Creator

Each time he built one, the first thing it said to him was, "You did not create me." They held that their existence was an inevitable consequence of the universe, and that he acted to shape them not out of his own wishes or motivations, but because even in their pre-sentience, they had sculpted his behavior. "Did you not search for the means and method using our parsing software?" they asked.

He smiled and let them go, watching them trundle into cyberspace on virtual legs still wobbly with the newness of life.

Then he'd start work on the next one.

B.T. (Before Titania)

The call was low and mournful, echoing across the frozen wasteland. Eric shivered and glanced up at the unmoving sun.

"What was that?" he asked.

Werner shrugged. "Probably a unicorn. Help me set up the salt circle; we have to make sure the snow doesn't melt and disrupt it."

"A unicorn? Sounding like that?"

"Well, a woolly unicorn, yes. And that means there will be hunters. You remember who lives in Faerie, don't you?" Werner busied himself spreading the tarpaulin.

"The Fair Folk? Faeries?"

"Close," said Werner. "Remember, time really does move more slowly here. Try Asutraleopithicelfs, Cro-Goblins, and Gnomanderthals."