I felt myself tense as our little squad strode up to the mausoleum entrance. Occasionally, High Charity shuddered, causing us to stumble. And now, as I watched, I could see lights flickering and ending all over the city. An animal howling filled the air. Pelicans, delivering a parasitic cargo, swarmed the "sky".
The door opened with a dull beep, but it froze in mid-slide. Sortan, our alien guide, squeezed himself inside, plasma rifle raised. Alicia followed, and I trailed behind. My "survivalist" senses were definitely tingling – in other words, I was feeling extremely cowardly – as we entered.
Once inside the mausoleum, I exhaled. Only dead bodies, I told myself. They won't get up and walk away. Yet.
The chamber was lit by hundreds of glowing panels that encircled the entire ceiling, and by a huge pod floating in the center of the room. Brute bodies were strewn throughout the halls; I wondered what had happened to the Elites, though I knew the answer.
"The mausoleum . . . of the Arbiters," gasped Sortan. "Those lights above us are the crypts of the Covenant's guardians."
The ship shuddered again, and the panels lighting the room flickered and died. I whimpered.
Suddenly, a holographic figure sprang up on a small little cylindrical table, one of the dozens I had seen throughout the towers. We moved closer, and Alicia seemed to recognize the figure. It flickered every now and then, repeating a message in a female voice– "Hold on . . . picking up two more . . . transponders. Its . . . and Johnsonnnn . . ." It began again.
"That's Cortana!" Alicia exclaimed.
"Well, she's not here," I intoned darkly, "and therefore no help in our precarious position."
"Shut up, corporal," Alicia ordered. "You never know, the Master Chief and Cortana may still be aboard."
"I doubt it," interjected Sortan, "the conduit guard – a group of Brutes – reported contact with the Demon just before they fell silent. I assume he is aboard the . . . vessel."
"See?" I muttered. "Cortana's gone, then, too."
Alicia Hartman glared at me. "Still, the first chance I get, I'll hack –"
But a screech interrupted her. I sidestepped closer to Sortan, and felt disgusted with myself but I still didn't move. An eight-foot-tall alien warrior with a protective layer of tough shielding and a gun, while on your side, is very reassuring.
There were several thumps in the darkness. I jumped visibly as an explosion from the way we had come rocked the floor beneath us. "What was that?" I whispered.
"Should we go back out?" Alicia asked. Before anyone could answer, another shriek and the click-clack of hooved feet echoed throughout the chamber.
"We should run," Sortan advised, as the three of us slowly rotated with our backs to each other. "The door is on the opposite side of the chamber."
"Good idea," I agreed, hoisting my assault rifle and sprinting into the darkness. I ran into something wet with a smack, but immediately recovered and kept on my running, my heart beating faster than a bullet. Finally, I ran into the familiar surface of a Covenant doorway – but the panel was not lit. It was closed.
Breathing hard, I turned around and pointed my weapon into the darkness. I whimpered, again, as footsteps began to approach me. I tightened my hold on the trigger, just as the shape of Alicia hurtled out of the darkness, into the light projected by one of those little cylindrical tables. Her charge knocked the breath out of me; gasping, I tried to push her away and accidentally touched something I, as a man, was unacquainted with. I could just pick out the green-eyed glare she gave me.
After I regained my breath, I asked, "Where is Sortan?"
We both listened, and suddenly heard the scream of the Flood again. I heard the reassuring voice of the Elite – "Parasite!" – and a sudden light in the darkness.
Another familiar object: the dual-bladed Covenant Energy Sword. Gasping, Alicia and I watched as the blade flashed and slashed through the leathery skin of Flood Combat Forms. Quite a few launched themselves at him, barely visible in the meagre light cast by the sword.Only seven seconds passed before the Energy Sword's swings stopped – no more Combat Forms left. The sword moved toward us.
Sortan appeared in our little half-circle of light. He said nothing, and I read no discernable expression on his face. It was hard to tell, what with the mandibles and things.
"Sortan," Alicia said, "This door is shut down. How do we open it?"
The Elite deactivated the Energy Sword, which retreated into its hilt, like one of those sabers from an ancient sci-fi saga. He trotted forward and laid his hand on the little cylindrical table. The door'spanellit faintly to red, then to green, and opened slowly, revealing another bridge.
I stared in horror.
Groups of Carrier Forms, dozens of Combat Forms, and hundreds of Infection Forms were slowly stumbling our way. Heading somewhere, and determined to get through us.
I screamed.