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From Reach, With Love
Posted By: Kathryne Charles<Ishdakitty@gmail.com>
Date: 5 November 2005, 6:17 am
Read/Post Comments
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After the bright lights of the laboratory, the illumination in Dr. Halsey's office seemed rather pale. She sat at her desk, wanting to fidget but not allowing herself, and even Chief Mendez seemed vaguely nervous as he stood behind her. Dr. Gregory Adalis had called meeting her urgent, and given his recent contribution to the SPARTAN II project's funds, she needed to meet with him and keep things running smoothly. The early graduation of the first Spartans had bumped up the schedule of the second class, and ONI wasn't prepared to throw their entire financial backing into the second run yet. Dr. Adalis' generosity had come at the perfect time, although Halsey supposed the collapse of his own project had something to do with the additional resources. Such favors, however, always came with a price.
The doctor was an attractive slender man in his late twenties; ludicrously young for the position he held. He'd been a prodigy of the worst kind, so intelligent that he bordered on insane. He walked in with an almost feminine poise, and sat across from Dr. Halsey with a self-satisfied smirk. His eyes were big and blue, his short hair dark blond, and he had the air of a man who was used to being adored.
"Thank you for seeing me on such short notice." He had a low, soft voice that worked wonders on most women, but in the face of Dr. Halsey's cynicism, it appeared shallow.
"You said it was urgent. You are leaving Reach?"
"Yes, I'm simply getting rid of the last of project COMET. That's why I need to speak with you." He smiled further. "You are looking for children, aged six, with a certain gene sequence, no?" He pushed a data pad onto her desk, and Halsey lifted it and scanned through. It was genetic information, and it got a whistle out of her. Mendez raised an eyebrow.
"This can't be real. Humans wont naturally get this genetically advanced for centuries still. Is this some sort of joke?" She pushed up her glasses, frowning.
"Oh, no. The child in question is quite real. She falls well within the parameters of your search. And there's another benefit to accepting her into your query, no parents to deal with." He leaned forward and winked. "And she's right here on Reach."
Dr Halsey sucked her breath in, horrified, as she reached the end of the page. "MY DNA!?" She stood, and nearly grabbed the man in front of her. "You used MY DNA to create this…this MONSTER?"
"Monster, please. She's a perfectly normal…well, she's a child." He shrugged. "Normal is relative. And incidentally, the woman who came up with the plan to make super-soldiers out of children doesn't really have much room to talk in that regard." He snapped his fingers, and an assistant walked the child in. Dr. Halsey's knees buckled, and she dropped, white-faced, into her chair.
Pale, almost translucent skin was accented by even whiter hair cut into a short bob. Huge blue eyes were set into a perfectly sculpted child's face, and they stared straight ahead. When the assistant dropped her hand, she clasped them behind her back, feet set apart. She didn't move at all after that, eyes focused on nothing in particular. Halsey gulped, torn between revulsion and compassion. Mendez swore.
"Doctor, she looks just like…." She cut him off with a chop of her hand. She glanced at the file again; the poor little girl didn't even have a name, simply the designation 0-1-6.
"Sixteen?" The girl's eyes snapped up, the intellect behind them was inhuman. Dr. Halsey was at a loss.
"You are Doctor Halsey?" She tilted her head, the first expressive gesture she'd made. Her voice was soft, metered and controlled like no child's should ever be. She was the exact opposite of 117; a child that science had crafted with absolutely no social training. A perfectly empty pallet to build on. Dr. Adalis was grinning with pride.
"Perfect, no? I used the two best DNA structures I could find. It took me sixteen tries to get it just right. Don't feel so bad, I myself was the other contributor." He frowned, looking at the girl. "Unfortunately I'm rather attached to the little sprite. I have to terminate ALL my notes in reference to COMET, and that includes Sixteen." He looked at Halsey, and the closest thing to a real emotion she'd seen yet crossed his face. "Her only chance is a section three transfer."
Dr. Halsey took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose. It was too much at once. After all the children she'd spirited away to create SPARTAN, this seemed far too much like karma biting her in the ass. The girl was looking curiously around the room, still standing in place. "If I don't take her?"
