Chapter 6: Even a Caveman Can Do It
Nietzsche Medical Bay
"So how's the Spartan?" Kyle asked as he walked into the infirmary.
Like most onboard infirmaries, the Nietzsche's medical bay was stark white and incredibly clean in relation to the rest of the ship. Since the ship was only a corvette, there about a half-dozen beds in the room. Quite a lot considering there usually wasn't more than two people on the ship at any one time. One of the beds held the newly discovered Spartan. Kyle and Lynn were not sure what his name was, or much else for that matter. Once he was taken out of the cryo-tube, Hal and Sanah managed to remove his armor. He was then promptly placed in intensive care. Nobody really knew what would happen to a human suspended in a cryo-tube for centuries, much less a Spartan, and this one hadn't seemed to regain consciousness yet. As a precaution, Kay had the Spartan strapped down the bed, just in case he got violent.
"He's really quite amazing." Sanah said, working the medical equipment with lightning speed. "I've run several scans to find any potential injuries or health problems, but what I found is nothing short of extraordinary."
"Really?" Kyle raised an eyebrow.
"Physically and genetically, he may look human." Sanah tapped some keys and brought up a holographic image of the Spartan. "But when you delve deeper, you'll see that he works in ways that are physiologically much different from most other humans."
Sanah tapped more keys and the virtual program began to slowly strip away layers of skin and flesh, revealing what was under the Spartan's skin.
"The first and most obvious things I found were that his bones and muscles are significantly denser than those found on normal humans which directly translates into increased strength and stamina, enhanced nerve pathways significantly improve reaction times, the presence of several performance-enhancing substances, and we've barely scratched the surface here. Basically, he wasn't born this way. He was modified."
"So our pre-Exodus ancestors were desperate enough to try and create a soldier that was better, faster, and stronger than any other human alive."
"They obviously had the technology." Sanah shrugged. "I mean, now that you think about it, we're pretty stupid not to have thought about this. For decades we've been trying to figure out how to modify our power armor so we could maximize its abilities. Nobody ever thought of improving the person instead."
"Yeah, it seems like the painfully obvious solution now that you think about it." Kyle glanced down at the Spartan. "So… is he getting up anytime soon?"
"Don't know. And if does, we'd be lucky if he could move at all. He's been frozen for a pretty long time."
There was a sudden, almost inaudible grunt. Kyle's honed sense barely caught it and Sanah's enhanced audio sensors picked it up at the same time. Both of them turned and shot a glance at the Spartan, who was beginning to regain consciousness.
"Where am I?" The man rasped. His voice sounded like wet sandpaper, which would be understandable given his current condition.
"You are currently on the starship Nietzche. We found you frozen in a cryo-tube and managed to successfully revive you." Sanah said in matter-of-fact manner. She then noticed the Spartan tugging at his bonds and she continued, "I'm sorry for the security measures, but you'll understand that we must take precautions."
"Who are you? What happened to the Pillar of Autumn?"
Sanah and Kyle both looked at each other. Neither of them really wanted to say it, but knew one of them had to.
"They're all dead." Kyle said rather bluntly. "For about two hundred years."
Kay yelped in surprise when she saw the infirmary door suddenly burst open. Kyle flew through the door and slammed into the wall on the opposite end of the hall. At the same time, the Spartan leapt through the open door, rail rounds flying around him. He glanced at Kay and quickly sprinted down the hall at incredible speed.
"I thought you said we'd be lucky if he could even move!" Kyle grunted and picked himself up from the floor.
"I guess I might have forgotten to round a decimal point or two." Sanah said, embarrassed.
"You two shut up and get moving! He's getting away!" Kay yelled. She helped Kyle back up to his feet and the trio began to pursue the Spartan.
"Hal! Our guest is on the loose! Scan the ship for him and try to lock him down!" Kay yelled through her comm..
"You shouldn't be so hasty about these things." Hal said, with a completely calm manner. "The subject is heading towards the aft of the ship. Possibly towards the hangar deck."
"Can you stop him?"
