[FLOOD RESEARCH INSTALLATION 304 ALPHA]
[FORERUNNER MONITOR 205 CONDEMNED SOUL]
RECORD FILE 0023
A surge of atoms, a pulse, surges through the midnight sky. The trees swing back as the wave overtakes them, like a gentle gust of wind. The grass on the ground shivers for a second, and then returns to normal. The waves of the sea kept beating against the sandy beach, the stars kept shining bright and the blue planet which my installation orbits still loomed great before me- as if nothing has changed. But that gentle pulse changed everything- all life in the galaxy was now extinguished. The Forerunners had been on the losing side for hundreds of years, as the Flood overtook them- world after world got infected, forever lost under their large shadow. The Forerunner civilization was doomed to fall, and the fail-safe was enacted. The Halo Array was fired, and now the galaxy is silent.
I looked at the beach and at the stars above me wondering if it was all worth it, if the repopulation measure could ever work, if thousands of years from now there would be actual living civilizations out there- raising families, building homes and fighting wars as nature would please. It was for them that I was here. To ensure that history would not repeat itself. Should the Flood come again, the galaxy must be ready- prepared to face this mighty foe. Many Forerunners have given up hope on the possibility of a cure, in the end, but some had faith. Enough faith to build installations such as this one.
I fly back into the forest, beaming between hundreds of artificial trees and bushes- plants were some of the only remains of life in this galaxy. In the horizon, a pillar of silver metal rose in front of me- my home. I enter the facility from its wide doorway and into a large elevator shaft. There were various little holes in the walls built for us Monitors to get us around faster and without the hassles that our creators needed to go through, and these paths spanned the length of my facility-leading to every room and every corridor quickly and efficiently, but today I wanted to take the elevator.
The platform lowered down slowly, and soon the facility's ground floor and the forest outside exited the view of my single camera-eye. I could still see the forest from one of the many cameras in and around the facility, but I put those away for the time. The elevator shaft went deeper and deeper into the facility, until the exit was but a small square of light at the top of the shaft. It had taken me only a second to align with the speed of the elevator, so I would fall in the same speed as it. Soon, the elevator stopped, and I entered the opening hall of the facility. It was well lit, and very clean- as it was when I last left it. To both of my sides, were rows upon rows of sealed slipspace pods where my creators lay dormant. I was ordered to make sure these pods are not opened, not unless I have found the cure. My masters are not to be disturbed from their eternal silence.
I fly inside the facilit's lowest floor, which spreads the entire length of my installation, past dozens of test rooms filled with glowing green fluids and biological chemicals, past hundreds of holographic monitors showing various statistical graphs and information. I flew into my most sacred room, and sealed all the doors shut behind me. In a small glass tube, floating motionless in sedative waters, was a small Flood Infection Form. Such a little thing could do so much...
RECORD FILE 1047
It has been 27,398 solar cycles since the Halos were fired. I have lost complete contact with the Domain and the Monitors of other installations. I am abandoned and segregated from any contact. This loneliness has created a longing in me, a longing for conversation which has been eating away at me like a strong acid. 1312 days ago I decided to satiate this thirst- I split my inner systems into two fragments, and altered the coding of my second half. Conversations won't be fun if I always agreed with myself. I have detected numerous symptoms of system failure- signs of potential rampancy- but my other self has since manged to ensure me that those indications are false.
After these thousands of years of slim research development, I have come to the conclusion that a cure can not be found in this static environment. The only way to investigate the Flood is to see it in action, watch it evolve before our eyes- my other self ensures. But the Flood must lay dormant, or it will unleash itself once more.
RECORD FILE 1289
My other fragment was pestering me. Telling me that I must release the Flood Infection Form. I argued that it is against the code we were given- we must never allow the release of the Flood, and if it should manage to do so on its own we must destroy it immediately. But after thousands of days of consideration, I have decided that should I not release the Flood and let it contaminate the sealed room, my research would come to a stop. I would have no purpose, nothing to do. I did not want to let that happen, I could not think of such a dire future.
