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UUnvuuloo watched, his four arms folded against his body, each hand gripping the elbow of the arm next to it. He stared at the screen, surrounded by several scientists as they all watched what was transpiring.

On the screen the Subject was sitting on a stool in front of a table. On the table was a simple box with shapes cut out of the top. In front of the box were shapes cut to match those on the box. The Subject just sat in the chair, staring at the collection in front of it.

"Sort the objects as best as you can in 60 seconds. Comply," was ordered through a vocoder.

The Subject just sat there, staring at the table.

"Comply," the order was repeated. "Begin."

UUnvuuloo nodded as he watched the subject ignore the order until the timer ran down.

A hard electric shock, powerful enough to kill a Luxru, was administered to the subject for nearly thirty seconds. The Subject stiffened, hands curling into fists, teeth gritting, muscles tensing. The shock ended.

"Sort objects. Comply," was ordered. "Begin."

This time the subject moved. It picked up the pieces and looked at them.

It put the square one into the square cut hole.

"Finally," UUnvuuloo breathed. The other scientists rustled their fronds.

They all watched as the Subject picked up the next one, comparing it to each one. It paused at the star shaped hole.

Then set the star object on the square hole, raised a clenched fist, and slammed the plastic star through the square hole.

It did the same to the round piece, the arch piece, and the rest.

UUnvuuloo hit the button to administer the electric shock himself, holding it down as he ground his flat teeth.

The Subject just arced slightly in the chair, jaw clenched, muscles standing out, holding back a scream with clenched teeth.

Loovuu turned away from the video, shaking his head in disgust.

"The defiance shown was clear evidence of sapience. We know it is sentient, but the defiance, the way it held the pieces over the correct slot for a second before moving them over to smash them physically into the container, all show defiance, ability to match the pieces, showing a clear cut pattern, and the staring at the camera shows an entire awareness of the outside world," Loovuu stated. "She's sapient, without a doubt."

He pointed with one hand at the video where the female Forerunner had put a piece in her mouth and was chewing the soft but firm macroplas in her mouth while staring at the camera.

"That's just outright defiance right there," Loovuu chuckled. "I would like to think, if I was subjected to electric shocks and other physical suffering, I would be able to be so wonderfully defiant in captivity."

Ullglugoo chuckled. "We should show this video to our soldiers during their interrogation resistance training."

That made Loovuu chuckle.

The video changed to the female Forerunner being sat down in a chair. Well, being dragged into the room by her arms by a robot, pulled up into the chair, and strapped down. It took two tries to strap down the Forerunner as she went boneless and slid down in the chair.

A datapad came up showing lines. Basic math.

She stared at it for a while.

Loovuu could see UUnvuuloo lean forward as the Forerunner lifted a hand and drew its answer on the datapad.

One line, up and down. Then a gap. Then two lines, the one on the left taller than the one on the right. Then down to the next row. The first one was two equal lines, a gap, then one line up and down and one line right and left.

The Forerunner sat back.

The electric shock hit it hard.

Loovuu shook his head.

"I wonder what kind of resistance that was," Ullglugoo mused. "What could it hope to win with a set of obviously incorrect symbols?"

"Whatever it was, it was a loss," Loovuu said, shrugging by waving his fronds.

"Sir!" one of the techs called out.

He turned at the excitement in the tech's voice, seeing the large realtime viewscreen the tech was facing.

The Forerunner was on her feet, facing the viewscreen window in her room, pounding on it with her fists. As they watched, she started spinning on her feet in place to lash out with her foot, slamming it against the macroplas 'window' that was over the viewscreen. There was a tech hiding in the corner, the table shattered, the legs scattered. The two chairs were tossed across the room.

Water was running down her face and she was making loud screaming noises. Her eyes had a strange dark brownish-gray glow to them as she hammered on the window with her fist.

"Translation?" Loovuu asked.

The tech fiddled the buttons.

"...BACK!" the Forerunner screamed. She spun in place, her foot hitting hard enough to crack the macroplas. "BRING IT BACK!"

"Split screen, rewind to right before she became agitated. I want to see what she saw," Loovuu ordered.

The video rewound and started playing.

