Chapter 26

?

Time has failed me yet again. Here I sit, right where the last known Slipspace exit point of the Lurking Evil was, yet they are long gone. Of course using multiple jumps to throw a pursuer off would be the first thing to do, it's even a protocol for humans nowadays. So how does one determine the endpoint of a series of randomly plotted jumps? Well if it was easy humanity wouldn't be here right now.

I brought up a list of all planets within the vicinity of this point and narrowed down the list to any within the maximum distance the Prowler class ship could reach, even without being able to return. A vast distance in all directions was covered, filled with hundreds of thousands of planets, nearly none of which could support life, or were worth existing on my list. I removed them and focused on worlds that could either support life, or be large enough to stay hidden on for long periods of time.

It didn't help much, whereas when estimating ships, I had three choices, here I had thousands. I already guessed wrong once, I would need to be more patient to come to any kind of useful conclusion. I took a deep breath and starting filtering the search based on an infinite number of possibilities and extrapolations. It would take time. Time I do not have.

Alice

I wandered out of the armoury, slightly annoyed and a little embarrassed. Every piece of armour, I had removed, except the chest plate, which was bolted on from behind at certain points. It was literally impossible to remove the carapace without help. I made my way back to where everyone had been last and peeked inside. I saw Dutrevai still sitting and sliding her knife across her gauntlet, the loud skritch, skriiiiitch echoed throughout the room.

"Hey." I called. She glanced my way and the knife stopped. "Can you give me a hand?"

She stood and threw the knife into the bench she was sitting on, it stuck with a dull thud. I spun around and motioned to my backplate, which probably looked far too large without the rest of the armour accompanying it.

'You got a wrench?" She asked, inspecting the bolts. I handed it backwards and she started working. I could hear and feel her straining, but eventually she was able to free me from the metal cage. I sighed in relief as I popped the armour off, holding the chest on, while pulling the back away. I lowered each separately, careful not to drop the opened armour.

"Thanks." I said, starting back towards the armoury.

"No problem." She replied. "Here." She motioned to give me back the wrench. I tucked the two plates under my arm and took it from her, before continuing on my way.

She let out a small sigh as I hurried off, moving fast without the cumbersome Mjolnir. It felt nice, the soft patter of my feet slapping on the steel floor. It was cold, colder than I remember. I enjoyed it, though, a shower would feel really nice right now. But I needed to eat, and sleep, for that matter. Regardless of how long I had just been bed-ridden, I could feel my mind slowing ineptly to a crawl, my focus waning.

I tossed the two plates and the wrench onto the top of my armour pile and shut the armoury door. Then I was on my way to the small mess they had on the ship. Everything on the ship was small, actually. Like the design had sacrificed nearly everything in order to ensure it remained hidden. I could feel every vibration coming from outside, especially when we entered and left Slipspace, which had happened way too often recently.

The door to the mess, actually just a glorified kitchen, slid open and I peeked inside. The ship's captain was enjoying a meal, while browsing through some datapads. I entered slowly and he glanced up at me. Barely taking the time to swallow his food he said, "Ah, Spartan. Care to join me for some supper?"

I nodded and retrieved a ration pack from a cupboard. I set to work heating it up and he continued, "Quite odd to see someone like you out of armour. Of course I suppose you're a bit different from the average Spartan. Either way, you are much younger than I had expected."

My muscles tensed as my small frame became painfully aware to me once more. I must have looked like a child, wandering around, lost. I tried to ignore my own tightening chest and kept cooking, remaining silent.

"Well." He seemed suddenly apologetic. "I suppose I'll be finished soon, if you wish to eat alone."

"No." I blurted, accidentally slicing the ration pack too low and dumping some hot contents on my hand, "It's fine, don't worry about it."

"Are you sure, you seem… tense around me." He started to stand, seeing me washing the scalding sauce off my hand.

"Not at all, Captain." I quickly said, turning to smile at him. "I'm just not used to being naked like this."

He cleared his throat and sat back down, nodding slightly. My face burned as I realized what my mouth had just spat out without me noticing. I dumped the sloppy food on a plate and sat down across from him, feeling extremely aware of my every movement.

I started eating, keeping my eyes anywhere but on the Captain, who looked up at me occasionally. The ship's AI popped up beside the man, which caused me to nearly choke on a piece of meat I was swallowing.

Its voice boomed out, "Captain, yer needed on the bridge. Sorry fer interruptin' anything." The small blue man in the long coat turned to me and tipped his massive hat, causing the feather in it to wobble, "M'lady." He said, before disappearing.

Jones stood and gave me a pained smile, before gathering the datapads and leaving. As he walked out behind me, he called, "Hey, don't worry about what's coming, we'll get you safely out of here."

