Christian Rodriguez

Earth: Amarillo, Texas

December 7th, 2019

"Common Christian, time to get you off that game," echoed the droning sounds of Christian's mother. The young man merely cackled in hearing the calls of a parent telling him to get off. He was twenty-five, already graduated university by one week, and was using his free time to be selfish for once. And all he got from his visit to his hometown was calls for him to do things?

Nope, I am going to be selfish today!

Christian just chuckled and paused the campaign screen on The Silent Cartographer, just so he could reply to his mothers calling. "Unless if it's an emergency, I am not coming down; let the graduate have some fun for once!" His humor did come to bite him in the ass, however. Such as the joker when it came to easy pickings, he didn't realize he had poked the hornets' nest. "Christian Oscar Rodriguez! It is high time for you to take a photo with your family, we're getting that screenshot one way or another!" Boomed the voice of his mother. The resonation of his mother's voice was so shaky, that even his walls had a slight reverberation. Shook by how such vocal chords could nearly break reality, Christian lost an entire decade of life and sprinted out of his room like a fifteen-year-old.

"Alright, I'm coming! Just so you know, you can easily be tracked online through facial tracking softwa-"

"Vamanos!"

Rushing right out into the hallway, Christian, half-ragged with his UTEP Shirt and black sweatpants; scaled the small hallway and passed the dark wooden floor to reach the threshold of the living room. Here, Christian, standing tall at six feet and burnt, band-colored skin; spotted five of his family sitting on the couches. Easily identifying the requested family officials in-person, his uncle, aunt, and cousin were in the single-floor house. The dim outline of what he called a 'elder collections' living room compiled with the dress-wear of his sister and mother sitting separately on their own chairs.

All the five familial individuals could see was the laden and ragged young man standing with his sandals barely put on; even his toned body couldn't hide the mistakable creased outline of his appearance that every gamer looked like before any display. However, only one man in the room managed to disregard the less-than-appealing look of the young man, his cousin; even while the rest of the family were silent in his lack of proper attire.

"Hey 'cuz, I thought you would be too macho to come up and see us!" Cousin Reno chuckled, laying back on his small and street-clothed garments. Like Christian, he was a twenty-five-year-old man who lived his days living his own ways. Unlike the man, Reno was a lover, a fighter, and a homeboy who never left town.

"Sup Reno, sorry, you know how I am with photos."

"Just like when you hide in street corners and look out for cops?"

"Always the cops, shady bystanders, and thots."

"My man."

That caused Reno to come up from his couch and happily clasp Christian's hand with a shake and a hug. Yet their talk was immediately interrupted by his mother, who coughed slightly.

"Now that our graduate is here, it's time for the photo. Christian, go into my room and put on your cap and gown, your diploma is on the counter."

Reno, at that moment, caught Christian rolling his eyes slightly.

"Hey, you know we are going to go drink after this Cyber-boi."

"As long as I get back to playing Halo when we come back home; we're fine. And it is Cyber-man, I earned my Comp-Sci Major and Cyber Minor! "

"So sentimental, now common, let's appease your overlords."


Bearing much of the brunt of playing the game of forced dress-up, fake smiles, and tired looks; the drive to the bar was the only relief Christian took the pleasure of being awake for this moment. Here he was still, driving himself and Reno in his Honda-Rogue down the 6th street of the city. The look on Reno's sags for cloth complimented Christian's lack of similar attire, even as the shine of afternoon battered the dashboard and the two young men inside it.

Not long into the drive, Christian finally made it to the downtown bar & grill restaurant, which caused Reno to widen his eyes at the easement to the parking lot. "Didn't know you wanted to get fine dining Christian. You must be making rich boy money to be taking me here like it's nothing," Reno chuckled as Christian delicately eased the car into the reserved parking right at the front of the bar-and-grill.

