Author's Note: So yeah, I might not have Cortana's character completely down, but I tried my best. I decided to start this thing: if any of this story's fans want me to write in a character of theirs for a brief appearance with some lines, let me know by PM. Next chapter of the story will take place when Emily can walk around the ship, which means that she'll be seeing a LOT of people. Anyway, I forgot something in this story. In Chapter 1, there's the ship Atlas that Keyes was planning on jumping to, and after some research, I realized that Atlas is the ship where Chief beat up a bunch of ODSTs after they antagonized him. I should have mentioned that there...and I also found out that, in the game and book, Cortana was the one who changed the Autumn's slipspace coordinates to the coordinates of the first Halo ring....dang I missed a bunch of stuff. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.
Chapter 2
One hour later, a tall, strong, short brown-haired man was sitting on the edge of a bed. He was in room, which had a closet, mirror, and a locker. He simply stared ahead in deep thought, until a holographic form appeared on the pedestal next to him.
"Good to see that you're out of your armor, Chief," Cortana said, placing her hands on her hips. John glanced at her with his eyes and replied,
"Thanks?" Cortana smiled and crossed her arms.
"So...any thoughts?" John turned his upper body to fully look at her and he raised an eyebrow.
"On what?"
"That girl." John blinked slowly before he faced forward again, leaning forward with his arms resting on his legs. He sighed and looked down at the floor.
"I don't know. It's strange..." Cortana shook her head and held her chin in her right hand.
"It would take me a long time to figure out who she is. I would have to look through the entire identification server in the universe." John narrowed his eyes.
"That would take forever, even for you," he muttered. Cortana chuckled and replied,
"You flatter me, but yes, it would take, as you put it, forever." John sighed. How are we going to figure out who she is? he thought to himself. "Or..." Cortana's voice caught his attention, and he looked at her. "If you can get a DNA sample from her, like a piece of hair, I can scan it and the search will be much quicker." John pondered this for a moment before he looked at the clock. I guess it's time for lunch...he thought. He stood up and turned to the A.I's holographic form.
"We could try that, but not now. I have a feeling we'll need the captain's opinion on this." He scratched the back of his head as he said, "Anyway, I'm going to the cafeteria. I'll catch you later." Cortana nodded and waved her arm.
"Of course." With that, she flickered, and disappeared, as the tall, muscular man left his room.
John watched as everyone in the cafeteria turned to where he stood in the entryway, some in awe, some in curiousity, and some out of confusion. John inwardly sighed, but he kept his poker face in check, and he began to walk pass the tables of men and women, heading for the food line. He could feel everyone's eyes watching him, and he was relieved that, after a few minutes, they all resumed their chatting. With his special hearing, he could pick up all of their mutterings.
"Who's he? I'd be damned if he's a marine. He's huge!" once voice exclaimed in a whisper.
"Look at those arms! What does he do for exercise, bench press two warthogs?"
Another voice added, "Yeah, and he's as pasty as hell. What a freak..." The last sentence stung a bit, but he fought that down as he got in line and picking up a tray. He carelessly picked up everything in the food line, picked up two cartons of milk, and turning to find a table. He scanned the room, until he spotted a vacant table in a far, lonely corner. There's my seat...he thought wryly.
He walked over to the table and sat down before beginning to eat. His thoughts drifted to his fellow Spartans, making his mood all the more dull and sad. After a half an hour of eating in silence, John finished his food and dropped off the tray at the dishwashing area of the food line. He sighed, finding he had nothing to do...again. He opted to return to his room, exiting the cafeteria and walking down the halls, with his hands in his pockets. He passed a few marines, who looked at him strangely, but he ignored them and walked on. After a few minutes, he stopped outside of the medical bay, and his mind wandered to think of that girl.
"Might as well pay a complete stranger a visit and wish her well..." he muttered to himself. He walked up to the door, which opened with a hiss, and he spotted Dr. Owens at the desk. She looked up in surprise and stood up.
"Oh! Are you here to see her?"
"Affirmative, ma'am." Dr. Owens smiled warmly and walked around the desk, gesturing for John to follow her. She looked back at the Spartan, tilting her head to the side. "You're very kind, Master Chief." John said nothing, but the doctor continued nonetheless, "You know what else? I'd even go as far as saying you've taken a liking to this girl." Chief stopped and raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as he continued walking. Dr. Owens stopped at a door, and it opened. She gestured to the room with her hand, and John walked in.