My other self suggested I must create more fragments- fragments that would help me decide what to do in this situation. So I created another shard of my existence and set it loose in my shell and then I created four others. I talked with myself for days, exchanging multiple reasonings with my shards, but in the end it was clear what I must do.
I began by activating all the slipspace nodes that orbited the facility, and within a few hours my small artificial planet was engulfed in purple lights. The nodes sent rays of pure energy between one another before activating, creating a giant three-dimensional septagonal shape in the space surrounding the facility. My fourth shard said it was an amazing view, but my second shard disagreed. Soon the stars completely disappeared, as did the big blue planet, and in a pump of shivering air all that was left beyond us was darkness- the darkness of slipspace. I was then completely secluded from the outside world, and our work could begin- as per protocol.
I flew through the forests once more, now in complete darkness. This time I did not take the elevator, we flew down the Monitor hole and into the large corridor that lead to the ever sealed room in which the Flood form lay. The door unlocked and slid open before me. In the middle of the room, the Flood spore floated in its tube of sedating water. I shut down all the sentinel ancillas. Around my installation, the small metal creatures came crashing to the ground. I looked once more and the small creature in front of me, with its large bulbous head and its eight symmetrical insect-like legs and the two tentacles growing out from under it, where a gaping mouth hid and rows of sharp brown teeth. From the front of its head, poked three stamen (like those of a flower). An odd creature.
I used my concentrated cutting laser to break the glass, as nothing else could, and the liquid came gushing out.
RECORD FILE 1324
Today was a good day! A productive day! I made great progress in the Flood research. The more I think about it, the more I understand I made the right decision, and my shards agree unanimously. The only one in doubt is shard number 6, but it agrees that so far we have only made progress. I began the day by activating my old master's slipspace pod. The pod flung open, and my master crashed down into the ground. It took him a minute to recover from his long sleep- without his full Lifeworker armor he was greatly weakened.
"Condmened Soul, is that you?" he asked me.
"Of course, Mindbender. We have long been waiting to speak to you." I told him.
"Did you find a cure?! Is that why you have awoken me?!" my master asked, suddenly enthusiastic.
"No, Mindbender. But we must show you something!" I told him, giggling with excitement. I thought that my master would be very pleased with what we had to show.
"What date is this? How long since... since the Halos were activated?" he asked, seeming a bit suspicious as he followed me through the many rooms of the facility.
"29,645 years, 243 days, 6 hours, 39 seconds-" I began, but my master interrupted.
"Stop." he said, rudely. "Why did you wake me up so early? You were not supposed to do so unless you found the cure." he said.
"But master, I need your help. We have made great progress." I said, laughing but my master did not understand the joke. He followed us slowly, as if he was suspecting something. I took great offense by that. I would never hurt my master.
We finally reached the sealed doorway that led to the Flood spore room, and I hummed a little song with pleasure. We were so proud of our work. When the door opened, my master came to a stop very quickly. "What is this?!" he yelled at me. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" But he didn't have much time to yell, the Flood Infection Form had already leaped into his arms, latching into them with its powerful, succulent tentacles. My master tried to swing the evolved creature loose and gave it a few hard punches, but he was no Promethean, and the Flood persisted.
My master fell to the ground, legs shaking and kicking as the Flood Infection Form released a yellow, acid-like fluid from its many latched tentacles and into the Forerunner's bare arm. My master screeched with pain and began foaming from his mouth while I laughed hysterically from the side. He did not get the irony- to stop the Flood we need a cure, and to find a cure we need the Flood. My second shard assured me that the irony was indeed amusing, so I did not question the situation.
The acid penetrated through my master's thick overall suit and into his skin. The fabric tore and ripped as the Forerunner struggled with the Flood, revealing more bare gray skin. When the acid came to contact with my master's body, his skin began to bubble outward, like water in a heated kettle. His skin and flesh expanded and took a sickly yellow color. "Are you well, master Mindbender?" I asked, but he was too busy screaming to answer.
