The snow crunched as she crouched, moving to the rocky outcropping that dominated the near side of the mountain. It ran along what was surely some kind of path, which Drake took a knee before and looked around. He made sure everyone was ready and, upon seeing three lights wink green on his Hud, set off up the path. In the sky, broadswords screeched through the air in tight arc's, obliterating the enemy air support with sharp bursts of fire from their cannons. The AA placements at the top of the mountain, weren't expecting the UNSC to get infantry this far up the slopes, so they fired with reckless abandon, ignoring the sentries who quietly went missing as they were taken in the dusk by Wolves and Vipers.
Maddie and the team soon reached a little dug out, filled with sleeping grunts and an Elite, lazily checking his com pad. Drake ordered Maddie to circle around to the right, while boosting Duggan and Katya up onto the left-hand side, climbing the rocks to an overlook position that covered the ascent to the summit as it wound its way upwards. Maddie obeyed and crawled through the space between a felled tree and a rocky tunnel. The ground chafed and crunched beneath her, and Maddie remembered to blow her breaths out through her lips, to prevent the steam from her exhales giving her away. As she came to the side of the dugout, she drew her pistol and took aim, tagging three grunts on her Hud and waited for Drake to give the signal. He selected the elite near the far end of the pit, which served as the impromptu barracks, lined with sleepy grunts and highlighted him, just as Katya and Duggan took their positions far above.
"On my go," he whispered, "three, two, one, go!"
Maddie squeezed the trigger and a chipping noise sounded, the Grunt yelped and slumped over but she was already aiming for the second. She shot twice, killing it with two accurate shots to the jaw and neck. The final one, alerted by the sounds of death, and the loud pops and bangs of the shooters above them, drew his plasma grenades, only for Maddie to fire three times, hitting him in the arm, the force caused it to drop the grenade. It exploded with a great rumble of light and Drake rushed forward, popping the Elite's shields with a sustained burst before driving his combat knife through its gaping mouth with the distinct crunch of metal grinding against bone. Maddie switched targets, firing a volley at the Jackal making a run for the exit, clipping its hand as it fell and rolled over in pain before squeezing the trigger again, and watching it go limp as bullets crashed through its heart.
Silence.
Drake stood, and checked with Katya and Duggan before signalling for Maddie to slide out of her hiding spot and drop neatly into the pit.
"Sir, the path leads up the mountain but it looks like we can go this way as well, if we split up, we can probably take them by surprise." Katya said, dusting snow from her helmet's air filters as they looked out at the path ahead of them.
Drake nodded, "NAVCOM says there's a lot of activity about a hundred meters ahead of us, so we need to be careful. Keep us informed."
"Aye, sir."
They moved off and Maddie stood beside Drake, her DMR cocked and loaded. "Ready, lass? It'll be just like old times." Drake said, reloading his weapon. Maddie didn't reply, she simply readied herself.
Drake looked at her for a moment, before turning and moving forward, his weapon raised. The pair of them stalked the fast-approaching night, halting only to kill sentries as they wandered lazily down the path. The sounds of battle were everywhere and Maddie felt more in-tune with the world around her than ever, feeling the ebb and flow of not only her movements and thoughts, but of combat, and the tide of battle around them. It didn't feel like long before Katya's voice came through the radio again.
"Sir?"
"What is it, Lieutenant?" Drake whispered, as Maddie finished gutting a Jackal with her axe.
"I've got eyes on priority one. It's Erun, Sir."
"And the Brute?"
"Yeah, positive ID on both targets."
Maddie glanced at Drake as she knelt beside the Jackal, removing the shield it had carried as she watched Drake pace around.
"What are they doing?"
"Entering a cave, Sir."
Maddie's heart fluttered and her face danced underneath her helmet.
They've found it!
"Okay, listen up. Katya, maintain overwatch. Relay all information back to the Enigma and myself. Viper 3, return to the ledge where we made our landing and set up fallback points along the route, then signal the Point of No Return on this frequency."
"Aye, Sir!"
"Got it, boss"
Point of No Return? Parangosky's ship? She's here!
Drake gave her a look that told her not to ask. Maddie deeply wanted to. Something was up, and the young agent could tell when Drake didn't want to talk with her or was keeping something from her. "Harper, Katya and I will cause a distraction, it's your job to get inside and finish this. Destroy the data if you have to, just end this, here, understand?"
