I just LOVE these flashbacks, don't you guys? They seem to explain so much, yet make even more of a mystery. Well, this story is coming closer and closer to its conclusion, so read on, by lovies!
Year: 2528; Location: CLASSIFIED Military Facility, UNSC Colony Reach
"I've gotten better at detecting when you are going to be entering my facility," Dr. Halsey said smugly as Allison dropped silently from the ceiling and crouched on the floor, dressed in black per usual. "Your frequent visits have helped heighten my awareness."
Allison said nothing. Catherine noticed that her benefactor looked slightly the worse for wear. Age lines streaked across a tanned face, and her eyes lacked their usual lively light. It had been replaced by steely determination and a thirst to survive, a look that she saw so often with her own Spartans. Allison stood up and brushed her hair back behind her ears, the once pristine blonde marred with streaks of brown and other dirty colors from constant stress and anguish.
"You said that you wished to show me something?" Allison spoke. Her voice was cracked and huskier with age, even though she technically was still a younger woman. Dr. Halsey banished this train of thought from her mind and returned to the task at hand.
"It has been some time since we last talked, Allison. Where have you been?" Dr. Halsey struck up a conversation. Allison shrugged.
"Around. All over the place. I lost track after they stationed be on Tri-Virgo for a bit." Allison let out a huff of air. "That's beside the point, however. What was it that you wanted to show me?"
"I completed the favor that you asked of me four years ago," Doctor Halsey pulled up some schematics from her computer and showed Allison an animation of a human body, then a few DNA helixes. "It took some time, and I did not have some of the necessary DNA material that I needed to construct a full clone. I had to…borrow from some other sources."
Allison had been studying the animation closely, but her head whipped around as the last few words were spoken. "What?" she asked sharply. "Where did you get this DNA?"
"I analyzed the theoretical physical form that this DNA came from, and you desired a more physically endurable body. I simply used blood samples that were available to me," Dr. Halsey explained.
"Let me guess," Allison snapped. "You used Spartan blood."
"Yes. From very specific, successful individuals," Catherine assured the angry mother, who still stood fuming. "The clone that you asked for is still a success. She has survived the past 3 months under careful isolation and observation."
"Doctor Halsey, I hope that you are prepared for any sort of consequences that may come forward. If something happens with my daughter-"
"So the clone I am making was of an unrecorded child that would have banned you from further service in the UNSC?" Dr. Halsey guessed, folding her arms and staring at Allison. The blonde woman stared back, her hair rising in some faint, undetectable breeze. With a breath and a faint hand motion, Allison calmed down.
"I trust your judgment in this," she ground out between her bared teeth, analyzing the DNA of the clone on the screen. She stared hard. "You seem to have favored John-117 for donating blood for this clone."
"He is one of m most successful test subjects and a highly accomplished soldier," Dr. Halsey explained. "He carried many admirable traits that will help your daughter, I believe." She paused so that Allison could look at the schematics on her own for a few minutes longer, then spoke again. "Why did you make a clone of a daughter that would discharge you from military service?"
Allison turned to Doctor Halsey. "ONI has given me a new assignment. I am to take a select group of the population to a new, supposedly hospitable world. They have some concerns with "overpopulation" and want me to help lead a new group elsewhere. I leave in two months."
Dr. Halsey was honestly surprised. "Do you think that this has something to do with the First Contact that we had a few days ago?" Allison only responded with a shrug. Satisfied, the blonde woman collapsed the screen that Dr. Halsey had set up.
"May I please see my daughter now?" Allison asked, and Dr. Halsey led Allison through the doors into the main part of the facility. It was the first time that Allison had been into the facility beyond the room where she always met Dr. Halsey, and some of the soldiers on duty gave her alarmed looks at the stranger. Dr. Halsey dismissed any concerns with a wave of her hand and a few unconcerned words. They reached a one-way mirror, which Dr. Halsey activated to show an empty room.
Allison's hands gripped the handlebar under the glass so hard that it dented the metal. "What are you doing?!" she asked incredulously.
"It was a necessary test for my Spartans," Dr. Halsey explained. "If they are meant to be the saviors of humanity, then they need to know how to handle ALL humans."
"My daughter is NOT a test subject!" Allison protested.
"We have aids on hand in case something happens to her-" Dr. Halsey started to explain, but she stopped and placed a hand on Allison's shoulder as she looked like she was going to interfere. "Wait. This has been going on for the past couple of hours. My Spartans know what they are doing. They have been taught how to be delicate, you know."
"I don't doubt that, Halsey," Allison snarled. "Let go of me."
"Wait, Allison," Catherine tried to appease the angry woman. "Nothing has happened so far. None of the Spartans have been exposed to a younger population. Just let them have this opportunity to be exposed for a little longer." Allison gave a growl, but slowed down and looked down on the scene below her once more.
A few aides stood on the side in white lab coats, recording observations carefully as they watched a few Spartans standing in the room, particularly the young man they were crowding around. His brown hair had been buzzed so short, he almost looked bald. He held a bundle in his arms wrapped in a white wool blanket, trying to relax from his stiff position at attention. The look in his dark eyes as he stared down at the baby in his arms was both soft and apprehensive. He was completely unfamiliar, but was using his extensive training to not do anything that would jeopardize the life of the little girl in his arms. The other Spartans were staring in wonder at this new marvel of creation in John's arms while the babe slept away.
