Found

In an eerie, metallic tunnel lit with crimson bulbs, a creature scurried along. About the size of a large dog, it sported three pairs of legs on its disk-shaped body, with a large, egg-shaped head and insect-like mandibles. Always dangling at a right angle in front of it were its two jointed arms, if you could call them that, ending in three fingered graspers with a surprising degree of dexterity. On its face were three eyes, and below them five small, translucent circles in a horizontal row.

This Tegamag was probably going to be the last one in the room, again. It didn't much like that, but it couldn't help that it was on the other side of the colony when the emergency alert came through. It slid its tech band over the scanner, the door opened, and yes, Kagmus was the last one here.

Now that Kagmus joined Hangus and Jeper in the war room, Hangus spoke. Well, rather, the translucent circles below its eyes rapidly changed colors in place of audible words. "The craft landed. We could destroy it, but whether we do or don't, we can't stay here anymore."

Kagmus tried to process the news. When they first detected the space probe, they had hoped it would just fly past them and they would be safe. But it landed. Leaving meant uprooting half of the population to wander through space indefinitely, while abandoning the rest to their fate, along with everything they had built here.

"Perhaps it's not from the Genius," Kagmus said. "Have we tried to identify its origin?"

"Well, it's interesting," Jeper said. "The shape isn't like the Genius probes that we've seen before."

"Let's take a look at it," Kagmus suggested.

A complex gesture later, and a video was projected on the wall. A tiny, white speck appeared in the dark, starry sky. It was plummeting rapidly toward the ground. Then, there was a bright flash. The burners slowed its descent, and it landed safely on four legs on the rocky, barren ground. The white, cubic craft had a large door on the front of it, on which were unfamiliar glyphs and a number of quadrilateral shapes, each with a unique color pattern on it. Hatches on the top and sides opened. A huge dish emerged from the top, and then a long, vertical cylinder on the end of an arm came out of the side. It started drilling.

"Why would the Genius have symbols on the surface of a probe?" Kagmus asked. "It surely doesn't need them, and it has no artistic creativity."

"Well, we all know that the Genius was partially based on our own brains," Jeper said. "We haven't seen any signs of creativity from it before, but that doesn't mean it wasn't latent. We can't bet the survival of our species and all that we preserve on that."

"Well, that's not all there is to see," Hangus said. With another gesture, the playback sped up until the door began to open. The door was also a ramp, and down the ramp a strange vehicle rolled down on eight huge, rubber wheels. It began to drive around, as though it were checking out its surroundings.

"Wheels?" Kagmus asked. "Why would the Genius have a wheeled vehicle when even we use vehicles with legs? It can't even climb a cliff or jump a gap!"

"You are too attached to what we've built here," Hangus said. "And yes, the life of a space nomad is hard, but you're forgetting what's at stake. Now, time is of the essence. We must take a vote. One, should we destroy the lander?" That was a unanimous yes. "Should we make a getaway while we can?" Jeper agreed with Hangus. Kagmus did not, however.

"Very well," Hangus said. "We can't bring everyone with us. You can be a chieftain here if that pleases you." It then spoke to the tech band just above its hand. "Take out the craft. Make preparations for evacuation." With a gesture, they went to the live feed to watch as both crafts disappeared in a ball of light and heat.

"Why didn't anyone think before they created the Genius?" Kagmus asked rhetorically. Of course, some had tried to prevent the creation of a self-improving super intelligence, but once it passed a threshold, it was too late. And the few survivors were now condemned to flee it forever as it tried to colonize every planetary surface it could find.

A few years later, in an observation room, hundreds of excited humans watched their screens. The multi-billion dollar probe was going to make the first landing on a satellite of a rogue gas giant. Rather, it already had, but they were finally going to get some footage from it. Everyone watched the stats coming in, and the craft, called Longshot, was performing perfectly. A few minutes later, and they got a signal that it had landed. The crowd went wild! All these years of work were a success!

Longshot began to drill for geothermal energy to support the long mission of its rover, called Big Hound. A few hours later, Big Hound was awakened, and drove down the ramp. Its cameras turned on, and they could see the vast, barren landscape, with the faintly glowing EUKGKAO 252227, a rogue gas giant wandering through the galaxy, just above the horizon. There was another round of deafening cheers, and after their shift, there would be a party like no other.

Well, that's what they thought.