Clinton looked around at the war torn landscape that he was standing in. there was no sign of life. Everywhere there were warthogs, mongooses, and a few ghosts littering the landscape. Clinton climbed on top of a flipped warthog to get a better look. As he stood there he could see human shapes moving in the far distance. "What do you think?" he said out loud.
Clinton heard a click and low hum as his suits hologram projectors whirred to life. An image appeared to Clinton's right a tall human about the same height and size as Clinton but he wore full armor with a perfectly opaque visor his armor was a very dark blue with parts flickering from the imperfections in the projector. "I think we aren't going to find anything here. There are no survivors and almost all of the equipment is destroyed. We should just move on." "Agreed" was all Clinton said then he jumped down and started to walk the opposite direction as he did the holo projection of his only friend disappeared.
The worst part of all of this was this wasn't done by the Covenant. No they weren't this cruel. And frankly Clinton wished he could find some Covenant to shoot because they would retreat, Them he could actually beat. The enemy here outnumbered him a thousand to one and the worst part was they all reminded him of the people he was fighting for in this war. His friends, his family, the truth was that was exactly what was trying to kill him.
It happened about four years ago. Clinton was temporarily assigned to Dyphus 5 or nicknamed The AI's Asylum because the purpose of this world wasn't making tanks, or training soldiers, it in all aspects was an Asylum for AIs. Any AI that got corrupted or rampant was taken here to be repaired if possible and if not they were stored here. Unfortunately what was supposed to be a temporary assignment that lasted less than a year turned into a possibly permanent assignment of survival in less than two weeks. The infection as Clinton called it infected at first less than half of the entire population. Eventually it spread to two thirds of it. The infection turned those infected rampant and monstrous, they weren't intelligent anymore but they would go after anyone who wasn't infected and kill them with their bare hands or with a knife with animal ferocity. Along with them wearing their armor the infection appeared to somehow make them harder to kill. eventually Clinton was alone and forced to pull out a corrupted AI from storage to save himself. Clinton barely managed to keep his sanity after the initial implantation but eventually got used to it. The AI was so corrupted that it lost its own name and just took on the name of Twelve. Clinton called him that ever since.
they had gotten pretty close considering they were the only two people they had found in literally years.
As Clinton was walking he heard a low hum that he recognized as the sound of a hologram projector for an AI in a armor suit like Clinton's. Clinton stopped. "Twelve tell me you can hear that" Twelve's projection came to life again he looked at Clinton "that's not your imagination Clint" "you think it might be an AI?" "most likely" at that Clinton started to look around. it was possible that it wasn't an AI, but there was no way Clinton was going to pass the possibility that there was another sane consciousness out here. Clinton found the source of the sound. It was coming from under the front of a warthog that had lost its front wheel axle and was scorched from being on fire a while ago.
through Clinton's helmet and through the long old and long failed air filters he could smell the burnt warthog.
Clinton pulled out a knife from the sheath on his right boot then stabbed it sideways into the crack between the main body of the warthog and the hood. Clinton pried the hood open and was disappointed to find a large engine in his way. Clinton sighed then got to work disassembling what he needed to pull the engine out.
after about half an hour twisting turning and yanking he managed to get the bulk of the engine out. Clinton peered through the now empty engine compartment. There he could see a partly crushed corpse the human still had his helmet on but he or she was definitely dead especially considering his or her midsection down was being crushed by the rest of the warthog. Clinton reached in Twelve's projectors whirred to life again as he did. "the storage unit should be in the back of the helmet" "you think at this point I don't know that" Clinton grunted as he leaned in further to reach. he grabbed the helmet and turned it so that he could access the stored AI. Clinton was partly trying to keep his balance in his awkward position. he grabbed at the AI unit when suddenly the projectors of the dead soldiers suit came to life and a hologram of a woman appeared and screamed in rage and fear. Clinton was completely got off guard by this and fell backwards "HOLY!" was all he managed to get out before he slammed into the ground. "I think the AI is still active" Twelve said calmly. "you think!" was all Clinton said as he got to his feet. the AI's projector was off again but Clinton knew that the next time he tried to remove the AI it would come alive again. "you think something heard that?" Clinton asked as he looked around. "most likely we should grab the AI and get out of here" was Twelve's response. Clinton stood next to the warthog as close as he could. Clinton took a deep breath then dived in. The AI whirred to life and began to scream again but this time Clinton was ready he kept going and grabbed the back of the helmet. once he finally had a grip on the storage unit he pulled hard on it and the unit simply slid out as the projection died and the screaming silenced. Clinton stood up and took a deep breath. once he was recomposed he lifted his left arm which had an improvised AI slot installed. it wasn't connected to him like the one Twelve was in but it was connected to a system he and Twelve had set up which was meant to be able to assess the stability of an AI and access it. Clinton slid the AI in and waited for Twelve to finish his scans.
After about two minutes Clinton looked down at the AI that was in his arm again "so what's the verdict?" Clinton asked. "the AI is more than sixty percent corrupt" "anything you can do for it?" it was a common question he asked the exact same question every time but at this point it was natural for him to ask and he was always hoping he would one day get a yes. "sorry Clint there is nothing we can do." was Twelve's grim reply. Clinton sighed. "alright cannibalize it then"
the process was a pretty simple if they found an AI that they couldn't help Twelve would effectively disassemble the AI, Take what he could to decrypt himself and take the memories from it that either Clinton or Twelve could use. then discard what was left. Twelve had explained to Clinton that it was virtually painless for the AI and could be seen as mercy killing it.
Clinton always found it hard to believe it was painless for the AI considering how much pain he went through every time. Clinton flinched as he felt the AI racing through his mind. Its complete insanity in his head swirling around. his entire body clenched as Twelve worked through the agonizing process.
finally after what felt like an hour for Clinton. Clinton felt the AI leave his mind permanently. "how much did you get?" Clinton said as he relaxed. "I am now down to thirty percent corrupt. what did you get out of it?" Clinton knew exactly what he meant. the process went through him as well as Twelve therefore Clinton got something out of it as well. for the most part he just got memories ether from the AI or memories that the host had incidentally given to the AI.
Clinton closed his eyes as he started to process the new memories in his mind distinguishing them from his real ones as best he could and simply understanding what they were at all. Clinton's eyes shot open and he gasped. "what is it Clint?" Twelve asked urgently. "the memories I got from the AI... I think I may have found a place where there are other survivors."