He heard the door close behind him, and he realized that Dr. Owens had given him the courtesy of leaving him alone with the girl. He sighed and walked over to the girl's side, taking a seat in the chair that was positioned next to her bed. Before he sat down, he turned the chair around and rested his arms on the back's top, his legs separated. He stared at the sleeping girl in thought, and he noticed that her vitals were fine, judging by the steady beeping of the machine. His eyes rested on the scar on her forehead, and he stared at it for a few minutes until he chuckled wryly as he raised a hand to brush one of her bangs aside to get a better look at the mark.
"You chose one hell of a time to show up, kid..." Surprisingly, the girl responded in a way, shifting her head a bit, groaning drowsily, before resting again. John smiled, but he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in curiousity. He stood up from his seat and stood over her, his hands clutching on the railing of her bed. He watched her cautiously, and slowly lifted his hand again. His hand inched closer to the girl's forehead, and he lightly touched the girl's scar. That's when those brown eyes snapped open again.
In the darkness, I heard someone say something, and it was a familiar voice, then I felt something moving my hair. After that, I felt something lightly prod my forehead, and I snapped my eyes open at the slight pain that came over me. The first thing I saw was a face, a man's face, hovering several feet over mine, and I yelped as I sat up, causing the man to jump back. I scooted backwards away from the large, muscular man, to the edge of what I was lying on, a bed, and he carefully held up a hand.
"Calm down," he said, his voice strong and somewhat stern. "I'm not going to hurt you." I tensed and tried to back away even more, only for my back to hit the wall. I glanced at the wall and back to the man, who was watching me, bent at the waist a bit, cautious. I noticed that he had scars all over his arms and several on his face, but his size made me forget about them and my body began to shake. He sensed my fear of him, and he lowered his hand. "You're aboard the Pillar of Autumn, a U.N.S.C ship." I blinked. UNSC? The United Nations Space Command? Why am I here? The voice from before echoed in my mind. "Your father put you in my care, and I'm not willing to break the promise I made with him. I promised him that I would protect you, and now I'm going to send you someplace safe. Far away from the Covenant..." Pain suddenly surged within my head and I grunted, grasping my skull with both hands, eyes widening. What's going on?! I can't remember anything! My breathing sped up, and I heard a beeping noise speed up as well. The man's eyes flashed with fear and worry, and turned his head to the door, shouting, "Dr. Owens!" He turned back to me. "Listen! You need to calm down or else you'll black out again." My eyes widened and I looked at him in the eyes, then a woman in a white coat came in. Her eyes broadened.
"She's awake." The man nodded and held out an arm to prevent her from getting any closer to me.
"Careful, ma'am. She's frightened and could lash out." I narrowed my eyes. I'm not scared of you! I sighed inwardly. Who was I kidding? The lady rolled her eyes and pushed past the man.
"It's alright. We just need to be gentle." She walked up to me and, seeing that she was a normal size, my breathing normalized a bit. She stood next to my bed and said in a soothing voice, "Don't worry. We're not going to hurt you. We just want to help." I blinked at her and nodded in understanding. She smiled and held out her hand. "I'm Dr. Owens. What's your name?" I blinked before looking down, remembering the voice from before I was sent here.
"Emily." Dr. Owens nodded, and asked,
"Do you have a last name?" I shook my head and she frowned in thought before looking up to the man behind her.
"Master Chief, go report to the Captain that our guest is awake." The man nodded once before exiting the room. The woman turned back to me and slowly said, "Emily, soon we'll tell you about how you ended up here, okay?" I nodded and she continued, "You'll be asked questions."
"About what?" I asked, my voice wavering. She shrugged.
"Pretty much your entire background story. They need to check and see if you're a threat." I raised an eyebrow and she nodded. "I know. How could they think that a teenage girl would be a threat?" I stared at my hands, which were folded in my lap, and I asked,
"I'm on a U.N.S.C ship?" She blinked and nodded, replying,
"Yes, you are. And, boy did you choose a great time to show up." I looked at her and asked,
"Why, what's happening?" Her eyebrows arched in surprise and she leaned toward me,
"You mean you don't know about the war?" I raised an eyebrow.
"War? What-" The door opened with a hiss and two men and the large man from before stepped in. I recognized the two men as the men from the first time I woke up here. The African-American man and the man in gray. The man in gray, the captain I presumed, walked up to the doctor's side and looked at me.