"Termination." He sighed theatrically. "Please, Catherine, I gave you all the funds I had left. I can't take her. This is the only way I can make up for using your DNA, by giving you the chance to save your d---"
"Don't you dare, you selfish prick. All right. I'll take her. She is about as ideal as any child I'll ever find, but you have to sign over everything left of COMET to me. I need to know exactly what you did to create her."
"Oh, of course, I'll have it all sent over immediately." He stood, and then knelt next to the girl, who looked back at him with an unnerving understanding. "Sixteen, this is going to be very difficult from now on. You need to work your hardest for Dr. Halsey, okay?" He tousled her hair fondly, and it was all Dr. Halsey could do to keep from pointing out the hypocrisy.
"So COMET is over? I get to be a real person?" Dr. Halsey screamed inside.
"Almost. You're going to be a Spartan now. It's like a real person, only better." He stood, and looked at the hate seething in Halsey's eyes. "I love her, you know. I never intended to. She has this…effect on people. You'll see. And thank you. She has other talents that will come in handy in her new profession." He smirked knowingly, and walked out of the office without another word. Dr. Halsey balled a fist, then slowly unclenched it. She looked at the girl she'd just inherited, and sighed.
"Sixteen, come here." She moved out from behind the desk, and knelt to the girl's level. The child smiled, a sudden brilliant expression that showed perfect teeth and lit up her features. "We…we need to give you a real name so that you'll get along with the other children better."
"May I pick it, Ma'am?" Dr. Halsey blinked in surprise, and nodded.
"If you like."
"Halley then." Halsey raised an eyebrow; the child had obviously already thought this over. "Dr. Adalis said that smart AIs typically pick a name with celestial or mythological significance."
"Smart AIs?" She looked at the child in alarm.
"That's what I am, or was." Her smile faded. "I'm a Cloned Organic Mainframe Engineered Technology. COMET." She frowned and glanced up, thinking. "That's why I picked Halley. There's a famous comet with that name. See?" That grin again. Dr. Halsey felt dizzy.
"Dr. Adalis wrote a smart AI in your brain?" The girl nodded.
"He used a clone of my brain to write the AI, and then wrote the AI persona back into my real brain. Most of my life has been geared towards growing the proper neural pathways." The idea of a cloned brain being used to form an AI was still cutting edge, and the odds of success were almost impossible. Yet the genius doctor had managed it somehow. Dr. Halsey stared at the living proof. With any luck his methods would still be in his notes. "The self-interference factor that terminates all Smart AIs at the end of their operational life won't be a problem, since the human brain has both higher and lower functions independent both of one another and the conscious mind. I effectively can't kill myself." Hearing the complex words from such a small person was eerie. Dr. Halsey suppressed a sigh.
"I see I have a lot of research to do before you will be compatible with SPARTAN." She stood, and looked at Mendez. "Am I doing the right thing?"
"That's not for me to judge, Ma'am." Halsey raised an eyebrow. "Sixteen, do you know how to salute?" The salute he received was as smart and clean as if he'd taught her himself. He nodded, and glanced back at Dr. Halsey. "She'll do."
Not for the first time in her career, Dr Halsey reflected on a future in hell. "She's yours then. And god forgive me.
Cortana returned from the vision…dream…whatever that had been, and found herself in an empty space, nothing around her except sand under her feet. She looked about in confusion, but there was nothing to be seen.
"What is going on here?"
"You fainted." The voice came from behind her, and as she spun to face it, the air settled into a remarkably familiar setting. The blue sky overhead, the feel of sand under her feet…although she'd never thought to see this place again. The training ground where she and the Chief had first faced combat as a team was the backdrop to a pale, calm young woman in MJOLNIR armor with the helmet tucked under one arm.
"I don't have a body. I can't faint."
"You do right now, although it's mine and I'd like if you don't damage it any further than I already have." She smiled tersely.
"I'm in your body? How is that even possible? And why are we on Reach? And what was that vision I just saw?"
"Enough." Halley put the helmet on some kind of bench, and sat down. "First things first. This place is made up out of memory. Reach, even though it's now been glassed, blown up, and otherwise decimated, was one of the must beautiful places in the universe. It was home." She ran her fingers through the sand, fascinated. "You are in my body because I pulled you into my mind rather than leave you to die. I was able to do that because of project COMET, before I became a Spartan. The vision was a collaboration of memory and pulled surveillance data that I put together to help you understand that." She dropped the rest of the sand, and turned her face towards the heat of the imaginary sun.