"I'm afraid I can't do that. The subject is moving fast enough to clear the security doors before I can close them. If you must stop him, it will have to be by physical means."
"Wonderful. We all saw what he did to Kyle." Kay sighed.
"He just… surprised me. That's all." Kyle replied rather defensively.
"Where's Lynn?" Sanah asked.
"I have informed her of the situation." Hal answered. "She currently making her way to the hangar deck as well."
Hangar Deck
It took a few minutes to reach the hangar deck, though Kyle, Kay, and Sanah got there just in time. The Spartan was still in the hangar, apparently trying to commandeer a ship and escape.
"Shit, he's gonna try and steal Puddlejumper!" Kyle yelled.
Puddlejumper was an old Pelican transport that Kyle had customized and tricked out in his spare time. He often used it when a mission required a ship smaller ship, and in times where he needed to get somewhere a relatively larger corvette just couldn't go. Kyle had put years of his life slowly improving the ship, and it would be devastating blow to him if something were to happen to it.
"You got a bead?" Kay powered up her rail rifle.
"I've had to make several modifications in my targeting software to calculate the best non-lethal shot." Sanah replied. She fired a few short rail rifle bursts, but they all went wide. "Unfortunately, there may still be some bugs in the program."
The Spartan, now alerted to their presence, quickly darted away using random cargo containers as cover.
"Shit, don't lose him!" Kyle yelled.
Suddenly, inexplicably, one of the cargo containers vibrated and hovered in the air. The Spartan, still sprinting for the exit, didn't notice until he found himself covered with an ominous shadow. He paused and looked up, which proved to be a fatal mistake on his part. Like the fist of an angry god, the cargo container came crashing down on top the Spartan.
"Well, that was interesting." Lynn said as she entered the hangar.
"Oh great job, you just killed the guy!" Kay said angrily.
"Don't worry about it." Lynn casually waved off the comment. "He's still alive and well. I can feel him squirming under the thing."
Infirmary
Thirty Minutes Later
"It's John, right?"
"What?" The Spartan, now significantly calmed down, said.
"Your name, it's John." Lynn casually bandaged a cut the Spartan had suffered during the scuffle. She took the opportunity to get a good look at the Spartan. Besides his large physical build and incredibly pale skin, he had rather plain features. There were also numerous scars and signs of old injuries scattered about his body, obviously from accidents, battle, surgery, or all three combined. She tried probing his mind a little, just to see what it was like. She found that everything in his head was… fuzzy. It was like trying to see underwater without goggles. To her, his thoughts were blurred and transient, and she was only able to pull a few bits of information out with any certainty. She looked at the back of his skull and noticed the obvious neural implants built into neck and skull.
Ah, that explains it. Lynn thought. His brain is part machine. The poor thing.
"That right. How did you know?" John cocked his head curiously.
"You sorta strike me as the John type of guy." Lynn shrugged. "Plus I kinda read a bit of your mind before I dropped that cargo container on your head."
John looked at Lynn, a bit confused.
"Oh right! You wouldn't know!" Lynn laughed. "I suppose we'd have to catch you up on a bit of history."
"Provided if he doesn't throw me through another door." Kyle growled, his rail rifle half trained on John. "So, your name's John then?"
"Master Chief SPARTAN-117."
"How about I just call you John? I personally think that it rolls off the tongue a bit easier."
"Okay, now that we have a Spartan, what exactly do we do?" Kay asked. "I mean, this was all Lynn's idea in the first place to find him."
"The objective should be simple. We return to friendly space and regroup with any available UNSC forces."
"You know, we really have to give him that history lesson. I just can't take any more of this." Kay sighed.
"John, my medical scans revealed that you have neural implants that can allow you to interface with class-A level artificial intelligence, is that correct?" Sanah asked.
"That's right." John nodded. "But I need my armor to store the memory."
"Oh yes, your wonderful armor! We'll have to focus on that sometime in the future." Sanah smiled. "But we won't be needing it for the moment. My current form is designed to contain my memory, which only means I need to interface with you."
