By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.
HONOUR OF A HERETIC
THE BROKEN PATH
PROLOGUE: A Hero is Born
Sigma Metraxis, Orbital Station
Augmentation Theatre - SUBJECT 151: Edward
UNSC Military Calendar: October 23rd 2519
Edward stood at the foot of the Orbital Station's observation deck, the six-year old marvelled at the beauty of the placid planet below - his hand on the reinforced glass window as the planet's sun faded over the horizon, leaving the world in darkness. He felt the cycle of day to night - light to dark - was the fate he had resigned himself to.
He remembered his parents, the devastation his mother had felt as his father was killed during Operation: TREBUCHET... How much worse could things get for her when she discovered her son was gone too? Flash clones could only last so long before they suffer from metabolic cascade failure; Edward knew his mother's life would be torn apart again - with only her daughter left.
Edward's thoughts were interrupted abruptly as the door behind him hissed like an angry snake. Two UNSC guards marched in - their eyes hidde behind dark shades - followed by a woman in a white lab coat; a clipboard in one hand and a plastic cup of coffee in the other. Edward recognised this woman from before, she usually wore a comforting smile when she saw him - but today her smile was more forced than before. She'd been through this time and time again; a lot of the time had ended in the death of her subjects.
"Is it time, Miss Halsey?" Edward asked with a quizzical expression on his face.
She replied not with words, but put her hand on his shoulder gently and escorted him out the room. Edward had seen the corridors they now walked through before, metallic frames stretched across the walls accompanied by steel girders acting as door frames.
Edward's face paled a little as the door at the end of the corridor opened and blinded him with light; unlike the dull grey hallway he'd just walked through, the Augmentation Theatre was pearly white - a single operating table in the middle of the domed chamber.
"Go and sit down, Eddie." Halsey said to the child. "We'll be with you soon."
Edward looked up at Halsey and asked: "Is it time to go to sleep now?"
She looked at him with pity, hoping against hope history wouldn't repeat itself against her. "It's time to wake up."
*
Edward screamed at the top of his lungs as blood, sweat and tears began to roll down his face. He felt as if body were aflame; the ossification in his legs felt like glass shards scratching at his bone marrow, his eyes bleeding from the Occipital Capillary Reversal implant which boosted the flow of blood vessels beneath the rods and cones of his retina.
All around him were holographic images of his progress, neurological scans and robotic drills which had entered his body mixing chemical compounds with his blood stream. The physical trauma was too much, Edward was begging for relief - the outline of Doctor Catherine Halsey standing atop a balcony overlooking the procedure.
Suddenly, Edward felt his breathing become irregular, faster as his heart began to pound like a drum. His vision became blurry as he tried to move his arm but felt it restrained by icy cold metallic clamps; silhouetted figures began shifting towards him; muttering inaudible things.
"He's slippin' into cardiac arrest! Fetch an adrenal stimulant, now!"
"Doc, his vitals are flat-lining. We're running out of time!"
"I am not losing another one, do whatever you have to."
More and more voices began talking in Edward's head, images flashing through his mind: His father's funeral, his mother crying as the coffin was lowered into a grave. Then... Nothing...
The last thing Edward knew was complete and total darkness.