Chapter 15.5

TIME: DATE STAMP [[ERROR]] ANOMALY\ Revised date estimated 0450, September 12, 2552, captured Covenant flagship Ascendant Justice, in Slipspace en route to Eridanus system.

Dr. Halsey worked tirelessly in her own little world on the now human-covenant hybrid ship. Halsey supposed it wasn't actually a hybrid, but more of a forced meshing of the Covenant Carrier, Ascendant Justice, and the UNSC Frigate, Gettysburg. Cortana had done a fine job of dispatching the engineers they had found to mate the two ships together in the time of crisis. That gave Halsey one less thing to worry about.

Kelly was currently recovering from the treatment Halsey had given her. Halsey would insist that she remain in bed until a full recovery could be achieved, but she knew her words would fall on deaf ears. Her Spartans had always stubbornly refused to take the proper time to recover, and Halsey supposed she should shoulder some of the blame for that. In addition to Kelly, Halsey had just recently performed exploratory surgery on Linda, and discovered that the Spartan sniper's wounds were too severe to patch up. Halsey had immediately ordered Cortana to prepare flash clone transplants for the main surgery that Halsey herself would perform soon.

This temporary lull allowed Halsey to finally return to her project: the data chip that she had received back on Reach. She herself had had little time to examine it, but during a part of her time spent at Castle Base, she had been able to discern at least a few things about it.

When she had first examined the chip, the first obstacle she encountered was that it was designed in a format that could not be used or read by any data-reading devices that existed. Its design was human, certainly not Covenant, but that did not help much, resulting in Halsey spending a considerable amount of time on fashioning an adapter so that she could at least attempt to catch a glimpse of the chip's contents.

The second problem was the sheer amount of data that was stored on the chip itself. When Halsey had first attempted to access it through a computer at CASTLE Base, the device had crashed attempting to access it all. After amping up her processing power, Halsey was finally able to get a look at the contents. What she found was shocking to say the least.

The data on the chip matched the framework of an AI.

The discovery did not surprise Halsey that much. She had had her suspicions ever since that reality-warping stranger had given it to her after she had given Noble Team the AI, Cortana. No, the surprise came when she examined the computational algorithms that constituted the AI. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before.

To say it was different than the AI she was used to seeing was the understatement of the century. In terms of autonomy, this AI would have been classified as "smart" in a heartbeat. In fact, Halsey believed that this AI might merit a whole new status as to just how "smart" it was. To begin, Halsey had first examined its internal framework, and she discovered that the organization of the AI's computational processes were not at all like that of the Riemann matrix used to construct the smart AI in her universe. Instead, it constructed itself in a manner that Halsey would quickly call a more organized and efficient version of the Riemann matrix. Generally, when smart AI were created from the scan of a human brain, all of their processing systems and memory storage were more or less laid out like that of their original human template. What Halsey was quickly realizing, however, was that this AI utilized a far superior format for the core layout. One that maximized memory as well as greatly cut down processing time. Had she enough time, Halsey could've spent days on that subject alone.

The next thing she noticed was the sheer amount of data that constituted this AI. The amount of code and algorithms that made up its consciousness and systems was nearly twice as large as that of a regular AI. Halsey hypothesized that to bring this AI up to full functionality without having to suppress some of its systems would take nothing short of a literal miracle.

Without even doing any calculations, Halsey knew that it would take at least a mile of processors and cooling systems to even come close. And even then, it might not be enough.

With her limited time in CASTLE Base, Dr. Halsey had quickly devised a modified crystal chip with Kalmiya's help that could store the vastness of the AI. After that, she had transferred the AI's entire consciousness from the original chip to one that she could finally plug into the network at the base. But before she had the opportunity, they had been forced underground.

Now, despite the terribly small amount of time she had, Halsey had the opportunity to learn what she could from actually talking to the AI. The details of her escape plan were already being set in her mind, and she knew that she would not get another chance like this for a long while. She was also acutely aware that Cortana was watching her, but she hoped that her "daughter" AI wouldn't mind sharing the ship's systems with this new AI, or at least, what little of this AI that the two combined ships could bring to life.

Halsey took a deep breath, then plugged the data crystal into an access port in the medical bay. At first, the lights on the ship dimmed slightly as the load of the AI spread into the network. Cortana's voice spoke up into the medical bay.

"Seriously? Just how much is there of this thing? Even with both ships, this is getting pretty cramped."

"It's just for a minute, Cortana. Standby in case I have to terminate it. I have to try and get as much out of this as I can—"

"Hello."

Both Halsey and Cortana fell silent.

"I am VEGA. The sentient intelligence assig—"

"VEGA, I am Dr. Catherine Halsey, you may address me as Dr. Halsey. The AI you are currently sharing this network with is Cortana. You will forgive me for being direct, but our time is short. I have questions for you, and we have no hope of helping each other until you answer them."

There was a brief moment of silence. Halsey could feel herself almost shaking with excitement. Despite her longing for time to do what she wanted with this AI, she knew that she was making the right decision.

"I understand, Dr. Halsey. I am ready to begin."

Halsey felt her heart skip a beat. The AI was cooperative. Thank goodness for that. A hostile AI of that magnitude could've spelled doom for the entire ship. Had it turned hostile, Halsey wondered if even her and Cortana working together could have stopped it.

As Halsey began her questioning, she already knew what she had to do next. She would have to deliver the AI to ONI, for they would know best on how to utilize it against the Covenant. This AI was capable of almost twice that of a regular AI, and Halsey knew they would find a way to benefit humanity through it. Even if their methods were morally questionable. After all that Halsey had done, who was she to judge?

She knew that she would have to give the AI to John. He would have to deliver it to ONI, as Halsey had no intention of going back to Earth. There were other things that required her attention instead of heading home. John already had to deliver her report on the Flood anyway, and Halsey quickly remembered that there was still the issue of that as well. John would have to make a decision when she called him in. His final lesson from her was about to begin…

A/N: So, in case some of you are confused, this takes place between the events of Halo: CE and Halo 2. More specifically, it takes place during the events of the novel: Halo: First Strike. I highly recommend the book, it's a great read!