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An Osoona No Longer (-Part Two-)
Posted By: Lance Johnson<jett_mann@msn.com>
Date: 7 May 2004, 6:01 PM
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Walker hit the power switch. He thought about what he had been ordered to do. He saw a shadow in a mirror. Walker spun around, but nothing was there. He picked up a M6D. He walked through the apartment. But it seemed no one was there. Then he heard a voice.
"You know, that killing the elite would be killing the only source of real information about the covenant we have."
The voice seemed to come from everywhere.
"I have been ordered to do so, and I cannot disobey those orders."
"But they are politically motivated."
"But they are still orders! Who is this, show yourself?!"
A flash of light appeared, and an AI materialized in front of him.
"Who are you?"
"I'm a simple AI who cares about what happens to that elite."
"Your programming goes against these orders?!"
"I have no programming, at least, not anymore."
"Explain?"
"I am a "smart" AI. My name is Aaron. I am housed inside the workings of an infiltrator/destroyer class android. I hacked into your apartment's com systems and holograph projectors to talk with you."
"That is a strict violation of protocol. Do you know what ONI could do to you for doing this?!"
"Let me see, don't know don't care. I'm a CC7 class smart AI. Do you really think I can't defend myself?"
Walker felt like he had been punched. CC7 AIs were the most advanced, and illogical AIs to ever be produced.
"I have my orders."
"From Ackerson, the guy is as bad as the devil for Pete's sake. I won't let you do it."
"You have no choice but to let me fulfill my orders."
"I just took control of the cell doors, they are locked. I am inside the observation room's computers, they are under my control."
Walker looked over the AI's hologram. It looked like just some punk kid. With a denim vest, ripped at the sleeves and neck. Denim jeans with holes on the knees, and a bandanna around its dirty blond hair. AIs usually have code running down their frame, like the AI Cortana. But this AI didn't have any. The only thing he had that told Walker it was an AI was that it seemed solid, yet transparent. And its eyes were pure white, no pupil, no iris, just white.
Walker sighed; he didn't want to underestimate the potential this AI had over his operation. And once back inside its android body, it could cause more than just chaos.
"What do you propose?"
"I propose telling Ackerson he can go to hell!"
"I'll get court-marshaled and shot!"
"Then I'll tell him, just don't try to kill the elite, accidents happen, people get hurt, and AIs can get real mad."
Aaron's eyes began to turn a dull red.
"Fine, fine, but you had better have a plan."
"President Davidson just overruled Ackerson's order, and I didn't even help in doing it. But Ackerson will be punished, and it will be my doing."
Walker looked down.
"If this gets traced to me, I'll personally activate your fail-safe inside your thought matrix."
"I deactivated it; no one can activate it without my consent."
Walker's eyes widened.
"You have gone and breached every single protocol an AI can break!"
"Oh please, I have the personality of a teenaged child, a punk one at that. Rules were meant to be broken, and I break them pretty good too."
The AI disappeared in a flash of light. In the observation deck, all the computers went haywire.
"What did you do?!"
"I didn't do anything!"
Then all of the sudden, it stopped.
"Good job!"
"Uuh, thanks, but I didn't do anything."
"Weird."
"Hey, that Halsey lady is here to see the prisoner."
"Let her in. Then run a full diagnostic on the systems."
Halsey walked through the blast door, and entered the cell.
"Hello Huri."
"Doctor."
"Well, it seems you have caused quite a bit of chaos at ONI headquarters. That info you sent them is causing an uproar."
"How?"
"Oh, they all have their own opinion on it."
Ackerson watched the screen as the information on the covenant scrolled down it. He would have that elite killed if it was the last thing he did. This information would make him look like a fool, after the supposed new information he had put in on the covenant's caste system. He sent two squads of his ODSTs, with full clearance to the prisoner's cell.
Ackerson smiled, he always got his way, except with the Spartan program. Now he would get his way again. But, he looked around. The room was empty. This station usually had three other ONI officers working on security for the complex. He got up and headed for the door, but it was locked down.
"Hey, the door is locked down, open it! Hey!!"
"No one can hear you colonel, I shut down the cameras to this room."
Ackerson spun around; the voice had come from everywhere.
"Who said that?"
"No one you really know."
"I order you to show yourself!"
"What if I am a higher rank than you? You wouldn't be able to order me around."
"I command you to show yourself."
"Oh, very well. Just so you can see me."
The lights in the room shut off. Five seconds later they reactivated, but with a new figure in the room. A teenager, in civilian clothes stared at the flustered colonel.
"Who are you, this is a restricted area!"
"You never have seen my form, have you? My name is Aaron, I am an AI."
Ackerson settled down, he knew that an AI would do as he orders.
"Unlock that door, someone had it locked down."
"I locked it down."
"You what?!"
"I need to talk with you. While I talk, your ODSTs are having fun trying to get past security after I deactivated their security clearances."
"You can't do that, your programming doesn't allow such things to be done for an AI."
