Chapter 13: Svenson

It wasn't a long trip to the anomaly site, but when Svenson exited the Pelican he felt like he was on a completely different world. Gone were the city streets and tall buildings, and the noise of civilian life. He stood in an empty, quiet jungle alongside a squad of UNSC Army troopers. Cas had landed the Pelican in the nearest clearing to the site he could find, it was only a few minutes walk from there.

Everyone was expecting trouble. A Covenant Phantom was on the way, and a group of scientists had gone missing. Now that Svenson thought about it, this could be a prelude to a full scale assault. One that he wasn't sure the planet would even be able to handle. Whatever this was, it was his job to deal with it before it could get out of hand.

Svenson reached the anomaly site at the front of the squad. It was a cave entrance on the side of a mountain, and inside he could see the grey metal structures he'd seen in the videos he was shown. There was some kind of facility down there, and it reminded him of the containment facility on Alpha Halo. He was afraid to go down there, but he was going to do his best to not let that show.

Two troopers stood outside the entrance to the facility, along with three civilians. One of the troopers spotted Svenson and made his way over, giving him a sharp salute as he approached. The tag on his chest plate read 'Ryan'.

"I'm Private Ryan," Ryan said, "we heard you were coming."

"What's the situation, Private?" Svenson asked, talking exactly like how Sergeant O'Hale had spoken to him when he was in Fireteam Delta.

"We were here with a team of ten scientists," Ryan explained. Svenson could hear fear in his voice. "Seven of them have gone missing. Like, they just disappeared. They were there for a moment, and then they were gone."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Svenson sighed. "Get on with it."

"We searched up and down the whole facility, no sign of them. There's a few locked doors, but the eggheads are afraid of opening them for some reason."

Svenson was about to ask why, but he figured he knew the answer. If these were ONI scientists, then they definitely knew about what happened on Alpha Halo. He turned to the troopers that were under his command. Nine of them including Ryan and the other trooper with the surviving scientists. This would be his first time giving orders, and he hoped to God he wouldn't fuck it up.

"Alright, well we'll be getting those doors open," Svenson said, despite very much not wanting to. "Ryan, you and your partner are with me. Lampkin, Franck, you're coming along as well. Everyone else guards the entrance to the cave."

Two of the troopers that had come with Svenson entered the cave behind him. The others took defensive positions, and kept watch. There was no reason for there to be hostiles in the area, but there was every reason to expect that there were.

"What about the scientists?" Ryan asked.

"Which one of them knows the most about this facility?"

One of the scientists rose from behind them and raised her hand. A light skinned woman with short dark hair. Her name was imprinted on the side of her jacket. Hillis.

"I was leading them, I know pretty much everything," Hillis said.

"Alright, change of plan," Svenson said. He had to look at his troopers' name tags to order them, he hadn't had the time to remember all of their names. "Calliope, Tigh, get the other two scientists back to the Pelican, and get them to Firebase Veles. Hillis, you're coming with us."

Hillis gave him a reluctant nod, and the troopers gave him a salute. The scientists moved, and the troopers took them back to Cas. Everyone else was ready to enter the facility. Svenson took point, and everyone else followed behind.

They slowly moved down a long narrow corridor that went straight underneath the mountain. It was eerily quiet, and Svenson almost expected the monsters from Alpha Halo to jump out from the walls and infect them all. Thankfully that didn't happen.

"So what's a Marine doing in command of a bunch of Army troopers?" Ryan asked, breaking the silence.

"I'll be honest, I don't know," Svenson sighed, though he did entirely know. He didn't want to risk talking about it. "But I was given a job, and I intend to do it."

"Fair enough, man," Ryan said before shutting up.

The corridor eventually opened up to a large room full of what Svenson assumed were power generators, or some kind of energy storage. UNSC equipment was scattered around them, it looked like the place was abandoned in a hurry. All of the personnel down there had ran at the slightest sign of danger. Svenson didn't know if he should be disappointed or understanding.

"Hillis, what is this place?" Svenson asked.

The scientist didn't give an answer right away. Svenson stopped and turned to her only to see that she simply wasn't paying attention. Svenson called her name, and she jumped before noticing him.

"Welcome to the real world, Hillis," Svenson said. "What is this place?"