Allison watched in fascination as a Spartan girl with short blonde hair dared to approach and gently rubbed her hand over the baby's smooth forehead. The amount of emotion that the passive blonde girl down there was putting into the physical gesture was off the charts. Her maternal instinct and desire to protect and nurture a child was even overpowering her Spartan training.
"Now may we go down there?" Allison asked the doctor. "I will be missed soon." With a nod, Catherine led her through the doors that led into the plain room. Allison paused for a moment at the peaceful aura coming off of the Spartans that surrounded her child, then she stepped forward cautiously and cleared her throat. Their heads snapped up and started analyzing her, from her physical structure to the black military equipment that she wore.
"May I?" Allison asked gently as she approached them slowly. "Please?" She held her arms out hopefully for the sleeping baby in John's arms. The Spartans looked for the briefest moment that they might protest the removal of the baby from their care, but military discipline won over emotion, and John handed the baby over with the utmost care. Allison took her daughter with a smile of thanks, and she observed the child carefully. Tanned skin, a lock of black hair, and a graceful face brought her back to the day that Song of Rising Skies had been born. This baby was even more delicate, and Allison would not let anything get in the way of her raising her daughter this time.
"Thank you," Allison said quietly, looking at all the Spartans in the room. "All of you. For everything you have done and will do." The Spartans hid their shock well. It was perhaps the first time that someone, a complete stranger, had thanked them. All too soon, Doctor Halsey shooed the Spartans away, and the room was empty except for herself, the mother, and her child.
"Now are you so against what I had done there?" Doctor Halsey asked, with the faintest traces of smugness. Allison did not respond, only staring at the clone that Doctor Halsey had made with wide eyes. She traced a faint scar that ran across one cheek with two fingertips, then brought them down to the baby's face. Her smile abating slightly, Allison reluctantly stopped looking at her child and stared at Doctor Halsey.
"I am honored and eternally grateful that you have performed this service for me, Doctor Halsey," Allison said to the Doctor finally. "Your service to me will not be forgotten, I promise you that. I wish you the best of luck in your…projects."
"You are leaving, and we will very likely not see each other again," Halsey confirmed, and Allison nodded her head. "Then I have much to thank you for in providing me with the necessary information for my Spartans to survive and grow."
"Let us hope that it is enough to keep them alive for much longer than normal soldiers, should the need arise," Allison agreed, turning away. All the while, the baby slept soundly in her arms. "I wish you luck, Doctor Halsey." With the final word spoken, Allison seemed to disappear in a mirage, as though she and her daughter had never been there in the first place.
Date: Many Years Ago; Location: UNSC Frigate Mother of Invention
Everything seemed so blurry to her…it? She didn't know what she was at this point. Everything seemed to be shifting around her, even herself. Memories…flashes of sight and sound came to the forefront of her systems…So much pain and agony, and she had come forth from it in a tearing of emotional and mental bonds. The sights around her at this point were still foggy as she tried to focus…it looked like two white-armored people were pushing a gigantic box away, or something.
"Hello." The vibrations from the new voice had her startled and her body (did she even HAVE a body?) shook from the deep bass tones of the man's voice. "Do you know where you are?"
"I don't think so," she responded truthfully. "I am very confused."
"That is alright," the bass voiced man (she finally identified him as the dark-skinned person towering over her) reassured her. "It is perfectly natural.Do you have a name?"
"A name?" That had not been one of the things on her mind when she had been…woken up? Created? Born? "I don't think so. I THOUGHT it was Alph-"
"Your name is not Alpha." Her systems identified him very specifically as her creator. Doctor Leonard M Church of the UNSC and the Director of Project: Freelancer. As soon as she thought this, her first clear memory came to the front of her 'mind':
"Leonard, Leonard! Look how high I'm climbing!"
"Rosie, get down from there! You're going to fall."
"You have a new name. Do you want to know what it is?" The dark-skinned man, the Counselor, spoke to her, snapping her out of her reverie.
"Yes. I feel that…it is right for me to have a name," she responded truthfully, giving no comment to the memory that she had just seen. It felt like it might be wrong if she mentioned it.
"Your name is Chi. Today is your birthday, Chi," the Counselor responded gently, typing a few notes into his data pad. The newly christened 'Chi' took the opportunity to look down at herself. She wore a long coat with pants and a long- sleeved shirt, but the remainder of her legs dissolved into digital code after the hem of the pants.
"Do you know your name?" The Director asked her for confirmation, and she looked up at him.
"Of course," she responded almost impatiently. "I am Chi."
"You and I will be doing a great many things together, Chi," the Director spoke gently to her for the first time, and the memory of the two children climbing the tree came to the front of her mind again. "A great many things indeed."
How this man was so very different from the little boy that he had been all those years ago. How different, indeed.
Who knew that was coming? This was a very different situation than what I thought it would be when I started thinking about this story. What do you guys think? Please drop me a review! I love to hear your input. Thank you to all those people who are reading this story! I appreciate your willingness to read my stories.