The longer Cortana spent on this planet the more uneasy she felt. There was something about it which was foreboding. It wasn't like the other Installations she had been on though the others had held formidable terrors.
No, it was the way the system seemingly kept being overwritten though Cortana could find no traces of anyone interfering. It was also the Promethean Knights. Ever since one of them had gotten up close to John and had revealed its face she had shuttered. It looked just like a human skeleton.
Too much like a human skeleton. She had done a scan and ran the bone structure against every species type she knew only to see that there had been one with a close match.
Should I tell John my suspicions? Cortana already knew the answer. As far as they knew it would be impossible, and the Chief didn't waste time thinking about what was abstract. He was a solider only interested in facts.
Getting to the first beam pylon was proving more difficult than she or the Chief had imagined. The Prometheans, Crawlers and other Requiem AI's were all trying to stop them from achieving their objective in addition to the Covenant. Fighting a war on two fronts was slowing them down.
"The interference is increasing," she told the Chief. "We must be getting close to the pylon." Cortana felt the distortion in her core.
Oh no.
You can't afford to have any more load on your system Cortana.
It'll crush us.
You'll never make it out of here in time.
I've got to try.
It's pointless.
We've got to make it out of here. John needs us.
No he doesn't.
The voices were causing The Chief's HUD display to flicker purple static.
"What's that?" He asked.
As if he needed another distraction. Cortana chose to show John her Avatar in his display. "That's….me. The interference from the pylon is increasing the load on my system," Cortana said as her voice became distorted.
"Are…you going to be okay?"
"Don't worry," Cortana said. "I've held off rampancy this long haven't I?" In truth it was more serious than she let on, but there was no point in making the Chief worry over something he couldn't control. We have to get the beams down.
Cortana caught another signal and showed it to the chief.
"Did he say Forward Unto Dawn?"
"The Infinity must have tracked the signal."
"If they follow it…"
"….they'll get caught in the gravity well!" Cortana said finishing his sentence. "I'll keep trying to warm them you just get that beam down!"
The Chief pulled the beam's manual control and shut it off allowing them to portal back to the center.
"We still can't transmit to Infinity," Cortana said with growing frustration. "We'll have to get the other beam down and we don't have much time."
The Chief was already through the portal to the other pylon and he was running fast.
"A Ghost!" She said relieved.
The Chief jumped on it and began to ride as fast as possible. "Cortana. Find me a route I can take which will give us the least amount of Covenant contact."
Cortana quickly calculated a route and sent it to the Chief's HUD. "Got it."
Thankfully the Covenant and the planet AI's were too busy killing each other to notice her and the Chief slip through.
"This is UNSC AI Cortana to Infinity. Do not approach Forerunner planet I repeat do not approach the forerunner planet!"
"This is Captain Del Rio of the UNSC Infinity. We read you in the planet's core but you're breaking up. Keep transmitting." The Captain turned toward his helmsmen and said, "move us closer to the planet."
"Negative!" Cortana screamed.
The Chief had shut down the second pylon but the suit wasn't strong enough to transmit.
"Open a portal to the satellite relay," The Chief said.
"Already done. Go."
He jumped through and they found the Covenant were there waiting for them.
"This doesn't make any sense!" Cortana said. Why is everything being so difficult? Why can't we just reach the ship? "Why would the Covenant care about a satellite relay?"
"I'll worry about them. You find us a terminal."
The large satellite sphere was unlike anything Cortana had ever seen. A sense of dread overcame her senses, but they couldn't worry about that right now. The only thing which mattered was preventing Infinity from entering the gravity well.
"Hurry Chief!" Cortana said. They were now only a few feet from the terminal. He barreled through several grunts and a jackal to reach the terminal.
"This is Master Chief 117 of the Forward unto Dawn to Infinity. Do you read?" His hands were touching the contacts, but nothing was transmitting. There was a distorted echo coming from the sphere which was now rising out of the ground. "Infinity. Do you respond?" He repeated. Cortana had a horrible realization. Whatever this thing was, it wasn't a satellite.
"Chief…Chief let go of the contacts." He immediately released his hands and realized the same thing she had.
"Find us an exit."
"Don't wait around on my account!" He jumped and ducked behind a low wall just as a burst of energy came from the sphere. The Chief turned himself slightly so they could see what was happening.
Out from the sphere came a small pod which slowly opened to reveal…
A Forerunner? Cortana thought. No. It couldn't be.
And yet there he was. A Forerunner who stretched his muscles and said, "and so ends the great harvest of my betrayal." Armor plating (which interestingly enough looked like a more advanced version of the Chief's) began to bind to his body.
Betrayal. If a Forerunner was left behind and speaks of betrayal he must have been imprisoned. The dread Cortana had been feeling came over her again. He must have been the one manipulating the system. He tricked us.
"Even these beasts recognized what you were oblivious to see human. Your nobility has blinded you, as ever."
He talks as if he knows us. That's impossible!
The Forerunner stretched his hand and caught the Chief in some kind of mini gravity field. Though the Chief struggled there was no way for him to get free.
"The Librarian left little to chance didn't she? But what hubris if she thought she could protect her pets from me forever. Time was your ally human. But now it has abandoned you. This tomb, is now yours." The Forerunner threw John as if he were a small rag doll. He hit the side of the wall and fell causing his shields to fall to zero. He grunted.
The Librarian. I know that name. Cortana quickly went through her memory banks to find the data she needed. From what little intel she had the Librarian and the Didact were both Forerunners who were at odds with one another. If he had mentioned her with such venom... this must be the Didact which was mentioned. If that is true he must be more dangerous than even I could imagine.
"Slip space rupture! Chief move now!" Cortana had yelled. It was too late. The explosion pushed the Chief off the edge of the platform and down to rocky interior below causing him to pass out.