All Under Heaven
Installment Four
Ninth Cycle
Second Unit
Ark Installation- Zero
117, 498 Years Predating the Human-Covenant War.
The ice continent remained, by-in-large, silent, save for the occasional howling of the wind across the snow banks and glaciers. The night's sky was bright with stars and a full Moon glimmered. At the end of a rocky outcropping, icicles began to shake. Soon they begin to snap and shatter, mangling their perfect shapes.
The sound emitting the rumble became louder and louder until a ball of fire formed in the sky. The furious ball was coming closer and closer every passing second. The ball of fire slammed into the ice shelf like a meteor. The Spore craft broke a path across the snow and ice, bouncing violently until it stopped suddenly by a wall of ice. A trail of melted snow and steam stretched behind the small vessel.
The small hatch opened with a heave and Cephaus climbed out. He grabbed several weapons and a small satchel from the interior of the pod, and close the cockpit's door. He clambered down from the ship and made his long arduous to his destination. Cephaus made his trip along the frigid landscape, eventually arriving at the base of a rigid mountain. Near a large rock that was connected to the foundation of the mountain, he took a small silver box from his satchel and placed it on the ground.
He stepped away for a second. A moment later, luminous red markings illustrated themselves on the rock. He pressed certain strange symbols in a sequence, picking up his silver box, he turned and returned on his walk. He reached another outcropping of rocks, and repeated the same sequence and then a third time, surrounding a specific area in the shape of a triangle. With a jolt, the ground opened its gaping jaws, dropping the snow below. Without a moment of hesitation, Cephaus pushed himself into the abyss of the dark hole.
In the depths of the massive cavern, Cephaus cautiously walked across the ice constructed floor. Streams of moonlight helped very little to guide his path. He knelt down, producing an artificial light from his leather satchel. He pressed a hexagon symbol on its shaft, igniting it. The light illuminated a massive wall before him. The wall appeared to be a composite of lead, ice, and metal. Various elaborate symbols and illustrations were etched into the metallic door. Cephaus approached it with brazen determination and began to place him hands on certain symbols.
His movements were swift, fluid and deliberate. With a final touch, the massive wall began to tremble and shake. The immense sound of granite stones filled Cephaus ear drums, he stepped back, almost as if he were struck. The wall cracked along the natural lines of ice that covered the room and opens from inside. There was only a deep abyss of darkness beyond the door, and Cephaus struggled to peer inside. From the shadows emerged a sweet humming sound followed by a dazzling green light. A small sphere emerged, floating towards the Anduu Warrior. It sphere spoke with a pithy, light hearted manner as it hovered in front of Cephaus.
"Welcome, Creator! I am Zero-One, the monitor of all aggregate systems in Installation Zero-One. I've been expecting you and I'm looking forward to our time together. How may I be of service to you?" The sphere said.
"Would you like me to prepare for you the carbon-sustainment hollow?"
"No, not yet Oracle. I wish to explore more of this facility." Cephaus answered his new friend.
"Have you ever been to an installation before, Creator?"
"No, but I am familiar as It is my duty."
Side by side they passed through the familiar terrace corridor. The large corridor presented a view of the vast enclosed sections of the Ark. Cephaus noticed the various types of Flora covering the seemingly never-ending stretches of land. He took notice of the divots and pockets in the ground, some of them even having budding spores. Concern and curiosity consumed his face.
"I recognize those, it looks familiar. All of this looks familiar."
"You seem amazed by it, as though this is the first time you've seen such a thing." The Monitor answered him.
"What is it?" Cephaus asked curiously.
"Why this is the 'Field of interment', our quarantine zone."
"What does it 'inter'?" He asked.
"Well of course, you are testing me now. I am thrilled to take part in this exam and will proudly perform-"
'This is no test, monitor. What lies out there on the fields?"
The Monitor's green sphere glimmered even brighter, he seemed almost caught off guard.
"The Flood. This is where we harvest them."
Cephaus stood momentarily. He was frozen and jarred by what he glared at. There were millions of them, lying on the fields.
