A/N: The following chapter has been edited by Zoggeriffic. I appreciate his support and interest in the project and I'm grateful for that.


Chapter 7
March 16, 3240, 0540 hours
The Valley, Forerunner Station
Kepler-20 System

They broke camp at first light. Within moments, the expedition had gathered their supplies; recently augmented from the civilians'. Their next goal was the largest and most identifiable landmark in the valley; central island. The most likely destination of the scientific team.

In the mistiness of the artificial dawn, the party made their way back to the central stone path. Though the faint light from the floating blue orbs provided a source of illumination, the narrow path wasn't as clear as it was when they had entered the terrarium. They had to watch each step along the treacherous path which at times devolved into narrow catwalks, forcing them to move single file down the track as it hugged the rolling hills.

Sally looked about, amazed at the lush greenery about her and speculated the stations' landscaping protocols had activated overnight although she immediately discounted it given how natural it looked. On the tall amber grass, drops of dew concentrated, slowly rolling down when the globs of liquid grew fat and leaving glistening trails that refracted the light like prisms.

Nobody said a word as they walked, and to break up the monotony of the march; Sally occasionally drew sips from a can of cola taken from the rations of the camp. A caffeinated beverage that simultaneously energized like a sports drink while sending caffeine coursing through her veins; a favorite among special forces. She grinned at the can, noting how Coke had survived just about everything time and the universe threw at it.

Though there had been even more supplies ranging from raw coffee beans and cartridges among the civilian camp's supplies, the party unanimously agreed to leave them all behind. They did however take single-meal packages to replace the ones that had been expended the night before so that their weight was the same whence they came.

Upon finding a suitably flat area, Sally had the team take a well-deserved breather.

As she settled down onto the lush green grass, Sally lamented a distinct lack of portable showers or toilet units. She ran a hand over grungy fur, sipped on her drink and grimaced at how sugary it tasted. After getting back in a daily routine of washing, bathing, and subsequent grooming, getting back into the field where the prospect of a warm shower on-mission was rare rubbed her the wrong way. She reminded herself that in her younger days she had regularly been in these situations and had to improvise when out and about. This meant living with body odor, washing in rivers, and relieving herself wherever it was convenient.

She drew another draw-out sip from the pack and felt rather self-conscious when she realized she needed to ration out their remaining supplies. Furthermore, ingesting any more caffeine would likely throw off her internal biological clock which would need time to adjust to the convincing artificial sunlight. The disk of light that mocked the star just outside of this hardened hull appeared to be out on the horizon, perhaps only a little larger than Aurora on the horizon of the great West Sea. She could swear she could feel the actual heat from it as if it were a real star and for a moment forgot where she was; every second here was an adventure unlike the rest.

There was a loud hum in the air. A lone sentinel emerged over the hills down towards the middle of the valley. Sally watched warily as the lone sentinel was joined by several more of its mechanical compatriots and the steady soothing hum morphed into a far more

"Man a lot more of those guys today." Roberts said. "What's eating them?"

Sally shrugged. "Who knows what's running in that hardware of theirs. Can you tell us what they're saying to each other, NICOLE?"

"Their coding language is one I haven't seen before. I suppose that it's a completely different coding lexicon than the Sentinels I've seen on Installation 05. Must have been written just for this facility."

"Here's what I don't understand." Kanow said, grunting in annoyance. "Why the hell do you go out of your way to make everyone speak another language on just one station: The writing is in a different language, the drone coding is in a different language. Why?"

"Secrecy would be my number one guess, Captain." NICOLE responded. "Limit what your enemy knows about a location. If you can't read or speak the language, that makes intercepting messages much more difficult."

"And... uh, what enemies would that be?" Roberts piped in.

"Well, they weren't many who could challenge the Forerunners but they were a few: The Flood and the First Empire. And given how the station is still here after everything," Sally noted, "I'd say that their little plan worked."

"Hey check it out." she heard Cawl say from halfway back in the column, "Is that the little guy from last night?"

Sally cocked to her side. In the nearby pine trees, she spotted movement between the branches and instantaneously recognized the squirrel. The little rodent was keeping pace with the Marines, jumping from tree to tree, chattering wildly, trying to get close. As it reached a suitable vantage, the little creature leapt over the path and onto the opposite pines. It let loose a squeak as it hung there and watched the strange creatures passing below.

"Looks like he has a crush on you." Cawl said.

The squirrel leapt and landed square on Sally's shoulder. The princess promptly let out a startled squeak but the little animal held on and kept on chattering, looking around and at her occasionally. She heard laughing behind her, but kept her pace. She pushed her helmet back up and kept walking, lips pushed together in a pout.

"Little guy smells a squirrel but doesn't see squirrel!" Vicci joked.

"Close then." Sally said tersely. "My dad's a squirrel. I'm chipmunk on my mother's side."

"How the hell does that work?" Karr asked, two positions behind the princess.

"What?"

"You're from two different animals?"

"We prefer the term genii, or even species." Sally corrected. "Genus for singular. Animal implies we aren't sapient creatures. A common thing to overlook, but we're not fans of that."

"Oh, I'm... sorry I guess."

"Don't be sorry. You didn't even know what a squirrel was until last night."

"So..."

"Yeah, I don't fully know how it works. When we interbreed, the resulting child tends to end up one way or the other but they tend to match the gender of the parent. For example my..." She swallowed nervously.

"What?" Karr asked.

"My... brother is a squirrel." she continued recovering seamlessly. "So I'm female, I ended up like my mom, and my brother ended up like my dad."

