The Library
After spending what felt like hours within the structure filled with the parasites, entering the sordid, soaking wet swamp felt like a glorious reprieve. The Marines couldn't hide the look of relief on their faces, and I'm sure that had Chief and I not had helmets on, we'd have had the same look on our faces. It was, in a word, paralyzing to see what used to be humans, hell even the Covenant turned to something so disgusting and grotesque. I hoped to hell I'd never see them anymore. Considering my strings of bad and good luck, I probably would meet them again.
Chief opened a link to Foehammer, hoping she'd be able to pick us up.
"Foehammer, its Chief, we need a pickup, we got a squad of 5 Marines as well."
"Allright Chief, I'm on my way. Did you find Keyes?" Foehammer asked.
"Keyes is missing, and he may be KIA. We don't know." Chief answered, a tone of solemnity in his voice.
"I'm sorry to hear that. There's a large tower above the fog and foliage some hundred meters from your position, if you get your way up there, I can move in and get you."
"Affirmative, thanks Foehammer." Chief ended the connection.
"Will, you get that?" Chief turned to me.
"Every word. Marines! Follow the Chief and I to the tower over there, we'll get you boys back." I turned to the Marines, who livened up when they heard the prospect of getting away from here. They forged ahead, despite our warnings to slow down and be careful. I sighed, but understood their eagerness to get back to base. The top of the tower covered in mist, I looked for an opening. Suddenly, I heard one of the Marines yell," Contact! Left side! Left side!" Then the sound of a SAW emptying its magazine at full auto was heard. Red dots appeared, the small pods came out of the mist like monsters in a fairy tale, and Chief and I came immediately to the realization that any hope of containing the creatures underground had been lost. We needed to warn Alpha Base, and get the hell out.
Keeping calm, we fired short bursts from our Rifles, popping most of the pods before they got to us. I turned to face a combat form wielding a plasma pistol, but it chose not to use it, throwing itself forward. One hand-wielding the shotgun, I pressed the barrel on its 'chest'. Cracking open like a flower, it exploded into pieces.
We continued suppressing the small pod forms, and static began washing over the speakers within our helmets. Our communications gear tried to clear the buzz, but to no avail. It probably was Foehammer, but there was no way to be sure. The flooding wave of the parasites suddenly turned off like a switch had been hit. And we all got time to catch our collective breaths. Seven exotic cylinder-like machines drifted from the fog to float over where we were holding out. One leatherneck raised his weapon before Chief raised a cautionary hand. "One sec, let's see if they're friend or foe before we actually open fire, don't want to make more enemies here."
What happened next was like a gift from the heavens. The machine shot a laser, or a beam of energy. Whatever it was, it smacked into a sneaking hostile combat form, burning it to a crisp. The other combat forms looked up, and tried to return fire, but they were soon put out of action by our apparent newfound allies.
We continued opening fire, but they just kept coming. A marine in our squad ran out of ammo for his SAW, and swapped to his pistol. I ran over to him but a stray plasma bolt hit him right between the shoulder blades. His armor smoking, he crumpled to the ground. I turned quickly to the right and caught the culprit, tagging him and smoking the bastard with a burst from my Assault Rifle. I put a couple more rounds into its 'dead' body. It wouldn't save that man, but it felt good doing it. I turned back, and saw the Marine choking blood, and pale. He looked at me, and laughed. Grasping my armored hand, he looked into my faceplate. "We both know I'm not going to make it. Take my dog-tags, and give this letter to my wife and kids." He said it, without a second of hesitation or fear, and he simply closed his eyes. I kneeled there for a second, amidst the gunfire, and choked screams of the Marines when they saw him lying there. I didn't know what I was supposed to do.
Chief had managed to repel the infections for the time being, and he turned towards us, noticing the dead Marine.
"I'm sorry, but you need to honor his memory. Get off this ring, and survive. That's what he'd have wanted." He said to the remaining Marines, who nodded, and wiped the smallest inklings of tears from their eyes. Chief looked at me, and nodded. He'd been through this before. I grabbed his letter, and his dog tags, storing them safely. Another dead hero.
The tower in full view, we climbed up the supporting struts, exchanging fire with the infection as they crawled upwards, trying to pull us down. One grabbed on to my leg, and I tried to shake him off, but the thing had a superhuman grip. However, it suddenly released, falling off with holes in its side. A marine held a pistol in one hand, and saluted with the other. We continued our climb upwards till we reached the top. It was like a plateau, with intersecting fields of fire, and a good view over the fog. Hopefully this would hold the parasites off. I tried my radio again, but got only static. Chief was doing the same, till we heard something behind us. Not the deathly groan of the infection, or the bang of an Assault Rifle, but humming.
