Chapter 8: Lost World

The Pillars of Sanctity
Formerly Known As the Menachite Mountains

By the time Puddlejumper reached the area the CASTLE facility was supposed to be, it was already nighttime. So far, it didn't seem as if the Covenant had caught on to the interlopers' presence yet. Besides the occasional civilian airship, Puddlejumper was alone in the skies.

"I think we can afford to turn off the cloaking systems." Kay glanced out the viewport. "It's dark enough outside and we can lessen the power drain."

"Got it." Kyle flipped a switch and Puddlejumper's optical camouflage disengaged. "Trying to scope out a good LZ."

The Pelican circled around the mountain range for five more minutes before settling down in a small clearing. Dried leaves and twigs snapped and broke under the weight of the ship as it touched down. The engine gave one last whine before flickering out, and the clearing was once again plunged into silent darkness. Then the landing ramp shuddered and dropped down and the ship's occupants quickly exited.

"You know, I've always wondered." Lynn bent down and picked up a fallen leaf. She twisted it around slowly. "If the Covenant went through the trouble of glassing Reach, why did they go through the trouble of terraforming and repopulating it?"

"Same reason why we do I guess." Kay shrugged. "Conquer and expand."

"Quit the chatter." Kyle grunted. "John, can you lead us to the base?"

"This way." John pointed up the mountain and started trudging up. The rest of the party followed suit.

Nobody was taking any chances. Every person in the group was armed for war, loaded with as many weapons as they could carry. In addition to the standard rail rifles, each member carried at least one more specialized weapon. John was carrying an E9 Heavy Directed Energy Weapon, also known as the Red Ring of Death for its signature laser targeting system. Kyle had an M22 rocket launcher, a magazine fed weapon that carried six explosive ass kickings. Kay was hefting a pair of Brute Reapers, the Brute version of submachine guns. In addition to her Forerunner phase blade, Lynn was armed with a PL4 Particle Rifle. Sanah effortlessly carried a M60D Automatic Grenade Launcher. Williams had a HM12 Automatic Weapon and Melissa had a M2A Flamethrower. Basically, they had enough weaponry and equipment to take on a small army.

"You know, I don't even want to know how much all of this costs, and how you managed to get it." Williams said, staring at all of the state of the art weaponry.

"You gotta kill a few people." Kyle said in a somewhat joking manner.

"This is it." John stopped in front of what looked like a solid wall of rock.

"Excellent pathfinding there, John." Kay snorted. "You've pretty much led us to a dead end."

"Jeez Kay." Kyle sighed. "Hasn't it occurred to you that the entrance may have been sealed sometime in the past two hundred years?"

"Point."

"So uh, how much C10 are we going to need for this?" Williams asked.

"I don't know." Kyle glanced into the dark forest behind them. "C10 tends to very visible and very loud."

"I don't sense any sentient beings nearby." Lynn commented.

"My onboard sensors don't detect any large lifeforms or energy readings either." Sanah confirmed.

"Still, I'd like to be as discreet as possible."

"I can handle it." Melissa strode forward. "I'm not sure about the visible part, but it sure as hell would be quieter."

"By all means then." Kyle gestured to the wall.

"This should be interesting." Lynn grinned.

Melissa stood before the wall like a hero preparing to slay an evil monster. She stood there for several seconds and breathed calmly before firing a short burst of lame from her flamethrower. The small ball of fire stuck to the rock, but instead of burning out, the flame kept burning bright and strong. Melissa exhaled and the fire suddenly exploded outward, engulfing the rock wall. The rock was literally burning and melting from the white hot flames surrounding it. Then Melissa swept her arm out and the fire was instantaneously snuffed out, leaving a pile of cooled, melted rock and a large, dark tunnel leading into the depths of the mountain.

"Nice." Kay whistled.

Suddenly, Melissa fell on her knee, gasping for breath. Williams bent down to help her up.

"What's wrong?" Kyle said, somewhat worried.

"She's just tired." Williams said. "She's never had to burn something so… big before."

"I'm all right." Melissa panted, wiping some sweat off her brow. "It's nothing."

