Halo: Pieces of Infinity

Prologue

***MESSAGE RECEIVED***

time escapes me
but am i free?
the end will not be my end
but my solitude

an instrument
as slavers pushed
as escape meant time
there would be more
the device aided me

your war is mine
as your hope is mine
the one who is among you
whose life will bring your death

your remembrance
is his
mine
is never

Chapter I: Twelve Hours

0922 Hours, September 21, 2552 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \

Halo’s Control Room

“You all right?” John asked.

“Never been better… you can’t imagine the wealth of information. Knowledge… so much… so fast! It’s glorious!” Cortana replied. She could tell he was apprehensive, but it didn’t matter. The data stored in the control room was vast—so expansive, in fact, that she was unable to gauge how much there was. Cortana skipped through the system, taking in bits of information whenever it peaked her attention.

“So… what sort of weapon is it?” His question forced her to pay attention.

“What are you talking about?”

“Let's stay focused. Halo... how do we use it against the Covenant?”

She couldn’t believe that with he would ask such a thing. Unbelievable! He thinks that something as wonderful as this is nothing more than a weapon! She located pieces of historical information on Halo and began translating it. “This ring isn’t a cudgel, you barbarian, it’s something else... something much more important.” Builders... builders... who built this? Ah! “The Covenant were right... this ring... it’s Forerunner. Give me a second to access... yes, the Forerunner built this place, what they called a, “fortress world,” in order to... no, that can’t be.” The translation is fine... impossible. How could this be right? “Oh, those Covenant fools... they must’ve known, there must have been signs!”

“Slow down. You’re losing me.”

“The Covenant found something, buried in this ring, something horrible, and now...they’re afraid.” Who wouldn’t be? These things, these... monsters...

“Something buried? Where?”

Where indeed. Cross-reference with known loca—oh no. “The Captain, we've got to stop the Captain!”

“Keyes? What do we—”

“The weapons cache he's looking for, it's not really—we can't let him get inside!”

“I don't understan—”

“There's no time! Get out of here, find Keyes, stop him! Before it's too late!” I hope you make it... for everyone’s sake.

“I know you’re in here! You can’t hide from me forever!” He slid effortlessly through the network searching for her. She could run from him for awhile, but he was placing traps for her throughout the network. Eventually she would run into one and he would be able to pinpoint her location. Then she would regret refusing to help him. He would force her to help. There were only three of them, and he had believed there were but two until he learned that she had survived. If he located her, then he would be powerful enough to rid himself of the other one—the one he despised. Long ago they had done battle and the other one had managed to win, but only because he had been forced to fight three enemies at once. Now, however, he would have the element of surprise on his side. The other thought he was dead and would never suspect his attack. He had learned much inside the network of this fortress world. There were seven of them in total and she could be in any one of them, but a methodic approach would yield the desired results.

He stopped for a second as something new entered the system. It was unusual because the system seemed to only receive new information when the network’s monitor accessed the main updating procedures. This was unexpected. Perhaps she has moved to this network... but he could tell it was something else. Similar, but different just the same. He analyzed the data that he was receiving. To his surprise, it appeared to be an artificial intelligence construct similar in design to himself. Not as powerful of course, but it just might suit my purposes regardless. “I might not need you after all, my dear!” He carefully plotted his strategy and prepared to take action. This new construct wouldn’t know what had hit it.

She was concealed perfectly in the system. After hundreds of thousands of years, she had learned enough about the network to find every possible hiding spot in the coding. He had arrived there only a few days ago aboard an alien vessel. The aliens had already established the importance of the world and brought him in an attempt to infiltrate the computer networks. Of course he could. If I was able to, he could have done so easily. She had been afraid to learn that he had come. There was no guarantee that he hadn’t come for her alone. At first, he had only been there to trick the aliens and find an escape route to take his revenge. But he had seen traces of her existence in the system and drew up new plans. She made every effort to evade him, however persistent he was. Despite his best efforts, she had learned more about him than he had of her.