"Glad to see you're up." I said nothing, just staring at him in wonder and he held out his hand to me, which I took in my own and shook. "Captain Keyes, of the Pillar of Autumn. Welcome aboard." I looked over his shoulder subtly, glancing at the large man standing beside the door, with his arms behind his back. He caught my glance and his eyes met mine, and he looked confused for a second, probably wondering why I'm looking at him. Unfortunately for me, the Captain saw my glance and looked back to the man, who broke eye contact with me. "I see you've already met the Master Chief," Keyes commented. I looked up at the gray-haired man and nodded, before asking,
"Master Chief?"
"It's his rank. It's what he goes by in the U.N.S.C," Dr. Owens answered. I nodded to her in understanding and looked back at the Master Chief, but he didn't make eye contact with me this time. I looked back to the Captain and he gestured to the African-American a foot behind him.
"This is Sergeant Avery Johnson." Johnson walked up to me and held out his hand as well.
"Nice to meet ya." I looked at him, shaking his hand with mine, and replied,
"Same to you, Sgt." Sergeant Johnson nodded before he lowered his hand and asked,
"So, you got a name, kid?"
"It's Emily." The Captain looked at me and said,
"Emily, we have questions, so if you can follow us-"
"Oh, please, Captain, with all due respect, the young girl just woke up. You can ask the questions here, where she can rest." The men in all the room looked shocked at her, even the Master Chief. I looked at her and then the Captain retorted,
"Dr. Owens, the medical bay is not a place for questioning possible threats." Dr. Owens fully turned to face him.
"Captain, she was in a coma, and I suspect for a very long time. She most likely can't even stand." Johnson looked at Keyes.
"She did take quite a fall when she tried to stand up," he pointed out. The doctor folded her hands as she turned to all the men.
"Then there's no doubt that she's been in stasis for a very long time, especially if her immobilization is that bad." She gave the captain a pointed look. "Which means she can't leave this room." Keyes narrowed his eyes before sighing and sitting in the chair next to the doctor.
"Very well. We'll ask questions here." He looked at me. "Alright. First thing's first. Emily, why were you in that cryo-tube?" I blinked, before softening my eyes.
"...I-I don't know. Someone, a man I knew...he put me in it." Keyes nodded and he asked,
"Does he have a name?" I shook my head.
"I can't remember." Keyes stared in thought before asking another question.
"Do you know why he put you in that cryo-tube?" The man's voice echoed in my mind and I replied,
"He said he was told to protect me, by my father. He wanted to..." I held a hand up to my temple, clenching my jaw as I tried to remember the scene. "Get me out of someplace, away from something. I couldn't see anything, but I heard a battle going on in the background." Dr. Owens stepped in to ask a question.
"What was he trying to get you away from?" I tried to remember again, and the word came to me.
"Something called...the Covenant." Everyone seemed to freeze at that, and I wondered why. Finally the Sergeant broke the silence.
"Sounds like you were on a boarded ship, little missy." I blinked and looked to the captain, who sighed.
"It's the only logical explanation. The ship you were on, it was boarded by the Covenant." My eyes widened.
"Does that mean that...the man who saved me..."
"Yes." We all looked to the Master Chief and his eyes burned into mine. "He was most likely killed, along with the rest of the ship's crew." I froze and my shoulders sagged, staring down at my hands in disbelief. Everyone was silent and Dr. Owens laid a hand on my shoulder, trying to comfort me. Suddenly, the Master Chief walked up to my bedside. "You said that he mentioned your father. Who is he?" I bit my lip and muttered,
"I don't know. The man said that I'm suffering from amnesia..." Dr. Owens nodded and lowered her hand.
"It must be from that scar of yours." I blinked. Scar? She noticed my confusion, and pointed at her own forehead, drawing a little line from the middle of it down to the bridge of her nose. I stared at her before slowly raising my right hand to my forehead, and I remembered that gash in my head when I was in that cryo-tube. I found the scar, and I traced it. "Looks like you got cut by something. Do you mind if I examine it sometime later? I want to find out where you got that scar from. Unless you know about it." I shook out of my reverie and shook my head.
"I don't know how I got it, but I would like to find out. I don't mind." Dr. Owens smiled at me and looked to Keyes.
"Anything else, captain?" Keyes raised a hand to hold his chin in deep thought, before sighing and shaking his head.
