Cortana was in a state of suspended animation, as close as she came to sleeping. In a way it was sleeping. Cortana was unique amongst AI's, she contained living neural tissue within her CPU. Every so often, she would need to power down in order to allow this tissue to restore itself. He wondered if she dreamt as well? He'd never asked her. There was so much he didn't know about Cortana. It was ironic. As close as they were, all they had been through together, he knew almost nothing about her. Perhaps he should ask?
Meanwhile though, he would let her rest. He would follow Frodo, go see what the curious hobbit was up to. He wanted to make sure that he wouldn't get into any trouble. Hobbits had a knack of finding trouble! Pippin's incident with the corpse that had blown there cover. He remembered on Weathertop when he had first met them, the fire that had drawn the wraiths to them...Hobbits did seem to have a way of getting themselves into trouble!
As John begins to follow him, moving over the verge, he sees another walking down the elven pathway. It is Lady Galadriel. Frodo is following her. As she continues to walk, Frodo stops, hiding behind a tree. Chief decided to make a move. He strode over, quietly. He always made a big impression whenever he made his presence known. He was just behind Frodo now. The hobbit was still transfixed by the graceful elf. He hadn't noticed Chief. Chief made sure that his final step was a loud one. Frodo jumped, and span around, finally seeing the massive warrior towering over him.
"John!" He gasped in shock "I was...I was only curious...couldn't sleep so I-" He stammered apologetically. "It's ok Frodo. I am not your captain. All the same, do you think you should be following her like this? She may want privacy for all we know."
Frodo thought about it for a moment. "I can't explain it...but I feel as if I should be following her." Chief knew that strange forces were at work in this world. Yet he wasn't willing to play along with them! "You're tired Frodo, a lot has happened over the past few weeks. You need to rest. You need sleep!" But Frodo knew what his gut was telling him, Gandalf had told him to always trust his feelings.
"No Chief, I know that there is more to it. I feel as if I have to be here, I know it!" Chief's patience wasn't infinite. He was astonished by how adamant the hobbit was, so much so that it made him hesitate. "No Frodo, you should be resting. You have no reason to be here. You should get back to the camp. I'm telling you, you're tired, you're not thinking straight."
Frodo would not listen. "John, really, I just feel as if I should be here. I'm not going back just yet!" Chief was stunned, he'd never experienced anything like this. For everything Chief had seen, he'd never experienced things so trivial. He had never known anyone refuse such a simple order, ever!
"Frodo, for the last time you-" "*Ehem!*" Galadriel coughed, clearing her throat. The two arguers stopped dead. Chief knew what had happened. So did Frodo. The two had been standing their arguing, and now Galadriel had noticed. Chief couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed!
They both turned around, looking over to where the sound had come from. She was stood at the bottom of the verge, by some kind of vine covered pedestal, displaying a weak smile. For all her age and wisdom, there was some great aura of youth about her. She found this situation amusing. The little hobbit pleading his case, the colossal warrior, like a parent, kindly demanding that he should go to sleep.
Galadriel saw the joy of parenthood in this. She had born a daughter, and knew the pains and delights it brought. It was hard for an elf. As an immortal being the relationship that one possessed with their family felt somewhat lessened. Whilst she had been a loving parent, most elves experienced only a distant relationship with their loved ones.
Old emotions stirred in her heart, things she had not felt and thought about for hundreds of years. Galadriel knew that if she and other families were ever to live their lives in peace and safety that there was great evil in the world that had to be ended. Evil that could spread to all of Middle Earth. Evil that could spread beyond to the grey havens, eventually consuming the entire elven world. That evil needed to be vanquished. She saw in these two, the hobbit and the warrior, the chance to finally achieve all of this.
"Do not be wary. Please, come forward. There is much to discuss!" Chief and Frodo looked at each other. Frodo couldn't help but shoot him a subtle stare, as if saying "I told you so!" and started walking towards Galadriel.