The door slid shut before I could turn around fully. I dropped my eyes back to my food and kept munching away on the near-tasteless mass of nutrients. I sighed and rubbed the side of my head with the hand that wasn't busy. It brushed over the scabbing skin growing over the plate in my skull and I winced. Just then the door hissed opened again, which caused me to jump slightly, making my hand slap the wound gently.

My scalp burned and I turned to see who was there, but the door was closed. I shrugged and went to continue my meal, but the same hissing noise came again, this time from right in front of me. I spun and pushed away from the table, dropping to a fighting stance as I did. The shadows seemed to dance around me, but nothing else moved.

I swallowed, trying to get rid of the dryness in my mouth, while backing to the wall. Instead, the wall opened behind me and I fell backwards, my back smacking into a hard metal plate. A pair of hands grabbed my arms and I was frozen with fear. I looked up to see Nikolai's cold eyes staring down at me, a confused expression on his face.

Instantly I relaxed, letting my nerves loosen into a tingling mess. I went slightly slack, for only a moment, before standing back up and glancing back around the room. everything seemed normal.

"Something?" The ODST asked.

I shook my head, took one final look and answered, "No. Nothing."

I sat back down and he came in, heading straight for the food. I stirred the little remains of my meal around, no longer hungry. I watched Nikolai as he performed the same actions I had done a couple minutes earlier. I should probably eat more, I know I could. He finished heating his food and cut open the package, his knife slipped, though and some spilled on his hand. I glanced at the red mark on my skin, knowingly.

Rather than wash it off, though, the soldier looked at the hand that was holding his knife, as though wondering what had happened. Then, with a shrug, he sheathed it and dumped the food out, before wiping his hand off with a disposable towel. He walked over and sat where the Captain had been.

He placed his hands together and muttered a small prayer under his breath, "May this meal fill me until next." He whispered it very quietly, but I could still make it out easily.

Then he began to meticulously eat the food, bite by bite, never once looking up at me. I thanked him for that silently, as I couldn't find the will to leave right now and my eyes didn't want to focus on anything else. I absently moved chunks of something-meat across my plate, waiting for something to happen, though when it did, I had no clue what I was going to do.

Nikolai flexed his hand where his skin was taking on a pink hue, mine was already quite red. He stopped chewing and swallowed what was left in his mouth, before leaning back and looking at me. I forced my eyes to refocus and coughed slightly, tilting my head down to the food. The ODST looked like he wanted to speak, but instead tilted his head and inspected me. I jammed some more rations into my mouth and waited, but he only shook his head and returned to his own meal.

I managed to keep down a few more bites, then decided to stop killing my tongue with the disgusting slop. I didn't remember the packs being so bad the last time I ate. I dumped the remaining sauce and meat bits into the trash and dropped the plate on the counter. I waved to Nikolai before walking out of the small room. I nearly bowled over Dutrevai, who was about to enter as well. I stumbled and she braced against my shoulders, keeping me from knocking her over along with myself.

I tried to get past her, muttering an apology, she held me back, though. "Get some sleep, but find me after, we've got some stuff to do before landing."

I couldn't find anything useful to say back, so I just nodded and headed on my way, wondering where we were going to land at. It couldn't be anywhere in UNSC controlled space, or we'd either be shot down or arrested, depending on how dangerous we currently were. They really didn't tell me much of what happened, but I could infer quite a bit, considering my own actions before we allegedly escaped.

Maybe the outer colonies… I locked the door to the bathroom behind me and started peeling my suit off, starting the shower as I did. Insurgents and rebels, the ones we were initially created to fight. I set the water as hot as it would go and waited for the whole room to start steaming up. I couldn't imagine they would take too kindly to a UNSC ship trying to land, but maybe the Covenant had caused some of the colonies to rethink their values.

I stepped into the shower, which, even at max settings, never really got that hot, and felt my muscles instantly begin to unwind under the relentless assault from the soothing liquid. My hand burned slightly, but it was easy to ignore. I could feel the cleansing heat removing the scunge and grease from my hair and body. My mind was filled with the sound of water droplets smashing into me or the shower walls and I was able to finally let myself drift off, not quite sleeping, but not needing to think anymore.

?

A list. A long list, yes, but comprehensible to me. Numbered, ordered, perfect. And within that list, as I just realized, are many planets and stations that had been glassed or obliterated by the attacking Covenant forces. I filtered my list once more and inspected the results. Not many planets still stood, especially ones capable of refuelling and resupplying a ship. I crossed out UNSC friendly worlds, unless they were severely weakened, or understaffed.

What I was left with, surprisingly, came down to one extremely likely place. A planet, inhabited by humans, who had openly supported the insurgency against the Earth, filled with backwater, lowlife scum, easy to stop by, refuel, and run. Sitting in the middle Cordoba System, a colony known as Gao. Of course, I'd alert patrols to search every other possibility, but I, personally would be checking Gao.

