Chapter One
John gained consciousness.
Everything seemed like a blur at first. Figures rushed back and forth as he opened his eyes.
"What's…going on?" John 117 asked in a daze. His vision sharpened so that he can see where he was.
Apparently, he was on a ship in some sort of on-board medical center.
"Sierra 117," a man by his bed called. "Can you hear me?"
"Where am I?"
"You are on Colonial Ship Delta-47. You were found by a mining ship in hypersleep inside an old military battleship in space and transported here. We sent word to UPSC and they informed that you are a missing war hero from 448 BGT—"
"Hold on," Chief interrupted. "What do you mean '448 BGT'?"
"Four hundred years after you went missing, Earth and its colonies discovered travel to different galaxies and forty-eight years later, they went into big trading businesses with other planets. It was so revolutionary that it became an era. It has been two thousand twenty-five years after that era began. It is amazing how well that hypersleep pod held out!"
"What about Cortana?" Chief asked.
"You mean the onboard A—"
"Yes!" John was very impatient.
"Due to the old UNSC protocol, AI's self terminate so they may not go rampant."
117 was silent for a minute.
"I promised…" he began but stopped. "Can she be recovered?"
"Don't know," the man confessed.