"Hey," John suddenly addressed Fred one day as they were doing actual work on the farm, namely hauling the bags of feed over to the animal pens, "You realize there's seventy-seven people here, right?"
"'Scuse me?" Fred replied, dumping the bag's contents into the feeder. The Moa cawed as they lazily walked over to the feeder, pecking at the mix of grains in the channel.
"There's supposed to be seventy-six." John outlined, as he threw the rest of the bags they'd gotten off the truck into a stack in the corner of the room. "The Spartans, including you and me, and then Doctor Halsey."
"Okay…" Fred muttered, raising an eyebrow. "And~?"
"And, for the past week or so, there's been a seventy-seventh person sneaking around, acting like she's invisible." John pointed out, gesturing strugglingly.
"Really?" Fred questioned with a skeptical brow.
"Come on, don't tell me you haven't noticed her!" John retorted.
"Noticed who?" Fred stressed.
"Girl our age, wears Doctor Halsey's clothes, looks a bit like Halsey?" John frantically gestured, looking expectant.
"Johnny boy," Fred patted him on the shoulder, "I think the farm life's getting to you. You're seeing things that aren't there."
"Sam would agree with me." John defensively pulled away, out of Fred's contact.
"Sam always agrees with you, even when you're wrong." Fred retorted, stopping for a beat. "Especially when you're wrong."
"Not true-" John began to reply, going to defend his and his friend's honor, when Fred began to pull out the big guns.
Proof.
"Look, you're the last one into your bunk at lights-out." Fred pointed out. "You check on everyone. You know their sleeping habits-which frankly is a little creepy-and how long it takes them to get to sleep. Hell, you were even able to tell when Cal had a sprained wrist when no one else could cause she wouldn't sleep on her favored side. If there was an extra bed around here, wouldn't you notice?"
"…she could be bunking with Doctor Halsey?" John suggested.
"Yeah, no." Fred shook his head.
"Then explain," John demanded, "Who did I see?"
"Probably Halsey in baggy clothes and on her knees tending to the plants." Fred assumed with a shrug.
"Really?" John questioned in response, tilting his head demandingly. "You're willing to make that kind of leap in reasoning?"
"What's the alternative?" Fred returned, as they finally walked out of the small building, "That Doc H has a secret kid she smuggled in without anyone but you noticing, and she's still keeping it a secret for no good reason?"
"No good reason?" John repeated. "Have you met us?"
"Yes, I have, and we're the perfect examples of fine, human behavior." Fred retorted with a grin.
"The Moa riding incident?" John brought up in retort.
"That was Sam-"
"Okay, then how about getting a car on the roof?"
"I didn't see the hill!" Fred insisted.
John sufferingly sighed, rubbing his face. "All right, fine, I'll bite the bullet. You didn't see her. But, I bet someone around here besides me did, and I know just who to ask."
Fred watched as John turned, walking across the farmstead, and he shook his head.
Imaginary girls… Farm life wasn't for everyone, he supposed.
The 'just who to ask' in question was, if nobody else, Serin. The Spartans didn't really know about each other's upbringings, but they had noticed Serin seemed to look like a wild cat half the time-constantly taking note of her surroundings, being on the lookout for any threats. Serin was perceptive, perhaps the most out of all of them.
If anyone saw the mystery girl other than John, it'd be her.
His strides took him across the farmstead as he searched for her, poking his head into the storehouses, pump rooms, and generator sheds, before he noticed, finally, her and Ralph over at one of the feed silos near the entrance gate, and he walked over.
"Uh oh," He could hear Serin whisper to Ralph (who was on his knees and doing something to the silo's outer structure) under her breath, "Here comes John, be calm."
"Oh, fuck me." Ralph muttered back to her in response, as John's shadow finally fell across him. "Heeeeeyyyyy, John."
"What're you two doing?" He immediately questioned.
"Nothing, we're not doing anything, we're just having a lovely chat here in the shade of the grain silo." Ralph motor-mouthed as Serin palmed her face in exasperation.
"The sun's on this side of the silo, Ralph." John pointed out.
"Hmmm, so it is."
John glanced at the silo, before double-taking at what Ralph was doing to the silo's surface. "Are those micro-explosives?"
"It's genius!" Ralph immediately defended his actions, not even trying to deny it anymore. "Somebody hostile comes onto this farm, they go through the main entrance, they're getting a side-full of shrapnel and if they survive, a silo to crush them!"
John looked to Serin. "Was this your idea?"
"Would you believe me if I said no?"
