Her hands shook and her eyes were dilated. She was losing control and she was hopeless to stop it. He was calm behind her, complete faith and trust in her abilities, it didn't help at all. She remembered the days when she could accomplish a task like this with ease and always then some, trying to impress him. Now the searing pain at trying to focus but being torn a million different ways was almost unbearable in the simplest of things. She hated it. She hated making things more difficult for him. To give herself some credit, any other AI would have ceased to exist by now, but she was supposed to be better than them. That was expected.
"How's it coming?" His gentle, raspy voice asked calmly. No pressure, no impatience. She wasn't sure if she liked it or not. She forced herself to gather her voice into normal frequencies and answered,
"It's coming. The code is a bit more difficult than I anticipated. This should take another ninety seconds." She threw a glance over she shoulder and couldn't stop herself from adding somberly, "Sorry, Chief."
His head snapped up from inspecting his rifle, but she turned away from him and shoved down the pain and distractions as best she could to get it done. Silence ensued for the ninety- second period and finally she was inside the system.
"Got it. We now have unrestricted access to the systems and intelligence." The door in front of them slid open and she felt a piece of her break off. She couldn't pin point what it was exactly, but it happened every time she had to preform a more difficult task. It broke off and faded away. This time it felt vital and as she turned back around to him, she couldn't hide it.
"Chief… at this point, I-I'm not sure if it's safe for me to be connected to you anymore." He listened calmly as she fiddled with her fingers, eyes down. "Then again," she gave a short, sorrowful laugh. "I'm not sure leaving me in this vast system will be any less dangerous." She looked up and smiled sadly at him, lifting her shoulders in a helpless shrug.
He said nothing, but approached her and dropped to a knee, making himself eye-level with her in the terminal. If she studied close enough on his visor she could just make out his eyes. She couldn't see their icy blue color, but she saw the calm, levelness that always managed to have that effect on herself. She caught them today and held on. He said nothing, just waited and she let out a shaky sigh before nodding.
"It'd be best for me to come with you. Your suit's systems are known and won't enact erratic behavior from me for the most part." He nodded and reached, sliding out the chip and snapping it into his helmet. She calmed the distortion, piled back her functions and took a deep, psychological breath. He began through the door and she said softly over the com,
"Thanks, Chief."
"Sure."
She settled into his mind, feeling the comforts of home. It was silent as he continued down the hall and she was surprised when his voice came again softly,
"We'll find a way, Cortana. We will."
She loved and hated his definite tone.