"Like hell it is." Williams muttered.

"Right, let's go. We're wasting time out here." Kyle armed his rail rifle and marched into the darkened hall.

CASTLE Base

The entire thing was incredibly ominous. Because the facility was sealed off from the outside world, it was as if the entire base was untouched by time. The dark hallways led to all kinds of different rooms that served various purposes. The outer areas heavily resembled a large office building. Abandoned desks and cubicles littered the rooms. The empty coffee cups and piles of paper suggested that the people who once worked here left in a hurry. Deeper into the facility, the party came across a security checkpoint. The door was wide open, and the Marine sentries that once stood there were long gone. Not far was a small armor, which was still well stocked with various antique weaponry like M6D pistols, MA5B assault rifles, and shotguns. They passed more offices, utility rooms, bathrooms, and all the other rooms and facilities such a base required.

"We've been wandering around this place forever." Kay growled. "What are we looking for?"

"I suppose data." Kyle said. "All of this is pre-Exodus, so they're sure to have something that can lead us to Earth."

"Unfortunately, we can't access any of this machinery until we get some power in this base." Sanah said. "I'm reading zero energy signatures."

"Hey, our armor and equipment uses plenty of power." Williams said. "Can't we use those?"

"Negative." Sanah shook her head. "This machinery is far too old and our systems are far too advanced. I doubt our batteries and power sources are compatible."

"I think I may have an answer." Lynn reached her arm out and something shot out from one of the darkened offices. Lynn effortlessly caught the object in her hand and waved it around. "Because I've got a map now."

Lynn unfurled the map and let it hover there in the air as she examined it.

"According to this, the facility's power generators are located in the innermost area of the base. If we can get down there and jumpstart those reactors, we can theoretically restore power to the base and get what we need."

"Sounds like a plan." John pointed to the lifts. "That should be the quickest way down."

"You do know that elevators are in the long list of things that require power to use, right?" Williams pointed out.

"Who says we need an elevator to get down?"

"Aw crap."

After a rather harrowing journey down a pitch black elevator shaft, it didn't take long for the group to break through the lift doors at the bottom and continue on. It soon became obvious that they were entering a more secure area now. Security checkpoints were now more frequent and there were more security measures appearing. Lynn had to use her phase sword to cut through several stubborn doors in order to continue. Finally, they reached a door which was somewhat different from the others before it. It was much larger and more secure, with heavy locks and other security measures on it. In front there was a blinking, dimly lit console.

"That's odd…" Lynn glanced at the console. "It's powered."

"I thought you said that you couldn't get any energy readings." Kyle turned to Sanah.

"I can't." Sanah shrugged. "This console here isn't generating much energy, and anything on the other side of that door is being shielded from detection."

"Can we blow or cut through it?" Kay asked.

"I doubt it." John ran a hand across the door. "This is supposed to lead into the most secure area of the facility. It's been specifically designed to keep out unwanted guests."

"Well, no matter how well built the door is, it should have its limits." Kyle said.

"Yes, but that won't help either." John shook his head. "The door was designed to be tougher than the construction around it. We're more likely to cause a cave in on ourselves before we could even make a crack in that door."

"How about we just cut through it with Lynn's sword like the other doors?" Kay asked.

"Negative." Sanah scanned the door. "The door is composed of solid titanium A, and is several feet thick. It's actually thicker than the entire length of the sword."

"Well, we do have option." Lynn pointed to the console. "I mean, it's the obvious choice."

She casually pressed the lit button on the console. A line of text materialized on the aged, flickering screen.

WHO GUARDS THE PRECIOUS THING

"What?" Kyle glanced at the text. "What does that mean?"

"Looks like some kind of verbal challenge." Melissa observed.

"I find myself agreeing with the new fish." Kay nodded.

"Well Lynn, time to do your thing." Kyle said.

Very much like how she unlocked John's cryo-tube, Lynn pressed her palm against the console and closed her eyes, concentrating solely on the console. She probed it for any kind of psychic imprint and detected something faint. She pressed harder, and then suddenly opened her eyes.

