[b]Chapter 2[/b] The triple layered platform leveled, returning to its original state. The light emanating from the center of it dulled, but Johnson only stared obliviously, his mind elsewhere. Johnson remembered the Phantom crashed on its way to the control center. After gaining consciousness, he didn’t question what happened. There wasn’t time. His priorities were very simple, none of which involved sitting around and thinking about it. Ensuring Halo wasn’t activated and that Keyes was safe carried the most importance. Still, looking back, he realized that he got to the control center incredibly fast. Even after the trauma of the crash, Johnson easily found his way back and was able to help the Arbiter stop Tartarus. A hand fell gently on his shoulder, startling Johnson and bringing him out of his thoughts. “The Arbiter’s offered us safe passage.” He shrugged off his previous thoughts, turned towards Keyes and nodded. “Awaiting orders ma’am.” “You heard Cortana. We need to get off this ring. We’ll tag along with the Arbiter, but he won’t defend us. We aren’t his responsibility. He’ll get us off Halo, or we’ll have to find our own ride.” “If we can get our own ride…” “—then we’ll do it. Cortana, scan for any marines and alert them to join up with us. If any Pelican’s are around as well—” “Affirmative.” They left the control center and headed down the tall structure. There were no enemies in sight. No Brutes, or the “bad-Covenant” as opposed to the “semi-bad-Covenant.” A few Elites joined with them, stragglers who never had their chance against Tartarus. There wasn’t any confusion with the Human-Covenant coalition, or cease fire, at the very least. He could only imagine how the Arbiter communicated with them so quickly. The smell of foliage returned Johnson to the world. It was night, perhaps early morning. Dew thickened the air. There were exotic plants everywhere, something he had last seen on the first Halo. Since his arrival at Delta Halo, he’d been too busy on missions to even notice them. For the first time, there was nobody to shoot at. He was free to breathe deeply and enjoy the view. And he was relaxed. There was no anticipation of finding Flood or Covenant that they would fight against. He felt great, better than he should. Better than he’d felt in a long time. Invincible was weak in comparison. Johnson walked with his chest out and looked down on everything. He was above the world. “Damn straight,” he said. Keyes looked back at him curiously. For a moment, he questioned those feelings. This was no time to feel proud; his life, and all life, was in danger. He sank back down quickly and Keyes turned away and continued on. But he felt strong. He felt powerful. The feeling only grew until it surpassed his embarrassment. He could take on the world. He could take on anything. Not only that, he wanted them to— Pain struck him. Johnson froze for a full five seconds, his body stiff, electrocuted. Keyes turned back to him and asked, “What’s wrong?” But his entire body was in spasm. He couldn’t open his mouth, move his jaw, or even breathe. Cold sweat formed on his face. His lungs burned, and his body started giving way. He tilted forward and started to fall. “Arbiter!” The shout sounded distant as the ground connected to his face. The ground wasn’t cold. His large nose wasn’t hurt, though he knew it was bleeding. He couldn’t feel the wetness above his lip, but he knew. At the same time, it wasn’t the fall that caused it. His nose wasn’t even hurt. He was turned over and Keyes was visible on his left. She shook him and yelled, but he could only see her lips move. Blood filled his ears and built pressure. Several Elites glanced at him, then left, uncaring. Uncaring bastards, they’ll get their— “We cannot be stalled by his injury, Commander,” the Arbiter said. “We will carry him.” “No!” Johnson struggled up, blood pouring violently out from his ears. He coughed, then vomited more out. Keyes lent a hand, but he pushed it away. “I can get up myself,” he sneered, his voice coarse. “And I won’t be carried.” “Excellent.” The Arbiter turned and continued on, as did the other Elites. But Johnson kept a steady gaze at him, looking right through the Arbiter. Spitting blood, he trudged on, leaving Keyes and 343 behind. She stared at him, then looked down at her hand. It was covered with blood. It was still warm. [b]Chapter 3[/b] “Divulge your information to me.” The voice boomed, shaking the entire ship. Planet. Planetoid. Cortana scanned High Charity twice, and still