Chapter 5 Poem from the Heart
Yes, now I realize my mistake with the U.S. and UNSC. And when I wrote Master Chief looked up at Samus, I did not mean she is taller than him. No way! The Master Chief is a big dawg. Samus is smaller. I wrote that because when I imagined that scene in my head with the grunt, since the grunts are so short, I imagined that the Master Chief had to fall to one knee while holding the grunt against the wall. But I didn't make that clear in the chapter, so I accept full responsibility for that error. I'll try and not do that in the future. Yes, Master Chief was hit with an X parasite. And the question is, why didnt' it take over him, and bend him to its will. But what if it did, but we dont' know about it? What if it is waiting for the oportune moment. What if I don't want to give away the secret? Arsonist, what mindless questions are you reffering to?
"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed." Carl Jung.
The fleshy creature crawled through the ship, searching for a way to better itself. It held the strength of its original host, but did not share the mechanical capabilities of the original host. It had to develop them somehow, but how? Strength was all that mattered to this being, not sentient, but not insentient. Able to think, but unable to think morally, or spiritually. Barbaric as an animal, but smart. Cunning. Dark.
The Master Chief and Samus Aran walked down the corridor, neither speaking. They didn't know anything about each other, and why should the? They'd never met. The Master Chief took a quick glance at the girl beside him. Her eyes lifted up, and met his as he turned. John immediately turned away, and continued walking. He found it interesting, that his visor concealed his face completely, while you could still see Samus' eyes through her visor if you looked closely enough. Why had they made Master Chief's visor obscure his face? Was it because it was stronger that way, or because they wanted to make him seem less than human?
Master Chief stopped thinking, and kept walking. Then suddenly, the words appeared in his mind again. During his battles and every time he put on the tough guy attitude, the Master Chief's mind had began forming words, a poem. The Master Chief did not understand why poetry existed, and thought it foolish, so he was amazed that his own mind was creating this. Yet he couldn't stop it. He often said the poem over and over to himself at night, wondering what it meant.
Rose petals blooming, flowing, blowing.
Life is ending, going, going.
A question follows, it must be answered.
Follow through, eternal cancer.
Chains and guns, what difference does it make?
When you find love, how much would it take,
to bring about the impossible, to purge and bring an end,
to the death, the pain, the cage and the strife?
The Master Chief thought over the words his mind had unconsciously created. He rarely saw roses, for he was always on a space ship, or on some other planet. So the fact that his mind had brought roses into the poem seemed strange enough. But what question must be answered, and what was the cancer supposed to be? A disease. Not from a germ, but from faulty mechanics in your body. When cells began randomly dividing in your body uncontrollably.
John shook his head. That was too technical. But what about the love part? Master Chief did not love. His sex drive had been lowered. He did not have the desire to do such things that other humans delighted in. That was what love was, a feeling of pleasure, right? But the Master Chief felt some part of him shake its head. The Master Chief did not love anyone. No, wait. That was not true. John loved only one thing, and that was the memory of his mother and father. That was what he needed now, was a mother and father to help him. But he had never had them before, and he wouldn't now. And the love he had for them was different than lust. That was for dang sure. Tears came to Master Chief's eyes. The greatest pain there is comes when you find that love is the greatest thing in the world, and the only people you have ever loved have disappeared.
Samus looked over at the man beside her as they walked. The Master Chief was so tall. She figured that he was at least seven feet tall, almost a head larger than she was. His silver green armor glowed in the light from the ceiling, completing the awesome figure. Every time he spoke, the Master Chief's voice was filled with strength and might. Your "in control" kind of guy. But Samus wondered what he looked like without the mask up covering what his face truly held.
"So..." Samus said, trying to create a conversation.
The Master Chief looked up at her, his cold eyes, no, his cold faceplate staring back at her. The cold gaze of his visor almost stopped any further speech on Samus' part, but then she reminded herself that his eyes probably looked very different behind the visor.
"So, you are a Spartan," Samus said, struggling for something to say.
"Affirma..." the Master Chief stopped. He had forgotten how to speak to anyone but his commander.
"...uh... yes," the Master Chief said, embarrassed.
Samus smiled. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Samus then made a note to talk to his boss later and try and get him to give the Master Chief a break.
"So," Samus continued, "what's it like being a super soldier?"