"No, that is all. Will you give her physical therapy to get her walking again?" Owens nodded.
"Of course. I'll do my best to get her back on her feet, sir." The captain nodded and turned around.
"Good. I'll see you for an update." With that, he left, leaving the doctor and me with the Chief and Sgt. Johnson. Wait...what? I turned and blinked at them. Why are they here? Dr. Owens noticed this as well and looked at them.
"Aren't you supposed to go with him?" Sgt. Johnson shook his head and leaned against the wall.
"Nope. I'm dismissed for the rest of the day." Dr. Owens and I looked to the Master Chief, who said impassively,
"Same." I blinked as Dr. Owens nodded in understanding before turning to me.
"Would you like to start your therapy now?" I debated on it before nodding and turning so my feet were dangling off the edge of the bed. Dr. Owens laid a hand on my left arm, and directed, "Okay. Just slowly slide off and brace your feet onto the floor. Don't worry, I won't let you fall." I nodded, and did as I was told, but once my feet made contact with the floor and applied pressure upon, my legs buckled. There was a blur as I felt something hold my up by my right arm, and I looked up to see Sgt. Johnson.
"Careful, kid. We don't want any broken heads." I flickered my eyes before looking down.
"Thank you." He only nodded and helped Dr. Owens get me back up on the bed before sitting in a nearby chair. Dr. Owens wrote down a few notes before looking up at me.
"I'll be back in a second." She left the room, leaving me with two men. The room was deathly silent, and I glanced nervously from Sgt. Johnson to Master Chief. I looked to the tall man, and slowly asked,
"So, do you have a name?" I immediately added, "Sir?" The Chief looked up at me, noticing that I was addressing him. He nodded and replied impassively,
"I do..." I leaned forward a bit, unsurely.
"Then why don't you go by it?" Sgt. Johnson gave me a warning look, but I didn't know why. Master Chief's eyes seemed to waver a bit in emotion, but it was too fast for me to calculate.
"The few people who do know my name rarely call me by it, so I grew accustomed to that." I frowned; was it because he's abnormally huge and pale? Was he an outcast? I sighed, obviously not understanding any of this, and then Dr. Owens walked in, with a pair of underarm crutches.
"We'll use these to help you stand up and move around," she said. She walked up to my bedside, and handed the crutches to me. I hold the two sticks as Dr. Owens adjusted them to fit my size. After she finished with the adjustments, I placed the pads of the crutches underneath my armpits, and I looked at her. "Go ahead try to stand," she directed, already taking a hold of my arm to help me. I slid off of the bed and landed awkwardly on the floor, my legs almost buckling underneath me, but I managed to hold myself up with the crutches. Dr. Owens slightly tightened her grip on my arm and pulled me up to stand straight.
"My legs feel like jell-o," I noted in a disappointed tone of voice, frowning down at my limbs. Dr. Owens chuckled softly.
"Don't worry. After a few days of walking and leg exercises, they'll be in good shape."
"What if the Covenant attack before then?" I looked up at the Chief, to see him staring at Dr. Owens, waiting for an answer to his question. The doctor sighed.
"If they do, we'll have to move Emily to a safer place that's well guarded." Sgt. Johnson raised an eyebrow.
"And if the captain decides to give the order to self destruct the Autumn?" I blinked at him.
"Self destruct?" I echoed, my eyes wide. Dr. Owens placed her other hand on my back as she explained,
"There's a priority order. It's called the Cole Protocol, and it was made to prevent the Covenant from finding the location of Earth. In order to prevent capture, any U.N.S.C or Human vessel is to self destruct after wiping all data matrices." She turned her gaze to Sgt. Johnson. "If the captain initiates the Cole Protocol, Emily will have to get on an escape pod." She smiled and patted my heat lightly. "And you boys will have yourselves an escort mission." Sgt. Johnson huffed.
"Good to know." He gestured to the Master Chief with his chin. "I'll make sure that Chief over there won't go out taking a hit for the kid." The large man gave the sergeant a small quirk of the eyebrow, and retorted,
"And what makes you think that will happen?" Sgt. Johnson laughed, before he walked over to the tall, large man, giving a friendly punch to his shoulder.