It just showed Luxru children playing with a Companion in a meadow.

The female Forerunner went stock still, stiffening in the chair. Water started leaking from her eyes, a signal of emotional or physical pain that Loovuu found to be interesting. She stood up, the chair scooting away from her.

The psychiatric tech trying to get her to speak waved its fronds to get her attention.

She grabbed the table and threw it to the side, the table going airborne and shattering against the wall.

The tech showed good instincts and fled to the corner, sitting down with its legs folded tight against the body, the arms hugging around the top of the legs, near the knees, in a ring, each hand grasping tight next to the shoulder joint, all eyes closed, all breathing tubes pulled back, all fronds retracted.

The Forerunner kicked the chair aside and moved up to the 'window' showing a projection of a recording.

She pressed her hands against the window, then her face, deforming her nose.

On the screen the children played with the Companion.

The image changed to a simple blue-green with the gray letters "PLEASE REMAIN CALM" on it.

That was when the Forerunner reacted with violence. Grabbing the 'window' and trying to open it. Yanking at it, pulling at it.

All the while screaming "BRING IT BACK!"

Loovuu straightened up. "Get a Companion, I don't care if you have to run on all four feet to get it. Get one right now," he looked at Ullglugoo. "Time for me to earn my stellar paycheck."

"What?" Ullglugoo asked.

Loovuu took off his sash and satchel, unclipped his headset, checked it, then clipped it on again and shifted it to hide it among the fronds on top of his barrel-like body.

"You're in charge if this goes bad," Loovuu said.

He ignored Ullglugoo's questions, feeling terror fill him as he walked down the corridor to the elevator. The elevator was silent, not even gentle sounds of violent and energetic banging of steel rods on copper drums to soothe him.

He moved through the hallways until he came to the door with two guards wearing power armor.

"Open the door," he said.

He could hear the Forerunner female screaming in rage.

"But, sir," one stated.

"Please," Loovuu said.

The door gave the impression of being violently yanked open as the guard triggered the opening signal.

The Forerunner female spun in place and kicked the window hard enough the casement cracked.

Loovuu stepped in, knowing the door shut behind him.

The Forerunner female pounded on the damaged macroplas with her fists, still screaming.

"BRING IT BACK!" she howled.

Loovuu got one of the chairs and sat down. "Ahem," he fluted.

The Forerunner whipped around, staring at him, crouched slightly. Knees bent, elbows bent, fingers curled into claws. Her eyes were wild, her hair sweaty, 'tears' were running down her face.

"BRING IT BACK!" she screamed.

Loovuu felt the psychic inhibitor he wore vibrate and tasted roasted gelikat-nuts on the back of his teeth.

"Not in the state you are in," Loovuu said.

"BRING IT BACK!" she screamed, taking two steps forward.

"No. You would frighten it and I do not know your intentions," Loovuu stated. "I will not allow you to harm it emotionally or physically in your violent state."

The Forerunner charged him and Loovuu resisted the urge to close his eyes, certain that it was about to turn him into an interesting looking splatter on the wall.

Instead, the Forerunner female went down on her knees in front of him, reaching out and putting her hands on the two knees facing her.

"Please," she said, tears running down her face. "Please. I'll do anything. Say anything. Just..." she looked over her shoulder. "Please bring it back."

"Sir, I have one. Therapy Companion," his aide, Ullglugoo, said over the heaset.

"Understood," he fluted from a top speaking tube. He blinked the eyes facing the Forerunner.

"Can you control yourself?" he asked through the translator.

"Yes. Please. Anything," the Forerunner said. She bowed her head. "Please. Anything."

"Bring it in," Loovuu said.

The door opened and Ullglugoo stood there with a Therapy Companion.

The Forerunner turned, standing up, her arms still bent, her fingers still claws. She stopped suddenly, staring. Her mouth opened and she made a strange noise that sounded almost joyful. She fell to her knees, opened her arms wide and leaned forward, her fingers no longer curled into claws.

Normally, the Companions were well behaved, waiting for commands or being careful in their movement and actions.

Instead, the Companion burst into a run, its body language expressing pleasure and joy as it ran forward. It made the staccato sounds of happiness as it bounded over to the Forerunner and slammed its not-insignifigant body weight into the Forerunner at a dead run.