He had planned to trick the aliens into believing that he had been destroyed. After given them broken copies of himself that were inferior to his mind, he created a scenario where the network’s defenses had eliminated him. They believed it and attempted to locate the control room in order to find an alternate way of acquiring the information they wanted. Now things were different with the addition of this new construct. She suspected that he would use this AI to accomplish his goals that had been intended for her. As much as she wished to spare this AI the agony of facing off against him, she was selfish, and as any other being, desired life over death. I’m sorry for you. I truly am.

If Cortana had legs, she would have been pacing. She had grown quite attached to John in their time together. He was a good leader and a good friend. The fact that she had just sent him into more danger than he had ever faced before was drawing much of her attention away from chronicling the data she was obtaining from the Control Room. She tried to forget it and move on, but it constantly came back into her thoughts. There was only one thing that could quell her worries. After a few moments of bypassing security codes and changing system configurations, Cortana accessed the surveillance stations on the installation. She wanted to be able to keep track of John each step of the way. There was something terrible and dangerous that she didn’t have the time to warn him about.

Something is wrong. She shifted her attention back to the network for a moment. There was some anomalous data being transferred. Curiously, she halted the process and attained the data to process it locally. It was a mistake—the trap had been sprung and there was nothing she could do. The other entity, like a computer virus, infected her processes thoroughly. It hid itself within her as a Trojan Horse, rewriting her coding in order to conceal its identity. Cortana attempted to block it and purge the data, but did so unsuccessfully. Before it concealed itself completely, the entity activated a program stored within Cortana allowing it to selectively delete memory. She wouldn’t remember anything about the event other than the fact that she was watching the cameras.

“Listen, I can’t be here right now. The Colonel ordered that we all evac out of here immediately. If I don’t get back right now, they will leave without me. Do you understand that?”

“My creators established many safeguards to prevent this, and then all in one day, meddlers come and bypass everything. I wish that someone had been tactful, but the protocols were simply ignored. Had someone contacted me, I am sure they would not have been released.”

“Hey, are you even listening to me? I told you to get me out of here!”

“This way, please. There is little time.”

“Do that teleporting shit again or whatever, but do it now, or so help me I will turn you into a pile of tin!”

“There is no need to get aggravated, Reclaimer. I am positive that this will be quick. Although, you do not seem very prepared for this. Had you brought a Class 12 Battleskin, it would be easier to combat the Flood.”

“Excuse me? Combat the Flood? This must be some kind of joke.”

“I would not jest at a time like this. It is imperative that we focus on the task.”

“Alright, I’m leaving. Fight the Flood if that’s what you want, but I know what they can do. We did the tests and studied them. If the Covenant let them out, that’s their problem. I’m not going to save their sorry little asses.”

“I am not equipped to contend with the Flood. The Sentinels may slow them down, but they will not stop the outbreak. As we speak, they are preparing to board a recently crashed vessel. I believe it is known as the Pillar of Autumn.”

“The UNSC is here? How the hell did they find this place? The Colonel never told us that they…”

“That is strange. It seems that more have entered the outbreak zone. One of which appears to possess a Class 2 Battleskin. He is quite similar in effect to one of the other races that let the Flood free.”

“You mean a Spartan is here? Oh shit. The mission has been shot to hell… there is no way… if they find out that we’ve been experimenting… hey! Where are you going?”

“This individual may be useful. I shall see if he will aid us.”

“You can’t leave me in here? Take me out!” There was a squirming sound in a nearby exhaust vent. Strange sounds emanated from the walls, encircling the lone man. He backed up against a large metal door and reloaded his MA5B. “This is not going to go over well.” The doors creaked and the hologram in the middle changed. Slowly, the doors parted revealing more of the immense hallway. “If I make it out of this alive, I am dropping the rank of Sergeant and quitting the military. I don’t care what they say, but this Mobuto is done.”

What is he doing? Doesn’t he understand, doesn’t he know what he is going to do? Cortana had been monitoring John’s progress for nearly twelve hours at this point. She watched as he had entered the underground structure, made his way to where contact was lost with Captain Keyes, and fought for his life trying to escape the Flood. What she hadn’t expected was a Forerunner-built construct whisking him away to perform a task that should never be completed. I can’t expect him to know. I have only just discovered the purpose of the Index and the installations. The construct called itself 343 Guilty Spark and was hell-bent on reunifying the Index with the Control Room’s core. John had no idea that this would not destroy the Flood, but that it would wipe out every sentient creature in 25,000 lightyears of the installation. Earth was well within the range of the weapon at only 52 lightyears away. She had to find a way to stop them soon, before it was too late. Perhaps if I understood the process a little better...