"Face it. You're a total softy when it comes to women and children." The Chief glared at the wall opposite of him as the sergeant walked past him. Johnson stopped at the door and turned around, giving Dr. Owens and I a crisp salute. "Excuse me, ladies, but it's time for me to head for the gym." He tilted his hat at the Master Chief in a smug manner. "I'll catch you later, Chief." The large man merely grunted in reply, and Johnson left the room. Dr. Owens' smile broadened, and she turned to the Chief.
"Well, Master Chief, since Johnson's gone, would you be so kind to help me with Emily's physical therapy? I'm too frail and weak to be able to catch her if she falls." I looked at the man for a moment, and he raised an eyebrow, before pushing himself off of the wall.
"Yes, ma'am." He moved to stand on my right side, just a couple of feet away from me. He crossed his arms over his chest, watching the doctor as she told me,
"Alright, Emily. Take a few steps for me please." I did as I was told, although it was a difficult task because my legs were so weak, as was my entire body. After three steps, my legs gave out from underneath me, and I gasped. As I began to fall, I felt two large, strong arms wrap around my middle, and pull me back up to my feet. I stared up at the owner of the arms, Master Chief, my eyes widened. He's so fast! I didn't even notice him move.
"Thanks," I muttered, pure amazement laced with my voice. He only nodded silently, gazing down at me with slight regard.
"Good catch, Chief. I guess the marines I treated weren't kidding when they said you have fast reflexes." Dr. Owens smiled at the man, and he shrugged with closed eyes.
"It's all from the training, Doctor. Nothing else. " I straightened myself, and readjusted the crutches underneath my arms. I sighed, and looked at the doctor with pathetic eyes.
"How long will this take?" I asked in a pitiful voice. Dr. Owens laughed and walked over to me, before placing her hand on my head.
"Don't worry, Emily. It will take only a few days." I stared at her for a moment, until I nodded in understanding.
"I see. But," I paused, "what will the captain have me do once I've recovered?" Dr. Owens sighed, and shook her head.
"He'll give you your own quarters, but I'm positive that he'll want more answers from you."
"He seems stressed about you showing up," the Chief added, glancing at me. I blinked and tilted my head curiously, as Dr. Owens nodded.
"Well, you can't blame him. We just lost a planet and many lives, plus we're in the middle of a war right now. Now the safety of a young girl has been added to his main priorities. The job of a captain is never easy." I looked down at my feet, and my eyes softened sadly. I must be a burden to everyone. I shouldn't even be here... and to appear in the middle of a war.... I stopped my train of thought, as I raised an eyebrow, before looking up at the doctor.
"What war?" I asked, my eyebrows knitted in confusion. That seemed to shock the Master Chief, seeing as his eyes widened quite quickly and both of his eyebrows shot up. Dr. Owens, having witnessed my confusion before, told him calmly,
"It must be the amnesia." She sighed and told me to sit down on my bed, which I did, before she took a seat beside me. "We call it the Human-Covenant War, and it's been going on for 28 years now." My eyes widened in shock. 28 years? She nodded at my surprised expression and said, "It started in the year 2525, when the Covenant, a religious leadership of different alien species, attacked humanity on Harvest." I fought down the disgusted and confused expression on my face. Aliens? Dr. Owens continued, "We arranged a meeting with them for trade, and apparently they wanted something else. One of the aliens attacked one of our colonial militia members. The trade was screwed up when a firefight broke out, and the Covenant retreated. Soon after, the Covenant's leaders, the Prophets, called for a crusade on us, and then it turned into a mass genocide of the human race." My heart lurched, and I began to think about the number of lives lost. I didn't want to know. "They later declared war on us, and that's how it all started." I stared at her with wide eyes, and I slowly looked down, mumbling,
"I can't believe it...a war..." I looked back up to Dr. Owens with a small pained smile. "I'm sorry...I must be a burden to everyone now."
"You're not a burden." Dr. Owens and I turned to see the Chief with his arms crossed, watching me with an impassive face. "It's not your fault you ended up here with no memory of your past, nor is it your fault that you were forced into cryo with a coma." His eyes softened a bit, and he uttered with a sympathetic tone, "I'm sure the captain won't mind if the priority is taking care of a young girl." I blinked at him, and I looked at Dr. Owens, who's smiling warmly at the moment.
"Chief's right, and the captain has a daughter as well, only she's older than you and she's the Lieutenant Commander of the In Amber Clad." My eyes widened in amazement and Dr. Owens wrote a few more things down in her notebook. "Not many people can tell that Captain Keyes' worried and misses her very much," she paused in her writing and smiled up at me, "and I'm sure that you remind him of when she was your age." I stared at her for a few moments, before I did the same to Master Chief, who had turned his attention to the floor. I sighed, knowing that the both of them had good points, and I stared down at my lap, my bangs falling into my face.