"Eh, I guess you could say that," Christian implied whilst setting the car to park and then pressing the on/off button on the vehicle. The engine itself even shut down quickly, the booming sounds of the Bluetooth audio of Halo Gregorian Chants cutting off the moment the driver's door was opened.

"Guess? You guess you're making big bucks?!"

"Okay, I am making good money with the place I interned and scored a job at in El Paso."

"That means you're buying tonight."

"You owe me a single drink for your Uncle wanting that photo."

"Deal, but I'm selecting the drink."

"Fine."

By this point, Christian would open the door like a gentleman and let Reno inside. The Hispanic man, once Reno passed the door, chuckled as he muttered a poisonous couple of words.

"Ladies first."

Reno stammered and looked at Christian dejectedly, witnessing the grin that was smeared all over his cousin's face. "Asshole," he replied back in return. It didn't take much for retaliation to happen as Reno flipped Christian off angrily.

"You know it!" Christian laughed. The young man felt bad for the hostess as the two of them walked inside with a very uncouth attitude for even that of well-mannered individuals. He even took out his Google Pixel smartphone and merely tapped into the bars application to be prepared to show the QR code of his reservation.

"Hi, welcome to B Grill and Bar! Do you have reservations for this afternoon," the hostess asked sweetly and with a smile.

Before Reno could do anything to cause them to get kicked out, Christian would step in between Reno and the Hostess; already showing off his QR code to satisfy the request. "Yes, we have reservations for the bar. My young cousin and I are the only ones for this evening." Christian spoke with an innocent smile, casually speaking with such smoothening tones to not seem suspicious. Taking up the request from the two men, the Hostess nodded, scanned his QR code, then grabbed two menus to lead them to the cantina-aesthetic atmosphere that the Mexican Restaurant provided.

"Thank you, I will lead you to the bar," the hostess said sweetly.


"So, you're telling me that you're a tech scientist in a company that cannot be spoken of," Reno asked curiously. For the past fifteen minutes, the two cousins merely mingled and drank their fill with beer. Reno selected his poison of Modelo and Christian his Angry Orchard. However, seeing as there was a question thrown out there, Christian sighed and nodded.

"Yep, I was initially taken as an intern for their CS Dev Ops team to specialize in producing code and security programs. What they do and what code is used for, I have no idea and don't want to know. All I know is that there is a non-disclosure agreement and the checks are fat. So I am living comfortably." Truthfully, Christian did not like to give that kind of information up to his cousin. Yet, the young man observed that Reno had four beers and all Christian had was a single one. All it had to take for Christian to do, is bend the truth.

After all, Reno would just forget it all anyway. You can bend the truth just once.

"I guess that explains why you sent me the money to help pay off my wife's medical bill," Reno implied.

Taking a finishing gulp of his drink, Christian sighed and placed his bottle on the bar. He would nod in approval of the information Reno spoke of, not denying that piece of information. "She did not deserve to get in that accident. Blood relative or not, the drunk driver ramming her scooter and the hospital bills slapping her were too much to simply let things go and watch someone suffer," Christian replied in perspective of his recollection of events. He even winced at the amount of money he pulled from his own stock just to funnel the money to pay the full amount.

In reply to Christian's statement, Reno would raise his fifth Modelo and drank the contents of his drink. "Still, Nina and I greatly appreciate what you did. I don't know if we could've survived from the medical bills or the surgeries she needed to go through." With his appreciation, Reno smiled and pat the man on the shoulder.

"That's why I do not think about material possessions, nothing can replace the void of loss or the pain of losing someone dear."

"Fuck Christian, you need a drink."

"Maybe I should," Christian chuckled. But before he could call for more drinks to be brought to them, Christian felt his smartphone vibrate in his pocket. "Hold that thought," Christian implied to Reno as he would take out his phone and read the text message: Christian Rodriguez, report immediately to Admin in Amarillo Branch. You are the nearest specialist in the area. Job description will be given to you when you arrive.