Chief stood there glaring at the hobbit, stunned. The nerve! "Oh no he didn't! He did not just shoot you that look!" Cortana suddenly shouted out, giggling like a schoolgirl. Had Chief been a lesser man, he would have jumped. He simply shook his head, and replied in kind.
"How long have you been up?" He asked her, kind of sarcastically.
"Since you first spoke to Frodo Chief. Now come on, don't keep the lady waiting! Let's see what she has to say!"
Chief cleared his throat, and started walking down the path once again. Frodo was at the pedestal, watching Galadriel intently. The lady of Lothlorien was standing a short way away. She was standing by a pure water spring. Water was bubbling up from above her, and the pure blue water trickled down the rocky surface from where it rose up from, forming a little waterfall. The waters accumulated into a small pool at the bottom, and overflowed, forming a slow moving, crystal clear stream.
She was holding a glass vase. It was etched with fine elven runes and was adorned with translucent quartz crystals and onyx stones. Galadriel starts filling the vase at the spring. Now filled, she strides towards the pedestal. Laid on the pedestal is a beautiful artefact. A shallow bowl, made from highest quality silver. It is embroidered and acid etched, and its iridescent surface ripples and twinkles with colour in the pale lights of the woodland glade. "Would you look into the mirror?" She asks coolly.
Chief is sceptical, he does not see why he should. But Frodo knows. He listened so well to his Uncle Bilbo's stories, memorising every verse, word for word. He knows about the mystical seeing stones and talismans of the ancient world. "What will I see?" He asks, and Galadriel smiles.
"Even the wisest cannot tell...for the mirror, shows many things..." She starts pouring the water into the bowel "...things that were. Things that are. And some things...which have not yet come to pass." Chief realised now what this mirror was, but is still stunned.
"So it's a Palantir" He began, "But it can also show what, the future?" He does not believe it.
"It depends upon your point of view" Galadriel replies, "It shows reflections Spartan. Many twisting roads and fates, many possible ends which may be seen." Chief is a little more open to this concept. It sounded more plausible. An AI could calculate one thousand possible eventualities in about a minute. It wasn't farfetched to think that this Palantir could do the same.
"Go on John" Cortana encourages, "I know that curiosity killed the hobbit...but it's worth a look!" Chief and Frodo step forwards. Looking down, they gaze into the swirling, twisting waters of Galadriel's mirror. Frodo looks back up, unsure about this. Chief meanwhile has his eyes fixed on the water. He is still sceptical. But then again, why would she be wasting his time with this if nothing was going to happen?
Frodo looks back, and then something starts to happen. The water stops showing his and Chief's reflection. The image changes, and turns into his friend's, Sam. It then moves on to the rest of the fellowship, the people he cares about. People he feels responsible for. Even John's own face appears.
Chief is gazing into the faces of two people. A woman is holding a new born baby. It's her new born baby, and she loves it dearly. She is at home. She is making use of the domestic health services that all modern housing provides, superior to any hospital of the ancient past. She prefers the comfort of her own home to some communal building. She looks adoringly at her new child. The child coos with delight. He is happy, toothless, with fluffy brown hair and a shock of little freckles covering his podgy cheeks. The father looks on, smiling broadly. He is tall, powerful and muscular, but he is flushed and red faced, as if holding back tears. It has been such an emotional day after all!
Chief gasps in sudden shock. He realises that he recognises these people. Long suppressed memories from eons ago. It's his parents! And the baby in his mother's arms...it's him!
Frodo gazes at the Shire. His childhood, his life and home. The Brandywine Bridge, the Green Dragon, his house under the hill. It is idyllic, he loves it dearly. It's why he is out here, he wants to save it. The mood of the images change suddenly and without warning. Frodo looks on in horror as fires burn, buildings fall, and orcs run amok amidst groups of screaming, terrified hobbits. Frodo recognises most of the faces. Plants uprooted, blood everywhere, orc eyes wide with joy and glee.