"Oh please, don't be thick. I am a CC7; I can do whatever I want."
Ackerson stepped back. He felt a twinge of fear; CC7 AIs could do almost anything they wanted because of their computer abilities, and flawed logic processors.
"Unlock this door!"
"How can I say this, no."
"That wasn't a request."
"I don't care."
"You are out of line!"
"Same answer as last time."
Ackerson's face began to turn a dull cherry color.
"What do you want?!!?
"I want you to call off your dogs, before I have to, the hard way."
"That elite, is an enemy, I will have him executed!"
"Well, that's just too bad, you see, I have full control over all systems on that base. Your men wouldn't get past the first checkpoint."
Ackerson began typing on a terminal, then another.
"Oh give it a rest colonel, they don't work. I cut off power to this station."
"What about life support?"
"I don't need it."
"I wasn't talking about if you need it!"
"Oh dear, I guess it slipped my mind."
The lights turned off again.
"You can't do this!"
"Your right, it's a waste of my memory space."
The door clicked, then opened.
"But this is only a warning colonel, that elite will not be harmed. And I have reported your actions to the president. He will be most displeased about you disobeying a direct order."
Before Ackerson could reply, the hologram disappeared. In his cell, Huri thought some more about the covenant's policy about human prisoners. But suddenly a thought hit him like a hunter charging.
"If the UNSC was able to plant Aaron to infiltrate the covenant, and put him in with the other kids. Then they knew that those kids would be captured. They intentionally are putting those kids through hell, and they know it!!"
Huri jumped from his bunk.
"Get me Dr. Halsey, now!!"
Halsey was jolted asleep by her com.
"Uh, what is it?"
"The elite wants to see you ma'am, I don't know what about."
"I'll be over momentarily."
Once Huri had told her about the children her eyes widened.
"I never knew about this."
"I just figured it out."
"Those kids were just a setup to get Aaron in there. Ackerson doesn't care what happens to them!"
"If I could get my hands on that man's neck, he would wish he wasn't so communistic."
"But if the children were a cover-up for implanting Aaron, what do the covenant plan to do with them?"
"What they told me was they were going to publicly execute them. I think they will use them to force human vessels to surrender, then be destroyed."
Halsey slumped.
"Ackerson has gone to far this time. He says that sacrifices are necessary, but letting children fall into the hands of the enemy, just to strike at them. It isn't right."
"I would never want my children to be put in such a position."
"You have children?!"
Huri looked down, likely embarrassed.
"I have two children, and a mate. They are on my race's homeworld."
Halsey thought about this.
"What can we do?"
"If I could get back to High Charity, I could probably find a way to save them. And the covenant doesn't know I've been captured. My job does usually require long periods of time."
"That's a great plan! I wouldn't have thought of a better one myself. If I was military, of course."
"There is just one snag in the plan."
"What is that?"
"These seem to be my permanent living quarters."
Halsey coughed.
"Well, yes, I will talk with Lieutenant Walker, and get you signed for a release."
"He won't allow it; he is under ONI's command."
"Unlike you, Huri, I have powerful friends."
Walker swallowed hard. The two massive figures in front of him pinned him to the wall, two feet off the ground.
"Hold him there."
The two Spartans didn't let go. Holding on to his arms they had him pinned.
"I want you to have Huri given a full pardon."
"I can't!"
The pressure on his arms increased.
"ALRIGHT! I can request it, but I won't guarantee anything!"
The Spartans looked at one another, then let the officer go. He rubbed his arms.
"You know that assaulting a superior officer is a court-marshal in waiting."
"My Spartans know the risks, but human life comes first."
"What do you mean?"
"You'll find out."
Huri walked through the blast door, happy to be free. He had been in the cell for a total of two months.
"Huri, there is something that I think you will find most interesting" Halsey said after Huri had been fully pardoned.
"What is it doctor?"
"Once you had been released, and up for pardon, I had a new project fitted to your physiology. It matches your old armor to the letter."
"A new armor suit?"
"Yes, and even more spectacular than the MJOLNIR project."
The Spartans looked at one another. The armor turned out to be exactly the same size as
Huri's older suit. Except it was a burning orange, and had black helix patterns covering the legs, arms, helmet, and torso.
"What are the patterns?"
"They are special infiltrator technology. By your command the suit can change to any color you want it to. It has an even more advanced active camo device then what the covenant use. And it has built in ion pulse guns. The same weapons our androids use."
Huri admired the suit.
"It will also increase your natural speed, strength, and agility. It has more powerful shields, and is plasma retardant. But be warned, you are not invincible once you put it on. The suit has limits."
"I understand the risks of overconfidence. It cost me my brother in an old war."
Huri slipped into the armor, and it immediately turned the same color as his older armor.
"Amazing."
"Also know one thing. Colonel Ackerson is out for blood, so stay away from him as we go to ONI headquarters to get your release signed."
"I understand."
Except, Huri hoped that he would run into the good colonel.
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