We both turned, weapons drawn, to come face to face with yet another machine. Unlike the wing-like cylinder things, which had come to our aid minutes before, this was spherical, like a ball. Its inside was glowing, and it had a singular eye. It had a cheerful attitude as it spoke to us.
"Greetings! I am 343 Guilty Spark, the monitor of installation 04; I see someone has released the flood. I require your assistance for immediate containment."
Clearly some kind of forerunner construct from its design, and the fact that it carried the same silver paint job all the other structures had only served to help my hypothesis. Above the diminutive machine, was Foehammer's Pelican getting closer.
Chief tried to sound friendly, as he asked. "Wait, those things, are called flood? Is that what you're talking about?"
"Of course Reclaimers, come with me" the little thing replied in its cheery voice, with a hint of confusion infused.
We both thought the same thing, 'Reclaimer'? I was about to ask whether he meant me, when white rings of light pulsated around us, then exploded in a blinding light.
I felt like a puzzle piece getting reassembled back together, as I came to my senses, but I had no idea where I was. A quick look around told me several things. Chief was with me, not a bad sign, we were in a dark, brooding structure, a bad sign, and the goddamn machine which got us here was humming over us, glowing a shimmering bright blue. I felt like I was going to puke, and thanked the eggheads at R&D for creating a waste disposal system from within the helmet. Chief looked to be in the same state, and after both of us had gotten somewhat reoriented, He raised his Assault Rifle, about to fire at Guilty Spark. I pushed the weapon down, and told him to relax. He clearly wasn't a threat, but it was time to ask questions. Chief looked at me for a second, in slight annoyance, then calmed down. Truth be told I was mad too, but it wouldn't really help.
"Uh, sparky? Why the hell didn't you tell us you were going to use teleportation to bring us here, and where the hell are we?" I said, annoyed.
"This installation was specifically built to study and contain the Flood," The little machine answered patiently." Their survival as a race was dependent on it. I am glad to see some of them managed to reproduce."
Chief demanded," Wait, 'survive'? 'Reproduce'? What the hell are you talking about?"
Guilty Spark ignored the question, saying," We must collect the Index, time is of the essence. Please follow me Reclaimers. In the midst of the darkness, the light blue orb zoomed away. We both had no choice but to follow. Checking our mags, we both still had an ample amount of ammo. Chief looked back upwards to Spark," Speaking of you, what are you, and what's your function?"
"I am 343 Guilty Spark," The orb replied, tiredly. "I am the Monitor, or more precisely, a self-repairing artificial intelligence charged with maintaining and operating this facility. Both of you being Reclaimers, you should already know that."
We both had no idea, but it did seem prudent to play along at the time, so we did. I replied to Guilty Spark," Yes, I do know as the Reclaimer of course! But refresh my memory please… how long has it been since you were left in charge?" I heard Chief chuckle softly from his helmet. Guilty Spark didn't hear as he replied," Exactly 101,217 local years, 10 months, 9 days, 8 hours, 3 minutes, and 50 seconds and counting," The monitor cheerfully replied," many of which were rather, and quite boring. But not anymore! Hee, hee, hee!"
We both stopped in our tracks, taken aback by the giggle from the Monitor. I looked at Chief, whispering." Did the sentient machine just giggle?"
"Yeah, I think so. AI's do develop certain quirks, I mean look at Cortana, and she's a bit odd as well. They will get personalities you know." Chief whispered back.
"This guy has been here for a hundred thousand years Chief! Its quite possible this little guy," I flicked a finger unnoticeably towards Guilty Spark." Is slightly insane."
"You know what, I don't think we have a choice at this point, this guys our only chance to get out of here."
"You want to trust an insane AI be my guest, but I'm taking what this guy says with a grain of salt…"
While we continued our little conversation about insane AI's and trust issues, the Monitor chattered on about 'repairs to substation 9' and other forms of things that I could never dream of understanding.
His dialogue was interrupted, as a bunch of infection, wait, and 'Flood' combat forms rushed out from the surrounding blackness. We both stopped talking immediately, and found ourselves fighting for our lives yet again. I rolled a grenade and fell back, watching as the Flood ran in front; only to be blew apart immediately. The stragglers we finished off with Shotguns.