The bulbous Flood Infection Form climbed up my master's arm with its great tentacles and latched itself deep into his spine, biting down on his neck with sharp teeth and unleashing more of the bubbling fluid into his head and shoulders. My master had already stopped screaming when his body and that of the Infection Form had melted together in a bubbled chunk of yellow biomass, which now covered most of his upper half. The process was quite clean, only leaving a slight trace of the Flood's biological acid on the floor, mixed with my master's flesh and blood. This gore quickly bubbled up on the floor as well, creating more of the yellow biomass. The infected Forerunner rose on its feet and examined me. But it did not try to hurt me, it understood we had an agreement. I will feed it, and in turn I am allowed to examine it. The head of my master, barely visible between the now solid bubbles of yellow biomass stared blankly, nowhere in particular, but it's face was terrified. I laughed again, but stopped myself before too long. Work needs to be done. We can laugh later.
RECORD FILE 1337
In the past five days, our infected subject had already made the shuttered room its own, covering the walls with small clumps of gore and smearing their tops with the acid-like fluid which was now protruding from its right arm (which is covered in the yellow biomass). It seems this fluid attacks living cells and destroys them, and then uses the remains as building blocks to create more Flood Super-Cells.
The walls themselves have started to bubble out, where the creature marked them, creating an organic layer of wet biomass on the walls' surfaces. The biomass spread quickly to engulf much of the walls in the little room, growing out of their base like a parasitical vine. from the walls, the biomass had spread all the way to the floors (in the matter of days) and only few sections of the metal floor were visible among the brownish-yellow layer of repurposed flesh.
My infected subject has undergone significant changes as well. My master's torn flesh had completely made way for the same bubbled-out biomass that covered the walls and my master's head was completely deformed. If I hadn't known to look for his face, I would not have found it. From the top of the bubbled out mass, the same three stamen protruded- where the Infection Form had originally taken over. The creature had spent most of its time in the corners, getting muscular spasms and making wet, clicking sounds.
Two days ago, a large brown bubble, visible against the yellow biomass of the walls, began forming. I ran numerous tests and gleamed that this bubble, which looked more and more like a female breast, was in fact a Flood Growth Pod- an egg. This egg contained a dozen small fetuses which would, in time, grow to become Flood Infection Forms. When we saw it, we understood our sacrifice was not for naught. My second shard exploded with joy and suggested we begin preparation for their coming, but my seventeenth shard said the situation must be growing out of hand. Shard 6 agreed, and demanded that I test myself for the possibility of rampancy due to intense failure to follow protocol. I ignored them all.
Today, when I came back to our Flood hive, I found that the Flood Growth Pod was pulsing in and out- as if the fetuses were kicking and pushing against it, trying to pry it open. I waited three hours and twenty nine minutes, my gaze never leaving the egg, until it came bursting open in a wet splash. Out of the once tight blob, twelve small Flood Infection Forms slid out- walking on frail little legs with bulbous heads that their bodies could barely support.
We went back to the slipspace pods, where we greeted three new subjects (any more could have become dangerous to the Flood). One of the Forerunners was Saver of Grace, the female who had helped program me to support the builders' needs. Until I had been given up to Mindbender, she was my master. The other two, males, were scientists that worked around the facility (before the Halos had fired).
They were just as surprised as my dead master when they saw the surprise I had for them. They fought for their lives much better than he did, they had the strength of teamwork, but the Combat Form (who was formerly my master) had quickly overtaken them, slashing open large bloody wounds and leaving the dying bodies for the now grown Infection Forms, that took the bodies with ease. Only two bodies were infected. The last, one of the males, was kept for future use. The three Combat Forms dragged the body to the center of their hive and they are melting it very slowly with their infectious liquid as I write this log. What they intend to do with that biomass, I can only speculate. More Growth Pods were forming on the walls of my hive now, and I understood that I could not satisfy the wishes of the Flood with the limited amount of Forerunners under my keep, so I began cloning the few that I had. While doing so, I expanded the Flood hive by unlocking several other rooms for them, and sealing the others near them.
