- MaxRealflugel
- |
- Elder Mythic Member
Part 3
John continued walking towards the Pelican expecting Cortana to say that he had been in stasis for 3 or 4 years, but her hesitation in coming forward with a definitive timescale only heightened his already overwhelming concern.
“Exactly how long have I been in stasis Cortana?” asked John
Cortana paused extensively before coming back with an answer.
“You’re not going to like it,” replied Cortana
“How long!” asked John with a raised tone
“314 years, 8 months and 3 days.” Said Cortana with a sympathetic tone
John immediately stopped walking and dropped the supplies on the ground, for the first time in his life as a Spartan he was shocked.
“I’m sorry John.” Said Cortana
John made a vain attempt to recover his composure but he knew why Cortana was so sympathetic. She had been his guide and confidant for years and knew him probably better than he knew himself. It no longer mattered if all of the Spartans had survived the war, which he knew was impossible, they would all be dead by now. Not even a Spartan can live that long.
“Damn.” He whispered
“Chief I know that this probably won’t make up for anything but you stopped Truth and saved Humanity from extinction, you‘ve achieved your mission.” Said Cortana
“I know, but I never expected to win this war on my own or without another Spartan in sight.” Replied John
It was more than just that, John had hoped to see at least one of them again but the three centuries that had passed ensured that would never happen, even Kelly was unable to outrun time.
John was indeed the last surviving Spartan, and his luck had held out where the others had succumbed to fate and destiny.
“We’d better get moving chief; we have a lot of ground to cover.” Said Cortana softly
John quietly nodded in agreement before picking up the discarded supplies and making his way to the waiting Pelican.
The exterior of the UNSC drop ship was covered in scrapes and scratches from the heated pursuit of the Dawn. The starboard wing was slightly damaged from a near encounter with a semi-molten Warthog, but besides this she was fine and was all that John and Cortana could utilise in their exploration of this mysterious world.
After making himself comfortable John inserted Cortana’s chip into the small Pelican holo-plinth besides the navigation console, she quickly appeared; bathing the cockpit in blue light from her illuminated female form.
“So where to?” asked John
“Take us up to two thousand metres chief and I’ll try and use what’s left of the on-board sensors to scan the terrain around us.” explained Cortana
John replied with the engine ignition sequence before taking them up into the marble-blue and white sky above.
As they ascended in the Pelican, the observable surface of the planet seemed to stretch outwards in all directions. Even with the new advantage in height there was little change in the terrain.
The rolling blanket of dense-green woodland seemed to grow in size as they reached the 2,000 metre mark.
The interior of the cockpit seemed to flare as shafts of bright sunlight reflected on the control console and cascaded onto the fields and forests below. In another setting John would have enjoyed the scenery before him; it was similar in appearance to the green expanse of Reach. Except here everything was flat and without anything that resembled a hill or a mountain. It was a stark contrast in that respect to the varied terrain of his former Spartan home. Reach was filled with every conceivable environment type; snow capped mountain ranges, rolling green woodland and arid-deserts. It was the ideal place to train a Spartan unlike this new world where nothing seemed to be out of place.
The one thing that did seem odd in this sea of green was a small section of what appeared to be desert like terrain far off to the West.
Cortana spent several seconds analysing the sensor data before reporting back to John.
“There are basic life form readings in and around the vegetation and the only area of interest is 87 miles to the West. There is a small desert and some kind of object but I’m experiencing a great deal of difficulty in trying to get a more precise reading of it from the sensors.” Reported Cortana
“Any power readings?” asked John
“No nothing at all, in fact there’s a distinct lack of even background radiation from the object. We should approach with caution.” Replied Cortana
John agreed and dropped the Pelican down towards the tree-tops to avoid presenting an obvious radar-silhouette to any potential inhabitant.
For all John knew the structure could be a distant Covenant loyalist outpost, housing an untold number of brutes, Grunts and Jackals. All supported by squadrons of Banshees. Three hundred years of knowing defeat would mean any former adversary would be unwelcome, especially a demon.
Despite having the Pelican to use, John dropped the speed down to half in an effort to conserve fuel. He had no idea how long he would be here or what he and Cortana would encounter on the planet. The last thing he wanted to do was reduce their traveling speed to a lengthy sprint on foot.
The distant object filled with eye-catching detail as they approached, even though they were still over thirty miles out the unusual building began to fill most of the horizon. Its size was breath taking.
Cortana gazed at the sight before them and a series of symbols flashed across her glowing exterior. There was obviously something of interest that John had not seen.
“What is it?” enquired John “Or need I ask?”
“The design is of Forerunner origin but it’s somehow different.” Answered Cortana
“Different, how?” asked John
“All of the other structures and ships that we encountered before were all made with a similar design theme, and they all utilised the same materials and energy output even when dormant. But this design deviates from everything else that I’ve seen before.” explained Cortana
“In what way?” asked John with a raised tone
“I can’t detect it. The sensors on the Pelican could pick up a large indentation in the desert floor and I could see it from the crash-site, but there’s no structure according to the sensor log.” She replied
“You mean it’s a hologram?” suggested John
“No I think it’s some kind of camouflage technology. We can see it visually but besides that it’s undetectable.” Said Cortana “But it’s not just the structure, there are various areas of this planet that are phasing in and out of the sensor scans. I think the whole planet has some kind of stealth field around it, but obviously over the years since the Forerunners were here the power in some areas has started to degrade.”
John nodded and continued their approach in the Pelican; he was tempted to fire the forward chain gun at the structure just to see if the armour-piercing rounds would interact with a solid object and not a hologram, but he knew better than that.
For once in his experience with Forerunner technology John wanted to know where he stood, but that was never the case.
The unusual Forerunner structure in front of him was indeed different to the rest that he had seen. The metal almost seemed to harbor feelings of hostility towards him. Instead of the usual clean silver lines and highlights of blue light on every conduit and bulkhead there was a deep, dark metal almost black in colour covering the entire structure. But despite its darkness the building, if that is what it was, still managed to shine and glimmer like glass. Covering the dark skin were thin lines of bright red and orange, John felt as though was looking at some deadly creature that was covered in bright scales designed to ward off potential predators.
The main bulk of the structure consisted of several large towers that stretched upwards into the sky, their thick capital-ship sized bases ascended vertically until they came to a fine sharp point that was coated in several red slashes. The tall spires were accompanied by several smaller spires and a large dark building shaped like a pyramid sliced vertically in half. Unlike previous Forerunner technology there was no observable place to set down. It almost seemed like the structure was designed to prevent a nearby landing in combination with the lack of obvious doorways.
“I could shoot my way in,” suggested John “for a change.”
“I think that in this case chief, firing any form of weaponry would bring us down a lot quicker than we would wish,” Replied Cortana “I think I know what this planet is.”
“Go on.” Stated John
“Everything else that we have seen, the halo structures, Flood containment units and the Ark they were all part of a large system designed to defeat the Flood. Whereas this seems to be a world designed to keep those that controlled the Halo’s safe from its effects and from any uninvited guest; such as a Flood infested ship.” Explained Cortana
“You mean a shield.” Replied John
“A shield world to be more precise, this is where a whole population could reside in safety free from the effects of the Halo’s.” said Cortana
“I remember you mentioning this before.” Replied John
“This is different chief. These structures aren’t here for decoration, or to power the stealth shield, they’re weapons designed for destroying one enemy in particular; the Flood.
“Then let’s find a place to set down and have a look.” Announced John
To be continued…