Like water turned off a tap, the flow of the Flood stopped quickly. I reloaded my weapons, as the Monitor above us continued humming, whistling, and giggling." No time to dawdle Reclaimers! Work must be done!"
Sighing, I asked," What kind of work?" as I reloaded, popping my last shotgun shell into the chamber and we hurried to follow.
Stopping in mid air, Guilty Spark replied," This, Reclaimers, would be the library, and the energy field above us contains the index, please follow me."
I was about to ask what the 'Index' was, before a combat form; an Elite to be exact lurched out from an above alcove, opening fire. Too far away for my shotgun, I swapped to my Assault Rifle, allowing my shields to absorb the shots. I took off both of its legs, thinking to myself," That should slow you down." As I turned towards the horde, Chief was already facing them, throwing a plasma grenade, the resulting detonation killing half of them. I helped him take out the stranglers, until I was pulled to the floor. Hitting the ground, I turned and saw that the legless combat form was waddling at me. I blew its head off this time, and then strafed backwards to avoid a walking carrier form, which Chief killed. The resulting explosion caused us to spend around 10 seconds popping pods.
The monitor had stopped to observe us fight then hovered onwards after we were finished, forcing us to follow him. We soon arrived at a shiny metal door, perhaps built to contain the Flood. It stared intently at the door for a couple of seconds, and then turned to us.
"The security doors have sealed automatically. I will go access the override to open them. Please wait here." Guilty Spark hummed to us, before flying away.
"Right, wait here, because where else are we going to go?" I said to Chief. He said nothing, but I could tell he was laughing. Right as I finished that sentence, several Combat forms followed by Carrier forms lurched into view, and we entered into battle. I slung my shotgun, opting for my Assault Rifle this time. I fired a burst into two combat forms, which dropped quickly under my fire. Switching around, I shot a round right onto a carrier's leg. It hit the floor and exploded, killing two more, but releasing dozens of pods. Chief continued using his shotgun, its pellets good for bursting large numbers of the pods. Several rounds later, and 5 mangled Flood lay on the ground, their bodies smoking. I killed the last carrier and its small pods within, and like clockwork the Monitor came back.
"Please follow closely. This portal is the first of ten."
This was going to be a long night.
As we walked through the door, three of the machines that assisted us earlier came out from small holes in the sides, glowing a fluorescent blue.
Guilty Spark informed us," These three sentinels will assist you in improving your combat skill. Speaking of combat, both of you will require an immediate upgrade in your combat skin, at least to a class fourteen. Both of you only have a class two."
I'm sure both of us thought the same thing: if there actually is a armor that's 7 times more powerful that the MJOLNIR we have now, pencil me in for first in line.
As we continued to walk along this large hallway, we came across a human body, this one untainted by the Flood. Sadly, his body was very mangled and twisted, it seemed that the Flood couldn't even make use of him. No way he could have come here on his own, I thought, and my suspicions were confirmed as the monitor hovered over the body.
"I brought him here as well, his combat skin was even worse than yours."
Chief kneeled on one knee, grabbing his dog tags, and saluting the Marine. He handed me the dog tags.
"His name was Staff Sergeant Marvin Mobuto. Did you know him?" Chief asked me.
"Mobuto? This guy was UNSC Special Forces, how did he get transferred to the Marine Corps." I replied, astonished and sad at the same time to see someone I knew dead.
"So you know him?" He continued.
"Yeah, my UNSC 'contractor' often had me work with Special Forces to take out major insurrectionist bases and leaders. You know the death of Floyd Wilson? We did that."
"He was a famous insurrectionist leader, I read about it when I was waiting for missions. He helped you?"
"Yeah, Mobuto was a great soldier. Everything changed when the Covenant hit though."
We said nothing after that, continuing onwards. I stopped before his body, respectfully nodding. He was a tough bastard, able to come this far, even without special armor or abilities. With them, Chief and I were already having a tough time. How he was only a Sergeant was an interesting story, but not for a time like this, as we continued on.