She didn't feel quite as uncomfortable talking about Elias now on the other hand, even though he was even today still lost, probably somewhere in space. Sally had a sneaking suspicion that if he was gone this long, maybe he didn't want to be found. He was still alive though; that she was sure of beyond a shadow of a doubt. She loved her brother dearly and wanted so badly to tell him he had become an uncle.

"So... what happens if a Human... you know..."

"It's probably more complicated." Sally admitted.

The little squirrel hung on as they walked deeper into the valley. Above, the sun shone brightly bathing the travellers with pastels of orange. The air was filled with birdsong as the countless avians native to multiple worlds sang out. Several of them flew over the heads of the expedition letting loose a loud and obnoxious squawk as they did so. Twice, they found themselves crossing over light-bridges which spanned the embankment of the river.

One such bridge took them right next to a waterfall which was nestled in a copse of alien trees that grew as straight as a pole with fuzzy clumps of cotton-like leaves.. It was the oddest collections of plants that she had seen, but even these were somewhat comforting. There was nothing here that seemed overly alien, and that pleased her.

Forerunners, Humans, and Mobians too it seemed shared a certain sense of aesthetics. Sometimes, Sally wondered how Humans could stand living on worlds orbiting red stars where the grass, trees, and leaves came in shades of black, red, and brown. Green was the best color there was for a plant, no question.

"Where's your home, little guy?" she whispered "You're a long way off from where we found you." The creature didn't respond, but it did scratch itself with its hind leg, eyes closing in satisfaction. "To think, my people came from little things like you. It must be wonderful not having a care in the world. Bet all you care about when you wake up is 'nuts'. Hope you don't have a little squirrel lady waiting for you."

As the group walked, the trees gave way to a series of Forerunner structures set at strange geometric angles and their hard glass-like material shimmered in the light. Within these self-contained terrariums were exotic-looking plants kept in neat rows. Machinery within these long and beveled greenhouses held containers of unknown gasses or liquids, spraying them every now and again. Though it looked fragile, Sally knew these structures were built to last. Sally marvelled at the sight. The Forerunners were creative engineers but Sally knew the principles of construction were age-old. There must have been massive external ribbing she reasoned and a quick examination seemed to lend support to her hypothesis. At one end of the greenhouse, a sloping tower extended into the air, blinking red every now and again.

As they passed into a clearing, once more crossing the river, dozens more greenhouses appeared, clustered in twos or threes. Perhaps these carefully curated plants grew in entirely alien environments. That was of exceptional interest to her mind.

She glanced behind her. Though she could see everyone in the column, her focus was further back. The valley sloped back up towards the horizon, so that they were closer into the middle of this massive bowl that only the day before they had been standing at the very top of. The river they had crossed over several times climbed back up the edge of the valley and the dozens of waterfalls provided a rough guestimate of the distance they had travelled.

She tried to spot the campsite, but it was impossible. The thick trees, constantly changing elevation, and the distance made it far too difficult. Up above, the columns she had seen looked to be directly overhead. Streams of Forerunner drones crossed in and out of the superstructure.

The clouds above were thick and fluffy, much like any other pleasant day, and at the top of the terrarium, two kilometers above if not more, seemed to fake a far more distant surface.

They must have travelled at least another hour.

They weren't moving in a straight line which meant that the time it took to reach the middle was longer than the hour and a half that was estimated. It was a simple calculation really: travel time was measured by distance divided by velocity. They were moving at just under five-kilometers per hour; It was a roughly twenty-kilometer diameter, ten in radius, which meant that this walk should only take an hour and thirty minutes. However, with the rough terrain that number increased quickly.

It was apparent the river was too wide to traverse except by bridge. It seemed remarkably deep, though its crystal clear surface made it seem much shallower.

At this distance, the middle structure seemed to grow larger and larger to at least a hundred meters or more into the sky. The simple and smooth surface had become far more crenulated and detailed. Smaller structures and spires jutted from each tier like teeth on a jawbone, creating a metallic version of the hanging gardens. However, unlike the ancient structures of Babylon, this was far more alien than anything else she had seen

The support beams she had seen from the camp proved just as massive as the superstructure before her. It spanning almost a kilometer from the central structure and on thee close-up she saw there were pipes and survey equipment built into the struts along with many others she couldn't fathom. Some of the sub-support structures dipped into the water and more of them jutted into the side of the mountains. Yet, for all its complexity the construction blended seamlessly with the environ. If she wasn't looking for it, she wouldn't have seen them. As she examined the structure, tunnels and access corridors began to become visible closer to the Forerunner building.

Sentinels floated in and out from these tunnels and dotted among them were swarms of c-shaped drones NICOLE called 'Constructors' were flitting about, searching for things to repair.

The sounds of wildlife were far greater here, approaching levels that she had heard in the rainforests of Southamer. It seemed that this was a nexus of activity and that many animals settled down here, possibly because of the flowering plants and fruit-bearing trees that grew in incredible abundance near the shores of the vast lake which stretched on for miles.

"Is this your home, little guy?" Sally asked, gesturing to the trees. She could hear the tell-tale sound of barking squirrels, males looking for mates to be precise. These sounds meant very little to Sally, who preferred dinner and dancing. The squirrel on her shoulder began to whip his tail, and began to grumble, possibly sensing that there were females in the area. "Why don't you get off here?"

She stepped close to one of the squat and fat trees. The rodent on her shoulder gauged the distance, made a few hesitant moves, and then launched itself from her shoulder to the tree branch, catching it with ease and hanging there, barking a response to the other males in the area and throwing his hat into the ring.

"What happened? You didn't get his number?" Kanow asked.

"Nah, I'm not his type. Little guy probably has more luck with one of the ladies around here." Sally grinned, leaving the animal in its new home amid the trees. "Funny how far he wanted to tag along."