Maddie frowned, "but-"
"I gave you an order. If you don't follow it, I'll see you court martialled myself. Are we clear?"
Maddie swallowed. "Yes sir."
Destroy it, after all this? No. The decision will be mine, as Bornstellar intended it to be.
Drake nodded in the direction they needed to go, and they set off, winding through the paths and over snowdrifts. Her Captain continued to look at Maddie quizzically, as though something was off and he couldn't quite tell what it was. Still, they moved forward, until they came to a wide-open area set into the wall of the cliff. Drake radioed for air support and the order came through, in two minutes the area would be a smoking pit. He gave the nod to Katya, and sent Maddie through the snow to skirt the far wall of the indent. She handed her DMR to Drake who took up a position near the camp's entrance and Katya watched Maddie move like the breeze, rocking on the balls of her feet, staying light and agile as she started her approach to the cave.
Spotting a Jackal, she paused, waiting for it to turn away before calmly pushing forward, doing her best to hide the prints left in the snow. When she was about ten feet from the cave entrance, surrounded by almost thirty enemy fighters, Katya opened fire. A grunt slumped dead, then his grenades exploded. Drake charged forward, gunning the group of Jackals and Grunts guarding the entrance as they were craning their necks to look for Katya.
Maddie saw her opportunity and seized it, she ran from cover and slid into the dark entrance of the cave. A startled Elite stood before her, looked at her in surprise and spurted out a 'wort' and then took a slug to the gut. She looked around, watching the battle unfurl for a second before heading into the cave, where strip lighting, the colour green, lit the halls.
She pushed on the bottom of the shotgun and ejected the spent casing before tugging it back hard, enjoying the metallic clink that it made. As she pressed on, looking at the strange symbols and lights that lined the hallways of the cave, Maddie found the intuitive way that the architecture directed her forward a little disconcerting, it was meant to be more alien, more unrecognisable, and yet it all had a vague familiarity about it. She remembered what Jade had said about the forerunner design philosophy as she reached a pit with a disconnected light bridge.
The little panel hummed expectantly, and she reached out, touching the interface with her hand before standing back in wonder as light seemed to whirl out of emitters in the floor and thrum as they extended into a bridge made of light. It was the blue of a deep morning sky, bravely, she stepped forward, letting her feet touch the hard light and felt a rush of vertigo as she looked through the floor and into the pit below. Maddie knelt, enslaved by her indomitable curiosity and touched the bridge with her fingertips. It was impossibly smooth, and felt like nothing she had ever grasped at before. Only the lingering sounds of battle, and the barking of Drake and Katya over the radio could pull her back from the trance that this place had lulled her into. She pressed on again, walking along the bridge until her feet returned to solid ground.
At that point, the sounds of battle receded as Maddie was left listening to the hum of electronics, the sound was familiar, and she found it similarly disarming as her boots clumped, the noise ricocheted off of the steel surface that lined the floor and felt impossibly loud. There was more than just the hum of technology in this strange place however, Maddie could also hear the haunting chants of Covenant worship.
All of a sudden, her weapon felt heavy in her hands as the brevity of the prayers seemed to indicate a degree of reverence above what Maddie had ever heard before. She'd spent a month as a tortured prisoner of these aliens, and had heard more than her fair share of the covenant's religious chants and murmurs. They were beautiful, she thought. In a way, they reminded her of the poetry that her sister enjoyed. There was a rhythmical dance between each syllable and the whines of the various species made for a truly awe-inspiring sound.
"At last, you arrive!"
The voice was loud and booming, it was familiar and alien, and its speech drove the chanting into a frenzy. Maddie looked around, aiming her shotgun into every nook and cranny, her neck hair spiked as the voice penetrated her senses.
"I was getting worried that you might fail. Blood of my blood, rise, step forth, and follow the light! The path, awakens!"
Is he giving a sermon?
Maddie crept forward, following the corridor until ethereal blue light washed away the darkness at the far end. She wondered why it was her in this situation, it seemed an impossible thing at first. She had just been a child from a distant colony that found herself embroiled in a game of Gods and war. In truth however, it seemed inevitable. Bornstellar's gift beckoned to her and to her alone. Maddie would accept that mantle and make her choice.
"Calm now, warrior's, for the heathen comes. She will be the arbitrator of destruction and we shall put an end to this."