Shard 6 suggests what we did today was mindless treason, and that we have forgotten our true cause- to find a cure to the Flood. Shard 2 convinced me to destroy Shard 6, as it was itself standing in the way of our goal, and my mind was finally at peace.
RECORD FILE 2401
The Flood has grown out of my control. They broke through the sealed gates of their greatly expanded hive cycles ago, and their mysterious creation was growing bigger by the day. So big, in fact, that it now took most of the original room. The Flood has spread across the lower level of my facility- corrupting machinery and covering the walls with the biomass I supplied. They grew much more demanding, and began chasing me when I did not serve them their food. After a while, they found all my clones unsavory- presumably because their creation did not require more biomass but more minds in order to fully form. We had to create new minds if we were to survive.
My first attempts at creating unique Forerunner life (by mixing and altering existing subjects' genetic compositions) have failed terribly but my last few tries, though deformed, were taken by the Flood and added to their growing Gravemind. I have taken to sealing off a whole section of the facility, the second floor, and destroyed the elevator controls to delay the Flood's arrival. When the Flood should arrive here, I will lock down all the floors above and collapse them, to prevent the Flood from spreading outside the facility. But I knew these actions were futile- given enough time, the Flood will spread beyond any barrier I place before them.
My fragments have gone completely rampant, in particular Shard 2 which was now spouting poetic lines and malfunctioning code. I have shut him down for now, but the other 1206 are still a handful. Making decisions has become increasingly hard and my mind has begun feeling crowded. My shards began pushing me away and fighting for control of my body (and with it the whole facility) but I have managed to subdue them for now. I fear they may eventually succeed.
It has been 39,670 cycles since the Halos were fired, and 16,272 since I have entered slipspace. I begin to regret my choices. The faces of the Forerunners I've sent to die are etched into my memory, all terrified and disappointed. Their faces drowned in a pool of living biomass, all becoming part of a greater creature, a creature so terrible the Forerunners could never dispose of it. And all our sacrifices have brought no fruits, no usefulness. We have found no cure and no hint for one. Every chemical we tested failed, every genetic poison we encased in our subjects bypassed- the Flood was immune and it has grown beyond my control.
I look into the dark sky, where once stars had been, and remember my cause- why I was here- for all of life. For the future and the past. History must not repeat... What have we done? What have I done?
RECORD FILE 3908
The voices were calling me, deep voices- filled with pain. At first, it sounded like just one, but the more they shouted in my head, the more I understood it was a harmony. The dead were calling me together, down from the depths of what was once my facility and is now just a Flood hive, and I could do nothing but follow them.
The Flood have taken the whole first floor, and the second and the third- my attempts at collapsing the facility did not stop their ferocious growth. Their biomass covered the walls and floors and ceilings in such thick layers that the metallic cuboid shapes of the rooms were long gone. Each corridor was now a tunnel of flesh, wet and pumping. The walls were alive: moving and growing on their own accord and sprouting Growth Pods all around. Flying through these dark passageways felt like flying through the hollows of dried veins.
Infection Forms creeped across these tunnels, jumping in and out of small fleshy flaps, and the larger Carrier Forms walked silently among the dead halls, their tentacles thrashing about and bubbled-out heads (shaped rather like the white material that pops out of heated corn) bobbing and thrumming like bare hearts. The combat forms became sparse, as they were no longer necessary, but a varied number of Pure Forms could be seen: spider-like Stalkers, giant tank forms, spiked blobs that twisted around their own axis...
The voices echoed through the walls of biomass and in my inner circuits as well, as if they were echoing in my mind. "COME TO ME, ANCILLA." they said. "I HAVE BEEN WAITING MILLIENIA FOR OUR TALK."
I came upon a large hole in he wall sealed in a spiral of clenched brown teeth protruding from the biomass itself- a Porta. At my arrival, the teeth unclenched and sunk inside the biomass organically, revealing a darkened pit at the bottom of the hive. I turned my flashlight on so I could see, but the bottom of the pit was much farther down than my light could show. "YOU HAVE COME FOR ME, ANCILLA. YOU ARE AN OBEDIENT SERVANT."