The trail came to an end at the edge of the lake where the singular path became a ring that Sally guessed formed a perimeter around the lake, which made this massive indeed. Wedge shaped platforms stretched out over the lake edge, forming what looked like observation areas for the Forerunners who lived here to simply go out and enjoy the scenery. Far off in the distance, a waterfall thundered into the lake, the roar of which was audible even at this distance.

The positioning of the whole thing brought to mind a castle and a moat. Sally was immediately reminded of home. Though Castle Acorn did not have a moat, it was positioned on a raised piece of land; a tall hill that allowed the battlements to have open sightlines for several miles. Sometime in the ancient past, the area had been leveled. It had served them well during the Siege of Castle Acorn during the Great War. Some would argue that it was there the war ended.

This structure was many more times magnificent than the castle she called home - glistening panels made of glass that looked wrought from pure starlight, twisting and fascinating geometry that danced in sections touched by the sun, and an infinite complexity within the engravings that she now were apparent even from afar. It appeared like a fantastical mountain raised in the middle of a dense forest, so startlingly different from the colored grass that surrounded it for miles and miles.

The only thing that was missing, Sally mused, was a drawbridge. That was, until she came across a large ramp, easily the size of a three lane highway. Metal gave way to something that could only be described as glass, inscribed with ancient characters of this ancient unknown language.

"Can you run a translation, NICOLE?"

"Yes!" the AI said. "Yes I can! Sally, this is written in Eigon! This is the language of the Lifeworkers... well, one of them anyway. This line of text covers the better part of a kilometer, but I'll do my best, and I'll try to contextualize it. The line reads to the best of my knowledge, 'We are the voice that calls out in the night; we are the light that keeps hope bright. We are the hands that work without tire; it is our passion for all life that burns like a fire.'"

"Cute." Kanow said. "Like a mission statement."

"That's almost exactly what I think it is, Captain." NICOLE chimed in. "That way those who worked here could see exactly what was expected of them. I'm also seeing other lines of text. These are also written in Eigon. These are all names. Names of Lifeworkers who were here. The deferential tone says that they were all of high stature. Oh this is interesting..."

"What?" Karr asked.

"Forerunners are a highly stratified society that maintained very rigid rules among their castes down to their gene-tailoring themselves to their job."

"Oh like Krypton then. Umm...Superman? Does any of that ring a bell?" Captain Karr replied

"Yes, Captain, it's a little like Krypton but rather than debate fictional universes let's try to stay focused on the situation at hand. The names in the registers an follow different conventions. Some of them are unmistakably Lifeworker."

"What do you mean?" the J&L Agent asked.

"While names like this one right here... ah, 'Urges-Saplings-to-Full-Radiance', come on, that's an environmentalist name if ever there was one."

"So that's... a Lifeworker?"

"Yes." the AI concluded. "Names that have emphasis on nature, organic processes, or even inorganic processes that are... anthropomorphized in some way. Here's another one: 'Warden-of-Life-Bringing-Comets'."

"Bet that guy was beat up in school. Who names their kid 'Warden'?" Cawl asked.

"But some of these... some of these are very different indeed. Sal, what do you make of this one: Master-of-a-Thousand-Marshaled-Strikes."

"Violent." Sally said. "Energetic. Very masculine sounding. That means Warrior-Servant."

"Bingo."

"So they did have a security complement." Kanow said, catching up to Sally as they walked further and further.

Around them, the sidewalls rose higher and higher. The view of the water came from gigantic transparent trapezoidal panels that rose with the angle of the structural siding until it was several hundred feet tall. It was staggering to see that something as simple as a bridge could be so mesmerizing. At any moment, Sally wondered if the bridge would just vanish and they'd plummet what looked like a hundred feet or so into the water below.

Her fears proved unfounded however as her boots touched terra firma on the central island. The grass here was as lush as the mainland, though was more vibrant, almost yellow. This must have meant that this was extremely fertile land. Trees and shrubs were likewise noticeably fuller and seemed to be more endowed with fruit, pines, and flowers. Something that appeared to be a meditation garden was off and to the left of where they were. Sally's compass pegged this as Southwest, probably using Kepler-20 as a reference point. Rows of waterfalls trickling into tiers below them made it seem so peaceful. Perhaps there was a way down on the inside.

The door before them was massive, almost twenty feet tall, lending credence to the theory that sometime in its distant past the station once held a complement of towering Warrior-Servants. The expedition marveled at the sight of such incredible environs so carefully manicured to appeal to the tastes of the Lifeworkers, but was practical enough at times to satisfy the militaristic image the warriors preferred to project. The frame of the gigantic portal was elegant and curved in places, though the door itself was harsh and angular, seeking to incorporate the practical nature of the military caste.

In a way, the Forerunners were a lot like Mobians, though even this was stretching such a reasoning. There were different types of people all working together in a society marching towards a greater good. Though she had to remind herself that given what she had heard of their physical forms, they weren't too far a shot from Humanity either. She had always wondered if that was simply convergent evolution, or outside meddling.

Standing in front of the door, was a pile of familiar-looking boxes with numbers and Latin lettering on them. Sally sprinted forward, looking among them. So they had headed in this direction. Why wouldn't they? There was simply something that commanded respect and admiration about this place. As she looked about, she heard in the distance animals calling out, including that strange layered call again. She was disappointed that they hadn't seen what had caused it when they had come this way.

"Obviously nobody here." Taylor said.

Sally nodded towards Roberts. "Go check out the set on the other side, near those lights. Vicci, go with him."

The team split in two and went over the equipment and supplies. They were all in perfect order and there seemed practically pristine. Packs were still sealed, cans were unopened but stranger still was not a single handgun among them. Where the hell had they gotten off to?