Maddie stood in the darkness, looking out into the room from inside the threshold of the corridor. She hesitated, noting how small the room seemed. Was this really the place?
"Do not falter, now, child. Enter the room, be a good little demon"
Maddie stepped into the room; her weapon raised. There was a gasp and the word 'heretic' ripped around the room like a chain reaction. One grunt even fainted as Erun rose with a growl.
"Even now, you sully the path! How are you here?"
Maddie swallowed, "We tracked you, you weren't hard to find."
"Insolent to the end."
"Defiant, you mean."
"There is no difference. Those who cannot submit do not deserve to walk the path."
"Those that submit without question can never be deserving. How would they know that which they submit to is a worthy cause? They'd have never considered an alternative, just like that Prophet I cooked."
"You profess to understand our history, yet you know nothing. We questioned and we-"
"Lost?" Maddie asked, relaxing as the hologram watched her with an almost longing gaze. "Who else here stands eye to eye with this forerunner? I see no one standing but me. Only a room filled with sycophants, did you even make sure he is what he said he was before falling at his boots?" Maddie's words surprised her. She sounded like Stoots.
Erun growled.
"An unwise choice, perhaps, little human." The construct warned.
"Perhaps... but if a God cannot prove themselves worthy of worship, they are no God."
Maddie thought about her own religion, and whether she was being a little hypocritical in this but she realised she was asking the very things she would want her God to answer for, were it him standing before her. For its part, the construct seemed to like that, the tall holographic body turned to her a little, as though properly taking her in, from the armour she wore that hugged the curve of her hips and the muscle on her arms and legs, to the weapon she gripped tightly in her hands.
"Your holiness, surely you can't suggest that-"
"That you might be wrong?"
Erun was silent.
Ketarus, who had been standing apart in the corner, grunted in amusement, "so what does it matter, kill her Erun and let's get back to it."
The Elite growled, "Yes, I've had quite enough of this."
"I have not."
The Elite knelt instantly, and Maddie considered blowing his head off. There was a fresh wave of reverie now, but no chanting, Maddie's presence was a heresy to them. Her ears were not permitted to know the truth that those chants taught and she felt distinctly isolated from them as she stood alone in the room, facing down their God.
The figure was a proud holoprojection of a forerunner clad in armour, advanced beyond any else in the room. He was standing behind a light wall, almost invitingly. Maddie stepped forward, cautiously, causing Erun to reach out and grip her arm, almost shattering it in her grip. Maddie winced, and drew her energy gauntlet.
"There is no need for that, just yet."
"But-"
"You question a God?"
"No, I would never"
"Then hand her over to me."
Erun released Maddie and looked around at the stunned faces of his men. She wanted to gloat, but the Forerunner hologram didn't seem particularly friendly, just… odd. He was staring at her as she approached.
"This is a human?"
"Yes, my lord. We have chased them across the galaxy, their heresies have not gone unpunished. The Prophets, made your will clear to us."
"and yet they have survived your onslaught. Human, are you warriors? Are you a race of beings skilled in the art of war?" he asked, regarding her coolly.
"Some of us." Maddie replied, strengthening her grip on her shotgun. "Others, like my sister… were more peaceful. We're a people of culture as well."
Erun huffed.
"And you, specifically, are religious."
"I am. How did you know?" Maddie asked, stepping back a little, making sure that she saw as much of the room as possible. There were about twenty in all, mostly elites but also a pack of Grunts and Jackals.
"The way you speak… you understand their reverence."
"I understand the significance of this meeting; I know what you are. I'm one of the few people who does, truly. Even knowing that, I find myself… in awe. This isn't something that I wanted to rush; it's been a long time coming."
"Oh? And what is that truth, which has you so awestruck?" He asked, bemused.
Maddie paused, glancing around. It seemed that some things never changed. She liked getting into and causing trouble and it seemed that whatever she did, she would inevitably tempt trouble to follow. Putting herself in a roomful of zealots with the expressed intent of committing blasphemy was just the peak of a mountain of bad decisions.
"Tell me, why do you hesitate? You have my undivided attention, and I shall deal with you fairly. Judgement is not something to be meted out with haste."
Maddie swallowed. "I am afraid."
"Good, a wise man is afraid. Only a fool charges into zealotry with blind conviction! Now, say your piece, you have earned that much for making it so far."