"Harvest the parasite? What do you mean?" Cepahus questionably demanded.
"This is where we grow and contain the flood." The monitor answered, with a pithy tone in his voice.
"Within the weapons? You are lying, petulant machine. Tell me the Truth!" Cephaus demanded.
He quickly became angry, violently so. He reached and grabbed the construct out of the air and yanks him to within centimeters of his face. His anger overcame any emotions he could be capable of at the time. He was enraged.
"Caution, Creator. I've been given orders for your termination if you were to become unruly."
Five sentinel majors appeared from an aperture in the upper-section of the corridor, their bulbous eye's glowed a light red. They hovered down to Cephaus' level, showing the threat of force. Cephaus responded, throwing the Monitor into the nearest Sentinels hovering eye, causing it to reel backwards and explode. He reached for his Scepter of Anduu, and leaps upon the next one, severing both eyes and then its flight mechanism, causing it to fall to the ground. Atop the falling sentinel, he flung his scepter at the furthest enemy, splitting its body cleanly in half. In the same unwavering motion, he removed the Chalice coils attaches to his rear holsters and fires directly into the two remaining drones. All of the sentinels fell to the ground, rolling to a stop in billows of smoke and sparks. He landed, still atop the crushed sentinel, and returned his Chalices to their holsters.
"Creator, you must not resist." The construct moaned.
The Monitor was pinned underneath the first sentinel Major, squirming to be removed. Cephaus, slowly and methodically steps from atop his second prey moving to his third, removing his scepter from the crushed shell of his enemy. He sheathed the hammer-like weapon, moving to the fallen monitor. He knelt down and pulled the construct from the pile of rubble.
"Caution Monitor, I need not orders for your termination and I will not hesitate to execute the fury of my will. Send ten thousand sentinels and I will crush every single one. If permanence is is what you seek, then cooperation is your only option. What shall it be?"
"Very well, Creator. I will concede this point, per the previous scenario."
"I want answers." Cephaus calmly demanded.
"Ask."
"Who did this? Who would contain the Flood in the very weapon designed to kill them?"
"Why, the Architect would." The construct answered.
"Who designed it, Monitor?"
"That information is restricted, even from me."
"What is the purpose of this installation?"
"To Study and contain the flood and in the event that the Flood would escape, to be used as a last resort."
"Has this installation been used before?"
"Yes."
"By whom?" Cephaus persisted.
"By the progeny of the Architect, I would assume. It was important to my programmer that I was not aware of their intentions. But that I was to execute them with precise exactitude."
"Then why would they harvest the Flood on a weapon that was meant to kill them? Were they working on a cure?"
"Negative. They studied containment, genetic potential and ability of the contagions to spread within a given population, during any weather restraint. Quite the opposite. They wanted the parasite to be strong, incurable.
"Were they responsible for the release of the Flood?" Cephaus asked.
"I cannot answer that question, it is not within my programming perimeters."
"Who created the Flood?" Cephaus finally asked to Construct.
"Why, the creators of this ring." The Monitor answered.
Cepahus couldn't believe what he was hearing. For him, it was unthinkable. And now, after Billions of lives had been extinguished, he was realizing that there was more to his mission than he was being told. He was shaken and distraught. Cephaus finally released the Monitor, and fell to the floor in anguish.
"In the event that you were aggressive, I was programmed to execute your termination. I can no longer do this." The monitor said calmly.
"Then perhaps you should kill me, friend?" Cephaus spoke intensely.
The Monitor hovered down to Cephaus' level. "I have calculated the likelihood of your previous proposition. And while I expect that you would become worn and tired, there is a 99.9989 probability that you would destroy this stations interior defense, and eventually, myself. In this case, I would prefer servitude rather than death."
'My programming is at your disposal, as is the programming of all seven installations and their individual monitors."
Cephaus slowly stood to his feet, hiding his intense grief for a moment.
"From henceforth, you will be known as 'Shameful Anomaly', for you are an aberration of hope and because I have been forever deceived. Your fellow constructs will follow suit with these orders."
"And what is your command, Creator?"