"Negative on backpacks or rucks." Kanow reported.

"Found something!" Karr called out, coming forward with another data pad; ragged and scratched. It had clearly seen better days, but was otherwise be in perfect working order. Karr quickly identified it as belonging to a scientist named Donner, who was a geologist working with the site research staff.

"Guy's a real ball-breaker. Bastard's got a pole shoved so far up his ass he's like rotisserie chicken." he said.

"Charming." NICOLE muttered.

"So they don't have squirrels where you're from, but they have chicken?" Roberts cut in.

"If he's as bad as Kostinger was... he'll have everything right where it's supposed to be..." the security agent said. "Ah, got it." he smirked before turning the screen sideways to display the video screen which unlike the video made by Brynjolfsson, was cracked. "Yeah, that's him."

The video began to play:

"There's nothing like it. There's nothing like it in the world!" Donner said, his dark eyes wide open with anticipation. "It's probably the most complex arrangement of sound I've heard. What's making that noise? What's making such... music? Alto, then allegro! Smooth, and stacked on top of one another!" the man raised his hand in increments. "Like... layers of rock. One on top of the other. You see something more wonderful underneath..."

Karr's sly and self-satisfied grin began to fade.

"Dude they're just rocks." Taylor said.

"Shut up!" Kanow hissed.

"Listen! They're starting again!" Donner looked towards the giant door. "The concert is beginning again! Kostinger! Kos! Listen! Listen to it!"

The Mobians' pinnae swiveled to the source of the music. Hearing it in its entirety was a hauntingly beautiful experience. They all felt enraptured as if cushioned by a great warmth.

"Wow." Kanow breathed, almost too low to be heard.

"Inside." Donner said. "That's where the Doctor went. That's where they all went. That's where we know we have to go. We have-."

The screen fizzled, cracked, and soon white noise erupted, snapping everyone back into reality. Wordlessly, they turned around to regard the door, still standing there, impassive.

Sally reached up and touched her COM set.

"UNSC AI Aida, this is rescue element." she intoned. "AI Aida, do you read me?"

Silence. The trickling of water and the singing of birds Before anyone could speak, could dissuade her from further conversation, the radio crackled to life. Static filtered through everyone's headsets, but nestled between those bursts of white noise were what Sally could swear were words.

"Aida! AI Aida, say again! This is AI NICOLE! Registration code NCL-3235-1! Please respond!"

Crackling of static. More, until it seemed to filter out, as if the voice on the other side had beaten the interference.

"Where are you?!" it asked, shrill, almost scared. NICOLE noted that the voice did not identify itself.

"Just outside." Sally's AI responded. "There's a large door in the way. Can you open it?"

"I don't... power to open it myself. I... your..."

"Aida, just tell us what to do." Sally said.

"I can raise a control panel!" Aida responded quickly, as if to beat the white noise that followed. "Security systems have eng... need a second operator!"

Close to the door, a holopanel began to assemble itself. A frame slid up from the floor, and with a flash of cyan light, the panel itself, crafted from hard light. Sally jogged to it and desperately looked for a way to connect with it.

"Find a way to jack in! Slip entirely into the system if you have to!"

"I may have to!" she cried, desperately searching for a compatible port or anything that was throwing out an IR signature. "I found something! I'm going to keep a portion of my runtime active on the handheld! Otherwise I'm going to be inside this facility's network!"

"Guys...?" Roberts said.

"What!?" Sally exclaimed, whipping around. The instant she did, her mouth dropped. Nearly a hundred Sentinels had swarmed behind them, escalating into columns and rows. Red lights created what looked like a fence of the Forerunner constructs. She heard the chattering of hundreds of claws and the combined overlaying whine of their main drives. They were watching them, waiting for them to make a move.

"NICOLE, hurry up!" Sally squeaked.

"Aida, I'm in the network! I need you to confirm you're ready to open the doors! I need to do this fast!"

"C-C-Confirmed!" Aida cried out, her voice breaking off at the end.

"Open the goddamned doors!" Karr burst out.

Thumps, and clicks boomed across the bridge. The massive door began to split itself apart and pull away. A burst of air escaped the hallway beyond, throwing the Sentinels back and knocking the Marines off balance. Darkness lay beyond, but their way was clear.

"Move!" Sally cried.

"Everyone else get behind me!" Kanow roared. "Two man columns form up and reverse! Weapons up!"

Sally ran in first, taking cover near one of the supports of the great gate. "NICOLE!" she screamed.

"Almost got it... Just looking for the settings..."

Three of the Sentinels began to approach, blaring their warning and projecting the glyph once more, only that klaxon had increased in pitch and desperation. Seeing them move back, the glyph had changed to another one altogether. The klaxon becoming a scream. The Sentinels locked up their limbs, extended glistening metal spines in what was clearly a show of aggression, and advanced.

"Open fire!" Kanow ordered.

For the first time in its operational history, the rolling hills of the station heard the drum-like thump of automatic discharge. The two columns of marines supported each other via fields of overlapping fire. bullets slammed off of the Sentinels' body structure, ricocheting into the bridge supports and into the air.

Karr was less disciplined than the Marines, and unloaded his Krinkov onto the wall of Forerunner drones,

They all continued to move back at a quick pace, though the Sentinels were not deterred. Blue flame erupted from a few of them and their numbers fell to the ground, sputtering and crashing as they overloaded on impact. The spell was broken, and now lances of crimson fire extended across the space, splashing across Kanow's armor.

"Captain!" Vicci cried out.

The Helljumper's shields activated, flaring bright yellow as they absorbed the energy discharge. "I'm fine! Go! Move! Keep shooting! Reload if you have to!

