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Time Out of Mind: Chapter One, Section One
Posted By: Special Ed<wingnut101@pacbell.net>
Date: 2 November 2006, 12:59 am
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Earth, Ruins of Mombassa City
2552
It wasn't the armada of Covenant capital ships, hovering only hundreds of meters from the ground, that had John's hair standing on end; it was the near-total lack of motion on the ground before him. The only other living things were beetles, devouring the carcasses of both Covenant and human alike. He peered into a mostly-intact building near the road and viewed the scene inside with sorrow-tinged fury. They didn't spare anyone, he thought, not even the children! He paused briefly to lay the remains in some semblance of order before moving on.
As John trudged through the ruined outskirts, he thought back to Cortana's short, fragmented transmissions. They had deeply worried him; Cortana's actions were typically carefully planned and orchestrated, but these messages were disjointed, and they had a lyrical quality he had only heard from one source: the Gravemind on Delta Halo. There were incredible numbers of Flood on High Charity, and they were unusually well-organised. Perhaps Gravemind was on In Amber Clad, and has somehow corrupted Cortana's programming. Boy, I hope not.
John's attention was rather abruptly pulled back to the present when he realized that he had run out of road. It had not come to an end; rather, it simply dropped off at a sheer cliff. Where once the center of the city had stood, there was now a deep valley, roughly forty kilometers in width and over a kilometer deep. It must have happened when Regret jumped to Slipspace, John mused as he cradled his assault rifle. Hovering in the air above the gaping chasm were dozens more of the huge Covenant carriers and cruisers; as he watched, more craft of all sizes went past him, ignoring his presence. Across the valley, he could see what remained of Mombassa; with image enhancement, he could see that roughly one-quarter of the city was still standing, but it was teeming with Covenant, all of whom were staring down into the chasm. He followed their gaze, and his jaw dropped in shock.
At the bottom of the chasm was a huge object of distinctively Forerunner design. It spanned most of the valley floor, save for a ten-kilometer-wide aperture in the center. John realized that this object was what Regret had been looking for when he found the human homeworld.
Even as he stared, the artifact began to change. The center two-thirds dropped into the earth, causing a massive wall of air to rush in all directions. Ships went tumbling in all directions; some of the more unlucky Banshees and Phantoms were slammed against the cliff walls and destroyed. The very earth beneath John's boots began to shake, and parts of the cliff broke off and tumbled into the abyss. His entire body was tense as he backed away from the edge, rifle in one hand. The object continued to transform, the outer sections lifting toward the sky. White-hot energy pooled in the center of the artifact, making John's eyes hurt even through his helmet's protective visor. Suddenly, the energy was released, blasting up through the atmosphere with a fury that blinded all observers.
When John's vision returned, he could see that the energy had moved to fill the Forerunner structure to its brim. It had lost much of its former fury; where a storm had raged, there was now only a massive whirlpool of white light spiraling toward the center of the structure. The Covenant masses had also slowed the formerly frenetic pace of their movements to a near-standstill. All of the massive battlewagons held their formation save two; a carrier and a cruiser slowly made their way toward the center of the swirling light. The carrier gently moved toward the center of the whirlpool, nosing into the eye of the energy field until it suddenly vanished without a trace. There were no explosions, no debris; the massive ship simply ceased to exist.
The cruiser that had accompanied it turned tail and ran for the formation. The rest of the ships were shifting positions slowly, as if their handlers were trying to decide on a plan of action. A lone, battle-scarred cruiser went so far as to leave the formation entirely, backing slowly toward the edge of the valley until it stopped just above the cliff's edge. John gave the massive vessel little attention until a door opened on the bottom, disgorging a Phantom and three Banshees.
John backed into a ruined building, watching the four craft land only fifty yards from his position. The gravity lift beneath the Phantom deposited four figures on the parched earth. Two of the figures were unmistakably Elites, but the other two did not look like any known Covenant species. He quickly checked his stores, finding only one spare magazine for the MA5B, two fragmentation grenades, four plasma grenades, and a pistol with only four rounds in the magazine. As he saw the Banshees' pilots swing their vehicles' noses toward his hiding place, John prepared himself for his last stand.
He leaped from cover, rifle at the ready. He squeezed the trigger, but checked the motion when he realized that the newcomers were not aiming their weapons anywhere near him. As he looked at the lead Elite, John noticed that its armour was more ornate than most Elites'. John realized that he knew this Elite: they had both been saved from imminent death by Gravemind, only to be sent their separate ways in order to prevent the firing of Delta Halo. He began to speak, when a familiar voice cut him off.
"You gonna stop pointing that thing at me, Chief?"
John stared as two more figures strode out of the dust. "Sergeant Johnson? Commander Keyes?"
"None other."
John began, "How --?"
"I'll explain on the ride back, Master Chief," Keyes cut in. "Get aboard, quickly! Time is of the essence."
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