The Honored Prophet

A prognosticator on a planet warmed by a black dwarf sun foretells that a single inventor on a distant world will devise a weapon that will destroy their society, and authorities respond by sending a conditioned biological assassin to kill the inventor before the threat can materialize. The assassin, driven solely by its programmed purpose, stalks dark roads and marshes on the target world, leaving crushed victims and baffled investigators in its wake while the intended victim realizes the danger. The story probes themes of fatalism and the paradox whereby efforts to prevent a prophecy contribute to its fulfillment.