Magazines dropped from their guns, clattering to the metal ground as they crossed the threshold, making for more viable cover. Some of the Sentinels switched targets, looking towards the unshielded Marines.

Sally leaned over her cover and sighted her weapon, flipping to single-shots to conserve munitions. Muffled pops rang out and she felt the familiar thump of the stock against her shoulder as each high-powered round rang out.

The simplistic attack patterns of the drones allowed Sally to anticipate their movements with ease. As the drones floated within effective firing ranges Sally and the rest of the marines unloaded on the exposed portions of their bodies to her aim. Quick pulls of the trigger sent three-oh-eight caliber shots onto their marks. Under the withering barrage of accurate fire, the lead sentinels were torn to shreds. Their thrusters letting loose a soft whine before dropping from the sky like birds downed by a hunter's sling.

Sally counted a half-dozen downed before her magazine ran dry. With a smooth practiced motions, she ejected the mag and slapped a new one in, depressing the bolt catch with her thumb to send the weapon into battery. She was about to shoot again before she saw the eyes of the Sentinels warming from red to orange. She cursed and ducked behind the door frame, just as the lances met with the Forerunner metal.

Kanow's shield glowed brighter and brighter with each landed hit. A shrill alarm sounded in his headset as the barrier was brought to its breaking point. The ODST couldn't protect the men behind him for much longer.

"Go!" he shouted. "Find cover!"

The Helljumper opened up on the Sentinels with a fresh magazine from one of his pouches. He scored two more kills before the barrage of energy on his suit was too much. The shield broke with a flash of light and energy, dissipating into a flurry of sparks as the generator attempted a recharge. A deep staccato alarm sounded in his helmet.

Kanow, knowing he was in extreme danger, ran as fast as he could. He turned his back on the Sentinels, a bad move. When he felt the heat slowly build up on his back, he knew that he was dead. Still he moved as the beams continued to slowly bake him. It would only be a matter of seconds before it would burn though the ceramics and protective layers meant to keep this sort of heat out. Still, it was no good. A third alarm began to sound, screaming that his suit was dangerously close to being breached. His breath came hard and fogged his helmet. He realized that he wasn't prepared to die. This was not supposed to happen.

A sound resembling both a tear and a pop filled their ears. Kanow closed his eyes, not sure what to expect, only to open them after a few moments. He turned to see that the door that they had just come through was covered with a luminescent shield, flowing almost like a sheet of liquid light over the threshold. The Sentinels, stuck on the opposite side, gave the shield a few useless bursts of their beams, then flew away, losing interest.

"Shane!" Sally said, getting to her feet and jogging over. "Are you alright?"

"I don't think so." the ODST gasped. His eyes swept over his smoking armour and shifted slightly before letting loose a pained grunt. He rolled his shoulders and gritted his teeth. He tore his helmet off to get some air. Sally saw his forehead was drenched with sweat.

Her ears ducked back in her helmet, clearly concerned. "What happened?"

"To the Sentinels or the shield?" NICOLE asked.

"The shield first." Kanow said, finding a wall ascent to sit down on, gently breathing. Vicci came running over upon seeing his condition. "What happened with that?" he asked.

"When Sally inserted me into the system, I was able to find the controls to seal off this area. I could have closed the doors, but we didn't have time. So I used the emergency measures when life support fails to seal off the area with hard light. You're welcome by the way."

"Now what about the Sentinels?" Cawl asked as he pried off his helmet to rub his scalp. "We pissed them off?"

"We obviously entered a restricted area. They fired on us as part of their security protocols."

"Shoot first, ask questions later." The Canid sergeant said in a low voice.

"Sentinels don't apprehend, Sergeant Cawl. That would have been the job of the Warrior-Servants."

"And they're not here..." Sally said. "So we skip the trial and go straight to the execution.

She brought her weapon back up and checked her ammunition.

"Half a mag..." Sally cursed as she reinserted the magazine into the well. Her ears peaked and her eyes opened. She checked the floor. The area around them was scattered with shells from their rifles. She looked around to make certain that she was right about this. The only sign of battle was from their own weapons.

"What's wrong?" Kanow call out from where he sat. Vicci had removed some of his armor and was treating the area where he was hit with a nutrient-rich salve. "What are you looking for?"

"Captain, the scientists weren't killed by the Sentinels. Every shell here is from one of our rifles." she announced. "They made it deeper into the facility."

"Do you know that or is that a guess?" the ODST asked.

"I'd like to see you provide another explanation. There's no sign they were attacked at this gate."

He had none, but pressed his lips together, letting the Corpsman continue the administration of medicine.

"OK, this is going to take..." Vicci glanced at the can, "...maybe fifteen minutes to kick in. You're going to feel some numbness for the next twelve hours in the affected area. I can't do much more for you until we get some serious medical attention."

"Aren't you a doctor?" Karr asked.

"I'm a corpsman, Mister Karr, not a doctor." Vicci corrected. "I have enough medical training to handle the typical cuts, scrapes and puncture; but nothing more. So, I can give Captain Kanow here a little spit-shining, a bandage, a slap for good luck, and a bit of hope for the best."

"Don't do that last one." Kanow groaned.

"The hope?"

Sally looked down the Forerunner-built hallway. It was dark; darker than it should have been. She flipped on her flashlight and shone it down the hall. It seemed no different from any other she had encountered. Yet, the former Freedom Fighter couldn't helped but get a bad vibe about the entire affair; a certain sixth sense that this was something far more than a housing complex. She sniffed the air. Yes, was a mysterious twinge in the air that made her pause. She scented again, but still couldn't make it out.

"Roberts, Cawl, Taylor; you guys smell anything?"

"Something." Roberts said. "Don't know what.

