First Steps

They walked in silence as he learned to use his legs. Motor skills developed quickly as the growth wore off. Then Marker was before them, looming hugely in the dim light of the birthing bays.
“APPROACH MARKER.”
“Go on,” she urged.
“I don’t want to.” His eyes were filled with fear.
“APPROACH MARKER.”
“You must,” she said. “Obey or there will be pain.”
He looked at Marker’s terrible bulk, glistening blackly with oil, radiating dark malevolence through every faint crack and chink in the metal of his body. “I think– there will be pain any way.”
“Less,” she said. “Go.”