She rocked back slightly, her arms going around the Companion, embracing the Companion with a wordless cry of pure joy. Her face was covered in tears and the Companion began licking them off of her face with a long red tongue, its tail wagging furiously.

"I love you. Oh, I love you. I love you much," the Forerunner female cried, one hand petting the long body of the Companion, the other arm holding it close as it licked her face.

To Loovuu's surprise the Companion spoke back in the same language.

"I love you too."

Loovuu stood up off the chair, moving slowly around the Forerunner, whose eyes were closed even though tears still leaked out. He moved over and sat down on the cold floor, his hard lipped mouth pressed against the tile.

He waited patiently, watching, observing. The Forerunner just stroked the long body of the Companion, ruffling its thick hair. For a long time they held that position, the Forerunner holding the Companion close, just repeating that she loved the Companion.

The Companion dropped down, climbing into the Forerunner's lap. The Forerunner shifted until she could comfortably hold the Companion in her lap, still stroking it. One hand went up to scratch between the Companion's long floppy ears. She stared at the Companion, her eyes still leaking tears, but her face full of joy so pure and so real that Loovuu was almost embarrassed.

Finally, after a long time, the Forerunner turned her head to look at Loovuu.

"How?" she asked. "Where?"

Loovuu tapped one knee with a hand. "Two centuries ago. We discovered a Forerunner vessel drifting in between two of our settled systems. The crew was all dead, the ship's reactor was dead, except for where the emergency reactors had been wired into cryopods. The reactors had failed, but the cold of space kept the occupants of the pods in stasis."

The Forerunner just nodded.

"Eight breeds of Companions, five breeds of another species, another type of Companion. Nearly five thousand all told," Loovuu said. "We managed to rescue them from cryostasis. We realized they were sentient."

Loovuu motioned with one hand, to encompass the world outside the room.

"Their friendliness, their attitude and general happiness, made it so my people adopted them quickly," Loovuu said. "A Forerunner species. Obvious loved and cared for," he paused a second. "Archeologists at the time determined that a single Forerunner had survived whatever calamity had killed the rest of the crew and left the ship drifting between the stars. That single Forerunner had rewired the entire system to support the cryopods, sat down so that they could stare at the pods, and slowly froze to death."

The Forerunner just nodded, tears coming again.

"My people believed that if these beings were so important for that Forerunner to give their life for them, then we should treat them with at least basic civility," Loovuu said. He extended his fronds and rattled them. "Luckily, they were not treated as you were at first."

The Forerunner nodded.

Loovuu could see her body language had relaxed. She no longer seemed on the edge of violence, the rage and anger had drained away.

"In two hundred years they have been adopted into our society," Loovuu said.

"Love me?" the Companion looked up at the Forerunner.

"Always. I have loved you before I ever saw you," the Forerunner said, looking down at the Companion and rubbing its head. The Companion gave a sigh and laid its head on her leg, closing its eyes.

"We did not know they spoke," Loovuu said. "They have never spoken to us."

The Forerunner just nodded, still looking down.

"It knew you when it saw you, like you have always known each other," Loovuu said.

The Forerunner looked up. "We lost them so long ago. I did not even know they were back," she looked down at the Companion and then back up. "The galaxy burned with our rage at our loss, then they came back."

She shuddered and gave a long sigh.

"Oh, you're finally back," she said softly, looking back down.

"She has been trained in emotional therapy," Loovuu said. "Would you like her to be assigned to you?"

The Forerunner looked up, for a moment the dark brownish-gray light appeared in her eyes.

"I will not be separated from her," the Forerunner said.

The Companion gave a whine and lifted its head up, licking the Forerunner's face.

The light dimmed and went out as the Forerunner hugged the Companion.

"You will not be," Loovuu said. He stood up from the tile floor. "You have my promise on that."

He left the room silently to give the necessary orders to ensure that no random wandering fool attempted to separate the Forerunner from the Companion. He had seen her violence when she only wanted the image back.

He shuddered to think of what the Forerunner would do if someone tried to separate the two of them.

In the room, the human woman hugged the Irish Setter.