Chapter XXXIII

Following the battle at the Relic Fortress, the Master Chief met up with Amanda Niatrecsa, head of the O'Malley Search and Destroy Unit. They had discussed ideas regarding O'Malley's evil plan to destroy all life in the galaxy and not long after, the Chief was on his way to the Foundation Robotic Testing Facility . . .

The Pelican-Class transport soared over a barren desert like it had been for hours. There wasn't too much to see, unless someone was excited about endless stretches of sand and the occasional boulder or cactus. The ride had been peaceful for the first several hours since almost everyone had decided to sleep. The Chief had been awake for the entire ride, hoping to see something vaguely interesting. He was disappointed. After he had submitted to the fact that there was absolutely nothing fascinating about the desert and subjected himself to the torture of boredom for several hours, he felt the person next to him stir in their sleep. The Chief looked over at Amanda, who had chosen to sit next to him. At first, they quietly discussed more theories about O'Malley and plans to take him out, but that wore out its welcome fairly quickly and she had fallen asleep like the others. The Chief had been uneasy when she had leaned against him at first, but had brushed it off. The uneasiness returned when, during what appeared to be a dream about a stuffed animal, she wrapped her arms around his armored bicep. Not wanting to wake her, the Chief had continued to look out of the back of the transport. Since the desert was extremely hot, nobody had kept unnecessary parts of their armor on, which meant that everyone's helmet was lying in their lap. Donut had wanted to remove his codpiece, but a punch to the arm from Grif and an elbow to the ribcage from Simmons squelched that issue as quickly as it had been brought up. When the Chief transferred his gaze from Niatrecsa to the desert outside, he could have sworn Tex, who was sitting across from him, was staring at him with . . .what? Anger? Contempt? Jealousy? He wasn't sure, but her eyes quickly shut, preventing the Chief to start up conversation. That had been an hour ago, and now Amanda was waking up.

"Sleep well?" the Chief asked.

"Ah," she yawned, "steel pillows aside, yes, I did."

The woman stretched her arms out to get her blood flowing. Then she cracked each individual finger on both of her hands.

"You do that often?" the Chief said.

"Yeah. Started when I was a kid."

"Hmm. Me too."

The Chief opened his mouth slightly and bent his head until it was completely horizontal and almost perpendicular to his right shoulder. The sound of the vertebrae shifting around came out of his mouth in a popping sound. The Chief repeated the process by tilting his head the other way. More popping sounds came from his agape mouth.

"That's gross."

"I know," the Chief said with a smile. After several minutes of silence, the Chief spoke again. "So, any idea how far away we are?"

Amanda looked out the back of the transport thenback at the Chief.

"I'm not sure, but when we pass the rock formation that looks like the Grim Reaper, that's the twenty minute mark."

The Chief nodded and continued to stare into the vast expanse of sand that stretched out behind their transport.

"So," Amanda tried to break the uncomfortable silence, "when did you wake up?"

"Earlier today when your people started setting up camp at the island."

It took several seconds for the words to register. After they did, she looked at him quizzically.

"You were awake the whole time?"

"Yup. I can't be messing up my circadian rhythm, you know."

The woman grinned and looked back out at the desert.

"Oh, there it is. Better wake up the squad, Chief."

The Master Chief looked out of the rear of the transport and saw the only rock formation. It definitely didn't look like the Grim Reaper, although he could see where someone would get the idea. If they squinted their eyes and tilted their head then perhaps it might possibly pass off as the Reaper.

"I dunno, looks more like a clown to me," he thought out loud.

Amanda laughed. "That's what everyone else says."

The Chief took one last look at the rock formation before it faded out of view. He turned to his squad, which was asleep.

He took a deep breath, sucking in the dry desert air. Amanda, seeing the action, covered her ears tightly. Very tightly.

"WAKE UP!"

The Chief's voice exploded through the passenger section of the Pelican, causing everyone to jump up nearly a foot out of their seats. Amanda, despite her effort to protect herself, heard a loud ringing sound. She slowly uncovered her ears and looked up at the man who had a smile like that of a young boy on his face. His expression faltered when he saw that everyone else was giving him hateful glares.

"We've got twenty minutes before we arrive at the facility, people, let's get ready."

The squad put their helmets on and began making checks on their equipment. The Chief, after making a quick inspection of his SMGs, pulled his shotgun out from under his seat along with a cloth. He went about his business rubbing areas that looked a bit dirty. Amanda looked at the man and his weapon with wide eyes and the face of a little girl on Christmas morning.

"Is that a shotgun, Chief?" she asked.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, it is. Why, you never seen one up close before?"

"Not in a really long time. Can I . . . hold it?"

The Chief gave her the look of a wary father. "Ok, just don't do anything stupid."

Amanda cast him an angry look before receiving the weapon. She held it at different angles, inspecting every aspect of the weapon.

"Hey, be careful not to fool around with the Chief's barrel," Grif said. "You wouldn't want it going off in your hair!"

The joke caused almost everyone to laugh. The exceptions were Caboose, who didn't get it, Amanda, who blushed and sheepishly returned the weapon to its owner, Tex, who grunted in disgust, Simmons, who was inclined to disapprove of most of the things Grif said and the Chief who had yet to put his helmet on and was giving Grif a look that could melt right through an armada of Blue ships. The laughing ceased immediately stopped.

"Grif, you are a part of my squad, which means you are like a brother to me. However, while I am your commanding officer, you will not treat anyone with that kind of disrespect other than Simmons, Donut and myself. This woman, who is going to help us defeat O'Malley and make this war a helluva lot shorter, deserves none of that nonsense. Especially from you, is that clear?"

"Yes sir. Sorry sir."

