The shuttle bay was decorated colorfully with streamers and confetti. The fight was over, the Didact defeated, and everyone in the UNSC was celebrating… Well, almost everyone; Master Chief, the person who most deserved the break, was not in a party mood. He hadn't even removed his MJOLNIR armor for the occasion. John?
He looked up, though he knew full well no one would be there to meet his gaze. Only two people he knew called him by his first name, and the corporeal one wasn't in front of him; "Cortana?"
Is something on your mind? You seem distracted.
"I'm fine."
Really, Chief? She appeared on his HUD. "This party's technically in your honor and you're over here, sulking in the corner."
"I'm okay. Really."
"If you say so…" Cortana knew there was more, but Chief wouldn't budge. In the meantime… she thought, before addressing her coworker again, "Say, Chief."
"Yes?"
"Could you plug me into that console over there? I'm going to run a quick ship diagnostic." Chief complied silently, as was his custom. Other than his brief quarrel with Captain Del Rio, he hasn't said much more than two or three words out loud.
/
After entering the podium, Cortana buzzed herself over to Halsey's lab. "Hey, Dr. Halsey?"
"Yes, Cortana?" the technician acknowledged, not looking up from her computer.
"Can I ask you a personal question?"
Halsey paused, swiveling to face the construct. "On what matter?"
"Well, it's about me."
"Alright."
"I just wanted to know," Cortana twiddled her thumbs as she spoke. "Can an artificial intelligence have feelings?"
Halsey thought. An AI was a synthetic being able to achieve sentience. Machines are usually attributed with having no emotion, though any child could tell you that something able to show emotions had them. But Cortana had said "feelings," not emotions. Feelings were the subjective representation of emotions, private to the individual, so if she had emotions, she had to have feelings to represent them. She finally responded, "Why the sudden interest?"
"It's kind of personal. You understand?"
"Wholly. And to answer your question: yes, AIs have feelings and are able to express them."
Cortana nearly lit up, but kept her excitement to herself; she definitely had feelings. "Thank you, Dr. Halsey. Um…" she shuffled her feet, "There's one more thing. About John."
"What is it?"
/
At the party, Chief remained in the back of the room, glancing around for possible ambush points. He'd just counted six when an Elite approached him, shoving its way through the party. John reached for his magnum, and the trooper raised its hands. "Spartan!" he said, "It's me!"
Master Chief relaxed a bit, remembering his old ally with a nod. "Arbiter."
"For a moment, I thought you were going to shoot, considering what my former allies had put you through."
"I almost did."
The Sangheili hero took a seat next to the Chief, sighing in exasperation. "I do not understand the purpose of this gathering. The epicenter is pockmarked by ambush points; on the way in, alone, I found three possible entrances for Special Forces soldiers."
"Back here, you can see three more." John crossed his arms, "Hey, Arbiter."
"Yes, Spartan?"
"Can I ask you something, off the record?"
"I see no reason why not. What is your question?"
"Be honest. Do you think… Do you think I express myself enough?"
"Hm… The question is subjective, at best. I don't tend to do this 'socialize' with fellow soldiers. However, any other person in this room would give a straight answer: 'no,' is a likely candidate."
A marine, Corporal Wilkinson, walked up to the pair. She was obviously drunk, fueling the state with a plastic cup of whiskey in her off hand. "Hey, you two," she hiccupped, "what're you guys doin' back here?"
"Just talking, soldier to soldier," Chief responded. He looked at the Arbiter, who gestured to their new guest. He returned to the soldier. "Say, Wilkinson."
She shushed him lazily, "We're partying. Call me Jenna." She laughed and took a sip of her drink.
"Jenna." Chief rubbed the back of his neck. "Me and the Arbiter, here, were debating something we thought you could help put to rest?"
"The Spartan wishes to know if you believe he expresses his feelings often enough." Chief shot Arbiter a cold look. "You were taking too long."
"Yes. That."
"Oh… Hm…" Jenna scratched her head in thought. "Well, to tell the truth, I'd make myself a bit more interesting, if I was you. But hey, I'm jus' a human. I don't understand robots an' all."
"There," Arbiter said, nodding to the Chief, "I hope that answers your question sufficiently, Spartan."
"It does." Chief turned back to the Corporal. "Thank you for the input."