Meeting yet another locked door, the Monitor happily told us to stay here, before floating yet again into the abyss. We turned around to see a myriad of Flood coming our way, screaming for blood and bedlam. Out of grenades, I swapped to my Shotgun, and we took them at close range. One combat form managed to land an overcharged pistol shot into my gut, forcing me back, as Chief took up the slack. He hit one in the face with the butt of his shotgun, finishing it off with one shotgun pellet, before turning to blast two more before I re-entered the battle. I blew a couple of their brains out, pumping round after round into the endless tide of enemies. The sentinels hovered above us, trying their best to laser some of the Flood back, successful in turning half a dozen of them into mush. Suddenly, they retreated, slithering back into the darkness.
Meanwhile, the monitor had come back, giggling, "I am a genius!"
Chief muttered softly so only I could hear. "A pain in the ass is more like it."
The door hummed open, and we continued on. Guilty Spark and his Sentinels vanished yet again, leaving the Flood and us. They hadn't noticed us, sweeping the room with machine-like precision. Lucky they hadn't gotten to us yet, as we quickly shimmied up a pillar. On 3, we jumped down, landing on 2 combat forms, squishing them to a pulp under our boots. Cutting a scythe of bullets with our assault rifles, taking them out in what seemed like a chain reaction, as more fell.
Amidst the fire, I yelled to Chief," That got their attention eh?" He looked at me quickly, shook his head and turned away. Guess he still wasn't used to my deadpan remarks during engagements.
Chief pulled himself back up to a raised position, providing suppressing fire, as I charged forward with my shotgun. Boom, one fell, its corpse smoking. Boom, another fell, missing several of its body parts, and soon enough, the last one fell. Carrying nothing but frustration with them for constantly leading us around without telling us to go anywhere, but with nothing to show for it, I simply crushed a dead Flood combat form under my boot.
We followed them onto a lift, which took us high upwards. After no more than 3 or 4 steps, we were met yet again by the Flood. I emptied a burst into one, and it crumpled like paper as it hit the deck. Chief tossed a plasma grenade to the back of their ranks, which detonated, turning the area into a gory mess. A combat form slapped its tendril-arms into my faceplate, staggering me backwards. Chief butted it with its rifle, before delivering the finishing blow with a couple rounds to the 'head'.
The last combat form jumped onto a Sentinel, pulling it down, before they both exploded in gouts of flame, blood, bone, and brimstone. Following this, we stepped onto a lift, but this one was different. Geometric patterns lined the floors, raised panels held within them translucent blue light, and everything glowed with a blue luminesce.
Ancient machinery unknown to us began whirring, and the lift cranked forward at and alarming speed, causing Chief and I to stagger on our feet, while Guilty Spark and his Monitors watched, amused.
"Hopefully we're close to the end." I said to Chief, regaining my footing, and slapping a fresh clip and rounds into my Shotgun, in preparation for the inevitable onslaught of the flood.
As the lift stopped, we headed off towards the pedestal up front. Surrounded by a chasm of emptiness, it stood unsupported like an open defiance to gravity. On top of it, a cylindrical tube, with a T-shaped artifact glowing encased within it. Metal blocks circling the device rotating and spinning, like a safeguard as we approached.
"You must retrieve the Index Reclaimers." The Monitor told us, but now with a sense of urgency unheard of from his usual 'calm' banter.
"Yes, yes, but how?" I quipped to the Monitor, who had no reply for me. I looked to Chief, who simply extended his hand.
"Y'know, if you told me one day I'd be holding hands with a Spartan, grabbing an alien artifact to save the world, I wouldn't have believed you." I said to Chief, extending my hands out as far as possible to grab it.
"Focus Will, and yes no one would believe you." Chief replied, managing to both is serious and joking at the same time. I reached out a bit more, and grabbed it. With a grunt, he pulled me back to safety. I clapped my hands on his back, and nodded in appreciation.
I looked at it, and was about to hand it to Chief- The Index was ripped from my hand, and went into a storage chamber somewhere within the Monitor.
"What the hell are you doing?" I yelled at Guilty Spark, clearly annoyed.
"Protocol dictates I take control of the artifact for transport Reclaimer," It replied condescendingly, which Chief and I did not appreciate, looking at each other first, before turning back.
"The flood is spreading, we must hurry!" Guilty Spark said as he swopped into place. " Your biological form renders you vulnerable to infection. The Index must not fall into the hands of the Flood before we reach the Control room and activate the installation. I will transport you now."
And before we could say how, bands of pulsating light flowed up and around our body, and I felt like I was about to vomit again.
Reappearing back at the Control Room where we'd left Cortana, I looked at Chief, and then quickly turned away. Thank God for waste disposal systems. Turning back, I could see from Chief's body language that he was clearly worried about Cortana, and where she was.