Everything around her was now different. Kyle, Sanah, and her other companions were all gone, replaced by office workers and Marines shuffling around in the now clean and gleaming halls of CASTLE. Lynn then turned around and saw a middle-aged looking woman striding down the hall in a lab coat. The fellow scientists and workers she passed eyed her warily and started whispering inaudible comments or slurs to each other. A pair of Marines moved to stop her, but were driven back when she waved her security badge in front of them. Instead, they saluted the woman and let her pass. She then casually stopped at the console, where it issued its challenge.

WHO GUARDS THE PRECIOUS THING

"The King under the Mountain." The scientist said calmly.

"The King under the Mountain." Lynn said quietly to herself, memorizing the scientist's tone.

There was a brief pause, then a crack formed in the center of the security door. The crack slowly widened as the door opened, revealing the contents within. Lynn tried to get a glimpse of what was inside, but the hall immediately reverted back to the dark, abandoned facility of the present.

Without losing a beat, Lynn bent down in front of the console, making sure that the speaker could hear her voice.

"The King under the Mountain." She said, trying her best to mimic the scientist's vocal patterns.

PASSWORD CONFIRMED

The security doors squealed as unused motors and machinery suddenly activated. They opened up to finally reveal the secrets that they were protecting.

"We're in business." Kyle smiled.

Unlike the previous areas, the laboratories were in much more pristine condition, due to how they were designed and to the fact that they benefited from extra layers of security. However, all of the rooms were oddly empty. There was clear evidence that materials were either removed or destroyed, doubtless to keep them from falling into the hands of the invading Covenant. However, it seemed like a wasted gesture since the Covenant apparently had no idea the base existed. Lynn then stopped.

"Wait. There's something behind this door." Lynn pointed to a sealed laboratory door.

"Specifics?" Kyle asked.

"No really." Lynn shrugged.

"Wonderful." Kay sighed. We're going in blind."

Unlike the massive security door before, it was a simple matter to cut through the less secure laboratory door. However, this laboratory seemed just as empty as the rest.

"Greetings, strangers." An unfamiliar, raspy female voice said from the darkness.

Immediately, like bloodhounds on a scent, seven rail rifles whipped around to point toward the source of the voice.

"Wait!" The voice cried. "Don't shoot!"

"Show yourself." Kyle said, rifle still armed.

"Wait…" John put a hand on Kyle's rifle and lowered it. "Let's see what she has to say."

"Alright." Kyle nodded. "Okay, whoever you are, come out with your hands up!"

"I'm afraid that's… impossible. I can't move."

Kyle and Lynn both looked at each other.

"Got my back?" Kyle asked.

"You know it." Lynn smiled.

Kyle, Lynn, and John slowly crept forward in the darkness, their rifle-mounted flashlights illuminating the small cramped laboratory. Lynn's foot then hit against something on the floor. She looked down and shrieked in surprise, prompting John and Kyle to whip around. Laying on the ground was the desiccated corpse of a scientist. Kyle's exploratory prod with his rifle wasn't necessary to confirm the fact that the person was dead.

"That's odd." Kyle said.

"What?" Lynn asked, trying to calm down.

"We've covered a lot of ground in this base, but we've never seen any bodies or anything to suggest the Covenant ever set foot in here."

"That's correct, thanks in part to my efforts."

The trio turned to see a simple computer console in the middle of the room. It seemed to be the only thing that wasn't removed and it was powered, its blank screen illuminating the room. However, unlike most consoles, it was talking.

"An AI?" Lynn asked.

"No, impossible. No AI can last two centuries." Kyle said.

"Well, you're both right and both wrong." The console said. "Hello John, I'm quite surprised to see you again, especially in these trying times."

"Wait, you know him?" Lynn pointed to John. "How?"

"You can say that I raised John and his siblings into the soldiers they are today." The console said simply.

"It's you, isn't it, Dr. Halsey?" John stepped forward.

"So you do remember." The Halsey, or what was left of her, said happily. "We have much to catch up on. I'm curious, how did you survive the past two centuries?"

"Better question is, who are you, how did you survive those two centuries, and why are you in a computer?" Kyle raised his eyebrow.