In one, notorious move, Christian would close his phone and place it in his pocket; soon calling for the bartender. His hand even scrambled to grip his wallet while the employee slowly approached the bar.

"Christian... what's going on," Reno asked sluggishly.

"Work, no time to explain," the man spoke rather rasped. When his wallet was taken out, he placed two-hundred-dollar bills on the table. "Here's the full tab, and then some. This-" Christian paused, soon taking out another hundred-dollar bill. "-is for the Uber ride home back at this address." The young graduate even wrote down the full address on a notecard and his personal pen in order to drive home the need to get Reno home. "And this," Christian took out a fifty-dollar bill. "This is just for helping my cousin out."

"Why are you doing this 'Cuz?"

"First of all, you're getting tipsy; no one gets tipsy on Modelo after five beers. Second, I came to this place in the event of the unexpected; this establishment can get you an Uber back home. It's quite common. Third, work," Christian explained. Even to the detriment and displeasure of Reno, he nodded at the bartender, turned around, and made his way out of the bar. "Reno, I'll see you tomorrow." With that, the young man would pull out his phone and replied to the text:

On my way to the site, ETA, fifteen minutes.


"Good afternoon, welcome to Site Seventeen."

"Well… that was weird," Christian muttered to himself as the automated PA system welcomed the man inside. Outside was a strange occurrence as he parked in the abandoned lot; even the building he entered was abandoned and took him many minutes to confirm with Admin of the site location. He noted to himself of the potential red flags that waved in his mind.

Wondering his way past the sliding glass panels, Christian grunted as he would approach and bypass the grimy outdoors and entered the clean and pristine indoors. It was very awkward for the young graduate as he would approach a decontamination wall mount and push some of its contents so he could wipe his hands with the cleaning material.

Up ahead, there was a desk clerk typing up his arrival behind the mahogany wall of wood covering the official's computer from the entryway. He could see the older man was a security clerk, pissed off, and trying to work with a computer that he so aggressively typed on.

"Good afternoon, I am the Specialist Admin sent."

At that moment, the security guard took a single look at Christian, then back at his computer. It didn't take the officer long before he nodded and looked at the young man. As for Christian, he immediately spotted the name of James Ramirez on the man's ID card; even the holster of the taser gun and nightstick placed upon the guards' belt.

"I am going to require your Identification Card."

Taken out of thought, Christian would take his wallet out of his pocket and pulled out his Corporate-issued Identification Card. The aged security guard took his card, scanned it with his computer, then growled as he shook his head. "Damned machine," the guard spoke. After seeing the man clicking on his mouse and then typing up and soon scanning the ID again; there was a successful pinging noise which caused the officer to sigh in relief.

"Sounds like there is a networking issue," Christian pointed out. He would already be seen observing the security guards'-tired look as the man would take his identification card and hand it back to him.

"Like you wouldn't believe it. Hope you fix this stuff soon; these issues are already annoying. Either way, Admin is in the hallway to your left. Office two-fifteen." the security clerk implied. There, he pointed to the large tinted glass doors to his left so that Christian could do his work.

"Thank you. I'll certainly do my best."

With the security guard's assenting desire to want these errors to stop, Christian gave a halfcocked salute and made his way to the tinted glass panel. In seeing the security access slot, Christian swiped his ID card along the device and waited for the green ping to sound off and unlock the door. The sound of the ping and then the clicking sound of the door unlocking was good enough for the young man to pull the door open and pass through.

Like a regular office space, Christian would enter into a small corridor of a hallway; and followed the security officer's advice to reach the office section.

Just by taking a single glance into the aesthetics of his immediate environment, this place, this… science facility was more bland than stale bread. Christian's clothes had more color and style than the grey coating on the walls and the light tiles on the floor. Unmistakably so, the young man knew he was in for something interesting; his clothes may not be up to their professional standard, but he was requested while under holiday break and graduation. If they needed someone who was in the immediate area, that meant something was going down.