"Wait…" John narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"Trust me, you missed a lot of stuff." Kyle said.
"Correct. The most efficient way to… educate you is to directly interface with my memory systems." Sanah cocked her head. "Don't worry. I promise not to hurt your or anything."
Sanah then pulled out a cable from the back of her neck. She glanced at the port and tested it against the implant in John's neck. It turned out that it was a perfect fit.
"If the old UNSC ever did anything right, it was embracing standardized parts." Kyle grinned. "Thank god for industrialization."
"Please relax." Sanah continued. "You may feel some momentary discomfort."
PegaTech Primary Memory Core #2
John glanced around in surprise. He was in a white void of nothingness. He looked at his hands and realized that he was looking at his own MJOLNIR armor, sans his helmet. Now more confused than before, he looked around. Was this all some sort of cryo-induced dream?
"I'm sorry if you're somewhat confused. Don't worry, most people who experience it the first time are."
John turned to see the girl, or whatever she was, materialize in front of him. It looked as if she were completely composed of moving data, quite similar to how Cortana looked. Damn, now that was another thing he was worried about. What had happened to Cortana? Did she go down along with the rest of the Pillar of Autumn crew? John seriously doubted that. Cortana was just too damn smart and resourceful to go down like that.
"Right now, I'm using the data uplink to manipulate your sense. What you see and feel is essentially an illusion, but one necessary to achieve the purpose at hand." Sanah waved her hand, and a large replica of Earth materialized. "Since I assume you know human history up to about the year 2552, when you were frozen, I guess that will start off as a suitable starting point. The year 2552 was the start of a dark period of time we call the Exodus.."
EFE Riftseeker
Prowler-class corvette
Current Position: Orbit around Threshold
"They were definitely here, sir." Captain Aheb said. "We've detected traces of Nietzche's ion trail. It's a definite match to their engine signature."
"Excellent. Are they in the system?" Ackerson looked at the broad vista of destruction that had collected in Threshold's orbit.
"I'm not sure, sir. We've run full sensor sweeps, but we haven't picked up anything, though they might be hiding among the wreckage. However, given the dispersion of the ion trails, they were here very recently."
"It looks like our little girl really fancies herself a prophet." Ackerson grinned. How convenient that this worthless gas ball's name was mentioned in Lynn's "prophecy". "Can we trace them?"
"We're trying to calculate their outbound vector. That will take some time, though."
"Get on it, then."
"Yes sir!" Captain Aheb promptly saluted and marched back to the bridge.
Ackerson sighed and sat back in his chair. Tracking this girl and cleaning up her messes was like taking care of a petulant child. It was never fun for all involved. He mulled over the orders Keyes had given him. He was to track down and bring Lynn back to the Fleet under any circumstances. Keyes had made it very clear that he had no wish to lose Lynn either to the Covenant or to another Exile Fleet. As for her companions like that renegade Kyle Carter, well, Keyes was never really specific on that little tidbit…
Smiling to himself, Ackerson took out a bottle of scotch from his desk drawer. Drinking on duty was technically illegal, but one of the perks of rank was the ability to ignore some of the minor rules.
Pegatech Primary Memory Core #2
"And that concludes our little history lesson." Sanah announced.
John was silent for a long time. Sanah examined him more closely, noting that there was a large amount of worry and concern on his face. Sanah considered asking him about it, but decided not to. The man had just found out everything he knew was long gone and dead. Couple that with futureshock, and Sanah had a possible shattered psyche to deal with.
"So what do we do now?" He asked.
"That's a very good question, because I don't really know either." Sanah sighed. She then suddenly remembered something. "While we're connected, I have something to ask you."
Sanah then waved her arm again. A small box that resembled a purple rubix cube materialized in the air. John looked at it carefully and asked, "What is it?"
"It was an encrypted piece of data I found." Sanah explained, "I was thinking of trying to decode it manually, but I was hoping you might have some idea on how to bypass it."