"No."
"Then yes." Serin sighed.
"Whatever, I'm not here to interrupt your booby trapping." John waved it away, recognizing the need for defenses in such an… unarmed environment. There was no marine garrison, no automatic turrets, the best thing they could get were booby-traps.
"Oh yeah?" Serin crossed her arms skeptically. "Then why're you here?"
"I saw someone new here," John replied, "You know, someone who looks like Doctor Halsey, but is obviously not her. I've only seen her at chow time and around a couple of times. You saw her too, right?"
"Of course I did," Serin huffed, "There's not a damn thing that goes on around here without me knowing."
"Debatable." Ralph coughed.
"I could tell you what you had for dinner six nights ago because you didn't eat the stir fry, your favorite My Little Pony, and what it is you watch under those blankets while everyone else is supposed to be sleeping." Serin looked at the explosively-inclined boy. "Don't test me."
"You're scary, you know that?" Ralph shook his head.
"You know who she is?" John asked of Serin, ignoring Ralph.
"No damn clue." Serin shrugged. "She seems close to Halsey, though. Her real kid, probably."
John bristled slightly but didn't let it show. "That's all you know?"
"The fuck is this, twenty questions?" She huffed. "I've not been spying on her, John. I don't follow her around and make it a point to know her every move. Maybe next time you see her, you can ask her yourself."
"Right." John rumbled, figuring that was the end of it. He looked at Ralph, then back at Serin pointedly before he turned to exit. "Make sure he doesn't blow himself up."
"No promises."
John didn't see Mystery Girl for a while. Every so often, he'd see a flicker of movement out the corner of his eye and turn to look, only to be met with nothing. And as the day dragged on, and the frequency of the mistaken sightings increased, it became nigh-unbearable for the young boy.
He had to get answers. Halsey knew what was going on, she had to, and she'd never kept secrets from them. She'd always told them exactly what they were in for, what was expected of them, and how it was going to happen. He appreciated that, if nothing else. She was always truthful, unless it was classified info, and even then, she'd tell them it was classified.
He could ask her.
And so, he sought her out. It took him some amount of time, but eventually he found her in one corner of the farmstead, planting seeds in long rows, the mounds spaced no more than a few feet apart.
"Doctor Halsey." He politely addressed, and her head shot up, looking at him.
"Oh, hello John." She greeted him with a slight smile, before turning back to her work. "Come to help me work?"
"Certainly." He spoke, not afraid of getting on the ground next to her. "What are we doing?"
"Laying the foundations for a vineyard." She answered, covering up one of the holes with the dirt off to the side. "Nothing profitable-yet. Just a proof of concept. We'll need acres of land before we can start to think about bottling and selling it, but there's this new breed of grapes I've made-found," She very quickly corrected, clearing her throat, "And I want to see how well they'll take to the land in large groups."
"All right." He nodded in understanding, curiously tilting his head. "A… vineyard?"
"Regular farms are barely profitable as-is, let alone when you have seventy-six mouths to feed." The good doctor explained, moving along like she was working an assembly line. "But this should get us squared away."
"No, I mean…" John shook his head, "What's a vineyard?"
The doctor blinked, glancing at John for a moment with a look of sadness- no… pity. "Of course, you wouldn't have come across that in your training…" She muttered, closing her eyes and sighing.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm quite all right, thank you." Halsey opened her eyes, and every trace of negativity was gone. "To answer your question, a vineyard is a specialized farm where grapes are grown in order to be fermented and turned into wine. Of course, there's always flash-cloning the grapes, but flash cloned produce never tastes as good as the real thing."
"I see." John mumbled, helping her along.
"See?" Halsey smiled slightly. "This whole experience is proving to be educational, if for slightly different reasons than you're used to."
"Maybe," John shrugged, "But… do we really have to stay out here? Can't we go back to the base?"
The doctor's smile dropped, and she sighed, rubbing her face. "Trust me, John, I want nothing more than for you and the others to be comfortable."
"I-" John began, before cutting himself off. "It's not about comfort, ma'am. I don't know what to do…"
"Yes, well, winding up on a half-decayed farmstead was not where I planned to be at the end of the Spartan program either," She admitted, "But I suppose we have to make do with what we are given-find our own way. And it's certainly better than the alternative."
"But we were made for battle," He replied, shrugging like he was lost, searching for what to do, "Everything we were told, about being the protectors of Earth… was it all a lie?"