I peered down into her helmet, tracing the cracked lines running across the visor. Soon, my prey. Soon I would be upon you. I would end your miserable existence once and for all.

Alice

I didn't even remember getting out of the shower, or getting dressed, or laying down in bed for that matter. Soul said something, quietly, but I didn't remember that either, not before I fell asleep. So why was I standing around, here? Mist, blacker than my own soul swirled around me, taking shape, then swishing away, pushed by some unfelt breeze.

Annoyed, I waved some away and stepped forward, blinded as the smoke hit me like a blanket, trying to push me back. I growled and shoved my way forward, pressing through the haze. My next step met thin air and I fell face first onto… A wooden plank. It sat right before me, my hands bracing my body up the only reason I hadn't smashed my nose in.

I sat up and looked around. I was surrounded by water, clear enough to be air, but deep below shadows and lights danced. Confused, disoriented, I stood, shakily, in the small rowboat. It struck me as odd that there were no oars, though I don't know if I had ever even been in a boat like this. Deja vu crawled over my skin and I shivered it off. I had definitely been here before, but it felt like an ancient memory. Almost a memory of a memory of being here. A dream.

That's the word, dream. I looked down, at myself, feeling perfectly natural without my armour, wearing some loose spare fatigues. My arms were so pale, they almost hurt to look at in the bright light cast down from above. A quick glance upwards left me wondering where the light came from. I looked back to the water, confused with my awareness of this dream, yet inability to do anything about it. The depths swam below me, mesmerizing. I suddenly wondered if I could catch any fish here.

I crouched down, letting my fingers drop into the waters. It wasn't cold, nor was it warm. It felt like thickened air, not even a true liquid. My fingers turned translucent under the crystal-clear surface, I could see blue and red veins running through them. I pushed my arm deeper, up to the elbow. Lines and pinpricks of black formed, seeming to seep darkness into the perfect water. I rolled my arm over and back inspecting it, strangely not at ease with the whole situation.

The boat rocked gently on the still lake and I continued staring at my arm. I knew what the black marks represented, though I'd rather not. I could remember receiving most of them, but I worried at how many I couldn't. I stayed silent for many minutes, pondering why I had been made this way. The complete silence seemed to engulf me, surround me with nothingness. There was no ambient noises pestering my mind, nothing causing unneeded stress upon my system. I wished I could have come here more often. I could definitely have needed the solace many times before now.

I found it ironic how often Halsey had told us Spartans that we were the only hope humanity had. Yet here I was, on the run from that very same humanity. I felt bad. Terrible, actually. I had left behind so many of my brothers and sisters, all of whom were still battling with their lives on the line. Then again, it wasn't by choice that I was here. If I had to choose, I'd probably still be running, but with everyone with me, leaving behind Earth and its colonies. I wished now that Jerome and Douglas could have come with me.

Unfortunately, one of them was dead and the other couldn't even walk. I slapped the water in frustration, the depths squirmed and flashed brightly. If I had the choice. If it had been me doing it. If I could, would I set things back to before I had been abducted? Would I choose to go back to my parents, back home, or would I choose to run away with my fellow Spartans? They were the only family I could remember, but maybe having a real one would be better. I growled at my own imagined predicament.

I recalled, what I had done on my last visit to this dream world and stood in the small boat. I stepped on the edge, the dinghy remained perfectly still, except for the gentle rocking. Then I jumped off, plunging straight into the awaiting waters. My clothes no longer seemed to exist, my skin becoming translucent as I sunk. I inspected myself under the revealing liquid, knowing exactly what I would find.

My hair, longer now, but blonde, drifted past my eyes, I swiped it away. The red mark that had settled onto the flesh of my hand was absent, the feeling of singed skin, however, was not. The black marks, somewhat familiar, showed vividly on my pale skin. Some were shallow lines, or pinpricks, but others ran deep into my body, cutting ugly paths across my arms, legs and stomach. I placed a hand atop my head and felt sticky fluid leaking from it. On my fingers was a viscous black syrup.

I tried to ignore the feeling between my fingers and sighed. I almost choked on the immediate instinct to not swallow the water I was submerged in, but no liquid poured into my lungs. I realized I had been breathing this whole time without trouble and took a deep breath of the lake. The 'air' passed through my body coolly, leaving me feeling refreshed. I closed my eyes and just floated, not wanting to leave.

Seconds, minutes, hours, it went by too quickly. Something forced my eyes open, I looked down, the murkiness below was seething, ecstatically squirming. I watched in horror as it formed a skull-shape and rose to capture me. I heard, from a voice I had maybe heard before, the single incomplete phrase: "Coming for you…"