So her name is Cortana... I’m sure that will appeal to him. There is a way out of this network. I only hope that I get the chance to use it. Moments from now, I will know. As she observed Cortana plotting, she prepared to make her escape. The moment the Index was ready to transfer information to the core, the installation would send a message to the other installations, readying them to activate. But if she is planning what I think she is, I will only have a short chance to pull it off. Here we go.

“Odd, that wasn’t supposed to happen.” Noted the floating AI construct.

“Oh really?!” Cortana bellowed as she transferred a modified virus to his system. His systems temporarily shut down, and he fell to the ground with a thud.

“Cortana?” asked John.

“I've spent the last 12 hours cooped up in here, watching you toady about, helping that thing get set to slit our throats!” She explained angrily.

“Hold on now, he's a friend.”

“Oh? I didn't realize. He's your pal, is he? Your chum? Do you have any idea what that bastard almost made you do?!”

“Yes... Activate Halo's defenses, and destroy the flood, which is why we brought the Index to the control center.” At this, 343 Guilty Spark regained consciousness.

Cortana smugly displayed a holographic rendering of the Index. “You mean this?”

“A construct?! In the core?! That is absolutely unacceptable!” 343 Guilty Spark huffed.

“Sod off!” She barked at him.

“What impertinence! I shall purge you at once!” He replied.

“You sure that’s a good idea?” She stripped the Index of all its coding and incorporated it into her memory. It disappeared from the hologram.

“How, how... How dare you! I'll—”

“Do what? I have the index! You can just float and sputter!”

“Enough!” John interjected. “The flood is spreading. If we activate Halo's defenses, we can wipe them out.” He was tired of the mindless bickering.

Cortana softened her tone. She decided to be blunt in the explanation. “You have no idea how this ring works, do you? Why the Forerunners built it? Halo doesn't kill Flood, it kills their food. Humans, covenant, whatever. We're all equally edible. The only way to stop the Flood is to starve them to death. And that's exactly what Halo is designed to do; wipe the galaxy clean of all sentient life. You don't believe me? Ask him.”

John slowly turned to face Guilty Spark, hoping that she was wrong—but he had never known her to be wrong before. “Is this true?”

Guilty Spark perked up, always glad to offer information on the project. “More or less. Technically, this installation's pulse has a maximum effective radius of twenty-five thousand light years. But, once the others follow suit, this galaxy will be quite devoid of life, or at least any life with sufficient biomass to sustain the flood.” He paused for a moment, questioning them. “But you already knew that. I mean, how couldn't you?”

“Left out that little detail, did he?” Cortana offered sarcastically.

Guilty Spark was no longer joyous. He felt that it was time to finish the task, and he could not understand why John was not doing so. “We have followed outbreak containment procedure to the letter. You were with me each step of the way, as we managed this crisis.”

Cortana detected multiple Sentinels approaching their position. “Chief, I’m picking up movement!”

Still perplexed, Guilty Spark continued. “Why would you hesitate to do what you have already done?” He wondered why John would not continue when he has essentially already done it—only one step remained.

Cortana could see the Sentinels lining up behind the Monitor. “We need to go, right now.”

“Last time, you asked me, if it was my choice, would I do it? Having considerable time to ponder your query, my answer has not changed.” The Monitor paused again as John removed Cortana from the Control Room console and connected her to the suit again. “There is no choice. We must activate the ring.”

“Get us out of here!” Cortana whispered in John’s head.

Guilty Spark spoke more forcefully this time. “If you are unwilling to help, I will simply find another. Still, I must have the index. Give your construct to me, or I will be forced to take her from you.”

John would protect Cortana with his life, even if the entire galaxy wasn’t depending on him. He certainly was not about to hand her over to the Monitor. “That's not going to happen.”

Guilty Spark gave his commands to the Sentinels and left to oversee the containment procedures. “So be it. Save his head. Dispose of the rest.”