Stiffening up his chest, Christian would knock on the glass panel and wait for a response. Before his knuckle could reach the tinted panel, the door would automatically open and reveal an old man standing from a large, rectangular desk. Christian could see the tag of the man's ID and the black suit the stout individual had; just by how the elder carried himself was a little overbearing in the man's stature. However, seeing as Christian didn't want to fuck up what he was tasked to do, he would nod and enter the room; giving the man a curt display of the standard protocol.

"Christian Rogriguez, Data-scientist and tech-specialist from the El Paso branch."

"Director Nimitz, head of the research division."

"What is the situation sir?"

At that moment, the old man took a seat and motioned for Christian to sit down. "An easy, but technical fix. I want you to scan a prototype device and figure out why it has been interfering with our network. It is doing something our tech heads couldn't figure out, so I need a more... graduate touch to see if we can find out what the hell it is doing so we can continue our work," the director spoke. He could already see the tired look on Nimitz, the eyes sagging, the shadow, all of it.

So, instead of just going into the fifteen dollar question special, the young man nodded and looked to the director. "I'll see what I can do. It sounds like whatever this prototype is-is most likely generating electrical outbursts to unprotected circuits. I'll make the necessary fixes." To that end, there was some light in the man's tired gaze.

"See that you do, head into the decontamination room and pick your locker. You're going to need to change into something more protective than an alma mater," the director implied. He would soon motion Christian off and to the door.

Before Christian would leave to go deeper into the site, Christian would merely ask:

"What are y'all doing here? What's this prototype?"

"That's classified Christian, even to me. Now go to the prototype, we have already setup the area for you."


Strangely enough, Christian would be weirded out by the fact that not only the director of operations was left in the dark; but the experiment itself was classified to a point. Even entering the decontamination chamber itself was an odd occurrence, especially since the fact that the large silos and closed ventilation shafts were signs enough that this company operation was government funded. Worse, barely anyone he knew was even transferred there, and those that were, never spoke about the site; especially not in casual conversation. The young man chalked that up to just military NDA's or government support at a cost... but all of this show of preparation chilled the mans' skin off.

The fact that there were hazmat suits and lab-coats made for the staff, Christian heightened his instinctual urge not to run and decided to wear the lab-coat over his university clothing and then snatched the hazmat suit to carry with him. Since he was being paid and was requested from corporate, that was the only reason he used to justify himself doing this. He even took his phone out and started to use his 4-G Cellular network to begin installing his songs into Google Play, already in assumption that this was going to be a long night.

This shit is fucked, but if I am needed and this works out; I will have job security and more money to actually start something.

After bypassing several hallway checkpoints and secure access corridors, Christian would soon reach an elevator which was guarded by three security personnel.

"Director Nimitz has authorized you for the basement level. Good thing you brought a hazmat suit before coming to the DECOM."

"Ah, so I was supposed to put on the suit?"

"Yeah, you were, but this ain't decontamination yet so you're ahead of protocol."

"Cool," Christian chuckled. Already he was showing a young face to the men, ready to get started. With his demeanor shining like a new slab of metal, the guards followed by opening the steel doors and letting the young man inside. That was when Christian entered the elevator and started to suit himself up. Strangely enough, while Christian was putting on his suit, the young man would see that not only were there not any buttons to the elevator, but the elevator would begin to descend rather quickly the second the door closed. Turning his phone off, Christian prepared himself for what was to come.


Fifteen Minutes later...

The hissing noises of the hydraulics inside the decontamination chamber caused Christian to shake in the ominous atmosphere of the intense environment. Lights flickered among circuit breakers and electrical outlets were already beginning to spark from power surges within the cable wiring. Things were getting worse as the moments dragged on, to which Christian eventually finished his decontamination process before entering the prototype chamber.

Once Christian was inside the chamber, the clicking sounds of an EMF detector started to go off in his suit.

The fuck? This chamber is radioactive?!

