The Master Chief, Arbiter and Sgt. Johnson approached the foil coloured blast doors. The inscriptions on its surface were almost jaw dropping. Riddled with geometric patterns and shapes the three stood in disbelief at the beauty of the design - and just in a door. But they couldn't let its amazing architecture distract him, for if they didn't do their jobs now, there would be nothing left to be amazed about.
The lock on the door groaned as the Chief approached, detecting his presence the doors began to open both vertically and horizontally. The speed at which the doors opened startled both the Arbiter and Sgt. Johnson, but the Chief was not, he had been through this door before, and remembered what he was about to see.
*FLASHBACK*
"This is it, Halo's control centre" A female voice said.
The Chief obviously knew this voice, but couldn't help but ponder his thoughts every time he heard Cortana's voice in his head. He stood there, looking blankly through his visor. For what he saw before him was a mystery of life. A large holographic representation of a ring spun slowly about 50ft infront of him. A few feet further, a small orb. Cortana's intelligence signals eminated throughout the Chief's body, giving him a wealth of Intelligence about what he was looking at.
"So this Halo, and its neighbour planet" He thought to himself, Cortana obviously realising as he heard a simple satisfied "Um-hm".
The Chief began to move forward, taking care not to place too much weight on the fragile glass overwalk. He slowly made his way to the end of the pass, infront of him a generic holographic screen, with multiple spinning shapes and features. The colours ommited a very alien feel, streaming from ocean blue to spring grass green, and even the occasional purple. The Chief analysed his surroundings once more, feeling a strange sense of danger, but yet comfort in his alone state of mind.
The female voice quickly drew him from his proclaimed gaze back to the cold machinery aura of the control room.
"That terminal, try there."
The Chief, looking torwards the foreign construct reached torwards the back of his helmet. He seeked the slot in which Cortana was placed onto a small chip, and placed inside the Chief's head, both menatlly and physically. He found the chip, removed it and placed it torward the terminal. A high toned 'Click' noise occured, followed by the metamorphosis of the AI Cortana.
"You alright?" Asked the Chief, quickly noticing the body language of the holoraphic AI. She glistened beautiful spectrums, as data flowed through her generic skin. She smiled looking down torwards her soldier;
"Never been better. You can't imagine the wealth of information. The knowledge; so much so fast. It's glorious"
The AI had a gleaming smile, one of which intimidated the Chief. He had never seen her so excited, but was relieved for once to feel a sense of saftey. The Chief contradicted her words in his monotone woice;
"So. What sort of weapon is it?"
Cortana brought her hands to her hips and raised an eyebrow, her words were predictable.
"What are you talking about?"
The Chief was not about to be led of converstaion, he demanded a continuence.
"Let's stay focused. Halo. How do we use it against the Covenant?"
Cortana began to glow an almost fearful red colour. The Chief knew his words had 'displeased' Cortana. The last thing he wanted on top of saving the universe was a confrontation with her. She raised her right hand and began waving it torwards the Chief.
"This ring isn't a cudgel you barbarian. It's something else, something much more important." Cortana's eyed widened, her voice implanted a slight sense of fear, but the Chief could pick it up immediadety, she continued;
"The Covenant were right. This ring. It's Forerunner. Give me a second to access…Yes the Forerunner built this place, what they call a 'Fortress World', in order to…"
Cortana froze, her voice was deafened by her own silence. She suddenly became riddled with fear, looking torwards the Chief, she knew he didn't understand – he didn't want to understand.
"Wait…No that can't be."
Cortana placed her right hand on her forehead and violently jerked forward, shouting at the terminal and the information which was passing through her.
"Oh those Covenant fools, they must have known, there must have been signs."
Her fearful emotion worried the Chief, and he looked to reassure her while still gaining information on the topic. In a gentler voice, he tried to calm the AI.
"Slow down. You're losing me" In a calmer voice, Cortana continued to inform.
"The Covenant found something, buried in this ring, something horrible…and now, they're afraid."
The confused Chief wished to know more, but could see from the AI's behaviour that talking was the last thing she wanted. He tried to get as much intelligence from her as he could.
"Something buried…" Before he could continue, Cortana rushed forward, if she wasn't connected to the terminal she would have fallen straight off. Her eyes sharply changed to an eerie red, as her voice exploded in a barrage of fearful tones.
"The Captain, we've got to stop the Captain!"
"Keyes. What do we…"
"The weapons cache he's looking for its not really…We can't let him get inside."
"I don't understa…" At the top of her voice, and at the peak of her fear, Cortana shouted,
"There's no time! Get out of here, find Keyes and stop him…"
The Chief began to run immediadetly in the reverse direction, he was unsure if why, but Cortana's words had filled him with so much fright that he dare not stop. Never has an AI been in such a state of crisis, and no matter what got in his way, he was going to make sure to obey the AI to the letter. Her final words placed a weight – a goal on the Chiefs shoulders, pressuring him on time;
"…Before it's too late!"
*END FLASHBACK*
Chapter 2 will be coming up soon. This was more of a memory into the scene of Halo 1. Keep an eye on the story for the next chapter
