I opened my eyes. I drowsily looked around, my head spinning uncontrollably. I was too weak to stand up and a cold trickle ran down my cheek. Blood. The armour started to power up again, and I felt a burning sensation, to which I winced, as the small, in-built bio-foam started to kick in and fill my guts with fire. Only after the pain numbed away, I took note of my current position. RIGHT ABOVE BOILING LIQUID. I looked lazily at the furious surface for a moment, and the nut in my head slid back in and I gasped. I was upon a small engine, floating gently above the liquid. It connected to 4 pipes that stretched right across the giant hole into the wall. I was dangling right on the edge, and there was a small dent where I had landed. I looked up and saw some ledges and walkways that were dented and distorted. I smiled at my piece of work, and crawled back up unto the middle of the engine.

I sat there for a long time. I recounted the past events, and initiated a brain damage check, then a body check. Except for several bruises that were so severe it burst and yielded blood, most of which were on my stomach, there was nothing wrong. But there was something wrong. HOW THE HELL WAS I SUPPOSED TO GET OUT!? I tiptoed above the glass tubes and touched the walls. Too smooth for me to climb. I unsheathed Slicer and struck it down on the walls, but it didn't make a dent. Right. So here was the checklist.

Lie here like an idiot. Check

Put two and two together and climb up. Check

Check for any injuries. Check

Wonder how I was to climb out of this shithole. Check.

Check if Slicer can bite on the walls. Check.

Continue lying here until death by starvation. Pending.

I groaned and tiptoed back to the engine, and looked back at the pipes. Could I possibly crawl through? Something ringed in my head… "This is not a natural formation. Someone built it. So it must lead somewhere." I laughed and remembered telling Adam this joke. Ah. Good times… wait. It must lead somewhere. IT MUST LEAD SOMEWHERE, DAMMIT. I snorted in this advice. An advice from a joke! I looked at the pipes, and said to myself, "how bad of an idea could it be?" and started to slice the top of the pipes with my Slicer.

Okay, it was a bad idea. It felt like the maintenance tunnels all over again. Crammed and clammy, twisting and turning endlessly. I groaned in longing to stretch, and continued on. But de light came at the end of the tunnel, and as soon as I saw it, I crawled as fast as I can. But then I heard something, and I lay silent, listening. Something was coming. A sloshing, boiling sound resounded through the tunnels, and it became louder and louder… I madly scrambled to the light, desperate not to get submerged by the approaching liquid. "Shit-shit-shit-shit-shit!" I screamed, but it was covered by the increasingly loud sound. My gauntlet desperately gripped and slid on the tunnel walls, my boots sliding on the metal. "Aah…aaaahhh… AHHH!" My shield sizzled as my boots touched the boiling liquid, just as I reached the entrance. I had to act quickly. I grasped the edge of the tunnel, gave one mighty kick as the liquid submersed my legs. I flipped myself out of the tunnels and dropped down, the liquid pouring out of the tunnel and into a pool below. My head spun, and saw my shield holding a hairbreadth's worth. One second in there and I would have been cooked. Then I realised that I was holding my breath. I heaved a mouthful of oxygen and I examined the room. Large, machines everywhere, pipes coming in and pouring in the same kind of liquid, into a vast vat. I pondered for a bit. Perhaps it was a mineshaft? But how could it automatically function? Who was running this place? I shook my head. Too many questions. I'd better get moving. I unsheathed my Slicer, as the only gun I had had one ammo left. Well, this mission got a whole lot more complicated.

I crept through the hallways, surprisingly empty. And silent too – perhaps it didn't have oxygen. But there was an occasional crawler patrol and I had to be careful not to allow it to bark. Many times I had to use my thruster pack before the dogs sighted me, and one time, I thought I had it when the crawler turned in my direction. But my training instincts took over and I stealthily grabbed on one of the pipes. As soon as the crawler lumbered through the doorway, I swung and jumped, landing softly on its blind side. I didn't know where I was going, all I knew was that I wanted out. Now. All rooms looked the same, all with giant vats covering the centre of the rooms. I finally reached some different rooms, but ooh! This room had one more button than the last! Ooh! This room was filled with purple liquid instead of yellow! I shook myself and sat down, anxious and despairing. I had, yet again, lost my pack, and had little ammo and was trapped in an endless labyrinth of forerunner structures! I had checked every room, every map, but in the end, I was lost…

Suddenly, I heard something. I struck my back against the doorway and leaned out of it. I looked carefully. A blue figure, with an occasional flicker of red, stood busily against the controls, flicking it with incredible quickness. It was humanoid, but too small for an actual human. An AI! A human one too! I was about to rush in and greet it, but I stopped myself. Why here? Why would it be working inside a foreign forerunner structure, with no accompanying human? Why was it flickering red? Was it rampant? Was it tortured, captured, brainwashed? But out of all the crazy questions that burst into my mind, I had one outstanding question. Was it on my side? I smirked at the pathetic craziness of today. First, allying with elites. Then falling through a giant hole, nearly getting melted and now trapped in a foreign structure. There were too many thoughts. Screw it, I'm going it. I crept in, Slicer raised. The AI turned around at once at the sound of my footsteps, and I recognised the AI – she was too well known.

"Hello Cortana."

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