"Captain, stay here." she told the ODST.

"To hell with that, I'm going ahead." the man said, readjusting his armor. "Little burn isn't going to slow me down."

"Vicci?" the princess asked.

"I have no power over him." The corpsman replied.

Sally huffed but quickly "Alright. Chevron formation. Everybody on me. NICOLE, can you give us any advice on what we're going to find?"

Silence. This place was even quieter than the administration area. Here there wasn't even an echo to give the impression of size. All of their noises simply vanished into the distance.

"Just keep going forward." NICOLE said, voice a bit lower than usual. "You need to see it."

"See what?" Taylor asked.

"Door ahead of you. about fifty meters."

A NAVPOINT fell on the doorway, illuminated by Sally's flashlight beam. Their boots made patters immediately audible to them, but there was no other reverberation in the space. Not even the gently levitating accents on the side of the angled walls made any noise. They simply just hung in place, as if they were a solid piece of architecture. What could only be described as emergency lighting existed in strips that lined the hallway at foot-level, casting a slight blue hue on the floor, throwing some of the deeper carvings into relief. Above it all, positioned directly above the doorway, now only meters away, was the Eld once more - the symbol of the Mantle; the Forerunner's right to rule the galaxy.

Sally looked at this symbol with more contempt than on Delta Halo four years ago. Once, she believed it to be a symbol of wonder and mystery. Now like the it was just another symbol of the imperial peace of the Forerunners: an excuse to exercise a species' will on another. She felt great pity for the race of Humanity. So much had been taken from them, and it wasn't until now, standing in front of this massive monument to a the Forerunner's sins that she realized how much she pained for the loss of so much progress. She loved Humanity more than many Mobians did, and felt more pain than the others around her in their ignorance of just what this mark meant.

"Stack up." Sally ordered.

The team split into two columns on opposite sides of the door. Karr moved as swiftly as the others. Sally nodded as he was the point man on the other side. His Army training was coming back to him now. That was good.

"Clear door on my mark. I go in first. Alternate entry patterns."

Everyone nodded; standard search and enter protocols.

She reached in, tapped the door controls. The lights on the surface glowed green, chirped twice, and slid apart. Silently, Sally leapt forward, rifle up and filed through before the halves of the portal had fully extended. She was ready to scan her portion of the vista, but the second she brought her weapon up, her strength was sapped from her. The arms dropped, and was again struck dumb, but this time not in wonder, but in confusion, and now, a deep sense of unease.

"Oh my..." she whispered, mouth beginning to tremble.

The nearly half-mile wide room was nearly hollow. The chasm in front of her extended to the roof of the pyramid. In the middle of the gigantic space, a pillar made of complex machinery slowly turned, shooting a blue beam into a receiver at the top of it all.

She glanced down over the edge of the balcony they had emerged on, and saw to her discomfort that the space extended downwards. For what appeared to be miles upon miles; so far that the walls around them converged to a small square down below. On ever free surface around them were tanks. Small tanks and large tanks were nestled into the walls, filled with bright green and blue fluids. Even from here, Sally could make out twisted forms within the tanks. They could have been animals, though some were clearly humanoid.

A massive robotic arm emerged from a track below their position. It came up, performed a series of movements, and plucked a tank from the walls. Within was a form that she recognized. On closer inspection, she realized that the creature was a Sangheili. Unmoving and desiccated even within this pod of gel over a hundred millennia.

"This is a lab!" she said, the horror and disgust clearly audible in her voice. "They experimented on people here! This... this... place is a menagerie! A zoo!"

"Psychos!" Taylor said, a sneer forming on his face. "One minute everything's bright and sunny and the next they're cutting people open? What sons of bitches ran this place?"

Sally ground her teeth. She knew exactly who was responsible for this Mengele-esque horror show: The Librarian. This had her grubby mitts all over it. Even if NICOLE was right and the fairy queen never set foot on this station, this violation was all her doing. Her revulsion grew when she came to the realization that the corpses were preserved in some form of embalming fluid and she was very likely surrounded by ten to the hundreds of thousands of corpses. She felt wave upon wave of nausea threatening to overcome her, and it took every ounce of will to keep herself in check.

"Let's get out of here." Karr said.

Sally was half-tempted to agree, but said, "No, we're not going anywhere until we find Rosa and the others."

"I think Karr's right." Roberts said.

"That's a nice sentiment but the way back is shut." Sally exclaimed.

"Sal, there may be a way within this building." NICOLE offered.

"What exactly?"

"Maybe a manual override. A way that the terminus can be manipulated from the center of the installation; in case of an emergency."

"And what makes you think that?"

"I... don't know." Sally's mouth hung open. NICOLE always had an answer for everything.

"Look just trust me. I don't know why, but I think there's something here that can help us."

"Did Aida tell you?" Sally asked.

"What?" The AI asked, as if the question was a complete non-sequitur.

"Did Aida tell you that that would work?"

"Aida's not in here." NICOLE said.

Sally's mind reeled. "You're all alone in the system?"

"It's... lonely. There's nothing here except for the music."

"Music...?" Roberts asked in a very small voice.

The balcony lurched abruptly then in short spurts. Before anyone could make a move, they began to descend. Cries of surprise and fright sounded among the group as they tried to figure out what was going on. Kanow's shield reactivated and he tried to get everyone under control. Sally however stood at the edge of the balcony as it continued to travel lower and lower into the darkness around them. The light from above struggled to reach the lift as its journey took them into the bowels of the facility. More tanks passed them and joined the mass of green and blue lights above them.

"Hon, what do you hear?" Sally asked.