"Why am I in control?" Now that she was calming down, Cortana remembered her first few seconds as a human. The sheer number of senses was terrifying, although she'd been so close to the Master Chief for a moment that the disorientation had been worth it.
"Because I haven't manifested a remote AI profile in years. I was detached for a few moments, and in order to actually keep you in my head," at which point she tapped her right temple. "I had to give you primary control. I could take it back fairly easily now, but I'd be expunging all external data sources to do it. You'd be forced out. And with nowhere to upload you to, you would simply cease to be." She shrugged. "That would make my attempt to save you kind of pointless."
"Can't you just reverse what you did to get me in here in the first place?"
"I wish it was that cut and dry. The circuit in my implant that allows me to manifest remotely was overloaded when I added a second AI to the matrix. It's burned out. There isn't a nano-technician onboard the Resplendent." The surroundings began to fade, and Halley sighed. "You're waking up again. Just don't do anything monumentally stupid for now. I'll try to think of a way to get you out of here safely."
Cortana opened her mouth to reply, but no sound came out. Reach vanished like a dream.
John looked worriedly down at the pale face on a medical cot. The medbay had been cleaned as quickly as possible, and now those who'd had trouble during the fast wakeup were recovering there. While there was nothing physically wrong with Halley, her words before passing out sent a fission of alarm through him. It was bad enough to lose Cortana, having the younger Spartan adopt her persona was just too much. He sat straighter as her eyelids fluttered, and she sat up quickly.
It wasn't Halley.
The body was the same, but the person wearing it…the movements were scaled up, her lip was trembling, and she looked afraid. Halley had worn a lot of expressions since he'd met her, but fear hadn't been one of them. He took a deep breath.
"Cortana?" She looked at him, and tears began pouring down her face.
"Yes, it's me…I can't, this body, I…just…" Her hands trembled, and the Chief fought the urge to take her in his arms. He cared about Cortana, of course, but he wasn't used to thinking of her as a person. She was obviously distraught, but she wasn't a Spartan. He was uncomfortable about the whole thing.
"What happened to Halley? Is she…" He couldn't help the look on his face, although he saw the effect it had on Cortana.
"Fine. She's fine. On Reach, actually. It's a pretty, sunny day, and she's running the obstacle course." John raised a brow in confusion. "She's in my…her head, but she can't take over without killing me."
"Can she hear everything?"
"I don't know. She--"
*The answer is yes, Cortana. Yes, I can use your passive senses.*
Oh great, now she can look over my shoulder constantly?
*It's my shoulder. And I can also hear your surface thoughts.* She sounded smug as Cortana seethed.
"Yes, Chief, she can hear what I hear. She has access to the passive senses." Cortana tried very hard not to think anything, lest it be overheard. The Master Chief had always been handsome to her, but now being able to see and smell and touch…it was overwhelming. He visibly relaxed, and Cortana fought twice as hard not to think.
"Well then…Halley, the crew is awake, but the Captain is putting most of them back under for the duration of the trip. We're dead in space at the moment, but the techs are working overtime to get everything running again. Your team is already back in cryo, they helped us clean up the last of the intruders, but they aren't in very good condition. Their best chance is to stay frozen till we get to Obsidan's medical facilities." He frowned. "If there's any way to fix this, let us know, we'll do everything in our power."
*Isn't he attractive when he's frowning? He looks all stern and masculine.* Cortana blushed bright red. *You know, this is actually kind of fun.*
"Are you alright?" John's concern was for both of them. He was starting to pick up on when Halley was talking; Cortana lost eye focus and tilted her head a fraction as if she was listening to a sound far away.
"Yes. Fine." I'm going to walk off the first cliff I find if you do that again.
*Hostility much? I've heard of strong-willed AIs, but you're just mean. Besides, you need to learn how to walk before you can carry out that threat.* Halley's mental voice dropped to zero Kelvin. *And if you try to hurt my body I will take it back, contingency plan or no contingency plan.*
John stood, and shook his head. The situation was difficult to comprehend. Mendez said "think outside the box," but what he was facing was in a whole different galaxy from the one that had the box in it.