"Some excellent questions." Halsey concurred. "I am Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey. I was the head scientist of the CASTLE base, as well as the SPARTAN-II program. The reason why I still survive is because I shed my biological body and instead transferred to a digital existence."

Lynn and Kyle both looked at John.

"What makes you think I know?"

"Bright as he is, John is only a soldier at heart." Halsey laughed. "Shortly after the SPARTAN-II program was completed, I moved on to other projects to try and turn the tide of the war in our favor. One of the projects I was working on was the prototype for a quantum computer that could hold the consciousness of a human being."

Again, the explanation only served to create blank looks from the audience.

"The project was originally meant to be a more efficient way to produce more stable AIs by using the consciousnesses of actual people rather than copies of dying brain tissue." Halsey continued. "If you think about it, the human brain is nothing more than an incredibly complex biological computer. The quantum computer we were developing was meant to be an artificial substitute for a human brain, that is, if human brains were the size of Scorpion battle tanks."

"But why are you the only… entity left here?" Lynn asked.

"When the Covenant came, there was much panic… much confusion. CASTLE base was one of the first facilities to be evacuated. I stayed behind to make sure the scrubbing operations were completed."

Kyle nodded. "Scrubbing" was the term used to completely clear an area of any incriminating evidence or sensitive data. Scavs had to be fairly skilled in the field to make sure that certain jobs couldn't be traced back to them.

"Unfortunately, the Covenant offensive moved much faster than we anticipated, and we couldn't finish the deletion process for the base mainframe in time. As a last resort, I had the rest of the staff evacuate and I activated an Omega Alert, which completely sealed off CASTLE from the rest of the world. However, due to circumstances beyond my control, I was sealed inside this lab. The only way to continue my stewardship over this facility was to download myself into the quantum computer, which was also connected to the base mainframe and systems. However, this also meant I had to put a halt to the deletion process to preserve myself and keep the base hidden from the Covenant indefinitely."

"Sounds like fate is with us." Lynn remarked.

"Excuse me?"

"Dr. Halsey." John finally spoke. "We've come here because we're looking for the coordinates to Earth."

"Oh yes, then that would be very fortuitous then, wouldn't it?" Halsey laughed. "There's a chance that the deletion process didn't reach that particular file."

"Then you can get it for us?"

"I could, but there's a bit of a catch."

"Oh, I don't like this." Kyle said cautiously.

"You see, the base is currently running on minimum power to elude detection from the Covenant. In order to access the mainframe, I have to spool up the reactors to power them. Unfortunately, once I do that, I can't keep the base hidden from the Covenant."

"I freaking knew it!" Kyle sighed. "Every time we get a break, something like this happens!"

"How long will that take?" Lynn asked.

"The reactors have been cold for a very long time." Halsey said. "It would take several hours for the reactors to reach the necessary capacity."

"And how long till the Covenant find out?"

"About five minutes. Covenant sensor technology has advanced over the years while what is left of the shielding technology here has remained stagnant."

"That means they'll be all over the mountain before we know it." John said grimly.

"Correct. I'm downloading the current base blueprints into your HUD right now. You can use it to assist your companions in the hallway set up defensive positions."

John nodded. "Thank you, Doctor Halsey."

John and Kyle turned to leave the room, but Lynn stayed behind.

"Doctor Halsey?"

"Yes?"

"You've been with John… since the beginning, right?"

"You know, I've never seen anybody call John by his first name. He was always referred to by rank or number." Halsey's electronic voice betrayed a bit of amusement. "Let me tell you something. Out of all the Spartans, John may not be the fastest, strongest, or the smartest, but I consider him the best."

"Why, is he that good?"

"Well, he's certainly the luckiest." Halsey laughed. "Whatever trials and obstacles you run into on your journey, you can count on John to help you overcome them."

"Thank you." Lynn smiled. "I can see why John has taken such a liking to you."

"Maybe. Now if you excuse me, I have to start spooling up the reactors."