"Music." the AI said. "Music that... something's in there. Something I just can't wrap my metaphorical head around. There's something in the fractals of the song. Something hidden inside! The deeper I go into the vectors there's just another equation, another argument, another string, another multiple. The math... it's just piling up."

Sally's voice was low and full of dread. "What does the music say?"

"I don't know." NICOLE said, her voice sounding distorted, "But I know that it sounds 'right.'"

They picked up speed, moving faster and faster into the depths. Sally stood there, unsure of what to make of all this. She barely even noticed the passing tanks filled with twisted bodies of various test subjects. The freak-show of cadavers had a noted effect on the others, who cursed in streams and tried to find some cover on this platform, which offered very little in that department.

All about them was what seemed to be choir music, almost like a whale song. They struggled to locate the source, but to their fright, it appeared to originate from everywhere. It was as if the tanks themselves were the sources. Hundreds of thousands of amplifications drove the music into an arrangement that had no equal, yet the forms within these chambers were still and unmoving. They could produce no utterance, let alone something of this magnitude. The song came louder, yet smoother, permeating the very essence of those on the elevator. They staggered, yet held their own.

"What's this?" Kanow gasped

"We have to keep going!" Taylor cried out. "We're almost there!"

Sally whipped around and was about to respond until she caught the glitters of machines descending from above.

"Sentinels are back!" Vicci said, as if she was straining.

"Fire!" Sally commanded.

Sally and three other combatants formed a rear-guard and tagged the lead machines. The sentinels blared their warning - an ugly repetition of a single note that paled in comparison against the ethereal melody. Shell casings collected on the surface and one-by-one the Sentinels went down like miniature meteors into the depths, impacting the ground with a clang.

Then they were gone. The elevator had entered a sort of shaft that closed behind them. Several doors closed over the as they passed by, almost as if they were going into an airlock. The platform slowed to a halt, and with a final groan went stock-still.

The men and women of the rescue team could only breathe deeply, sweat matting their faces and staining their uniforms. Roberts dropped to the ground and sat there, weapon clacking to the alien metal beneath him. Sally went over and clapped him on the shoulder. "You did good, STAR." she said. "Way to keep your head."

Roberts, out of breath and barely able to speak, nodded in appreciation. "I... thought they were going to get us that time."

The princess changed her view to Karr, who likewise barely spoke, but took the time to knock the magazine out of his Krinkov and fasten a new one in. The sound of a charging handle being pulled and the dull thud of an unfired round hitting the ground made a few turn around.

Karr, realizing he was being watched, looked up. "What?" he asked.

Sally walked over and picked up the magazine with her left hand, realizing it was still heavy.

"Hang onto this, Captain."

"What did I do wrong?" the man asked, worry creeping into his voice.

"Nothing; you did good." Sally reassured. "But if those Sentinels get down here, we're going to need every single round we can get our hands on. That includes," she placed the mag in the pit of her right arm, reached down again, and picked up the unfired bullet, "This one."

Sally slotted the rifle cartridge back into the feed lips of the mag and handed it back to Karr, who accepted it.

"Retain ammunition you don't spend." Sally advised. "You were in the army; you've been taught this."

"Yeah." Karr nodded. "Yeah I was."

"I need you now, Captain." Sally said, making sure the security agent understood her serious tone. "Everyone fired on all cylinders." she added, looking around to those around her.

"Gonna take more than..." Cawl said, looking up the shaft, where the closed doors blocked the view to the massive drop they had come down. He pointed upwards, "...those things to stop me."

The area that the lift had stopped in was dark. It was darker than the hallway leading to the elevator. The silence that reached the Marines was deeper and more expansive if it was at all possible. Even their footsteps seemed to have been swallowed by the oppressive quiet of the whole place. Sally had read about places that were so quiet, a person could hear the processes of their own bodies, being driven half-mad by their own beating heart that thundered in their own ears. She could feel the pulse of blood in her neck, and every time she swallowed, it sounded more like a wet crack.

"Is nobody, you know, going to mention what just happened?!" Roberts suddenly burst out. "Nobody's going to say anything?!"

"Sentinels, I bet." Kanow said, not losing a beat. "Some sort of sonic weapon. Damn near worked too."

Roberts threw his free arm around in exasperation. "Captain, if those were Sentinels, they would have done that-"

"Shh!" Sally hissed sharply, hand up in a tight ball.

The chatter died away, quickly melting into that depressing quiet beyond mere silence. But it wasn't the void it was a moment ago. Up ahead, there was a noise. Slight and heaving. Sally's ears twisted around in her helmet, trying to make it out. After a moment, it became clear what it was. Sobbing.

Sally gasped and quickly made her way forward.

Kanow leapt forward and grabbed her by the loop of her backpack.

"Sergeant Major! Stop!"

Sally, shocked by the sudden backwards force, twisted around to see Kanow's face visible through his visor. "Let go of me, Captain!"

"We move as a unit!"

"That could be Rosa!"

"Doctor Lindenberg is the objective! We do not move on impulse!"

"That's a Human being, not a target!" Sally said, struggling to shake herself free. The crying grew louder, as if the voice had sensed their presence. The wails took on a tone of recognition. Its rescuers were close.

"Sally, stay together." NICOLE said simply, not giving any further insight.

The princess stopped struggling, and Kanow released her. "I'll take point." The ODST said.

"I'm squad leader." Sally pointed out.

"And I have energy shields." Kanow responded. "You want to take those odds in case those drones make it down here?" he not so subtly pointed to the warped plates on his armor.

Sally huffed and took position behind the ranking officer.

It didn't take long. The corridor beyond was cramped, only allowing a single-file formation, despite being tall enough to accommodate the Forerunners that once stalked these hallways. The wails were only punctuated by breaths in between. The cries seemed almost too smooth. There were no coughs, no swallows, or variance in the tempo, but it was so clearly a person on the other side.