"We… We believe these to be some kind of batteries," Hillis said, turning to the blocky containers around them. "They each store an immense amount of power. We believe there might be generators deeper in the facility, but we haven't been able to look. All the doors down there are locked, and after what happened on…"

Svenson gave her a look that told her to stop talking. The troopers with them were completely in the dark on what happened on Alpha Halo, and he wasn't going to risk all of their safety because a scientist was too scared to keep her mouth shut. Deep down, Svenson was scared too, but he was trained to hide it.

"We're opening those doors, if there's anything hiding behind them we'll deal with them," Svenson said. The troopers all nodded in unison, and they continued moving.

The facility reminded Svenson of the weapons facility with each room they went through. So many of the rooms were exactly the same, some with very minor deviations. He wondered how the people who built it were even able to navigate it without getting lost.

"You think the Covenant built this place?" Lampkin asked, her voice cutting through another bout of silence that had fallen over them.

"Looks nothing like what the Covenant built," Ryan said. "It's too… Grey."

"Our readings estimate that this facility is around a hundred thousand years old," Hillis explained. "It predates our assumptions of when the Covenant was first formed."

"And it's all cleaned and polished like it was just built yesterday," said Franck.

"There could be something here," Svenson commented. "Something keeping the place up and running."

"That's what we thought," Hillis said, "but there's been no sign of anything doing that."

The group eventually made it to the first locked door. Svenson searched through his bag and found a spoofer, the exact one he had used when escaping the weapons facility on Alpha Halo. He attached it to the door, and hesitated for a moment.

"Well if there is something, it might be behind here," Svenson said.

He cut off the door's locking mechanism. He braced himself to be attacked by some kind of vile creature, but there was nothing. There was almost literally nothing behind the door, just a platform with no railing. Svenson would have said it opened to the outside, but there was no sky. Just an endless horizon with a dark roof over them, and a bright fog cutting off the view of the distance.

"Man, where the hell are we?" Ryan asked.

"Hillis?" Svenson asked, expecting her to have an answer.

"We're under the mountain, I think," Hillis said. She moved to the door, but Svenson stopped her.

"Me first," Svenson said. "We're not losing another scientist."

Hillis nodded and moved back to the middle of the group. Svenson went through the door and carefully stepped along the platform. He got as close to the edge as he could, and looked down. The drop seemed almost endless, the fog hid any bottom from view. All Svenson could wonder was what the purpose of the facility was. The people who built it were the same people who built Halo, and as far as Svenson could tell they never built anything without a reason.

A ramp in the side of the platform led the group further down. Svenson felt like he was walking along the side of a skyscraper. Maybe there is a city down here, built underneath the ground… The ramp eventually led to another set of platforms, these ones connected to more buildings. Tubes and wires ran between them, presumably connecting the batteries in the other rooms to wherever the generators were.

"I hope the scientists didn't slip and fall," Lampkin commented. "If they did, we're never gonna be finding them."

"How long have you been researching this place?" Svenson asked, turning to Hillis.

"Only a couple of weeks," Hillis said. "We didn't exactly want to find out what was behind the locked doors, we thought they were locked for a reason. But this… I never expected this."

Svenson slowly nodded, and he made his way to the other building. This one was locked as well, and he quickly unlocked the doors. He checked the corners, and moved in. It was all clear. No sign of anything that could have captured the scientists. The next few rooms they moved through were bland and empty, Svenson began to lose hope of finding anyone down there until they came up to a large and highly decorated door.

It was three times the height of Svenson, and was coloured gold rather than the bland greys he'd seen elsewhere. Etchings of some kinds of glyphs covered it. He attached the spoofer, and attempted to unlock it, but nothing happened. The door wouldn't budge.

"Power must have been completely cut off," Hillis said.

"I don't suppose we brought any heavy weapons, did we?" Svenson asked.

"I've got some mining explosives," said Ryan's partner, his name tag read 'Moulton'. "Not sure if they'll do the trick though."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Hillis warned. "Like we've established, we might not be alone in this place. And whatever else might be in here could get mad if we damage anything."

"I came here to find the missing scientists," Svenson said. "If there's a chance that they're behind this door, I'm taking it. If anyone gets mad at us, we can just shoot them."

"Oh I wish it were that simple," Hillis sighed.

"Your concerns are noted," Svenson said quietly. He really hoped he wasn't making a bad decision. If Hillis was right, he could get him and the entire group killed. But he realised that part of being a leader was taking risks, and he wanted to be a good leader. "Get those explosives on the door and get back. We will do whatever it takes to accomplish this mission."