Guilty Spark may have gotten that as well, as he inquired," Is something wrong?"
Chief hesitated a microsecond, replying." No, nothing at all."
"Very well."
Making our way forward, the Control board was long and curved at each end. An endless kaleidoscope of lights danced across the surface of the panel, as various parts of the ring's machinery fed data to the display, all of which appeared as an abstract blend of morphing glyphs and symbols. Just looking at it hurt my eyes. Guilty Spark explained all this to us, but I could tell both of us weren't listening.
The monitor zipped around the area, then stopped in front of us.
" My role in this has ended, you must take the next step, Reclaimers."
" Why do you keep calling us that? " We both replied, but Spark kept silent.
Shrugging, I let Chief take the reins, as the Spartan slid the Index home to a slot.
The control panel shuddered, then suddenly overloaded, and you could hear the machinery groaning in response. Guilty spark tilted his head like a dog.
"That wasn't supposed to happen." Spark chirped.
A shimmer of light suddenly came into view, as Cortana's figure exploded over the control panel. Her eyes bright pink, data scrolling across her body, and you didn't need to hear her voice to see that she was very, very pissed off.
"Oh Really?" She waved, and the Monitor hit the floor with a metallic clank.
Chief, clearly relieved, started," Cortana I-"
The AI shushed him with a wave of the hand, and put her hands on her hips." I spent hours in here watching you two screw about helping that… thing get set to stab us in the back!"
Chief calmly replied," Cortana please relax, he's a friend."
She sarcastically put a hand to her mouth, feigning surprise. " Oh! I didn't know! You three are just like the three musketeers. Do you have any idea what the son of a bitch almost made you do?"
Chief again calmly stated," Yeah, activate Halo, use it to destroy the Flood."
Cortana grabbed the Index out of its slot, yelling in fury," You used this didn't you!"
343 Guilty Spark reanimated with a whirr, and shot upwards off the floor, furious." A construct in the core, that is absolutely unacceptable!"
Cortana's eyes narrowed, also glowing in red rage. " Screw off."
The Monitor shot up even higher. " Impertinence! I shall purge you of your databanks at once."
"You sure that's a good idea light bulb?" Cortana inquired as she waved the Index, before visibly placing it within her, adding the data into her memory.
Chief decided now was the time to intervene, stepping in between them, and holding both his hands up. "Enough! The Flood is spreading, and if we activate its defenses, we can wipe them out!"
I looked upon the scene, and it almost looked like something out of a comedy, but the stakes were too high. Cortana's voice noticeably softened towards Chief, as she told him." Chief, Halo doesn't kill Flood, it kills their food. It wipes the galaxy clear of all sentient life, and that's the only way to kill the Flood, starvation! Don't believe me? Ask him!" She pointed at Guilty Spark.
Spark bobbed up and down, before replying directly." Of course, this installation has a maximum radius of five thousand light year, but once the others follow, the galaxy will be devoid of life, didn't you already know this Reclaimer?" Guilty spark finished, with a puzzled tone.
Cortana simply glowered at the two of us. But I realized something Guilty Spark said that raised a huge red flag. 'Others follow?' That meant there were more Halo rings. Considering all the crap that we went through here, god only knows what would happen on the others.
343 Guilty Spark's voice carried an angry tone now," We followed containment procedure to the letter, you were with me each step, why would you hesitate now?"
Cortana interrupted his monologue. "Boys, I'm picking up movement-" I looked at Chief, and nodded at him. He took this as a message to get out.
Spark continued on again," if you are unwilling to help, I will find another. Give your construct to me, or I will be forced to remove it from you."
I grabbed Cortana, and handed it to Chief.
"Chief, we gotta go, now."
"Will is right, we need to go. NOW." Cortana said, her inflection of worry clearly shown here.
Chief looked upwards, and said," If you want to get her, you're going to have to get past us."
Spark replied wearily, then addressed his sentinels." So be it. Save his head. Dispose of the rest."
I laughed, and just before the Sentinels began opening fire, I said to Chief.
"If you're going to die, might as well die on a one-liner."
(Unedited, so I did my best to find the mistakes. Review please; it really warms the heart to see those emails. I had this chapter waiting in the wings a while, as it was a pain to write. If it seems rushed, well, it kind of was. Thank you for reading, and favorite, follow and all that jazz.)