it paused.
Back on the torus, a small bubble emerged from its surface and kept growing until it formed a perfect black sphere which then detached and moved away. A moment later the torus vanished, continuing its millennia-long mission among the stars and leaving the solar system exactly as it was found, except for the black sphere now passing across the bright face of Saturn in the direction of the planet with water and life.
The sun was approaching its highest point in the cloudless sky and the herd of sauropods had drifted closer to the treeline to graze in the shade. The massive adults extended their long necks out over the grass and began to eat, dimly aware that they were too big for any predator. At the edge of the herd a juvenile just a third of their size had yet to start feeding. With her head raised high she watched the edge of the forest nervously. She had recently lived in a forest like this with her siblings, avoiding the sharp-toothed eaters for many moons…