"How is any of this even possible?"
"It would take too long to explain. Suffice it to say, Halley isn't like other people. Or other Spartans. She's a lot like you and me, only all rolled into one." The wording she chose had unintended innuendo, which Halley pointed out cheerfully. Cortana ground her teeth. "I don't fully get it myself." John debated a moment; and opened his mouth to speak just as the com flared to life.
"Master Chief," the captain's voice was unmistakable, "I need you on the bridge."
"Will you be okay?"
"Of course! We just have some talking to do." From Cortana's expression, it wasn't going to be happy talking, and John appreciated the chance to get out of the women's debate. His feelings on the matter were terribly confused. The realization that he really missed being able to talk to Halley about it sent him off with a peculiar look on his face.
"I have got to get out of this body."
*You're telling me.* Halley seemed fainter now, like more of her attention was elsewhere, and Cortana got an odd feeling of vertigo. *Now I understand. You are in love with him, aren't you?*
"How dare you read my mind? And no, I am not."
*Oh please, spare me. I feel what you feel. It's not something you can hide. And I know AIs have human feelings.* Cortana flushed hotly, glancing about to make sure no one was watching.
"How would you even know what being in love feels like? Unless…"
*Don't even think it. Just leave that alone. That's an order.* There was another bizarre sense of everything falling away, and Cortana felt like part of her mind closed off.
"What was that?"
*I can rewrite my inner protocols if need be. Right now that means yours too. Think of it as an incentive to think up a plan to get out of here.*
"What's happening now? I feel so…"
*I think you're about to throw--*
John stepped onto the bridge and saluted smartly, not even glancing at the various lieutenants and technicians working around the glowering captain. The older man looked up, and managed a tight, artificial smile.
"Good to see you, Master Chief. I'm sorry to bother you at a time like this, but I need your help on a small task." The fake smile, the apology, none of these things boded well. "We need several parts from the storage rooms on deck seven, but…" The captain looked decidedly embarrassed and glanced away at a young man with a broken arm and a bandage around his head who was trying desperately to repair a blanked panel with one hand and one eye. "The EMPs wiped the dock loaders. We don't even have back up programming for them. Adonis is stretched to his limits already trying to reconfigure the Slipspace drives. Without Cortana's expertise, we'll be dead in the water for days." He looked at John again, who now wore an expression that Halley would have identified as amused. "We need your strength, Chief. There are boxes in there that the crew just can't get to. I know this isn't normally what you do, but we're all in a bad way right now."
"I understand, sir." The captain put his hand on the injured young man's shoulder, stilling his progress.
"Lieutenant Lackey will escort you to the bay in question." The man looked up, concern in his one visible eye.
"But sir, if I don't get…"
"It'll keep, son. It'll keep." He gave a small, comforting smile. The lieutenant stood, brushed off his good hand, and looked up at the Chief.
"Right this way, sir." After they left the bridge, he gave the Spartan a tentative grin. "It's really great to meet you, sir. I'm glad my warning reached you in time." Remembering the precarious position atop the pelican, John had to nod in agreement. "Shame about the AI. She was a real doll to work with." John nodded at that too, the admiration in the boy's voice sounded truly genuine.
The deck was abuzz with activity as everyone pitched in a hand. There were people of all ranks, sleeves rolled up and hard at work. A pair of ODSTs were arranged about a large piece of machinery under that half-attentive gaze of a superior officer more interested in supervising the attractive pilot at work nearby. One end of the machine dipped as one of the soldiers, who John now knew as Jim, raised a hand in greeting. His smaller companion, Tesh, grunted and dropped the other side with a curse.
"The hell are you thinking, mate? I nearly crushed my good foot!"
"It's the Chief, man! Hey, you here to help us out?" John offered a smile.
"It would seem so." He lifted the heavy metal effortlessly, several pairs of eyes turning to him in astounded unison. "Where do you need this?"