"Don't apologize to me, Private, apologize to her."

Grif looked at Amanda. Although he had donned his helmet, everyone knew he was red with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. It won't happen again."

"That's better," the Chief said, and then added "don't make me make you repeat your exchange speech when you gave up your dignity for Doc."

If Grif wasn't wearing his helmet, everyone would have seen a pair of eyes widened in fear. The Chief, being a forgiving man, didn't make another mention of the subject. Everyone finished checking their gear and silently waited for the Pelican to reach its destination. The Chief had wrapped an arm around the still embarrassed and flustered Amanda, offering her solace and many apologies for Grif's behavior. She accepted all of them, thankful that he was there to keep the squad under control.

While to the Chief and almost all of Red Squad this was simply a way to make Amanda feel slightly less embarrassed, Tex looked at it as an advance on another woman. She felt a pang of jealousy. They had spent three nights together inside the same tent with nothing but blankets to cover them and there he was, trying to hit it off with someone he barely knew. Yet, perhaps he was clueless towards feelings indicating that someone wanted to be more than just his friend. He never brought up their nights together during casual conversation and treated her no differently than he did the rest of the squad during the day. Tex pushed the jealousy aside, saving her speculations for another time. She smiled behind her visor as the Chief completely ignored Amanda who was resting her head against his chest.

"We're beginning our descent, people, get ready!" the pilot announced to the passengers over the comm. system after the twenty minutes had passed.

The Chief felt the Pelican decelerate slightly. Amanda lifted her head from his chest and looked around.

"Finally," the voice that screamed 'I mean business' returned and all events that transpired on the Pelican were forgotten.

She pulled out a small radio no larger than the palm of her hand. "Make sure Commander Schreiber and Professor Chmura are waiting for us when we land," she said into the device. Someone on the other line answered, but the Chief wasn't listening since the Pelican was beginning the landing sequence. They had arrived at Foundation.

O'Malley exited his Pelican-Class transport and stepped onto a steel platform. After taking in the beautiful scenery for a moment, the AI and his host entered the large door before him. It opened up into a small hallway where scientists and architects were busy putting up the finishing touches. He walked past them, not giving any one acknowledgement. Another door and O'Malley was in a much larger hallway. The ceiling was paneled with glass and allowed for easy viewing of the sky. The hallway split at the end with massive doors leading off to the left and right. O'Malley wondered why the doors were so big since the only thing that could fit easily through the first two doors was people. The doors leading to the control room were large enough for a tank to drive through. The foolish architect that had wasted the supplies to build the giant doors would be torn apart limb by limb for his incompetence.

While O'Malley was dwelling on these thoughts, Sarge took them through the giant doors and down yet another hallway. More scientists and architects were working on the last bits of unfinished wall. Sarge turned left and walked through the final door that led onto a walkway which connected to a circular platform. The room was extremely large, as it housed one of the primary firing mechanisms on the installation as well as the Control Room. O'Malley stepped onto the platform in time to see several more scientists working on a red soldier and a silver metal sphere. Sarge walked up to them.

"How goes the transplant, Burdick?"

Professor Burdick was used to O'Malley creeping up behind him and speaking in a threatening voice. Even still, it sent shivers down his spine.

"Everything is going ahead of schedule, Your Evilness. The Red Prophet's brain was easy to transfer to the Monitor construct and we are completing the AI upgrades now. He'll be up and about shortly."

"Excellent work. I was hoping we would be given a more suitable environment to work in, but I cannot afford to pull my men off of their stations. Those Red fools are drawing closer by the day. My Fortresses on Planet 5 in the Unclaimed System have been overrun by that loathsome Red Squad. It is only a matter of time before they find these installations."

While O'Malley was rambling on about Red Squad, Burdick and his team of scientists completed the brain transfer. A red light winked on inside the orb and it floated off the table where it was previously sitting. The red light pulsated, indicating that the construct was fully functional.

"Greetings O'Malley," it said. "I am the Monitor of Installation Zero Five."

"Silence you fool," O'Malley said. He wanted to get down to business and had no time for introductions, especially from people that he already knew.

"My apologies, Reclaimer," the Monitor said.

"Reclaimer? Why am I a Reclaimer?"

"You are human. Therefore, you are able to retrieve the Index from the Library and activate this Installation along with the other six. When fired, the Installations will consume all life in this galaxy with calcium stores near or identical to those of human beings. The process will be extremely painful, as most life forms will be slowly vaporized from the inside out."

O'Malley made the smile on Sarge's face even wider, but fell away when he thought about the words that had been spoken.

"Index? Library? What fool would put a library on this Installation? Evil has no time for literature!"

"Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the terms this unit has expressed. The Index is the device which activates the installations. It is a key, more or less. The Library is where the Index is housed. The structure also houses the parasite you created and is mainly used for information gathering and storing. It is, in a sense, a Library."

"I see. So, the brain transfer and the AI upgrades were successful?"

"Very much so, O'Malley. With my new abilities, I will assist you in keeping this installation in serviceable condition for as long as possible."

"Excellent. However, I am needed elsewhere. Since this procedure was successful, contact the other Installations and tell the scientists there to begin the Monitor procedure post haste. Time is running short. The parasite may not be released on schedule, and I still require one last piece to complete my super weapons."

O'Malley brandished the crystal from Sarge's ammo pouch. He concentrated on the strange energies that allowed for teleportation. Since his ship, O'Malley I was in orbit, it was in range for O'Malley to teleport to it. Red rings of energy formed around him and rapidly traveled the expanse of his host body. Instantly, they were standing aboard the ship. Commander Maxis nodded at him upon his arrival and ordered for the ship to set its course for Installation 04. His body had been completed.

To Be Concluded