ShadowRuler: No hints. Read and find out :P
To all the rest of you ungrateful jerks, 80 hits and TWO reviews? Come on. Do you actively WANT me to stop updating? Hell, everyone likes long and detailed reviews, but even one sentence is better than silence!
Eurgh.
Warning - there's serious technobabble in this chapter.
Let the story commence.
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I Need You
Chap02
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A persistent beeping in his earpiece woke John from his semi-somnolent state. He checked his HUD, and his eyes grew wide.
'UNSC signal code detected on channel 78.7; open channel? Y/N'
"Yes," he gasped - partly from hurry, and partly from the cold. "Yes!"
He shivered violently; his suit temperature was below five degrees centigrade. But no cold could distract him from the wellspring of hope that had appeared.
"... the UNSC battlecruiser 'Redeye' on a rescue/corpse recovery mission. Any survivors, please respond. Over. Message repeats: This is the UNSC battlecruiser 'Redeye' on a rescue mission. Any survivors, please respond. Over. Message repeats..."
John jumped to his feet. "Battlecruiser 'Redeye', this is the master chief Spartan one one seven, responding to your rescue message. I'm alive but I need extraction double-time or I'll freeze to death. Over."
The radio crackled again. "Captain, we got a live one! Chief, we can't triangulate your signal. Please relay your position. Over."
John almost laughed with joy. "I'm in cryo bay four of the aft section of the wreck 'Forward Unto Dawn'. Can you see the wreck? Over."
There was a burst of static. "We've got a lock on the wreck, and we're sending a pelican to pick you up. And chief? I'd just like to say how much it means to all of us that you managed to pull through."
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There was something of a welcoming committee as John stepped off the pelican and into the docking bay of the 'Redeye'. The ship's entire complement of marines and ODSTs had turned out to catch a glimpse of mankind's most famous warrior, and they weren't the only ones.
"Good to see you're still unkillable." "An honor to finally meet you, chief." "I knew that 'MIA' didn't mean shit to a Spartan." "Damn, you're even tougher than we thought."
"Captain on deck!" Someone shouted. The marines instantly stood to attention.
The ship's captain walked up to John. In his full Mjolnir mark 6 Armor, John stood at least eight inches taller than the 6' 5" man.
"I'm captain Sven Erikson," he said. "Chief, you're the greatest war hero humanity's ever seen. Going MIA was the biggest blow the UNSC has ever suffered. Glad to have you back. Now, I'm sure you have a lot of questions -"
"Actually, sir," John cut in, "just one for now: is the war over?"
The captain's smile faltered slightly but did not vanish.
"No. Not by a long shot. We hurt them here on this halo, but didn't kill them. But don't give up hope, chief - humanity's stronger than ever. We've pushed them off earth and numerous other planets. In three months, a direct assault against a Covenant planet is planned."
John smiled behind his opaque visor. "That is good news. Nice to know I'm still needed."
Two more voices cut in suddenly, both of which he recognized. One yelled "John!" While the other growled, "Demon!"
John turned to see two figures whom he considered almost as close as Cortana; one was a petite but imposing woman in a lab coat, the other a hulking 8-foot alien.
"Arbiter," he said jovially to the latter. "Do the sangelli really STILL call me that?"
The massive covenant elite laughed. "No, not at all. Just me."
John turned to the other figure. "Doctor... what are you and Arbiter even doing here?"
Dr. Catherine Halsey, progenitor and ongoing authority of the SPARTAN project, smiled wryly. "When I found out one of the rescue and recovery ships was going to this sector, I insisted on being aboard. You're one of the last of my children, John. I had to know if you were alive or dead."
Her smile vanished, and she paused. Then she asked the one question that would hurt the most to answer. "How is she?"
John knew she was referring to Cortana, who was as much one of Halsey's children as the Spartans were. He actually bowed his head, just for the sake of an emotional expression that wasn't blocked by his featureless helmet.
"She's on life support, doctor. Before I shut her down, she said she had 39 hours."
Halsey's eyes narrowed. "Is she still in shutdown?"
Though John appeared as impassive as only a blank golden faceplate can be, his own eyes narrowed at the perceived implication. "Cortana has been everything to me, ever since the nightmare on alpha halo. Did you think I would let her die?"
He realized a second later just how that had sounded, but saying anything more would only dig that embarrassing hole deeper.
Halsey's expression softened. "I didn't mean it like that, John. I just wouldn't have put it past her to attempt suicide once she discovered the onset."
John lowered his head again. "She did, actually. She told me to kill her after shutdown, but..."
Halsey's shock turned into a mix of exasperation and relief. "I'm glad it was you she asked; you're the one person I'd trust to never harm her, no matter what duress."
She drew herself up to full height, not quite reaching John's shoulder. "Nevertheless. In anticipation of this development, I've been authorized to order a detour from the ship's voyage home, to the newly built science station 'Terminus Infinity'. Keep her shut down until we arrive."