Time flew by in that manner, and the rapport between the techs and the ODSTs was amusing to watch firsthand. The subjects of conversation switched with chaotic alacrity, everything from politicians, technology, and sex was covered. It got rather disturbing when it was all three at once. John kept aloof for the most part, although his mantle of command seemed unimportant when inundated in the lowest-ranking people on the ship. It wasn't that they didn't respect him, it was more a sense that they accepted him as "one of the guys." It was a wholly new experience for the Spartan. After three hours of manual labor, John glanced up to see a woman walk in the room, several whistles announcing her arrival. He sat back, surprised by the change.
That Halley was a woman, the Chief knew all along. She moved with a smooth, subtle grace that was typical of the Spartans, always on the balls of her feet and usually in motion. Whenever she stopped moving, she was very, very still. Her body was typically proportioned for a slender, muscular woman; though a shade more shapely than the other Spartan girls. Even at her most flirtatious, Halley's every physical mannerism was deliberate and controlled.
Cortana's were not.
She wore the petite Spartan's body like a civilian would, one hand resting lightly on her hip, a half-smirk on her face; she looked like a caricature of the woman she was inhabiting. The Master Chief worked hard to keep it from getting to him.
"Hey there, soldier." She walked over, wearing the same smug look that she usually did whenever she outsmarted someone. John never realized how similar their faces were; Halley looked more like Cortana in the flesh than he'd realized. "I gave Adonis a hand reprogramming the decks and we're going to lower the gravity in a few minutes. Make things easier on everyone…other than you of course." She looked down at her hands with a derisive glare. "Hands certainly slow the process down, though. Just my luck to get caught in a body with no remote computer access." John flinched almost imperceptibly.
*Watch the reminding of the situation, there. You're getting to him. It's not fair, after everything he's gone through, we're enough like losing a companion to dig.* Halley's normally dry mental voice held a hint of concern, and Cortana got a brief glimpse of her feelings before she cut off access. It was astounding to feel, to really understand what love was like to a human being. The affection was similar to how she felt towards other Spartans, only—once again, Cortana's mind snapped to another topic.
"Well, now that I've got the hang of walking down, I'm going to head to the mess deck. I'd rather not try it out in low-gee." She gave one last reassuring smile to John, who nodded, and then walked off with a sigh.
Zephyr walked up to the Chief as Cortana left; his bandage pushed up to reveal both eyes, unusual wisdom hidden in their bloodshot depths. "She's crazy about you, you realize." John looked at him bitterly.
"She's not her." Without clarifying the situation, he stalked off to a massive crate, and as the gees turned down, hefted it with a grunt.
Zephyr shook his head. "Odd man."
The office was mostly dark, the lack of luminescence a boon to the three soldiers peeking in. The black cat suits that they wore blended in with the shadows, and they moved absolutely silently. The lead soldier gestured quickly, and the other two crawled out of the air vent they had entered. They trusted their secondary team implicitly, and moved without fear of observation through the room's tiny surveillance camera. Halley eased up to the desk as Paul checked the only window to the hall. He gave the "all clear" gesture, and she reached up onto the desk, removing a small, foul smelling box. Chris sidled up to her and pulled out the tiny bag of explosives, counting out as many tiny sticks as there were Sweet William cigars in the box.
They swiftly slid the tiny sticks in the ends, far enough to be overlooked. They even carefully moved the tobacco around with penknives to hide them better. Halley placed them delicately back in the box exactly in the order they took them out. She set it back on the desk with care and hurried back to the open vent. Slightly smaller than the other two, she climbed in first, with Chris on her heels. Paul took one last look around and followed them in backwards, making sure the floor under the opening was spotless and the grate was carefully replaced. After shimmying through several floors of ducts, they slid into an unused storage room where their gear was stored. Halley lifted a borrowed radio from her pack as the other two redressed in their sweats and stowed the cat suits. She keyed it to a secure com.
"Mission accomplished. Meet at the fallback." She switched it off and stowed it again, quickly undressing. Paul checked the hallway and signaled them out, and all three walked swiftly down the hallway, taking care to look as though they were following orders. As they reached the Spartan's dorm area, they entered the adjacent room, and rapped lightly in a coded sequence in a predetermined location. The air vent just below and to the left opened from the other side, and Kaina peeked her head in with a grin. She backed up and the three climbed through, closing it behind them and stashing their gear in a small cubbyhole carved into the wall. It had already been there from the last group of Spartans, and the younger generation had embellished on their predecessor's handiwork. Given the set of equipment already re-stashed, they weren't the first team back. They climbed out the other side and split up silently, heading to their bunks.