"In comparison to what?" the Master Chief asked.
"In comparison to being a normal person," Samus said.
"I've never been anyone but Spartan 117," the Master Chief said. "That is my identity. That is who I am."
Tears came to his eyes as he admitted this to himself, as painful as it was. But his voice remained in control, and tough sounding. He stared through his visor, the visor which had on several occasions been stained with tears, sweat, and even blood. But no one knew about this. The Master Chief always kept his tough guy posture, but many of the times when he stood their looking tough and in control, tears would be pouring down his cheeks. Whenever this happened, John would always ask why. Why was he crying? Why didn't he ever let others know that he was sad? And what was he sad about? Was it the intense training which had taught him to hold in his emotions? Was he sad because he had lost his parents? But the strange, constant leakage from his eyes just started and stopped, without explanation.
But whenever this happened, the Master Chief never sobbed, sniffed, or made any sound which would indicate that tears were coming out from his eyes.
"Oh," Samus said. "I'm sorry."
"Why are you apologizing?" the Master Chief said in his tough, in control voice.
In truth, he sounded like a computer.
"Because I thought..."
"Well you thought wrong," the cold machine cut her off, drowning out her words with his own.
"Well excuse me Mr. Big and Tough," Samus said sarcastically.
The Master Chief just fixated her with a cold stare, and Samus didn't say anything else.
Suddenly the two warriors rounded a corner, and found themselves face to face with three strange frog like creatures. The were about the size of a small dog, with thick, pink, armor plated backs. They hissed at the two new people, before hopping towards them. Samus immediately raised her arm cannon, and fired several bolt into one of the frogs, obliterating it completely. One of them then spit out a ball of acid towards the Master Chief, who ducked. Then the Master Chief drew a needler which he had found on the floor, and fired three bolts into the frog. They exploded, taking the life of the frog creature with them.
Samus then fired a missile into the third creature, obliterating it completely. But then, three small amoeba like creatures appeared in the place of the three frogs. The Master Chief looked at the three creatures in surprise. He felt something run through him, some sort of deja vu. What it meant, he didn't know. Then the three creatures shot towards him. Samus immediately leapt in front of John, blocking him from the strange parasites. Two of them collided with her chest, and were immediately injected into her skin. The other shot around her, and flew towards the Master Chief. Samus immediately swung her arm around, and caught the parasite with her hand. It immediately was absorbed into her skin.
"What were those things?" the Master Chief asked.
"They are the X," Samus said. "They take over any creature they meet up with, and then they absorb their DNA so that the X can turn into them at any time."
"Oh crap," the Master Chief said.
"What's wrong?" Samus asked.
"I... I saw something like that before I met you. The Flood. The Flood are aboard this ship!"
"The what?" Samus said.
"The Flood!" Master Chief exclaimed. "They are an alien species which takes over other species. They then mutate their host into bizarre and powerful forms."
"Well the X don't mutate their hosts. They just take over them. Oh, and they can spawn their hosts anywhere."
"But think about this," the Master Chief said. "These two species, so alike, and yet so different. What will happen if they come into contact with each other?"
"I'd imagine they would fight," Samus said.
"No," Master Chief said. "Think Samus. Think!"
"Uh..." if there was one thing Samus wasn't good at it was thinking hard about problems and solutions.
"Imagine if the abilities of the two species was combined into one. Imagine the results!"
"We are approaching an unknown vessel," an Elite said. "By the markings on the side, I can tell that it is the Day of Glory! We have succeeded!"
Another Elite (who was the one who had been blamed for the loss of the Day of Glory, and who was commanding this ship) turned to look at the other Elite. The Elite's name was Karjan.
"Yes," Karjan said. "But we have not succeeded yet. We must land on the ship, and find out what has changed its course, and why we are not receiving radio contact from the crew aboard the ship."
The crew of five Elites, two Grunts, and one Hunter began to arm themselves. Karjan dressed himself in his armor, and grabbed a plasma rifle, a plasma pistol, and several plasma grenades.
"We must all be ready for whatever may be in there," he said. "You never know what could have caused such a mighty ship to change course, and disappear from our radar."
Dang I'm so sorry for taking so long to submit this chapter. I was confused on what to make the Master Chief and Samus do next. Oh, and those of you who play either Zelda OOT or any of the Harvest Moon games, check out some of my other stories please.