Level Six Conference Room

"Okay, so here's the gist of it." Kyle pointed to the holographic representation of CASTLE base floating over the table. "In order to access the base mainframe, Dr. Halsey has to spool up the reactors. Unfortunately, this will tip the Covvies off to our presence here. Now, Dr. Halsey said that once base functions begin powering up, she can divert power to the base security systems to give us some assistance. However, we've got a choice to make."

Kyle pointed at several points around the base and some colored lines that began snaking through the holographic hallways and rooms.

"We can choose to take positions outside the main laboratories, where we can use the labyrinth of halls and rooms to our advantage and tie up the Covenant. However, this means that we'll be horribly spread out and we can't help each other if one of us runs into trouble. The second option is to hunker down here. The only way in is through those big security doors, and it's much more defensible. However, with no real escape routes, it means we'd have to fight our way out once we get what we need."

"Huh, neither choice sounds wonderful." Melissa commented.

"We should take the second option." John said without hesitation. "With our small numbers, it's better if we stick together. Plus, with one way in, that limits how many troops the Covenant can throw at us at one time, which gives us the advantage."

"I say we go with John." Lynn nodded. "It makes sense."

"Right." Kyle clapped his hands. "Then we'd better get ready. The reactors are already starting to spool up and it won't be long until the Covenant find out that we're here."

Somm Asteroid Belt
Shipyard D41

"Richard!" Keyes smiled as he disembarked the Pelican transport, Blackwater following close behind. "It's been far too long."

"Robert!" Minister Tuuran rushed forward and embraced Keyes in a warm bear hug. "You cannot believe how thankful I am to you!"

Minister Richard Tuuran was the leader of Exile Fleet Somm, and was basically the fleet's counterpart to Admiral Keyes. However, like most of his fleet, Tuuran did not hold military rank nor did he possess any kind of battle experience. Somm was ultimately a large conglomeration of miners and scientists with a small security force and often depended on other fleets for protection. Exile Fleets Earth and Somm had long enjoyed a lucrative relationship, with Fleet Earth providing protection and military assistance while Fleet Somm kept them well supplied with raw materials and the latest tech. This relationship extended to their leaders' personal relationships as well.

"You cannot believe how relieved we were when you agreed to come here at full strength! We've sent word to other fleets we knew, but they were either all unable or unwilling to come to our aid." Tuuran spat. "They just don't know how to keep a commitment."

"Or you just don't know how to choose good friends." Keyes grinned and patted Tuuran on the back. "So what did you call me over for?"

"You see, we have one last piece of inventory to clear out before we can complete evacuations." Tuuran hastily made his way down a hallway, flanked by his bodyguards, and motioned for Keyes to follow. "And it would be a terrible tragedy if such a thing were to fall into the hands of the Covenant, or worse, if we had to scuttle it."

Keyes nodded. If the Somm had a quirk, it was the fact that they found it difficult to destroy their own technology and possessions. After all, they spent so much time and effort building things, that they just couldn't bring themselves to destroy their own creations, even in the face of conquest. Unlike most other fleets, scuttling a ship was considered a great disgrace in Somm, and just the mere mention of it was a taboo.

"Why exactly is this 'piece of inventory', and did you call me over personally for it?" Keyes asked.

"Well." Tuuran stopped at a large window covered by a steel security shutter. He then took a keycard from his pocket and inserted it into a nearby console. "How about I show you?"

Slowly but surely, the window security shutters creaked to life and opened wide, allowing Keyes and Jillian to see what was waiting on the other side.

"Dear god…" Jillian gasped.

"What the hell is that?" Keyes said, staring out the window.

"That." Tuuran grinned, "Is our greatest work of art yet."

Outer Sanctuary Sensor Station 23

"Station Master." Sensor Officer Morozin looked up from his console. "Our sensors have detected an anomalous energy reading coming from within Outer Sanctuary."

"Interesting." Station Master Zebedais nodded. "I shall contact the planetary militia and have them deal with it."

Zebedais then pressed several keys on his console and sent the data along to the proper authorities. Whatever this meant, it was no longer Zebedais or his station's problem. After several years of service, he knew better than to ask unnecessary questions.