A few minutes later there was another coded knock that was only audible to those in the immediate area, and Ferdinand glanced at the door before signaling okay. Kaina slipped back into the vent, and then returned followed by Micha and Aril. The thirteen year olds all quickly climbed into their bunks. The light on the camera over the door relit a few seconds later.
The hardest part was not laughing.
*****
"Something funny, trainee?" CPO Mendez bore down on Paul with vehemence as all the Spartans drowned in overwhelming sunlight and oppressive humidity. Paul tried to wipe the smile off his face, and only barely succeeded. Try as he might to get rid of it, the slight whiff of smoke tinged with the corrosive contained in the minute explosive planted three nights before clung to Mendez still, nearly setting off more laughter. The Spartans forced themselves to impassive calm.
The face-off had been going on for a week, ever since CPO Mendez had revoked the Spartan's mess hall privileges. The little scuffle with Roger Company had been worth it, but as they neared augmentation, the sixty teenagers were getting cocky. They were reasonably certain Mendez had put the Company up to it in the first place, and they had responded with dynamism to the challenge. Unfortunately, they were Spartans, and innovativeness was their stock and trade. They had gone overboard this time. An obvious hole in the gathered trainers had them glancing about in confusion. Mendez stomped over to a trainer and had quick words, before standing back in front of the Spartans and addressing the white haired young woman front and center. His next words were less a question, and more a command. "Where are they."
Halley stared back at him, shoulders straight. "Sir, I will return them when you return our privileges, sir."
"Squad leader, I will make it an order." Her face remained expressionless. "I'm ordering you to turn over my men."
"Level nine, sir. They're tied up in room Nine-nine-six."
"Who else was involved?"
"Just me, sir."
"I find that hard to believe. You are willing to assume all responsibility for your squad?" Halley nodded faintly. CPO Mendez had been training Spartans for the last sixteen years. He knew that they wouldn't crack under normal circumstances, least of all when it would involve betraying their teammates. "Well then. Pending the release of my men, your mess privileges are restored. For everyone except trainee 292." She didn't even flinch.
*****
Dr. Halsey finished watching the tape of the encounter, and then tilted her head back at Mendez. "Any idea how they pulled it off?"
"I'm not really sure. The recording of them in their bunks last night is flawless. I would swear that not one of them left that room. But somehow they managed to apprehend two trainers without being caught. They knocked them out without ever being seen. This maneuver is worthy of black ops." He tapped the vid screen. "You need to decide if keeping her in the project is worth it. She's certainly an excellent leader in regards to her team, but this defiant streak could get her into a lot of trouble. Especially when she's upgraded to MOJLNIR."
"And she knows. Has she told anyone in her squad about the real dangers behind the augmentation they're going to undergo?"
"To my knowledge, no. She seems to be respecting the non-disclosure." He grunted and shook his head. "She always listens to you." While he didn't voice it, they were thinking the same thing. As Dr. Halsey smiled sadly and shook her head, the memory faded. Her words lingered a moment longer, then they were again resigned to the past.
"No, we go ahead with her augmentation. I can't play favorites."
The sense of vertigo passed, and Cortana realized she wasn't in the hallway anymore. She blinked to clear her view, and she was sitting in the sand on Reach staring up at the impassive Spartan.
"This doesn't bode well. You shouldn't be back here."
"Tell me about it! What happened this time?"
"I don't know. Did you hit my head on something?"
"Of course not! I was just walking." Cortana's AI persona looked out of place in the sunny landscape. She was a pale translucent ghost compared to the very solid looking woman in full MJOLNIR getup. "Could I have just fainted again?"
"I doubt it, I felt fine." Halley swung up onto a hanging rope ladder, and frowned down. "Could be integration issues. You're a much further advanced AI then the one I was built from."
Cortana started to speak, then shut her mouth. A moment's thought and she cocked a brow. "I think I'll let that pass as a compliment. Anyway, how do I wake up again?" Halley shrugged.
"You don't."
"What? You mean I'm…what am I going to do while I'm in here?" Halley shrugged again. "Oh great. Stuck in some pseudo-memory landscape with nothing to do." She concentrated on an image of the Resplendent's mainframe, and Halley shook her head.
