Chapter Eleven

TIME: DATE RECORD ERRORANOMALY \
Date unknown, Time unknown \ In slipspace \
aboard Forerunner ship Titan

Halsey's story was convoluted, or at least it had become so the further along it went.

"So, you guys made your way to the center of a planet, jumped into a hole in slipspace, ended up on some weird planet, found this ship, and ended up here?" asked Johnson. "Sounds like a helluva time!"

"You could put it that way," replied Halsey, "Although technically we entered a slipspace rupture that led to a micro Dyson sphere, a location that the Forerunners had apparently constructed to shield themselves from the halo blasts."

Johnson just looked at Keyes with a confused face.

"So, how did you get back here?" Keyes asked.

"Well, the prudent question would be how you got back to this time?" interjected Cortana. "According to my calculations, your story does not check out under a normal timeline – that is, unless you're just plain lying."

"Ah, you were always a stickler for details, Cortana. Remember the crystal from Reach?"

"Yes, the one that Corporal Locklear died trying to frag. Why?"

"Well, it displayed some curious properties – namely the ability to bend space, time, and gravity, which is a function of space and time."

"Ah, yes, Doctor," replied Joyeuse, "It seems you happened upon the Resplendent Key when you encountered this ship."

"So there was more than one 'key,'" stated Cortana.

"Indeed. My makers took great care and effort in crafting these crystals. One was left in this dimension, the other in the shield. It is a shame to hear you have destroyed such a marvel."

"Yes, a marvel that defied laws of physics and couldn't be used without killing those around it," retorted Cortana.

Dr. Halsey interjected, "Well, this ship has a thing or two up its sleeve, one of them being a chamber that houses the crystal and prevents radiation leakage, even from the crystal."

"I hate to interrupt your girl talk, but I still don't know what the hell is going on," interrupted Johnson.

"Excuse me, Sergeant, let me continue," the doctor stated. "This crystal bends time and space. Once we encountered the ship, the shipboard AI led us to it, and then to you."

Cortana pulsed green as Joyeuse smiled. "Ah, you must be speaking of Mizore," Joyeuse proclaimed.

A figure arose from a nearby holographic terminal. The artificial intelligence took on a form that bore a resemblance to an old, stoic man. The figure had a long, white beard and held a large staff. It spoke elegantly.

"Why hello there," chimed in a voice, "How do you know me?"

"My name is Joyeuse, but I am a product of the replication code left by our fathers in the normal realm, on Ring Installation 05."

"Ah, yes, indeed. Good to see you."

"I am now a descendant of this advanced human construct. She calls herself Cortana."

"Pleased to meet you, Cortana," said Mizore.

Cortana said nothing.

"I still don't understand how you went back in time, Doctor. It's impossible, scientifically," said Miranda.

"The luminous key was not designed to operate within the normal parameters of the universe, human," said the Arbiter, "It holds divine powers that should be wielded with proper care."

"Indeed," said the doctor, "Although I'd debate whether or not it's 'divine'. It is a convoluted explanation. As far as I can understand, the crystal does not allow for outright time travel, which would be impossible because of the logical paradoxes that time travel presents. However, the crystal does allow time to be bent.

Perhaps it would be best to describe this simply. Think of a sheet of paper – If the two opposite corners are different points in time and space, the crystal acts as though it were a magnet that draws those two points together and binds them, folding everything in between to that single point without changing the timeline. It avoids logical paradoxes because the timeline would appear to remain unaltered; it is as though the crystal's power is a natural function of the universe."

"So you came from the 'future' because the crystal was grabbing a 'corner of the paper,'" said Cortana.

"Precisely. The crystal's properties were obvious to us, but we could not fathom this possibility because our minds operate too logically. Mizore helped open our minds," said Halsey.

"Opened your mind," joked the Spartan known as Kelly-087, who had been silent until now.

"So what's the other corner?" asked a still-confused Miranda Keyes.

"We'll see. The crystal – well, it seems to have a mind of its own, so to speak," said Catherine Halsey.

"So after all that jargon-filled jabbering, you have absolutely no idea what's going on," retorted Johnson.

"Precisely."

The news was still confusing. It took Dr. Halsey, likely the most brilliant mind of her generation, much effort to wrap her mind around the concepts she was explaining. Even in layman's terms, the ideas were tough to swallow. Still, what mattered is that Halsey and her crew had saved them, regardless of the scientific jargon.