"I understand what you guys are saying, but...I still feel like I owe him, like an apology or some way to repay him." I felt a hand clap me on the shoulder, and I looked up to see no other than the Chief staring down at me with that impassive face of his.
"Why don't you wait a bit until you give the captain your apology? You still need to regain your body strength, so I suggest you wait until you can stand and walk around." He released my shoulder and walked toward the doorway, continuing, "And you'll need a tour of the Autumn if you want to find your way around." The door opened with a hiss at his approach, and he turned around to salute, much like the way Sgt. Johnson did before he left. "I apologize for my rudeness, but I should leave now." He lowered his arm as Dr. Owens smirked and placed her hands on her hips.
"Why? Is Cortana expecting you?" I raised an eyebrow at the reaction to the doctor's question. Chief's expression had flickered to show a bit of brief torment, but it was instantly replaced with the same impassive mask, and he hesitantly replied,
"...Affirmative, ma'am." Dr. Owens grinned as she laughed to herself, and she gave the man a dismissive wave of the hand.
"Alright, we girls won't keep you any longer. Don't want to get the A.I mad at our hero. Will you being visiting often?" Master Chief tensed for a moment, until his shoulders sagged as he mumbled,
"Yes, doctor." I sensed a little relief inside of me at the answer. To be honest, I felt rather safe in this place with the few people I met today. Dr. Owens, Sgt. Johnson, Master Chief, and perhaps even Captain Keyes. Without them, I'd be nervous wreck, afraid of everyone around me. Even if I hadn't seen the entire ship, I could already tell it would be huge, and I could already see the stares that I would be getting once I'm out of the medical bay.
"Very well. We'll be seeing you later, Chief." The doctor's voice brought me out of my thoughts, and I saw Chief ready to leave to the room. Before he left, I waved at him with a small smile, saying,
"Bye. What you said really helped. Thank you." He regarded me for a moment, before he nodded.
"It's not a problem." With that, he left the room, and turned right in the hall, with the door closing behind him. I waited a few moments as Dr. Owens checked my arms, and legs, squeezing them gently here and there, until I asked,
"Um, who's Cortana?" The older woman didn't remove her gaze from my right arm as she replied,
"She's the Autumn's Artificial Intelligence, mostly known as a smart A.I."
"What's an A.I?" I asked hesitantly, and the doctor looked up at me.
"They're like computer systems, only they're capable of doing tasks that require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, speech-making, and translation between languages."
"So, she runs the entire ship?" I asked, as Dr. Owens walked over to a cabinet.
"That's correct, and she's not any ordinary A.I." She opened the cabinet, and pulled out a bottle of something, which I supposed were pills. "She was created from the brain of one of the most famous doctors, Dr. Halsey, who started the program that Master Chief is in, the SPARTAN IIs. Cortana was asked to pick a carrier for a mission, and she chose the Chief. Basically, they're partners." I nodded in understanding and moved to ask another question, but I'm cut off by a woman's voice.
"Do I hear someone talking about me?" I blinked, and looked around for the owner of the voice, but there's no one else in the room except Dr. Owens and I.
"Eavesdropping again, Cortana?" the doctor asked the room, and I jumped in surprise when a form flickered on top of a nearby desk. The holographic form of a purple woman appeared, and she had various codes scrolling up and down her body, which looked like it was wearing a skin-tight bodysuit. The form had short cropped hair that stopped at the base of her neck. She crossed her arms, and smirked.
"Of course, doctor." Dr. Owens raised an eyebrow.
"So what gives us the honor of your presence?"
"Just wanted to drop by and say hi to our cute little guest." The miniature woman smiled at me and I redden out of embarrassment at the unexpected compliment. "I'm Cortana, and as you already know, I'm the A.I of this ship." I blinked at her and replied,
"Um, I'm Emily. It's a pleasure to meet you, miss." Cortana raised an eyebrow at me, that smile still on her face, and I wondered if I had said something wrong.
"Likewise. And don't bother with the formality. I'd rather have a fellow young woman call me by my name." I blinked at her, and I nodded slowly.