"Too big. You've got the idea but you're trying to hard. Start smaller." Cortana focused again, this time on an image of the Master Chief, tall and regal in MJOLNIR. He appeared as part of the landscape, not moving or talking but at least solidly projected, and Cortana sighed happily.
"Start with something I know, right?" Halley only cocked her head, and Cortana wanted to hit her. "Don't you get even a little jealous that I'm in your body?" The Spartan leapt down lightly and walked over next to her, gazing up at the image.
"He's taller then that. And no, not really." She reached up to touch his gold faceplate, a wistful little smile complimenting her usually stern features. "What right do I have? You've been his companion for a long time; I've only just met him. And when we reach Obsidan, you and he will go off and do whatever it is you do. I'll be assigned with my team to hunt down Covenant colonies, and I'll probably never see him again. Whatever we've had here, its more fleeting than letters from Reach."
Cortana felt a slight pang of guilt for goading her. "I didn't realize…"
"…That an artificial person with a Spartan's training could be a spiritual or poetic being? I get that a lot." She smiled again, and touched one of the diodes on the MJOLNIR's sleeve. "I never got a really good look at the Mark five. My team and I are still sporting modified Mark fours. We were hoping for an upgrade after this mission."
"Well, I'm pretty sure Obsidan put in for a lot of gear, you are probably cov—wait, that's it! What is you implant made out of?" Cortana grinned in excitement.
"My implant? It's mostly the normal wiring, plus a little memory cell lining for a backup, at least when my interface chip is running. It keeps the lights on at home, you know?"
"Yes, that's what I thought. The Chief has similar modifications, they allow me access to his suit. Yours might work the same way. If we can hook part of his armor up to you, I might be able to transfer to a memory chip."
Halley nodded her head, impressed. "You are as good as they say. But you might want to hurry, I think we're running out of time." The landscape was fading, and Cortana blinked hard. She was on the floor in the same hallway; no one had come across her yet. She stood with some difficulty and headed for the medbay. Her hands were shaking, and she couldn't sense Halley anymore.
Out of time indeed.
Adonis spared a little processing speed to look in on Cortana, who was seated on an examining table in Med one. She was typing furiously into a data pad, and he sent a small questioning Icon to it. She smiled briefly.
"Yes, I'm still here."
"Talk about crashing the competition. Is our esteemed Spartan still in residence?" Cortana frowned.
"To be honest, I'm not sure. She's been silent since the last time I passed out." She looked up to the doorway, where the Chief was entering the facility, the back piece and helmet of his armor in one hand. Cortana waved him in, and a troubled looking Dr. Wong followed behind. Cortana cleared her throat. "You heard my message?"
"Yes," the Chief said with a frown, "But I'm worried about the risks you mentioned."
"It'll be fine, I've been pulling up Dr. Halsey's notes on this subject for the last fifteen minutes. It's exactly what I thought. She used some of Dr. Adalis's research when she designed our interface. Your neural link is almost identical to Halley's, just simplified. You're not made to have me running amok in your brain." She smiled reassuringly, and he tried to squelch the agitation on his face. "This should work, as long as…well, it should work." She frowned and set the data pad down. "Doctor, could you give us a moment?"
"Okay, just call me when you are ready." Once he stepped out, Cortana locked off remote access to the room, and sat opposite John.
"I need to ask a question. It's personal. As long as I successfully upload, I'll immediately delete the memory of this encounter, but I need to ask. This may be the only time normal protocols are ever put aside for me." She looked away, took a deep breath, and shut her eyes. "If I had been a real person…if I'd been born with a body of my own, do you think you could have cared for me?"
"I…Cortana, that's not appropriate."
"I know. I don't care. Halley isn't listening in right now, and I need to know if you ever could have lo—" The Chief snapped up a hand to stop her.
"Cortana, if you hadn't been an AI, you would likely have been a civilian. I don't meet many of them. And I don't…" He sighed, pulling himself together. "I care about you. You and I are a good team. But that's all there can ever be." He touched her face with one hand, trying to make her understand. He couldn't say it, but they both knew it. Spartans were the only family a Spartan had.