Christian was severely pissed and shocked that this information was left out. Since he was not thinking clearly, the young man could only imply that the staff did not know of this side effect. Whatever was going on, electricity was disrupting the network; so he assumed the facility did not know this problem emerging from their experiment.

Sighing, Christian merely checked his suit for radiation, happily groaned, and then made his way to the center of the chamber. He could see there was a central platform that held a strange pedestal with a glowing box on top and connected to several cables. With the cable wiring of the device connecting to the platform, and then to the electrical grid; signs of this room being an environmental testing chamber in the underground were evidently clear to him. The sparks of the circuitry, the lack of operational lights, and the material coating the exterior sets of the room painted a picture for him. However, there was something in the center of the room that threw the young man off, that even while his EMF began to scream louder and louder, Christian couldn't help but to look at the box that was connected with all the wiring.

So that's where all the problems are coming from. Since there is crimping tools and pliers in the side of the room, I can easily turn off this section of the power grid, and manually splice the device apart from the broken wires. Christian noted this approach as the best option, both as a means of keeping himself from touching live wires and potentially causing whatever the device was to not explode. Considering he was the only person who had the test ability to attempt this, Christian walked over to the switchboard and shut off his section of the room; right where the device was. With a powerful BOOM, the device would begin to power down and allow Christian to notice the drop in radioactivity.

Something inside Christian told him that he needed to get out of the room, but the man swallowed his gut feelings and continued to perform his operation.

In thinking the worst was over, Christian would start taking shielded wires, wire-cutters, and crimping tools with him over to the device. Once close to the platform, the man climbed on top of the metal casing and grunted as the air buzzed with static electricity. He could feel the kinetic peaks whilst making the approach to the boxed casing. In observation, once close to the pedestal carrying the box, Christian, with his wire cutters, began the process of disconnecting all the wires and began cutting them. As he was beginning to work on the wires, the young man made a discovery:

"These wires had fiber optic and shielded ethernet cables!"

Just in the nick of time, however, as the young man was making his discovery, Director Nimitz's voice soon came over the PA system:

"Christian, this is Director Nimitz; the network is working again. I just want to know what you did to get the system fixed."

"Sir, all I did was shut power off from the device and pull the wiring out. This network issue was caused by your prototype."

"You did What now?" Director Nimitz's voice had a swift change after Christian spoke the words.

"...sir?"

"Plug the device in quickly, or you're dead!"

Widening his eyes of the sheer magnitude of what the Director was saying, the young man scrambled to attempt to plug in the power cables into the device. However, the second he took a step to plug in the first cord, Christian's EMF detector screamed in a high pitch frequency and the temperature inside the room rose in intensive heat. In the seconds that would follow, a blast of bright-blue glows of radiation pulsated from the box and melted the material before Christian could see what had happened to it.

In a vain attempt to rush the device and knock it off of the pedestal, the young man would accidentally step on a foot-pad; causing the pedestal to glow in a similar coloration to the radiation. Christian screamed as his body registered the unbearable heat of the device and the intense brightness that washed through his visor. Pain was the next feeling to wash through him. All Christian was capable of doing in the face of such pain, was look at the device as it pulsated with the initial radioactive wave.

And all he saw was the metallic shine of a material far more sophisticated than any metal he had even seen. What was even more apparent was the symbol of the device. Since he was sure he was going to die soon, the man examined the symbol with his own eyes.

No... that is not possible!

Taking one, two, three more glances; Christian was in total disbelief over what he was seeing. In that second, the man accepted his fate. What he saw was simple, but a paradigm that would shatter all of his beliefs. For while the platform glowed and the device started to pulsate in motions and bursts of energy, Christian was fixated on one thing:

The device itself was Forerunner... and the symbol placed upon it was that of Reclaimer.