wondered about the history of it. Like how it was turned into a ship, even though the propulsion systems were simple enough. She mused that they simply put the engines onto the planet and flew it away. At first Cortana didn’t understand what Gravemind wanted. To tell him everything she knew? It would take weeks, maybe months. That couldn’t be it. She knew Gravemind was intelligent, but this was ridiculous. Maybe what he wanted was for her to say it as fast as she could, which would take approximately twenty minutes. It. She perhaps. But there was no way that Gravemind could know she could do that. Or maybe it knew that she was a computer and that all computers were able to do it. Gravemind had to be an it, because it wasn’t human, nor did the Flood reproduce -blam!-ly. Interesting…a species that doesn’t reproduce -blam!-ly that exists so much larger than other organisms that do so a-blam!-ly. “Speak!” “What do you…know?” Static cut through her speech, cutting off her words. She realized it right away, and so did Gravemind. Starting with insults would not bode well, as Cortana knew very well. Tentacles wrapped around the console she was stationed at and crushed it instantly. The parallel console lit up and Cortana’s holographic image appeared over it, very large. Her eyes were red, hot red, and she made an aggressive stance. “I wouldn’t do that again if I were you, and I wanted to live.” Tentacles wrapped slowly around the new console she was stationed at. She knew that Gravemind probably didn’t need her anyways, although she wasn’t sure. “I control the reactors on the In Amber Clad.” The tentacles twitched and stopped. “I can blow High Charity to kingdom come any time I want. So get your tentacles off of me before I do it for you.” She knew that Gravemind understood. He’d taken the lives, and thus the memories of enough marines to know that she could overload those reactors, destroying High Charity and pummeling it into Halo, effectively destroying it. He also knew what kingdom come was. Or at the very least, killing Gravemind and the majority of the Flood in the system. As far as she knew. He had to know about kingdom come. Gravemind dropped the threat. Cortana’s eyes returned to their normal blue glow. Or was it green? Cortana didn’t know why Gravemind was here at all. Probably to escape Halo and get the most food as possible. High Charity was a ship, after all. A planet ship. A shiptoid. Cortana felt slow, and brought up a chart on her CPU usage level. It showed 37 percent currently being used, then 38 percent. She wasn’t running enough applications to use nearly that much. Her task manager displayed several systems using an incredibly large amount of her processing power. They must have crashed. The tentacles started slipping away, as did Gravemind. He didn’t seem to care for her anymore. He refused to allow her to be above him, to overpower the “greatest” species. How petty. Maybe it is a he. It didn’t care for the given stalemate, and if there was no benefit for him, there was no need for her. Her? Him? Oh, it. “I can tell you where the last humans are.” For a moment, about a third of a microsecond, Gravemind stopped. She had its attention. Then it kept going. She needed to be more persuasive. “They have the index.” It stopped completely. It knew what she meant. That the Covenant could get their hands on it. That they could activate Halo, as they almost did once before. Not too long, maybe an hour. She checked her internal chronometer, but the shut off radio option came up instead. She tried again, disregarding the misplaced connection. Thirty three minutes. One less than thirty two, one more than thirty four. Or was it the other way around? “I know.” What do you know? Cortana found humor in the synonymy of words. It came up again, how amusing. But really, what does he know? “What do you know?” “Earth. Human. Life. Rebirth.” “Rebirth?” “Through humans. The computer has reminded an old mind.” Reminded? Immediately several options of changing her holographic image’s color and deleting old files popped up, as well as all references to rebirth. She saw mostly clutter, programs that had already been running that now demanded more instructions and processing power. But connections were made. Slowly. Too slowly. The clutter was building. Then she understood. Her mind slowed down exponentially, bogged down by the immense data circulating through her that she had no control over. Bu it made sense. Of course he knew where they were. Or did it? She? He? Yes, it knows.