Cortana nodded, sucked in a deep breath, and lowered the security measures on the room. "Alright, lets get me out of this damn body." She looked suspiciously like she was trying not to cry. Dr. Wong and his nurse walked back in; Jean raising an eyebrow at the uncomfortable Spartan and the woman bracing back tears.
"What exactly is going to happen when we do this?"
"I'm not completely sure, to be honest. If the link is good, then the indicator light in the memory cell will come on once I've transferred out. Then just get this junk off Halley and hope for the best." Cortana noted the Chief's reaction, however subtle, to referring to MJOLNIR as "junk."
The three of them put the torso armor on her, and Jean snickered a little at the obvious size difference. Even though the armor was intended to be one-size-fits-all-Spartans, it still didn't fit well. Cortana winced as the helmet was set over her head. "You need to wash this thing once in a while, Chief. Engaging transfer." For a moment, nothing happened.
The indicator light came on brightly, and the Spartan on the table collapsed. John removed the memory cell very carefully, and slipped it into the nearest pedestal. After a few tense moments Cortana's holographic form appeared, no worse for wear.
"I'm all here, at least. Is she…?" John raced back into the room, where Jean and Dr. Wong had already finished removing most of the armor. He helped with the rest, and felt for her pulse. It fluttered faintly under his fingertips.
"Come on, Halley…wake up. That's an order." He got no reaction to that, or to snapping his fingers. In desperation he slapped her cheek a few times, but apart from leaving a faint red mark, it didn't garner a response. He felt concern rising up, but he pushed it aside. "I need everyone out of the room." They gave him looks, but didn't more. "I mean now." The growl in his voice caused Jean to step back, and Dr. Wong debated a moment longer.
"I'm going to trust you on this one, Master Chief. But if there's any change…"
"I know." He watched them reluctantly leave, then glanced up at the camera in one corner of the room. "Cortana, secure this room, please." The door lights flashed red, and silence ruled for a moment, omnipresent. John took a breath of anticipation, and forced a calm over himself. His fingers ran through her hair, a thumb traced the outline of a delicate cheekbone. Deja taught them separately, but from all he'd seen, she taught them the same way. It was a shot in the dark.
But John never missed.
He whistled a six-note tune softly, watching for any sign of recognition. Her eyelids fluttered. He whistled once more, and this time her eyes opened, ice blue depths capturing his own. She smiled, just a little.
"Oly oly oxen free," she whispered and one hand lifted to his lips. He pulled her into a sitting position and just held her. Cortana reached into her memories, and erased the conversation as she'd promised.
After all, it had been the answer she expected. Just not the one she'd hoped for.
"Cortana tells me we should reach Obsidan in about three days. The question now Chief, is what are you going to do?" Captain Marsh smiled up at the nearly seven foot tall man who stood before him. John shifted his weight under the captain's regard, wishing for the blank faceplate that offered anonymity in these situations. "You've been invaluable on the trip so far, but you haven't had a moment's peace."
He glanced over at the other Spartan, who had her hands folded behind her back, her feet set slightly apart, and kept gazing out the holographic windows of the private meeting area the captain had selected for this talk. John followed his gaze, reassured by the sight.
"In short, Chief, I'm giving you both the next few days off. Hit the gym, watch the Vids rescued from our memory banks. Take a little R&R." He smiled, and straightened his jacket. "Ship will be a bit crowded for a while, but I'm sure you'll manage." He nodded once, and then nodded at Halley. He left the room without another word.
Master Chief walked over to the woman at the window, following her gaze and standing silently for a while. She eventually gave a little smile.
"R and R. I'm not even sure how that works outside of forced bed rest." She lifted her left hand, and gave him an absolutely random poke to the ribs. "Not ticklish. Oh well."
He paused, unsure of what exactly just happened. He wondered for a moment if the ordeal with Cortana had caused some sort of brain damage. "I don't think I'm ever going to completely understand you."
"Well, you may never get me, but you could have me any time you wanted." She smiled, ignoring his half-confused, half-incredulous. "I'm hitting the gym. Time to get this arm back in shape." She turned and walked towards the door. The Chief thought long and hard about the next few days, and what he would do. After about ten minutes of watching the empty window, he sighed, and gave a very brief smile. Gym first, shower second…and he'd decide from there.
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