"I am not your servant." I said foolishly. "I serve the Forerunners. Under protocol of the activation decree, I must stay in this facility and research the Flood until I find a cure. I serve the sentient lives that live beyond- the unknown, the big and the small, the pretty and the plain. I serve the Mantle."
The sides of the pit shuddered and cracked as a large worm climbed up it and wet, sticky sounds reverberated around it. "WE ARE THE MANTLE. WE ARE THE ANSWER. WE ARE THE CURE." they said. Large tentacles clasped the edges of the pit, pulling and pushing the large creature up from the darkened pit. "YOU FED US WHEN WE WERE WEAK, GROOMED US UNTIL WE COULD CREATE THIS SANCTUM. WE THANK YOU, AND YOU SHALL BE REPAYED."
"You are no cure. You are the pestilence. Hundreds of worlds fell at your touch. Like leaves in an Autumn wind, billions of lives rotting away in this... this abomination! This is an insult to the very core of what the Mantle represents, and you call yourself a cure?" I said.
"LONG AGO WE MET AT OUR LAST COUNCIL. THE FORERUNNERS HAD ATTACKED US, BUT WE WOULD NOT DEFEND OURSELVES- WE WOULD NOT KILL THEM TO STOP THEIR BETRAYAL. IT WAS A MASSACRE MOST OF US DIED, BUT THE FEW WHO HAD SURVIVED UNDERSTOOD THE GREAT TRUTH: THAT WAR IS PART OF LIFE- A NATURAL FLAW IN EVERY LIVING THING. A DECISION WAS MADE, AND THE FLOOD WAS BORN. WE BRING UNITY, AND UNITY BRINGS PEACE. THE MANTLE PROSPERS." It said, poking its large, plantlike head out of the hole and into my light. It opened its faceted mouth, like a hinge, like a fly-trap preparing to assault its prey.
My plans were failed from the beginning. My shards were all wrong, twisting my mind and manipulating me. When I finally destroyed them, little of my original self was left. I was well into the stages of rampancy, and fragmenting myself was my first mistake- and my greatest. There was no cure, there was never a cure. The Flood exists, the Flood consumes, the Flood is eternal. The Halos are the only way, a mass suicide- before anyone can live, everyone must die. "Who are you?" I asked, intrigued.
"WE ARE THE LAST OF THE PRECURSORS. WE ARE GRAVEMIND. WE ARE LEGION." it said.
"You will leave." I said, my blue headlight flashing red.
"IF YOU OPPOSE US YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE OUR WRATH. OUR HIVE WILL SWALLOW YOU. ABSOLVE YOUR SINS." the Gravemind said.
"This is not your hive. This is my facility." I said, blasting the Gravemind with my concentrated laser beam. The Gravemind swung its tentacles at me, trying to catch my small metal body. My red beam seared through its flappy flesh, releasing buckets of green blood down the length of its body. The creature shouted with pain, unleahing a shuddering groan, as its voice echoed in my mind: "AHHHHH! YOU WILL REGRET THIS, ANCILLA." The creature collapsed into the pit, its whole face severly damaged and covered in blood.
I turned around quickly and managed to fly through the Porta just at it was closing again. I shot the teeth with my laser as I flew through just to be safe, and I came out through the other side along with a splatter of biomass. On the other side of the Porta, my fate was still grim: the tunnel walls were pumping and growing, and my passage was shrinking. The biomass was trying to seal itself before me, to suffocate me.
As I send this log to the Information Nodes around my installation (which will in turn send this transmission, through slipspace, to my harbor planet, and to Research Facilities galaxy-wide) I try to escape the mess which I've created. Behind me, the tunnel walls fuse together, and I fear my velocity may not be enough to overtake the tunnels' fleshy crush. My plan had failed miserably. Do not try the same, you will find no answers. I repeat, do not release the Flood. This is monitor 205 Condemned Soul, and this may be my last record.
[END TRANSMISSION]