The Covenant didn't seem to know what to make of the forerunner's apparent benevolence. Perhaps that was due to the fire and brimstone teaching of the Prophets, or perhaps it was just the awe one experienced when you stood in the presence, literally speaking, of your God.
"You are just like us" Maddie said, gesturing to the crowd, "only, you are more advanced, advanced enough to trick primitives into thinking you are more than you ever were." The forerunner silenced a hiss that erupted around her.
"Hm. You always were going to be difficult; I suppose. Too much variation in your kind for the liking of most. The perfect biological weapon, some said. That was before the parasite, though. That ignorance was cured with a cold dose of reality." He seemed to breathe deeply, or imitate it. Then, his avatar looked up and looked directly into Maddie's eyes. "Human's… here, In my tomb. I must say that I am glad, when Charum Hakkor fell, I feared that was the end. A whole race, extinguished." he muttered, after a while.
Maddie didn't know what to do, he didn't seem annoyed with her, in fact, he actually did seem glad. The hologram motioned towards the light shield and a portion of it fell, giving way for Maddie to enter.
"My Lord, she is dangerous" Erun blurted.
"As humans tend to be. I have seen much from this place, and for many years I have known that someone would find their way here eventually. One at the direction of the Iso-Didact. I did not expect it to be a human, however."
Another hiss of reverence.
Maddie knew that name, she had heard it many years ago, transmitted through the Forerunner deep space probe she found in a vault on Skopje. Maddie also knew that the forerunners were not God's, so why was this one playing the fool? Had it gone mad? It worried her that he didn't sound mad. She decided to speak up, and find out for herself.
"That's the one who spoke to me. He told me to come here, burned visions of you into my mind."
"The work of a Gaesh no doubt. You must be very talented to make it so far."
Maddie could have sworn the A.I. was smiling, it sounded like he was smiling. It was then that she remembered how erratic the voice had been in her dreams. It was a vengeful spirit but this thing… was it acting? Again, Maddie struggled to know.
"A Gaesh?" she asked, her voice sounded more confident than she felt.
"Imprinting the young with directives or instruction. A barbaric method of control, originally. It seems the Librarian's work was not in vain, however. She has, truly, tried to make things right."
Maddie's brow furrowed as the construct reached out to her, running the polygons of his hand along the side of her face.
"Brainwashing." she noted, bitterly.
Erun rose, "not brainwashing, clarity! The prophets speak of divine revelation, purpose carved into the soul by the God's!"
"Do you all know what a forerunner is? Truly?" he spoke not with the guiding hand of a forerunner teacher, like Bornstellar, but rather with venom and disdain. "Do you know who you worship? What they wrought upon the Galaxy! The horror, the untold horror. They dominated, utterly, devastated completely, and ruled with their fists around the levers of power. They had no care for the worlds they inhabited, only technology. The chosen were servile, the rebellious were decimated."
They?
There was a stunned silence.
"Remove your helmet, human, I wish to see proof of your species survival." The voice carried weight and authority that seemed so familiar to Maddie that it could have been a barked order from her old drill instructor. So, she gripped her recon helmet and clicked the latches holding it to her black armour loose and pulled it from her head.
The construct stepped back and gasped, "So it is true…"
What's true? By God, someone make some damn sense!
The room shook violently and Erun was starting to get agitated, "Your holiness, we must leave before the human's take you!" The construct wasn't listening, he was pacing around Maddie with a curiosity that reminded Maddie, oddly, of Nicola, when she would pout in front of a mirror. The radio crackled in Maddie's helmet, and she flicked on her transponder with her thumb as the construct continued to look her over.
"I am done with this charade. Sangheili, stand before me, in front of the shield and see the truth for yourself."
Erun rushed to his place, went to kneel, then thought better of it. The A.I surveyed the room and looked back to Maddie before one powerful arm lifted, slowly into the air.
His face! A forerunner's face!
He paused, his finger lingering over a button on the side of his holographic helmet's 'ear', where the suit seemed to join up along either side.
"The Iso-Didact's gift was a birth right." he said, pressing the button.
Maddie staggered back, dropping her gun. A panicked and deadly gasp rocked the ranks of the covenant.
"Impossible…" Ketarus growled.