"John," Halsey removed her gloves, placing her hands on his shoulders, "I'm going to tell you something, and I need you to understand: You and the others… you were last resorts. The last option we had available to us in order to prevent total war. I never wanted to put you into service, but it was the only option available to us at the time. And now, I'm glad we don't have to. There is so much more out there than you know, and now you are in the prime position to be able to find out yourself."
"So I should just… forget it all?" John asked.
"I can't answer that question for you." She replied, smiling sadly. "It's a choice you have to make. You need to do not what I tell you to, or what duty tells you, but what you want." She looked around, seemingly having a slight epiphany. "I think… Hm, I think that's why Paragnosky sent us out here, together, instead of splitting everyone up and sticking them in orphanages and the like."
"Ma'am?"
"She harbors guilt for her part in the program, no doubt," She mumbled to herself, but whether it was actually the case or her just reaching was anyone's guess, "Even putting the Spartans in foster care under new identities-there'd be an assumed expectation for them to follow, forcing them into a life they didn't want yet again. Set them loose on a farm in the wilderness with no expectations other than surviving, they start behaving how they want to… Clever woman. Or, no, wait… Oh, Graham, you sentimental old-."
"Doctor Halsey?" John addressed directly, snapping out of her thinking session.
"Oh, sorry, just thinking aloud." That statement, John knew, would likely be the end of it. Halsey was always a difficult mind to keep up with, and he didn't understand the way she thought about things half the time. Still, if she thought they'd been moved to the farmstead by someone who had used the opportunity to give the Spartans a form of freedom, he supposed that was good enough for him, though privately he had his doubts.
ONI was filled with many sorts of people. "Kind" ones weren't usually among them.
"So," Halsey took a breath, turning back to her work planting the, well, plants, "Did you just come here to talk, or was there something you needed?"
"Well, yes, actually." He answered with a nod at the same time, and judging by the look, she expected it.
"Ah, yes, the matter of our… new family member, so to speak." She spoke lightly, like she was discussing the weather.
John blinked. "How did you know?"
"It was only a matter of time until one of you noticed the presence of a seventy-seventh person." Halsey answered with a slight grin. "Though to be entirely honest, I expected Serin would be the first to catch wise to her. Would you like to meet her?"
John blinked, his eyebrows shooting up. What sort of question was that? That'd be like asking him if he wanted to breathe, or something. "Yes, ma'am."
"All right, but you have to swear," She leaned forward conspiratorially, "Not to tell the others. I want to see how long it takes them to notice."
John chuckled to himself, more than a little curious to see what would happen on that front as well. "All right."
"Okay, Cortana," Halsey turned her head, "You can come out now."
John double-took as what could only be Halsey's teenaged copy came out from behind the nearby pickup truck, having been concealed there the whole time.
Halsey must've noticed the look on the boy's face, because she chuckled. "She's very good at hiding."
"I can speak for myself." The teenage girl indignantly replied, crossing her arms.
"Can back-sass too." Halsey muttered, shaking her head. "You'll have to forgive her, John, she's simply adjusting to a new and unexpected situation."
The girl rolled her eyes, brushing a stray lock of hair out of her eyes. She turned her attention to John, smiling, and she awkwardly held her hand out. "Hello, John, I'm… Cortana."
The young Spartan blinked, his eyebrows shooting up, as he nonetheless took it. Her skin felt soft to the touch, nothing like the rough, calloused hands of his fellow Spartans. "That's a… unique name."
"Oh, do you like it?" She asked hurriedly in response. "I got it from the sword that Great Britain used to coronate their Queens and Kings. I picked it myself."
"You named yourself?" John curiously inquired.
Cortana opened her mouth, Halsey cutting her off from proceeding with a cough. "What Cortana means is that she changed her name."
"Right, yes, what she said." Cortana agreed quickly, nodding.
"John," Halsey addressed kindly, "Why don't you show her around? Make her feel properly at home, get to know her? Just remember what I said."
"Yes, ma'am." He obediently nodded, already turning around to proceed.
Cortana shot an exasperated look at Halsey, before running off to catch up.
"Oh, and try to stay out of trouble!"
Three hours later, she found John and Cortana at the top of the grain silo, throwing water balloons at people.
"Hark! Interloper!" Cortana shouted.
…and speaking like old-timey knights for some reason.
"No quarter shall be shown hitherto, fiend! Come hither so that I may smite thee!"
Catherine paled, watching as John and his latest partner-in-crime cackled as they dropped water balloons at the Spartans who took it as a challenge to get up to them.
Oh, dear lord, it was infectious.