"I'm not sure." John then touched the cube and backed off in surprise when it began spinning rapidly. "What the-"
Sanah looked on as the cube suddenly tore itself apart, rearranging the blocks until it began to resemble a person. Sanah scanned the new data and realized that the data was programmed to decrypt the moment it detected the presence of John.
"H-h-hello there c-cheeeeef." The humanoid figure stuttered. It looked as if it could barely keep itself together.
"Cortana." John whispered.
"Y-yes and nononononono." Cortana stuttered.
Sanah ran a second check on the program and realized it was plagued with innumerable errors. The realization then dawned upon her. This was a copy of an AI. Well, technically, a copy of a copy.
"The o-o-original Cor-Cortana still existed, even w-when the ship was gone. She copied copied copied herself to keep herself a-alive. I don't have very much time. Errors from the copy copy processes have built up and are corrrrrrrruupptttting my p-programming."
Sanah was almost moved to tears. This AI was so intent on living to carry her message, she reduced herself to an empty shell in the blind hope that her message would be heard. She looked at John and tried to discern what he was feeling. Though he kept a straight face, Sanah could tell he was pained. This Cortana and John had obviously spent a great deal of time together.
"If you're h-hearing this. You've probably awakened f-from your cryo slumber. A-as you've probably seen, the Pillar of Autumn is n-not in flyable condition. N-not sure if t-here are are any ships l-l-left, but Cortana, I mean, I left coordinates for you to use. O-only one workssssssss now. You can only go back to Reach."
A sequence of fuzzy numbers appeared before Cortana. Sanah took the chance to quickly save the coordinates for later use.
"T-theres also one more thing I have t-to tell you. The o-original Cortana left a recording f-f-for you, b-but I'm sensing another presence nearby. You'll h-have to get rid rid rid of it-t-t-t-t."
John glanced at Sanah. She got the point and nodded, shutting down her data probes so she couldn't see what data was being passed. However, she could still "feel" the state of the AI. She felt it slowly diminish until finally, the errors just piled up too much and what was left of Cortana literally just fell apart at the seams. When she reestablished her connection, she saw John standing there, alone.
"John, I'm so sorry."
"Take us out." John said without losing a beat. "We're going to finish the fight."
Nietzsche Armory
"I've taken a look at your armor, and I have to say, it's pretty damn amazing." Kyle said as he helped John put his armor back on. "I mean, it's pretty primitive on the electronics side, seeing how it's about two hundred years old, but everything from the strength settings to the shielding systems basically plows our most advanced stuff into the ground."
"We had a very good scientist." John said. "She knew what she was doing."
"I just wish you would have given me a chance to tweak it a bit. If you were a monster back then, think about what you can do with some modern electronic warefare equipment."
"I'll think about it."
"So we're finally going to see Reach." Kay sighed. "I always heard a lot of stories about the placed. Used to be considered a kind of fortress world."
"It was the most militarized planet in the entire UNSC, second only to Earth." John said. "Two million Marines, a dedicated battlefleet of over fifty assorted ships, and twenty five Super MAC orbital defense platforms."
"I suppose all of that's gone by now."
"Probably."
"Then why are we going there?"
"Because you think she might have left something behind?" Lynn asked John.
John hesitated. "What makes you think that?"
"I can't totally read you mind, but I can read the stuff you're currently thinking about. You think that because Cortana left something for you, that this Halsey did too."
"That's right. Halsey was just as smart and resourceful as Cortana. Plus, she worked in a top secret ONI base on Reach. Chances are, it's still intact. We may all find what we're looking for there."
"Assuming there are no Covenant there." Kay said.
"Oh, there will definitely be Covenant there." Kyle sighed. "Because they're always there. Especially when you've got something important to do."
"True."
"Well, then we'd pretty much have to kill them all, don't we?" Lynn grinned.
"That's what I was trained to do." John picked up a rail rifle and inspected it. "Let's do this."
Riftseeker
"Sir, we've got a good fix on their location." Captain Aheb reported.
"Good. Pursue with all force." Ackerson smiled.