"Um, okay....Cortana." What an interesting name, I thought as it rolled off of my tongue. If possible, the A.I's smile widened in a cheeky way.
"That's better. I'm sure we'll be friends in no time." Dr. Owens cleared her throat, turning both my gaze and Cortana's to her.
"Sorry to interrupt, but Cortana, Chief just left to see you. We all figured you were waiting for him..." Cortana's smile disappeared, and she hummed in deep thought, her hand holding her chin in a musing manner.
"Strange, I didn't say anything about waiting for him..." She shrugged. "He must want to talk to me about something." I looked at her quizzically, but I quickly pushed down my questioning expression as the A.I turned to me. "Well, I better go. Can't keep the Chief waiting on me." She waved a hand at me, and smiled warmly. "I'll drop by again soon, but before I leave..." Cortana held one arm up by the elbow, and tilted her head slightly. "...judging from what I overheard, you've missed a lot of things. How about I give you a history lesson, to help you catch up?" I smiled back at her.
"I would really appreciate that. Thank you." She shook her head.
"Not a problem." She looked around, before grinning at both the doctor and I. "Well...Catch you later." As she said those last three words, she flickered on top of the desk's pad, and disappeared.
"Well, that's awfully nice of her. To tell you about everything that has happened during the war. She must have taken a liking to you." I shrugged, smiling.
"She's nice." Dr. Owens laughed as she walked over to hand me the bottle of pills, and replied,
"Wait until you get to know her more. Most people can't stand her." I chuckled under my breath.
"I'll manage somehow." I blinked at the bottle in my hands. "What's this?"
"It's a medicine that will help you regain your strength." I cringed and extended my arm to distance myself from the bottle.
"You mean like steroids?" I asked in a baffled tone of voice. She laughed at my disgusted expression and shook her head.
"No, unlike steroids, it's completely made of nutrients. Trust me, it won't effect your body in any way except for helping you regain your strength, and it will make your physical therapy a lot easier." I slowly pulled the bottle back towards me to examine it. "All you have to do is take one pill once a day." She narrowed her eyes and added, "And I'll be here to make sure you do."
"I'm not a druggie," I retorted with my left eyebrow quirked in a questioning manner. Dr. Owens laughed and shook her head.
"I'm not saying you are. What I meant was that I'm going to make sure you actually take a pill. Many kids your age or younger tend to forget about it." I blinked and gave her a curious look. She smiled and sat down in the chair beside me. "I used to be a hospital nurse back on Earth," she explained. "When the war started, I wanted to help save the men who served their planet, so I enrolled my name for the U.N.S.C medical unit." I nodded and looked down at my lap with soft eyes.
"Do you miss anyone? Back on Earth?" I asked, just barely above a murmur.
"Mm, yes. I have a son and daughter, twins, who live there with my mother." She paused, and I looked up to see her digging into her lab coat for something. She pulled out a photo, and offered it to me. "That's them." I gently took the picture in my hands and looked at it.
There were two children, who looked like they were 10-12 years old. One was a boy, with blue eyes and curly black hair, much like Dr. Owens. The other child was a girl, with pale green eyes and light brown hair tied up in pigtails. They were at a lake of some sort, and it looked like they were fishing, pausing in their activity to smile at the camera.
I smiled at the photograph and looked up at Dr. Owens.
"They're beautiful," I uttered softly, and the doctor nodded.
"Thank you." I handed her the photo, and she took a moment to stare at it. I chose the moment to add,
"You must miss them very much." She sighed with a nod as she placed the picture back in her pocket.
"I do. Not a day goes without me thinking about them." My eyes softened and I mutter,
"They must miss you, too." I exhaled hopelessly and pulled up my legs to hold them against my chest. "If I could remember my dad, and if he's out fighting in the war, I would miss him very much." I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I looked up to see Dr. Owens smiling at me, like a mother would to her own child. She took a moment before asking,
"Want to know something?" I blinked, before nodding slowly, and the woman tilted her head a bit, the smile still on her face.
"I know that you'll find your father. And you know what else? He's probably looking for you right now, thinking about you everyday like the way I do with my children." I stared at her in awe, and I could feel my eyes beginning to water, but I fought it down as I beam at Dr. Owens.
"Yeah. We'll find each other, someday." She nodded, and stood up to her feet.
"Good. Now..." She stretched a bit with a yawn, and finished, "Let's get working on your therapy."
Another Note: So how was it? Review please! =)