The weeks that follow proceed much as John expects. The Voices (he's started to think of them with a capital letter) squabble, Kelly/Not-Kelly talks (a lot.), and he's discharged from the Hospital (again with a capital letter).
It's only once he's finally, euphorically free that things start to get interesting.
"What do you mean, the Covenant is peaceful?" He asks Kelly/Not-Kelly.
Arbiter: She means that this world isn't the same as your memories.
Johnson: Duh.
She looks at him skeptically. "You really don't remember anything, do you." It's not a question, not one that he can answer. "I'll give you a quick history lesson. When humanity finally went to the stars, we found exactly what we'd expected- a great big puddle of nothing. But we kept searching, and in due course we found the Covenant. They were a peaceful coalition of various races led by the San 'Shyuum. They offered us entrance, and we accepted-"
He interrupts her. "So we're part of the Covenant?"
She glares at him. The weeks have strained their already not so serene relationship.
Thank God.
"Yes. We are. The Covenant offered us so much, and we took it and asked for more. But some people were suspicious, and this led to the petty brawls between factions. But they were quashed easily. The Covenant's all we've ever found out there, other than a few Forerunner relics and some extinct races' ex-planets. No Flood, no angry Brutes, no lying Prophets."
He pondered this for a few seconds, listening to the squall of protest from his common sense.
Wait.
Since when did he think of the alien entity in his mind as his 'common sense'?
John decides that the thing just needs a better name.
Arbiter: Thank you.
He half-grins at this, then quickly straightens his face as Kelly/Not-Kelly shoots him a weird look from her bright pink armchair.
Bright. Freaking. Pink.
Cortana: Pink. Yuck.
"So..." He says at last. "What happened then?"
"We continued colonizing planets. Everything here is perfect, is perfect on every world. This is a world without sin."
Her last sentence drives his mind into hyperdrive. He's heard that before.
Arbiter: It's tied into everything.
Cortana: It's so obvious, but why can't we see it?
He feels then swim forward into his eyes, absorbing every detail.
His hands, not armor pale but tanned. The hair in his eyes, the long sun lightened strands. The gold chair he's sitting on.
"Now, if you'll excuse me I have work to be doing." Not-Kelly stands and leaves.
He rests his head on his hands. He's so tired. And the pink is hurting his eyes.
It's strange to be unaugmented. He's not as strong, not as fast, not as quick to respond. He can't even see properly, as demonstrated by the pink blinding him.
He feels the Voices swim around his mind reassuring him, suppressing his tiredness.
It's funny, he thinks, a few weeks ago I could barely hear you. Now I feel you swimming around in my brain.
Cortana: We're getting stronger with every doubt you have. And you have so many.
Johnson: Here's an idea. Why don't we all focus on getting the hell out of this freaky-ass place?
Brilliant. Any ideas? He figures sarcasm should get the Voices to shut up for a while.
Johnson: Nope.
Well, there's that theory out the window.
Cortana: Maybe this is the 'real' world. Maybe Not-Kelly's right. But this can't be a world without sin. Stay here, find out what you can.
I have an idea. Not-Kelly's part of the 'UNOI', the United Nations Office of Investigation. That's the work she's doing right now. She should have information.
The Voices think. John hears them think. Not a pretty system, if you really think about it.
Cortana: How will you get said information?
Arbiter: Her mail. She gets some each day.
Johnson: Do ya honestly think they're so stupid, they'll send her stuff, classified stuff, without making sure it gets to her specifically?
Arbiter: Yes.
My common sense is right. They'll send her stuff. This is, after all, a 'world without sin'. And once we have that stuff, we can go wreak havoc. If it's bad stuff.
Johnson: I'm likin' you more and more.
Cortana: But won't they find us? They'll obviously have prepared for this, even if there is no crime.
He stands, strides over to the shuttered window and throws the shutters wide. Outside, the twin suns are blazing, and the brilliant silver grass waves in the garden.
Everything's peaceful on Paradise. There are no predators, and even no herbivores. The water, filled with amino acids, is in a state similar to that of early Earth when the first cells formed. It's all you need to live.
No. He thinks, after admiring the first of two sunsets. They won't be prepared for this.
A/N: Not the longest thing in the history of the universe, but my brain hurts so it'll have to do.
You know what to do now.