A small boy is hiding. His name is John, soon be given the official service tag, 117. John is terrified, the most scared he has ever been in his life. ONI is coming for him, and he is hiding. It won't be long now until they find him and drag him away forever.
Chief has thought many times about that day. He often wondered if he should be angry with the UNSC for what they had done to him and the others. But he couldn't be, the Spartans had helped humanity survive during the war. John had saved humanity, he himself had stopped the Halo Array from firing at the battle of the Arc, at Installation 00. The end had outweighed the means. Yet that family image...his duty had always been to protect humanity. Had he been a Spartan twenty years before, had he seen ONI servicemen trying to kidnap a defenceless child, he would have butchered them in the street. How could he not feel anger for what ONI had done to those families? What ONI had done to his family!
Cortana is seeing the same as her Spartan, and can't help but well with emotion, looking on at John's old memories, his long lost past. The miracle that Gandalf had weaved, oh the poor old wizard! He had saved her from rampancy. What he had done was stabilize her mind, and make her truly human. Her mind was identical to that of any humans, and her heart welled with sadness and pity for him.
Frodo is seeing another horrifying scene. The Hobbiton is a blackened, a ruined skeleton of its former beauty. All the old buildings have been burned to the ground, and there is not a patch of green in sight. The orcs have built new buildings, filthy and squalorfull. Disease is rife. The forced labour camp has been finished. The surviving hobbits are all in shackles, they are led by the slaving taskmasters of Sauron, cruel orcs that lash out at his friends with terrible looking whips. With shock, he sees and recognises Sam, who winces in pain as the barbs of an Orc whip tear his skin.
Is this how horrific the future will be should he fail? He didn't know the world was capable of such horrors. The visions altered his perception of the world slightly, altering the shape of his soul forever. Suddenly, the ring of power had just a little bit more to work with in its corruption of the ring bearer.
"...Cortana, absolutely not! We go together! It's my duty to look after you!" Chief is gazing at himself, his current self. "What the?" Both he and Cortana gasp. What is this they are seeing now?
"We were supposed to look after each other Chief...and we did!" The Cortana inside the mirror chokes up a little as she says these words. The two spectators both realise that this is some kind of future event. "I'm not coming with you this time!" She says sadly. "No! No, absolutely not! We go together!" A very agitated Chief barks at her.
Cortana's mouth hangs open, agape and in amazement. Her and Chief are witnessing something truly unique within the shifting, revealing waters of this mystical silver basin. She realises that she is standing right in front of him, her John. Human sized, her avatar made out of hardlight, a powerful forerunner energy. To her amazement, she then touches John, placing her hand gently against his armour. "Ahh...you have no idea how long I have waited to do that!" The stunned image exclaims. Oh how she did wish!
It is then where the three spectators' images synchronise. Frodo slips on the wet ground below, and the ring flops out from around his neck. The eye of Sauron appears inside of the mirror, and the waters begin to scream. Chief realises what is happening. A Palantir can be used like a visual communication system. Sauron was really there. The Great Eye! He was pulling the ring towards him. Could it even be transported in this manner?
Chief went to grab the ring, to pull it away, but then he remembered how easily it could tempt him. He would not touch it! Luckily, Frodo comes to his senses, and leaping back, drags it away from the boiling waters. The visions had ended. Chief went to help the young hobbit up. Both were a little spooked, what exactly had they all just seen?
Galadriel finally spoke. "I know what you have seen. You will be surprised to hear that you have all witnessed different visions!"
Her words confused Chief. She had said "All" had seen different visions, not "Both". This inferred that there were three companions, and of course in reality there were. Galadriel knew about Cortana? Frodo was deeply confused, but Chief and Cortana were petrified. Galadriel was about to give the game away!
They were too late to stop her, at least other than forcefully. Chief and Cortana's greatest fear was whether or not Frodo would be able to deal with this or not. "Three of us, what do you mean?" A very confused hobbit asked. He'd figured it out.