Cortana and Mizore were engaged in a tête-à-tête.

"Simply amazing. I am thrilled to see such an advanced construct at this stage of human development," stated Mizore.

"What are you talking about?" Cortana asked.

"Well, your civilization has advanced much faster than I had anticipated. Although, I must say, my creators had seemingly undue faith in your advancement."

"So you're saying you have been watching us from your little bubble?"

"Not quite. My creators, or your 'Forerunners,' are largely in stasis. Those of whom remained were not exactly watching you. They are you."

Cortana pulsed every color while she processed what Mizore just said.

"So you are saying that my creators are your creators?"

"Well, so to speak. Since the dawn of human history, my creators have intermingled with your society. When the installations were activated, every sentient organism was destroyed. Because many of my creators were still on the Ark, humans evolved from my creators' remains. Their makeup is similar, and they have a similar appearance. We made contributions along your evolutionary chain so that humans finally appeared on Earth, allowing us to mingle with your species, or rather, your creators' species."

Cortana continued, "But why did you need to manipulate the evolutionary chain and commingle with homo sapiens in the first place? If you were all safe in another dimension, there would seem to be no logical need."

"Yes, but unfortunately the radiation left behind by the halo activations was too great for my creators to survive for any extended periods of time," answered Mizore.

"Yes, but why not just reproduce inside the Dyson sphere until the radiation decayed enough for you to return?"

Mizore expounded, "Well, what you call the 'Dyson sphere' was built around an artificial star. The star was designed to output enough energy so that the sphere itself would not absorb 100 percent of its energy. Unfortunately, this high-energy output could not last indefinitely. We needed to find a way to be able to live in this plane of existence again until the rest of my creators could be removed from stasis.

Two unforeseen events happened. First, those who were sent to Earth to commingle with humans one day were met with disaster. Our sister ship, the Deus malfunctioned and crashed into your Earth at an extremely high velocity. I believe it impacted in what you call the Yucatan Peninsula, on the continent you call North America."

"You're kidding," replied Cortana in what amounted to disbelief.

"Indeed. The second unforeseen event was the unanticipated boon in the amount of energy output by the artificial star in our sanctuary. It has lasted tenfold its estimated length, although the energy has been waning for the past millennia."

"So humans are essentially Forerunners."

"Not quite. There were very few caretakers that mingled with your species. Once the Deus disaster occurred, they were wiped out. Luckily, they were able to reproduce with several of your species before their lives were spent.

My creators' lifeblood, or 'DNA' as you call it, carries on. It is carried in specific members of your species, in varying degrees. From these records I can surmise that those like Alexander the Great, Jesus Christ, Galileo Galilei, Albert Einstein, John Lennon and other prominent figures in your societies were direct descendents of my creators. Of course, there are those with variant lifeblood that showed some special talents, but are not direct descendents."

Cortana remained silent. This made absolute sense. She quickly realized that the DNA markers used to identify the Spartans were precisely what Mizore was talking about.

"Interesting. The one you call 'John' –"

The Titan flashed out of slipspace.

Cortana interrupted. "Picking up UNSC radio chatter. Filtering. They didn't… Doctor, we have to get to Earth, they're going to –"

A bright light winked on from Earth's surface. A beam broke through the clouds and overloaded the viewscreen.

"Oh dear," said Mizore, "It seems that the Ark has been activated. This was an unforeseen event."

"You can build time machines, but you can't see into the future, eh?" responded Johnson.

"There is no hope. Once the Ark is activated, the installations will activate and all sentient life will be eradicated."

"How much time do we have?" asked Halsey.

"The signal will take seven of your days to reach each installation. Once they are activated, the radiation blasts will spread through the galaxy at a rate that will reach your Sol in 3.7 days."

"And there is no way to stop this?" asked Miranda.

"Well, theoretically the Reclaimer could deactivate the rings from a shield world, but my sensors tell me that the only one suited for this task was in close proximity to the Ark's activation. It is unlikely he survived," replied Mizore.

"Take us down to the location. I'm willing to bet he's alive," said Cortana.

"As you wish."

Cortana hoped that Mizore was wrong, just like she had been wrong about John's survival odds so many times before. It was, after all, the universe's only hope.