Not knowing whether or not he was going to survive, Christian decided to place his second foot forward and lean himself closer to the vibrant device. Besides the sounds of the EMF device screaming in his eardrums, the man walked closer and closer to the artifact. Each time he came closer to it, the more it started to become active. It was as if the device was reactive to his mass. The closer he became, the cooler he started to feel; whether that was his body shutting down or not was up to fate. At this point, Christian stood right in front of the device.

Well... time to find out.

Without even thinking about what would follow next; Christian placed his hand on the device. After his hand touched the glowing device, the artifact filled the human's vision with a light so bright; that Christian would lose sight of where he was at.

That was when everything went black.


Deep within an enclosed and metallic corridor, a bright ball of light and energy pulsated in the center of the area. Burn marks flayed the metallic material, just as radiation spiked and blew out several electrical devices in the current location. The destabilization of that specific space soon bore a dark, magnetic sphere, growing in size and suckling on the space around it. In moments, the sphere would collapse on itself in a cascading sequence, exploding in a burst of light and energy before expunging itself completely. All the electricity in the surrounding location powered off, shattering the circuitry around it whilst catalyzing most of the metals surrounding it.

What remained of the energy burst left a melted bend on the floor. Most of the metal was charred, melted, and slightly crusty at odd angles... with Christian being cemented on it, barely conscious. He could feel his body completely singed by the electrical and radioactive contact he had with the artifact; even his hazmat suit showed signs of being torn or melted from the outside.

Not long after feeling the cooling metallic surface, Christian immediately began to feel the pain of the heat washing over his body. The melted metals licked at his suit, some of his skin nearly melt with the hot surface. Out of instinct, the man pushed himself off of the surface and jumped out of the small mound. The next moments were followed by the young man ripping off his suit piece-by-piece. Even the melted fabric of the suit nearly clung to the singed skin of the man, bringing him ease into peeling off the material from his body.

Once his suit was taken off, Christian would wipe some chipped metal from his shoulder. He was surprised that he didn't taste any iron in his mouth, only the Caine's Sauce and mix of beer trailing his gums and taste buds.

Good... Christian sighed.

Right off the gate, Christian's eyes began to spot similar aesthetics of his own surroundings. The echoes of a ceaseless hull bounded a familiar ambiance, the coloration of the walls and the metallic shine of it looked too familiar in the young man's vision. Even by distant examination, the computer-scientist already knew what he didn't want to admit.

In taking a few steps forward and rubbing his skin, he only felt his hands and shoulders bearing most of the burns. He sighed to himself in realization that not only was he minorly burned, but that his fears of dying were right out of the window. The young man was unsure exactly with what was going on, nor knowing the purpose of what he was in... but the all-too-familiar signs of a UNSC compound gave the young man sharp breaths of nervousness.

I have to be sure, Christian thought to himself.

In creeping through the dim corridors of the hallway, the distant sounds of rushed movement were beginning to sound off far ahead of the hallway. Christian widened his eyes in realization, forcing himself to rush ahead and find a place to flee or hide. He had spotted a small maintenance shaft nearby, but cursed at himself as he knew he needed an access code to get in.

So, the young man did what he thought best and creeped over to a four-way hallway intersection. With that, the young man lunged to the far right passage and clutched the interceding corner as the sounds of movement came closer and closer. By now, the sounds of combat boots clanking on the floor caused Christian to grip the right passage's corner in a deathly clench. Now he was hearing the sounds of movement begin to voice themselves in English. Distant were they in the hall, but the unmistakable sounds of men came at a speedy rush.

And when the footsteps reached a peak, Christian's blood would drain as he saw the passing figures rushing down the hall where he once remained:

Security personnel. Three of them, running to the site where Christian had once appeared from. He spotted the dangling shine of nightsticks and the holsters of what looked like large pistols. They were dressed in a familiar aesthetic, bearing a grey military uniform. However, when their backs were seen from the angle of the secondary hallway; Christian spotted something very apparent. The detection of what identified the security personnel shocked the young man to his core:

They were UNSC, the symbols painted on their uniforms confirmed it.

Fuck!