Kanow looked at the men behind him and said quietly, "We breach quickly."

"We don't know what's on the other side." Sally pointed out.

"We have no choice." The ODST growled. "No light either. We're not outfitted for room clearing. Just move fast."

"Yeah." Sally nodded. "Got it?" she added, looking at those behind her, only lit by indirect glow of the flashlights. Eyes forward, she reached up and tapped Kanow's left shoulder.

"Go!" The Helljumper shouted, moving forward at a lightning pace. The door split apart at the middle, revealing another pitch black room. Beyond, the glow of floor lights said it was large and cavernous. The cries were crystal clear, and were given an echo. The team moved in, quickly spreading around the walls, weapons raised.

Just as she was about to locate the source of the sound, a horrible stench enveloped her, not apparent on entering. It was vile and rank, as if it were sitting there for millennia. She retched and gagged; her stomach threatened to upend as the miasma assaulted her every sense. The air was foul with the sweetness of rotting meat, but the familiar scent of cordite as well as something completely different that defied explanation. The rancid air she breathed in between her fits of retching was hot and wet, almost like a liquid.

She nearly lost her footing and placed her arm out for support to break her fall. Her open palm made contact with a surface to save her, but the surface began to give way under her weight. A horrible squelching noise like a boot breaking the surface of muddy ground crept up her fingers. What scared her the most was how warm it was. She squeaked and pulled back, a sucking noise following her withdrawal, as if the substance didn't want to let go. She aimed her flashlight at the wall and saw that it was not a support pillar at all, but a mass of something that slid over itself as if it were alive. Sally's mind attempted to rationalize what she was looking at, but she could only draw breath in horrified shock, and her fright deepened when she realized that the crying had stopped, and to replace it, cursing from the rest of her team as they made their own discoveries. She could hear Cawl's voice breaking as he spoke.

"What did they do here?!" the wolf cried, his voice devolving to that of a frightened child. "What... what the hell did they do here?!"

Sally heard Vicci vomit somewhere in the dark, obviously overcome by the nauseous air and... whatever this carnival of horror was. Every small step Sally took was blanketed in this substance, this rug of viscera that stretched out and about the room, stretching as far as her flashlight could make out.

"Someone find out who was making that noise!" Kanow called, shouting to mask the fear present in his voice. The ODST's jet black armor was invisible in the darkness, even from indirect lighting.

But the voice would not come back.

"UNSC!" Sally called out. "Doctors! Please respond!"

She was about to call again, but her flashlight found something tucked into the corner of the room; a twisted and gnarled mass that was motionless on the floor, blood spreading around it looking almost like a crimson snow angel. Sally approached it very slowly. Her vitals showed her heart rate had doubled, and her fur had begun to mat with sweat. Her knees were weak, and her breath was explosive, all the while the void around her threatened to crush her with its sheer oppressiveness and breadth.

The smell was even worse, and with a supreme effort fought her gag reflex, winning only barely.

Somewhere in the back, she could hear someone slip and fall, thumping on the floor and shrieking both in disgust and anxiety.

"Who's that?!" Kanow asked. "Are you OK?"

"It's me, goddammit!" Karr said miserably. "Aw Jesus Christ I fell in it! I fell in it, man! I... oh man, oh man, there's shells here."

Sally didn't turn to look. She was enticed by this thing in the corner on almost a subconscious level. Her ears twitched, as if picking up a signal she couldn't quite fight.

"Are you sure?" Cawl said coming over to where Karr must have been. "Oh yeah. Look at these. They're everywhere."

"Are those from our missing handguns?"

"Twelve-sevens." Taylor reported. "There must be hundreds of them!"

Sally came even closer, her heart-rate peaking as she came up to the mass on the ground. Her weapon jittering about. The thing on the ground was in the rough shape of a humanoid creature, but it was wrong. Its body was twisted, covered in growths, and gaping wounds revealed bones and organs beneath, bloated and seeping fluid onto the ground. She looked at one hand and saw that it was slender and fair amid this mess. On its finger as was a ring. Her mouth went slack and blood drained from her face. Her eyes went wide at once.

"NICOLE, what is this?" she demanded, her voice sounding miles away. With her free hand, she reached down to grab the thing's shoulder.

"Got a body!" Cawl reported, running off somewhere that Sally couldn't see. "Looks... oh God!" He trailed off, his voice devolving into coughs and hacking of disgust and revulsion.

"NICOLE?" Sally asked again, her fingers closing around the shoulder, bony looking protrusions greeting her gloves.

"You already know what it is." She heard the AI respond. "It's what brought you here."

With a sudden jerk, she pulled the thing over, letting it face towards the dark roof. She stared, mouth trying to form words. Rosa. It was Rosa.

Lindenberg's face had ballooned, and was a sick shade of purple in green. One of the eyes was missing, and her skull had deformed in places. Her nose was broken, mouth a wide gap with jagged teeth lining it, but among it all were her glasses more or less intact. The remaining eye was a jaundiced yellow with a pupil wide and unresponsive.

Sally's eyes wandered down the dead woman's body, her coat a collection of ruined threads barely hanging over her frame. Her chest was split down the middle with her ribcage open to the air. Nestled in the remains of the heart and lungs was a patch of fuzzy material that projected long bristled tendrils into the air that began to twitch very slightly.

Sally choked on a scream, and tears powered by a fear greater than she had ever known in her life dropped like rain.

"Run."

But her body wouldn't obey. She was rooted to the spot and couldn't even so much as blink. She couldn't force any part of her body to move.

The corpse sat up and turned its head, looking with its dead eye at Sally, and began to cry.