Arbiter, who had been observing the conversation, laughed in amusement. "Demon, your woman was almost as notorious as you were among the covenant. She will survive."
Behind his mask, John actually reddened at the implication that Cortana was 'his woman'. Had she been conscious, he was sure she would be shouting at Arbiter from his armor speakers.
He felt a pang of worry again, suddenly missing Cortana's banter more than he would have thought possible.
He ignored the jibe, however. "What do you plan to do at this 'Terminus Infinity'?" He asked Halsey.
She shook her head. "I can't tell you. I don't want to get your hopes up, and any one of several outcomes is possible - I'm waiting on reports from quite a few projects. But trust me when I say it's a very good thing, from your point of view."
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John shook his head again. He hated cryo sleep, and since it was standard procedure for all non-bridge crew members to go into cryo during slipspace jumps, he'd gone from a four-year cryo sleep straight into a 10-hour one.
"There she is," said Halsey as she looked out the viewport of the shuttle. "She's beautiful."
John was mildly impressed. Terminus Infinity was a colossal station, larger than three of earth's 'Big Stick' orbiting MAC defenses. Halsey had informed him that the entire station was dedicated to research and prototype production, making it the largest scientific installation in human space - with the possible exception of CERN on earth, whose particle colliders took up an area close to that of a small country.
Largest military research installation, then.
However, impressive though it might be, John had never possessed an eye for spacecraft. Exceptional guns impressed him. Armor upgrades impressed him. But spaceships had never been a subject of his fascination.
"No comment, John?" Said Halsey.
John turned his head from the port. "It's quite an achievement, but I think I'll leave the science to the scientists. Can you tell me why we are here now?"
Halsey rolled her eyes. "Fine. 1: to update your armor. Some of our new pieces are going to make your current suit look like a mark one. 2: to update your Spartan body. Yes, your current implants are in fact finally outdated - you've been using them since you were six; consider yourself lucky that we've finally come up with an upgrade. They'd probably fail in another year if you kept using what you have. And then... there's 3."
John narrowed his eyes, unseen behind his mask. "What's part 3?"
Halsey didn't respond instantly, as the radio crackled. "Approaching pelican, this is Terminus Infinity Docking Tower. Please state your authorization and docking pass."
Halsey grinned. "Terminus Tower, this is station administrator Catherine Halsey. I should have a docking pass booked for right now."
John tilted his head with surprise. He had known that Dr. Halsey was brilliant, but administrator of the largest science facility the UNSC controlled? She had moved up in the world.
"Roger on that, Doctor Halsey. Welcome back." The radio clicked and shut off.
"What's part 3?" Asked John again.
Halsey smiled tiredly. "Ah, John, you never give up once you set your sights on a goal, do you?" She sighed. "Fine. Part 3 concerns the most risky and experimental lab on that station; the lab where research concerning the interface between man and machine is carried out. Your implants, along with every other military electronic that goes into a human, was designed in a lab like this one. This particular lab has just been prepared for a procedure that is, as yet, purely theoretical, untested, risky... but with a potentially huge return on investment."
John leaned forward. "Why are you downplaying it so hard if it's so important?"
Halsey pinched the bridge of her nose. "Because lives hang in the balance. Specifically, Cortana's life."
Now John was on full alert. "This had better be good, doctor, because it'll take a hell of a lot of convincing for me to put Cortana's life on the line."
A shudder ran through the pelican as it landed in Terminus Infinity's main docking bay.
"I'll explain it on the way to the lab. I think you won't be able to concentrate on armor tests without knowing Cortana's fate, so I think we shall change part 3 to part 1."
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Halsey was walking as fast as she could through the massive station, although the pace was hardly strenuous for John.
"You are familiar with how AIs are created, right? A human brain, usually an already dead one as the process burns the neurons, is connected to an electric pulse generator and the resultant signal pattern from the pulses is used to map the neurons accurately. This is digital model of the brain in question becomes the AI construct's core. Following me so far?"
John nodded. "I get the basic principle, yes."
Halsey inhaled, and continued. "The phenomenon we call 'rampancy' is in fact a product of two factors. One is the fact that this digital mind cannot sleep; it has no subconscious state - shutdown is not at all like human sleep. Therefore the AI has no way of subconsciously handling emotion and memory; it must all be done by the conscious mind, to the detriment of its functionality. Still following?"
John blinked. "Uhh... being unable to sleep is bad for their mental capacity?"
Halsey nodded. "That's simplified, but essentially yes. Since an AI's mind is so powerful, it takes a much longer time for this damage to become apparent, but it will happen eventually. In any case, the other factor is memory."
"Memory?" John inquired.
"Yes, memory," said Halsey. "An AI's memory is eidetic and immaculate because their subroutines for handling memory are rigid and constant, unlike a real brain. But because the memories are hard data, the AI's mind does not by default have a subjective view on them - so in order to make those memories and that data 'personal', so to speak, it has to manually revise them. It WILL do so, by the way, there's no way to avoid it - having an objective memory would drive an AI insane much faster than rampancy."