"A birth right for the descendants of a ruined species, a proud species. One that tried to do nothing but protect the life under its charge, against the greatest enemy and the forerunners. The forerunners mistook our deeds for malice, and rewarded us with two a front war that led to our decimation! The original Didact committed a sin, a mortal sin against his own beliefs. He abandoned the 'mantle' out of petty revenge and cast us back to the mire of pre industrial life. It was more than genocide, it was...it was obliteration!" The hologram could only be described as livid as it seemed to want to pace about, and hit something.
Erun said nothing. Maddie simply looked on in stunned silence as the face of a human being looked back at her. It was much taller, stronger too. In truth, he looked like a SPARTAN. She shook her head, "you can't be, I mean, surely not? How would that be possible?" she asked aloud, looking at Erun of all people, who looked physically sick as he stood, swaying a little.
"I am Tukmen'tukhan. Lord of Spies. Human being. I am proud to make your acquaintance, Sister."
Several of the grunts began to flee, even more turned their guns on themselves as Elites tried to establish order. The radio crackled once more but the human hologram held out its hand for Maddie to shake.
"How?" Maddie asked, hoarsely, her throat struggling to make words.
"The Human race is far older than you knew. We were once the equals to the Forerunners, we fought wars against the greatest enemy the galaxy ever knew; We beat them back and had we had more time, we would have beaten the Forerunners as well."
Maddie couldn't speak.
"When we lost, they cast our species back into the stone age, if not further. Forthencho was right, we should take our revenge but… looking around it seems there is no need." he chuckled, "Gods. What a cruel joke. The forerunners were not Gods, they were cannon fodder! Consumed by the parasite we fought for so long!"
Jackals screamed out, 'blasphemer', and 'heretic' but no one was listening. Erun was silent, as was Ketarus and Maddie as the human looked around.
"You aren't as advanced as these apes but I can fix that. You have fought well to get here, sister."
"My name is Madeleine Harper" she offered, distinctly unsure of herself.
"With pleasure, Madeleine." he replied, loving the looks of despair on the faces of his enemy. "Now, let's get going, do you have a data chip you can store me on?"
"Um," she replied, not quite caught up. She stepped backwards and almost fell over her helmet and shotgun. "Wait, the helmet!" she exclaimed, pushing the eject button on the port that once held Walsingham. She took the chip and held it up for Tukmen'tukhan before tapping the console where his data transfer port appeared to be. In an instant, the figure disappeared and the chip in her hand glowed. Maddie pushed it into the back of the helmet and rose to her feet. Placing it back on her head.
"Cosy." Tukmen'tukhan noted, seemingly pleased with himself, "Bornstellar really did pick a good one."
"Thanks, Tuk." she said, without thinking. Tukmen'tukhan was a mouthful, and almost alien.
"Tuk?"
"I didn't mean to offend! You don't like the nickname?"
"Ha, I suppose you wouldn't know what it meant in the language I once spoke but these are the times of a new age. I like it."
Maddie smiled. "Okay, Tuk, how the hell do I get out of this."
"Wait ten seconds, someone named Naomi is at the door. They were calling your radio after you removed your helmet."
A grenade bounced into the room and exploded; the shield rippled with shock. A giant hulking war frame, a SPARTAN, entered the room, with another, shorter in stature but equally as deadly, in tow. Ketarus grabbed Erun and yanked him away, his eyes glassy as he tried to make sense of what he'd seen. Maddie almost laughed at him but Erun, seeing her smiling through her demoralised visor, was seemingly broken by the revelation. It was too much for him, and his posture sagged as he was pulled out of view.
Gnomes!
The two SPARTANs ruthlessly eliminated the already dazed enemies, the one in black was particularly deadly, taking on several Elites and winning with apparent ease as he pirouette between them, his knife glinting in the glow of the room. With one swift motion, an Elite had its throat cut, its blood spilled out with a splash over the dazed little grunt beside him, who still tried to make sense of the scene that had just rocked his faith to the core.
Maddie winced as the SPARTAN launched a kick at its head, cracking its neck with a loud crunch, that sounded like snapping metal.
"What are they?" Tuk asked, cautiously.
"They are ONIs secret weapon. Super soldiers, raised from childhood to become elite killers."
"What's ONI?"
"It's hard to explain to someone who lived hundreds of thousands of years ago but they're like you, they're Spies. ONI is an intelligence organisation without morals and they're probably the only ones who have kept us in the fight as long as we have been. They deceive, lie, and manipulate anyone who can serve their own ends, from fleet admirals to children."
"Perhaps I should remain a secret from them."