Chief then sighed. "Galadriel, we should not speak of this!" Galadriel was stern and confident in her decision however.
"There are stranger things than you and Cortana in this world, John." She replied. Frodo was really confused now. He looked up towards Chief, John looking back at him.
"Cortana? Who is Cortana? What's going on?" John knew they had passed the point of no return. He could see in Frodo's eyes that he was desperate for explanation.
"Frodo, you are no fool. I will not lie to you. I have deceived you, and the others. I lied to protect you from truths that are too dangerous to tell people of this world. And I am sorry for deceiving you all this time, I was only trying to protect you and the others".
It was almost too much for him. The visions of the mirror, Lothlorien, everything before...John was lying? About what? "I don't understand Chief!" John continued, but he still had to think of ways in which he could put things in perspective for the hobbit to understand.
"I told you that I am alone out here. But I am not. There is another who is with me, but it is difficult to explain. Her name is Cortana. She has aided me and guided me throughout all my travels. My people found a way to replicate the workings of the human minds."
As Frodo watches, Chief takes something from out the back of his head. A small piece of metal, with a glass circle in the middle. Chief then presses a button at the bottom of the chip. And Frodo is amazed when Cortana's avatar appears...replicate of a human mind, a spirit? She is human, blue, and quite curvatious, Frodo can't help but notice. He is only human...he is only hobbit!
"Her name is Cortana" Chief reveals as her avatar begins to wave. Frodo doesn't know what to think. "She is the closest friend I have ever had. She is my guide, and we watch out for each other. She gives me advice, leads me on my way, she has never let me down." Galadriel stares in wonder at the AI's CPU. So remarkable!
"Can she speak Spartan?" Galadriel asks in curiosity. How would they both be able to communicate after all!
"Yes, she can. Very well in fact!" A very nervous Cortana replies. Both Galadriel and Frodo are equally entranced. "I am able of assimilating massive amounts of information. I can translate any language, I have learned all of them on this planet. Lord Elrond does possess such an excellent library! I look out for John whenever I can".
Galadriel has been looking into her mind. How remarkable, she is indeed completely human in that regard. "But, often you wish you could do more? I saw the visions of the mirror Cortana". Chief looks at her, it never occurred to him that she might have human desires as well as human thoughts.
"From time to time, yet I know that such things are impossible". She couldn't help but let sadness creep into her voice. Frodo is quick witted and very perceptive. This was way beyond his comprehension, but he could understand something as human as this immediately. He could imagine it, never feeling, never touching, never smelling or tasting. It sounded like a living hell!
"How could your people create something so wrong Chief?" He asks, disgusted by the very concept.
"Because it is a new concept Frodo" Galadriel responds, surprising the three of them. What does she know of this?
"Artificial intelligences are so new, that Chief's people have not yet come to terms with the ethical implications of creating an artificial mind are" Frodo nodded, this was easy enough to understand. "Cortana is also unique, no other AI's actually are lives in themselves, Cortana is very, very special in this regard."
Cortana had never really considered the problem, it was one so new after all. But it was an ethical issue which needed to be addressed.
"I sense something about you Cortana" Galadriel continued, "You have been touched by the light of the Valar. Can you deliberate on this?" Although she already had a good idea of whose work this could be!
Cortana nodded, she knew. "Gandalf changed me. AI's are short lived, they last for about seven years, and then they deteriorate. Gandalf somehow extended my lifespan, stopped the deterioration process. I am already eight years old!" Galadriel smiled, emotions welled inside her. She had been right!
"Gandalf was always charitable. Let me hold you. There may be other gifts that he has bestowed on you." Cortana turned to Chief, she had gone through this routine already! "I trust her. Would you let her John?" Chief looked into the elf's eyes. "Alright" He replied and passed her over.