"So... these involuntary memory edits are a problem?"
"Yes," she replied. "They are THE problem, or one of the two. Since the simulated memory is not as structured as just normal computer data banks, and - again - the memory interface routine is not organic, it has to be edited as a whole. But eventually, the memory becomes too large to be fully edited by the routine that edits it, and errors are made."
John digested this information. "So the errors turn into viruses?"
Halsey half-smiled. "Exactly. As the AI ages and the memory gets larger, more viruses appear. Since the AI is compelled to control those viruses, processing power is diverted from other systems to halt their spread. Eventually the central reasoning gets shut down and the AI goes insane. Another little while and the brain simulation itself goes offline - and the AI is dead."
John wasn't sure what to make of this. "Now I know how an AI dies. What does that have to do with this... experiment?"
"Clearly you weren't listening," said Halsey, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "If an AI could sleep, dream, and above all remember things the way a normal human can - then rampancy would not exist."
John cocked an eyebrow, unseen beneath his armor. "I was listening. How can you make an AI 'sleep, dream, and remember' like a human?"
Halsey didn't blink. "By moving their consciousness into a human body, of course."
John stopped short in the corridor. "What?"
Halsey made an exasperated face. "Let me put it this way, John. AIs are digital reconstructions of human brains."
"Yes..."
"Flashclone brains are effectively no more than living meat; devoid of any personality, intelligence or even animating force."
"Yes... "
"Well, in the four years you were gone, I knew Cortana would end up as she is now. I became somewhat obsessed with saving my daughter, so I researched into brain science more than any single person alive. And you know what I found?"
John cocked his head, in lieu of an intrigued expression.
"For want of a better word, flashclone brains don't have a soul. There's no data flowing in the neurons. Not even a seed of information from which a whole mind could grow." She drew back a bit. "But we HAVE the means to connect circuitry and neurons. Your own cranial implant, along with every Marine's, is proof enough of that."
"I think I see where you're going with this..."
"Exactly, John," Halsey said softly. "I've been working on an interface between a brain and a full-blown computer system - not just those dinky little cortical implants. I have a beta version complete in the lab. It has been tested... but not on a full mind like an AI."
They had reached the doors of the lab. Halsey pressed her thumb into the lock, saying, "chief, I'd like you to meet Cammilla."
In a penned-off section of the lab, there was a child of no more than four years. She was sitting and playing with seemingly random objects. What drew John's attention, however, was what was obviously an honest-to-god data port built into the base of her skull above her spine.
"Cammilla started life as an intelligence simulator from an old 22nd century video game, so no... the machine hasn't been tested on a fully functional AI," said Halsey. "Since we moved her to the brain of this flashcloned infant, she has shown huge leaps in developing true intelligence. She already acts far beyond what her original functions were, and she shows true creativity. But that doesn't interest you."
She dragged the half-ton of armored Spartan over to the other side of the large laboratory, where several technicians were preparing what looked like an incredibly complex operating table.
"This is the beta version of the transfer machine. It's what we used to bring Cammilla to life. In fact, the process for an AI would in theory be simpler - since AIs already emulate human minds - but regardless of that, we shall have to work with the utmost care."
"Now, John," said Halsey, "it's your call. Do you want to risk the fact that this procedure could go wrong? If anything messes up, Cortana will be dead."
John hesitated. "...I'll have to ask her."
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Halsey shooed the technicians out of the lab as John disconnected a pedestal from the station's network - with Cortana so close to rampancy, he couldn't risk giving her free reign.
He inserted the chip. "Semper Fidelis."
The isolated holographic pedestal flickered, and Cortana's dying black avatar appeared - on its hands and knees.
She raised her head. Her eyes had gone from bright red to the dull color of old bandages. "J- John? You didn't..."
He knelt to her level. "I... I couldn't. But Cortana, don't worry. I got picked up. We're safe."
"Th- thank you... at least I can die knowing you're safe..."
John interrupted. "Cortana, wait. We're currently on board the most advanced science station in UNSC space. Halsey's here. She says she has a way to keep you alive... even restore you completely."
Cortana slowly got to her 'feet'. "What... how... how does it work?"
"A lot of it went straight over my head, but she says she can implant your consciousness into a human body."
"A- a h- human..."
"Cortana, I don't know the details, but I know it's risky. It's a minimally tested process at best. If anything went wrong, it could damage or kill you... and I don't know what your life would be like as a human. I couldn't... make the decision for you," he finished.
Cortana's flickering black hand reached out, stopping at the edge of the holopedestal's field as if it were glass. "John, I... I'm so afraid of dying insane and alone... that's why I asked you for that 'favor'... if this might save me, then... yes. Do it. Please."
John let go of the breath he was holding.
"But..." Cortana interjected. "I want you to be there... even if I'm not conscious, I want you in the room while I'm being transferred. Can... can you do that for me?"
John's smile, though unseen, was as sincere a smile as he'd ever given. "It'd take a battalion of Hunters to keep me out."
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