Not wanting to admit it, Christian would turn around towards the secondary hallway. He would begin running down the dim corridor with slight clamps on the metallic floor, taking deep, controlled breaths as he went. Nearby, there were signs that the electrical grid was shot to hell; lights were flickering in random locations and some locations had exposed cables discharging sparks all over that location. The dim lights showed that whatever was going on, this area was using emergency power to operate.

Using this to his advantage, Christian would stick to the shadows and moved when no one was in the area.

Little did he know there was something else watching him too. While the young man was scaling the shadows and keeping low from passing guards, sensors were tracking him as he made his way from one hall to the next. Christian didn't account for the sensors in place as he bypassed the dark locations of the grid. However, when the labcoat scientist made his way into a brightly lit joint chamber; that was when it made its' move.

Before Christian realized it, both entrances to the chamber hissed shut.

"Intruder contained," spoke the voice of an automated intelligence. That one, specific voice was all-too familiar to one he remembered.

"Deja?"

In response to the man's inquiry, he would soon see a spark of light appearing above a small platform to the right of his vision. There, Christian would see the holographic image of a Greek woman, that of the same figurine of the same Deja from the books and in the movie.

"Explain yourself, intruder."

"I am not an intruder, not intentionally."

"Then who are you?"

"Christian Oscar Rodriguez, Computer Scientist; Tech Specialist for the Crescent Tech Corporation. I don't know what happened nor how I can verify myself, but I do know how I can help prove that I am not an intruder."

In a few seconds of silence, Deja would flicker slightly. However, the moment when it came to respond, Christian would hear the vents being prepared to close.

"Crescent Tech doesn't exist. Be prepared for interrogation, insurrectionist." At that exact moment, hissing sounds would begin to come up; with greenish smoke beginning to emerge from the ventilation shafts.

Without a second thought, the young man would crouch and mentally scream at himself. He only had one thought, one memory that would get him out of the situation; a hell if he failed and heaven if he succeeded.

"Enter passphrase: Undid Iridium!"

In a flicker of the moment, Deja would blink out of the platform for the second before looking at Christian with its similar form. "UNSC AI Override Instructions Active." Deja spoke, looking at Christian.

"Open the vents and filter the gas into the joining hallways!"

Succeeding in the attempt, the vents would open and the gas would filter out of the room; with the following orders being carried out to flood said hallways with the gas. "Orders carried out," Deja replied. That would cause Christian to sigh in relief before he would crack his neck for a couple of seconds.

"Deja, where am I?"

"You are in Castle Base."

"What is the current time?"

"The time is March 4th, 2525."

"Where is Catherine Halsey?"

"She is within her office in section thirty-two."

"So, I am really inside the Halo Universe." Christian thought to himself. His adrenaline would begin to kick up as not only realizing the war was going to begin soon, but the nature of the universe itself was going to be a cathartic experience entirely. The Covenant, The Forerunners... The Flood. All of it was going to be discovered in the following twenty-seven years. With access to the UNSC 'dumb' AI, the young man took his chance and drew a deep breath to calm himself.

"Deja, fill all security sensors and cameras with yesterdays footage exact time; fill the network with false data."

"It is done," Deja replied with a snap of her fingers.

"Now vent out the gas and report an all clear signal to security."

"Done."

"Open the doors."

Complying to his orders, Deja would snap her fingers and open the hatches in front and behind him. There, the young man would see five unconscious UNSC security guards laying down in the chamber behind him. Knowing that the men were knocked out, Christian would walk up to one of the men and crouched beside the human. Taking the guards nightstick and access code, Christian would ensure he had something useful for himself. When he inspected the security guards' sidearm, Christian almost went giddy as he took the weapon from its holster.

The MG6 Magnum.

Taking the weapon from the security guards holster and then pocketing his magazine ammunition, Christian stood up and started to make his way back to the lighted chamber.

"Deja, show me a map to Doctor Catherine Halsey and patch me into her office."