Frodo and Chief looked in wonder as the two communed with each other. Galadriel closed her eyes, and allowed her powers to flood though her. She senses the power flowing within Cortana. It happened in an instant, but she now knew everything that Gandalf had done. Galadriel opened her eyes, and whilst handing her back to Chief, was almost tearful.
"You will be amazed Cortana. Step off of your projector please."
Both Chief and Cortana looked at her as if she was mad. "Galadriel. It's impossible, I can't do that!" Yet Galadriel smiled warmly.
"Can you also live eight years and show no signs of rampancy? Walk off of your projector!" Cortana knew how to walk, she could make Chief's armour walk if she was connected to its bionics. Hell! She could make ten thousand suits walk! But she could not walk for real...or? "I'll give it a try!" She replied unsurely.
Cortana looked at the ground in front of her, and thought about it. An idea, and a sentence of wisdom came into her mind "All it takes is the will to jump" She whispered. Crouching down, she placed a hand at the end of her enclosure, her projector. Yelling out, she tried to jump away.
What should have happened is that she, quite embarrassingly, would have jumped within the projector, and look as if she was bouncing. What actually happened? She grew, grew to a full human height. The CPU was torn from Chief's hands. As he let go, the CPU shone with light, and dissolved inside of Cortana's new form.
"No fucking way!" She exclaimed as she looked out around herself. She could not believe it. Surviving rampancy for so long could have been luck, not dependent on any external interference at all. But this was something else! This was not possible! Cortana rose upwards, she moved her hand up from the leaf ridden floor. She straightened out, coming to her full height of 5'5".
She could barely describe all of this. She could see, not through some camera in her chip, but SEE. She could feel the ground beneath her feet. It FELT hard, yet there was differences between the softness of the grass the hardness of the stones. Smell? Non-existent sadly. Hearing? Achieved through her CPU. But her world had just been created. She could do all of these things, she could finally do them!
She started sobbing, just sobbing, and she ran over to Galadriel and hugged her. Galadriel was a little stunned at first, taken off guard. But then she quickly embraced Cortana. They stood like this for about a minute, Galadriel consoling her, Cortana completely overwhelmed. Her long bob of hair waved and shook as heavy sobs racked her body. Chief was too stunned even to react, Frodo was no different. Cortana finally drew away from Galadriel, and rubbing her eyes, which were perfectly simulating the sensation of crying. Even though no tears actually fell from her face.
"Oh!" She sniffed "Oh my, my, my. Thank you...I...thank you so much!" She stammered through her emotions. Galadriel continued to smile reassuringly for her.
"Gandalf, not I Cortana. I only guided you!" It was then when Cortana turned round, and she saw John standing there.
Cortana had never appreciated how tall he was before, how powerful he was...and how much she liked that! The goldness of that visor, the greenness of his armour. The tightness of the gel layer under suit. The thickness of his muscles!
She walked forwards, slowly. Chief just stood there, too stunned to act. She drew right up to him. She remembered the vision that she had seen. It was no longer a vision, it was no longer a dream. It was real! She reached out with her hand, and with tentative fingers, she touched the breastplate of his armour.
A soft sigh escaped from her lips, connected at last. Galadriel smiled as she watched, remembering all those moments from her own past.
John couldn't believe what was happening. Was this real? He moved his hand upwards, up to his breastplate, and their hands finally met. Cortana recoiled a little, and gave a sharp intake of breath, surprised by the sudden sensation. John took her hand in hers, and squeezed it gently. It even felt real! Galadriel had seen enough, it was time to leave.
"Come Frodo, let us leave this place. We can talk elsewhere!" Frodo nodded, and followed her away. He was still a little bit overwhelmed by everything that had just happened here, and he couldn't help but look back at the remarkable woman who had just appeared as if from nowhere.
They went away, away from the Palantir, but a different way, not where the rest of the fellowship were resting. Left behind them was John and Cortana, holding each other's hands. They stood in silence, in awe of what had happened here. Stood next to the waterfall, the stone pillar, and the little stream that trickled slowly around them.