"Welcome. An' hey," she snuggled up to the 7-foot-plus super soldier, "I won't think of you any different if you try to egspress yourself."
"Thanks. I think."
As Jenna charged back into the party, whiskey in hand, whooping uttering forth, Cortana reappeared on the podium. "What'd I miss?"
"The Arbiter and I were just having a discussion."
"What about?"
"It's… personal." He popped the pneumatic seal on his helmet, turning the entire room's population's heads as he removed the headgear, placing it on the table. He could have sworn he heard someone in the crowd shout: "I knew he wasn't a robot!"
He leaned in, resting his arm on the snack bar, which seemed to grant him a three-foot radius of elbow room. "Cortana," he whispered, hiding his mouth from view of the drunken partygoers with his free hand.
"Yeah?"
"Do you mind meeting me later, in private?"
"Um.." Cortana stuttered, wringing her hands together nervously, "Ehm, y-yeah, sure. I mean, um- y-yes." She disappeared, leaving Master Chief blinking in confusion.
He looked at the mob of people behind him. "You all… As you were." Few followed that order, their mouths still gaping at the sight of the Master Chief's face. "Now!" They all jumped, returning to the party. Certainly, a few conversations had a new topic to discuss. He turned back to the Arbiter, "There's, uh, one more thing I wanted to ask you. It's… about Cortana."
"The Construct? Hm… I will answer as best I can."
/
Cortana reappeared before Dr. Halsey, beaming. "Well, you certainly look happy about something," the doctor said. "Things must have gone awfully right with John."
"He wants to see me in private." She sat cross-legged on her projector, smiling madly.
"Where?"
"…Huh… I was so nervous; I guess I forgot to ask."
"You really think so?" Chief said, as surprised as his militant mind would allow.
"Undoubtedly. You two spend too much time together for no affection to up rise. As for 'will it work out,' I have no idea. Organic life falling in love with a computer program? I personally would not set any further goal than her reciprocating the emotion; but you humans may see it differently.
"Now, could you help me with an issue that has recently revealed itself?"
"Shoot."
"I plan not to fire, thank you. I simply wish to know why the Corporal Wilkinson keeps looking at me. It is unnerving and uncomfortable."
The two glanced over in Jenna's direction, watching her bong down a keg of beer as two other soldiers held her legs up.
Chief turned back to Arbiter. "I could talk to her for you, if you want; see what's up."
"Please do."
As Chief was about to go, Cortana reappeared on the terminal. "Um, Chief?"
"Yes?" He replied.
"Where exactly did you want to talk to me?"
"Hm… How about we meet in my quarters; ten minutes okay?"
She nodded. "Sure. See you then." She vanished a third time, allowing John to handle the Arbiter's problem.
He walked over to the beer keg, where Corporal Wilkinson was just being let down after emptying the barrel. "Jenna?"
"Yessir, Chief?" she replied, swaying from her blood-alcohol level being so high.
"The Arbiter, over there where I was standing, is a bit insecure about you constantly looking at him."
"The Elite? Well, why didn't 'e come over here hisself and tell me? I'm a big girl…" she looked at the slowly growing wet spot on her trousers, "…who probably still needs diapers."
"Look, he just wants you to quit staring. Can you do that?"
"If it'll get Arby to quit whinin' about it, I'll try."
"Good." He paused, his curiosity getting the better of him, "Why were you staring, anyway?"
"Well," she slurred, "I'm jus' tryin' t' see what he's got, is all."
"'What he's got?'"
"Y'know, what he's packin', what he's got downstairs. An' I'll let ya in on a little secret." She leaned in, lowering her voice, and almost using the Chief to stay on her feet, "I went commando, 'cause I knew I wouldn't need panties for too long here, anyway, if ya catch my drift."
This made the Spartan nearly blush, as he returned to the Sangheili veteran. "So, I found the reason she was looking at you intently."
"And?"
"She… Well, firstly, she promised to stop staring."
"Why was she staring in the first place, Spartan?"
"I… can't really explain. Look, just go talk to her, sort this out; I need to be somewhere." He started on his way, the Arbiter rising behind him. "Good luck with Wilkinson."
"And luck to you with the Construct, Spartan." Chief nodded, and left for his quarters. If he hurried, he could make it there before Cortana. Then again, she could just buzz across the ship in the blink of an eye. Oh well, c'est' la vie.