Moulton planted the explosives, and everyone left the room. Once Svenson gave the order, the explosion shook the building. He wasn't even sure if any of this could be damaged, whatever ancient aliens had built it could have found some kind of indestructible metal. But when they reentered the room, the door had successfully been blown open.

Svenson could see through the newly made hole, behind it was a massive circular room. Gold pillars lined the walls, a single light shone through the ceiling onto what looked like a large holotable in the centre of the room. If they had pissed anything off by blowing the door open, there was no sign of it yet.

Svenson moved up to the door, and made sure the room was clear before stepping through it. The room was so strange and unreal that Svenson felt like he was having some kind of dream as he stepped across the floor. He noticed something at the base of the holotable, several things. Humans. The missing scientists all sat at the base of the table, from the distance Svenson was at he couldn't tell if they were sleeping or dead.

He knew Hillis spotted them too when she started sprinting toward them, Svenson tried to grab her but she was too fast.

"Hillis!" Svenson shouted. "Slow the fuck down!"

The scientist didn't listen, so Svenson and the others ran after her. He figured this had to be some kind of trap, and that Hillis was on her way to spring it, so it completely surprised him when that was not actually the case. Hillis ran up to one of the scientists and crouched in front of him, feeling if he was actually alive or not. The fact that this was not some kind of trap scared him more than anything.

"William?" Hillis whispered, shaking the sleeping scientist. "Wake up. Wake up!"

The scientist's eyes slowly opened, and he looked around the room like he was lost. He spotted Svenson behind Hillis and looked at him with a questioning gaze.

"Marines? Where the hell are we?" William said slowly.

"I was hoping you could tell us," Svenson said.

William slowly got to his feet, and looked at the rest of the unconscious scientists. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Hold on, I think I remember…" he said, his voice trailing off.

"Come on, get on with it," Svenson said, his impatience showing in his voice. He didn't want to be there for any longer than he needed to.

"We encountered something, something alien, not Covenant," William said, approaching the holotable. Hillis and Moulton checked the rest of the unconscious scientists, they all seemed to regain consciousness just from their touch.

Alien, but not Covenant. That was how the monsters on Alpha Halo were described when they were encountered. Svenson's heart started to beat faster, even when he knew it couldn't have been the monsters.

"I'm aware this isn't Covenant construction," Svenson said. He restrained himself before he could mention Alpha Halo.

"It was an intelligence," William continued, "behind one of the locked doors. It called us something… What was it?"

Another scientist rose to her feet, looking just as lost as William had when he had regained consciousness. But she slowly collected herself, and turned to William. The nametag on her jacket read 'Adams'.

"Reclaimers," Adams said. "It called us Reclaimers."

"So you're saying that there's an artificial intelligence somewhere in this facility that brought you here?" Svenson asked. He hadn't run into such a thing on Alpha Halo, but that didn't mean it didn't have something similar.

"Yes," William said. He closed his eyes and leaned over the holotable. "It doesn't want to hurt us. In fact, I think it wants to help us."

"Do you know why it isn't talking to us now?"

"I don't," William shook his head. He would have seemed crazy if it weren't for the other scientists backing him up.

Svenson didn't trust any of this one bit. It did something to the scientists, there was a reason they were unconscious when they got there. William slowly reached toward the screen on the holotable, palm outstretched.

"William, I advise you don't touch that display," Svenson warned. "For your own safety."

William hesitated. So much of this seemed like some kind of trap, but so far none of it had been. The trap could still very well come, and Svenson felt like the holotable might be part of it. He didn't want to risk William touching it, but there wasn't much he could do to stop him. Shooting a civilian was not what he signed up for.

"It doesn't want to hurt us," William repeated, and he pressed his hand against the display.

There were no explosions, no weird alien soldiers or machines, no monsters. If Svenson didn't already have proof this wasn't a trap, he did now. The light in the ceiling dimmed, and the holotable produced an image of New Tampa. A highly detailed render of the planet, as it was at that very moment. Svenson could just barely see the tiny UNSC ships in the planet's orbit. There was something else moving rapidly toward the planet, Svenson figured it was the Covenant Phantom. The shiny gold walls and patterns on the floor were illuminated by the light from the projection.

"What is this?" Lampkin asked.

"That's New Tampa," said William.