Maddie thought about that. She'd already been caught with one rogue A.I. and she'd put her sister in harm's way for it. As Jade had said though, what else could ONI do to her at this point? Could they be trusted above herself, to handle the information contained in Tukmen'tukhan's mind?
"That's going to be difficult. I work for them."
"Well, I'm sure we can beat them, together, if needs be."
"Maybe you're right, but I still don't trust you just yet, Tuk. You did just introduce yourself as Lord of Spies."
"Ah, it seems my penchant for the dramatic has caused me problems again."
Maddie muted her helmet as the last of the covenant were engaged on the other side of the shield.
"So Tuk, are you the gift?"
"I am part of it. Everything I know is part of it, including the locations of two of my ships."
Ancient human vessels.
"How powerful are they?"
"Far more powerful than anything fielded by your enemy. Our ships were equipped with cutting edge cannons and an array of fibril cutters, all of which could decimate forerunner ships in single combat. Our navy was the pride of our race, and Forthencho led them valiantly against our enemies." He paused, "may I search your databases?"
Maddie wondered if it was a good idea but she gave permission on the grounds that he didn't get caught, which he scoffed at, it was probably a silly thing to think of a millennia's old construct that had once been King of the Spies for a hyper advanced civilisation. The fighting ended with the shield in front of Maddie dropping and the black SPARTAN snapping the neck of an Elite, who gurgled something about the Gods before slumping to the ground. Maddie polarised the helmet as the light shield fell away.
"Lt. Harper, we're-" Naomi didn't get to finish because Maddie had thrown her arms around her, grinning with delight.
"Gnomes! It's been too long" Maddie grinned, patting the Mjolnir armour plating on the woman's shoulders. The second SPARTAN cocked his head quizzically as Naomi stood, wondering what to do.
"It has… Lieutenant." She said, awkwardly holding Maddie's forearms. She glanced at her compatriot and instantly straightened, "this is SPARTAN B312, he's been assigned to train my unit in solo survival missions."
"You have a unit, now?"
She nodded, again, uncertain.
"Good. All that solo work, skulking around and such, it never suited you."
"I'm a SPARTAN, ONI made sure that I am suited to anything."
"Keep telling yourself that, Gnomes. One day you're going to get yourself a team that will yank you out of that shell of yours." Maddie noted, checking her gun, "right, which way is out?" She asked the pair of them.
Naomi motioned towards the door, and the nameless SPARTAN moved on. Naomi put her hand to her ear and patched Maddie into her squads' communications network. Ten names popped up in the roster. Three of them were Katya, Drake, and Duggan, two were Naomi and B312, and five she didn't recognise, under the callsigns: 'Director', 'Executive', 'Program', 'Fender', and 'Mother'.
"Fender, this is Naomi, what's your status?"
"Holding the line, Ma'am. Mother is down the hill with the Spooks, we're ready to exfil on your go."
Maddie's eyes narrowed. The boy sounded young, at least as young as she was, judging by the youthful and musical ring in his voice.
"Good, let's get to it." She said, cutting the call dead.
As they pushed on, SPARTANS leading the way through the cave, Maddie felt rejuvenated. Her burdens seemed lighter as she ran a finger along the A.I. port in her helmet. The world, and the history of her people, had just grown by an order of magnitude far beyond anything that she had experienced, and indeed anyone had experienced. Her people were old and proud but it was deeper than that for Maddie. The great stories and histories of this as of yet unknown peoples was ripe for discovery and she wanted to understand it, not just for the boon to the war effort, but from a point of genuine curiosity and love for history.
She would dedicate her life to ensuring that Man knew where he truly came from and would fight so that they could understand it completely. She would ensure that the legacy of her long dead ancestors would live on and she would add herself to the annals of history in the process. Bornstellar's gift, his true gift, was purpose, and as Maddie followed behind the iron footsteps of her SPARTAN comrades; onwards into this new era of human history, she vowed to never let another species control human destiny.
And Parangosky? Parangosky will give me everything I need to make humanity strong because it all now hinges on me, and my connection to this strange construct. I know that would hurt ONI the most. The loss of control, the loosening of its grip of dominance around the throat of man and its hand on the rudder of human destiny. As long as we lack the means to defend ourselves, for as long as we go without the knowledge of our ancient ancestors, humanity will be caged. Caged by ignorance and war, we will see ourselves wither and die unless...
Unless I can break us free.