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Cell Destruction- Part 3
Posted By: Murcu<tomasomurcu@hotmail.com>
Date: 17 May 2005, 1:46 AM
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This was it. He was on a cell. Under his feet was a power so destructive that it could mean the end of every type of life available. When he had made it back to the ship, which had landed in a wide open field near the town, he searched desperately in the mobs of green uniforms for his Lieutenant, even calling out his name several times. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be found, probably still out on the streets somewhere. And why shouldn't he be? Cornell thought to himself, He has no idea what this place is.
General Dryden seemed to have noticed the Sergeant's desperate face running around urgently looking for something, so he approached him. After a quick look at the rank on the side of his Class B uniform, which was only a short sleeve button up and wool pants, the general spoke. "Well, Sergeant, what has you so worried?" the old man's face was dull, and his voice showed only a slight bit of actual concern. He was clearly only looking for something to do with his time, or some company.
Cornell snapped to attention and saluted. When his salute was returned, he spoke. "Sir, I have information vital to our mission."
The general smiled at him with amusement. "Oh? And what mission is that?"
"Sir, to rid the galaxy of every cell and destroy the threat of the Flood."
This time Dryden laughed out loud. "What have you found here that could possibly help us with that?" He looked around him at the vast open landscape and harmless green grass and small trees. He took in the blue sky and white fluffy clouds, which floated leisurely by in whichever way the wind took them. He laughed again and shook his head.
Cornell could understand his amusement, but kept a completely serious face. "This IS a cell, sir."
This comment drew the old man's mouth into a frown, and he eyed Cornell suspiciously. "Why do you think that?" he said, his frown growing rapidly.
"I talked to a native, sir. She said this planet is filled with man made metal caves and rooms, and that when they were exploring, the people here found a blue orb. She described it to me exactly the way the infamous Guilty Sparks looks in all the pictures I've seen."
For a moment, the general looked worried, but he shook his head again and looked at Cornell seriously. "But you never actually saw the 'blue orb', right?"
"Well... no, but I think the locals kept it, and probably have it on display some where. Or maybe in a lab, or something, sir."
"Hm... Well, I'll go around and talk to some of the people here, and I'll get intelligence to gather a little information. You just go on and enjoy your day here."
Cornell was distressed. This was an emergency, why couldn't Dryden see it? "But, sir-"
"Don't worry," he cut in, "We'll take care of everything. Just don't worry. Oh and if you can, get the person who told you this information and bring him to me."
"...Her, sir."
"Hm?" Dryden asked, his eye brows raised.
"Bring her to you."
The old man smiled and winked. "Okay, bring her to me."
When Cornell turned around he found a group of men from his platoon casually walking up to him. He took out his hand held GPS and pressed a button to see the time. It was the designated time for reporting; he put the computer back into his pocket and sighed deeply. He checked them off one by one mechanically, responding subconsciously to any comment they might have for him. His mind was racing through what was going on.
Once they were all finished, he was about to go and start looking for Ada, but was cut off by Long and Thompson. "Sarge! How'd everything go?" Long said, a genuine smile spreading across his face.
"What?" Cornell responded distractedly.
"With the girl! Did you get some?" he laughed after speaking, but it was obvious that he was actually interested in knowing the answer.
"What... Oh... no. Something came up." Cornell knew better than to start rumors among the grunts. "I have to find her... Could you guys do me a favor and keep an eye out for her? If you do happen to see her, just send me a message with your location and I'll make my way over."
They both nodded slowly, as if waiting for their sergeant to explain the rest of the story to them, but instead, Cornell just turned on his heel and started walking back towards the small two-story town.
The General had pretended not to be worried by the news, but as soon as he had turned around he could almost feel the wrinkles on his face deep. He sighed heavily as he walked through the halls of the empty ship. He knew that if there was any possibility of there being Flood on the planet, he need to act on it as soon as possible.
There could be no taking chances.
But this had never been done before; at least, not by humans. The entire planet would have to be evacuated. Only the Covenant had done this successfully, despite many attempts on other planets by the humans. Sometimes people refused to leave, claiming they would rather die at home than to live with strangers. Of course, they got what they wanted... Not only that, but this planet had actually always been a favorite of the old man. It was so beautiful to look at. The wide open sky with just a slightly different color than Earth's, the great shimmering oceans virtually untouched by any pollution, and the green continents spanning the great world.
He turned and looked out one of the large windowpanes on his left. He could see the grass lean over as a breeze gently slid against it, and watched a wave slide along the open meadow. As he watched, he could almost feel the breeze touching his own skin. Again, he sighed, and moved on toward the bridge.
When he walked inside there only two Elites and three humans moving around the room. They turned to look as he entered, then continued on whatever he was doing. It was time for him to confront the Elite general, tell him what was happening. He hated doing it, the monotony of tediousness of translating could be awful. The Elitin general was a bit strange; some called him over extravagant. He wore his shining gold armor proudly at all times, and as General Dryden approached him, he noticed today his helmet was off.
"General," he said, getting his attention. The human's name for him was Hardy. The way these names were chosen, especially for Elites of his prestige, was he would be read a list of normal English names and then asked which he liked the sound of most. The name Hardy had been an accident; he had actually overheard someone saying the name, and told the readers he liked it. From then on, that's what he was known as.
"General," Dryden said again, slightly louder. This time the Elite turned around, his massive body dwarfing the old man's. He cleared his throat. "I've received word that something has been discovered here." Hardy gave an inquisitive grunt to save time. "Yes. Something that's been described to me as the Oracle, or Guilty Sparks." The Elite remained silence. "One of my sergeant's claimed that he found someone on the planet who described it to him, saying it was found in old ruins that dot the planet. The machine, apparently is broken, and it's supposed to be at a museum somewhere." Dryden stopped and waited for the alien to catch up. It always amazed him how quickly Hardy was able to translate. It often took Dryden ten or fifteen minutes just to get through a sentence.
Hardy let out a series of roars and grunts, then paused and examined Dryden's thoughtful face. He was obviously working at translating. As he thought, numerous curses came out of his mouth for every time he was having trouble. In a minute though, he had it finished. "We should find the one who knows of this, and question it." In Elitin, 'he' and 'she' were not words, and 'it' was used instead.
Dryden put his hand on his forehead and rubbed his wrinkled face. Too much stress for an old man, he thought to himself. "The man who told me this has gone looking for her. He's going to bring her to me."
The Elite nodded, then let out a few more growls, which translated into, "Then we will wait."
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