The projection slowly changed to show a cross section of the planet. What Svenson saw was not what he expected, and it didn't even make sense to him. He was still surprised that he wasn't dreaming. Stretches of land lined the sides of the planet's interior, at the centre was what almost looked like a very tiny star.

"The planet…" William said slowly, "it's hollow. There's a whole 'nother world right below our feet."

"And right now we're between both of those worlds," Hillis said.

"According to our intelligence the Covenant attack worlds that contain artefacts important to their religion," Adams said. "Artefacts from some ancient race they worship. This whole planet could be one of those artefacts."

"We've got to get this information back to Firebase Veles," Svenson said. "As much as I'm sure you'd love to stay here, we need to go."

"For what purpose?" William asked. "There's no immediate danger here. I believe whatever wanted to show this to us did it to help."

Svenson almost couldn't argue with that. But a world like this was exactly what the Covenant was after. They fought so viciously on Alpha Halo not just because of their hatred for humanity, but because it was something sacred to them. This world was something else entirely, on a whole different level from Halo.

"If that's true, then you bet your ass the Covenant are already on their way here," Svenson said. He wasn't sure how true that was, but he would rather be safe than sorry. "We need to evacuate this place."

"But maybe the intelligence here can help us against them," William said. "Please, let me find some way to encounter it again. I'm sure I can communicate with it."

"I'm gonna consult the Sergeant," Svenson said with a sigh. "If she agrees, you can stay down here. If not, we're getting your ass off the planet."

"Thank you, Corporal," William said.

"Now come on everyone, follow me," Svenson ordered. He took point once more on their way back to the surface.

The group moved back the way they came, this time with the missing scientists in tow. Svenson went in expecting some kind of fight, and now he was leaving with the feeling that he was one of the smallest things in the universe. He couldn't help but look down when they navigated between the buildings. There was an entirely different world all the way down there. Part of him didn't want to believe it, but he still knew it was true. After Halo, anything seemed possible.

The troopers outside were right where Svenson left them once they made it out. They eagerly stood at attention, seemingly bored out of their minds from a few hours of nothing happening. Svenson contacted Firebase Veles once he was in the open, and Sergeant Nagata answered almost immediately.

"What's the situation, Corporal?" Nagata asked.

"I've got the missing scientists, no sign of any kind of hostile presence," Svenson said. "There is, however, a pretty big issue. And one of the scientists here has a request."

"Alright. Spit it out."

"They encountered some kind of ancient artificial intelligence down there, possibly a hundred thousand years old. It showed them something about the planet, and they believe it was trying to help them."

"You're talking around something, Corporal," Nagata said with a sigh. "What is it about this planet that's important?"

"The planet's completely hollow," Svenson said. It sounded as ridiculous as he thought it was coming out of his mouth. Nagata's silence told him that she was actually taking him seriously. He made sure he was out of earshot of the others, and he lowered his voice. "I think it might even be an entirely artificial planet, built by the same beings who built Alpha Halo."

"This is quite a discovery," Nagata said after a short moment of silence. "So let me get this straight. These scientists found an old AI, and it showed them secrets about the planet in some attempt to help them? Those secrets being that it's a hollow artificial world?"

"That's about the gist of it, yeah," Svenson nodded. "It sounds crazy, I know."

"Yeah this sure as hell is crazy. But I trust you, I know you're telling the truth."

Svenson felt a wave of relief wash over him, though he wasn't sure why. It wasn't like he had built his career on lying to his superiors. He was just glad that he wasn't crazy.

"Alright, and what's that request about?" Nagata asked.

"We believe there's going to be a Covenant attack here sometime soon," Svenson explained. "If this really was built by the same beings that built Halo, the Covenant will definitely be after it. I want to get these scientists offworld, but one of them wants to stay and attempt to communicate further with the AI. He wants to try and get it to help us against the Covenant."

Nagata went silent again as she considered the situation. Svenson knew they couldn't just evacuate the entire colony on a whim, but he wanted to at least present the option. He almost asked if Nagata was still there before she responded.

"Let the scientists stay as long as they want," Nagata said. "They know the risks. And if this AI can help us against the Covenant, you know damn well I'm letting it."

"Understood, sir," Svenson responded.

"Is that all?"

"Affirmative."

"Then get you and your troopers' asses back to Veles. That Phantom is almost on top of us."

"Alright, we're on our way now."

Svenson dropped the connection. He let the scientists know the good news, and he boarded Cas's Pelican with the troopers behind him. They left the cave behind, and made their way back to the firebase.