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The Wanderers by Chris Cox
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The Wanderers
Date: 01 August 2001, 9:08 PM
(click on image for a larger version) It's gone. It's all gone.
The ship went down days ago now. All our weapons, most of our supplies, and our only way of getting off of this crazy wheel-world, all gone in an instant. I saw it go up before my own eyes, like a new star bursting into life and then dying again in the viewport of the escape pod. How many people were still on board when she blew? As far as I know, maybe all of them.
I guess I was lucky: I took to the escape pod too late; spent too long searching around for anyone else alive in my section. A Covenant shot had punctured the hull just aft of my position, and blast doors were coming down all over the place. I just made it to the pod before the sealant shell collapsed and the whole section was depressurised. I guess the others must have made it through into one of the inner sections. Either that or they died where they stood when the seal went. But I can't think like that.
The Covenant took out the Pillar a minute or so after I ejected. I think they must have hit the reactor core in the aft, because the forward sections were still more-or-less intact afterwards, though the seals had probably blown in there by then. The wreck came down on Halo soon after I did: the crash was deafening, and it must have been a couple of hundred kliks from my position at least. I don't know if anyone else managed to get off before the impact, and I haven't seen any human activity here since I landed. But the Covenant are here. Lots of them.
I don't know where I'm going, or what I expect to find. I have only what weapons and survival gear I could find stowed in the escape pod, which I left as soon as I could: the Covenant will be looking out for landing craft. Maybe if I keep moving I'll run into more survivors, perhaps even Milyutin and the others. My squad has been together for a decade now, fighting wherever there is fighting to be done, following SolCore's conflicts. I know those guys and gals better than I know my own family. We've taken our share of casualties, but we never ran away from a fight, never abandoned each other. Until now.
I am sergeant Abraham Vicks, Solcore Marines, and now I have no squad. For all I know, they could all be dead. I feel like a traitor, still alive and lost on this artificial alien world, as if I have abandoned them.
I don't know whether they're still alive, or where they are, or even where I am. But while I'm still breathing, I won't stop until I find them. * * * It is done. The battleships and machines and bombs have completed their work. Now it is my turn.
It is a relief to feel real ground beneath my feet again, though in fact I am standing on something more akin to a ship than to a planet. I do not care, as long as there is night and day again, a sky above me and soil beneath me. I despise living on a starship, crammed into a metal box with a thousand other warriors. Here I can be free again, free to roam where I will and free to practise my art.
Most of the warriors do not recognise my art for what it is. They are so blinded by their holy duty to rid the universe of our foe that they do not stop to appreciate the combat. Every battle is a song, sung by its combatants and played with weapons, each shot and blow a note in the melody. But they do not understand, and in their fervour they rush their performance, eschewing the harmonies of combat in favour of the chaos of a massacre or the din of bombardment. It is a waste.
I have been called eccentric by some, a heretic by others. Yet my devotion is equal to theirs, I simply make my prayers to the Gods in the form of offerings of martial prowess rather than temple chants. The Gods recognise the art for what it is, and they have left me to honour them in my own way. The other warriors may scoff at my art, but they know what I am capable of and they at least respect me for that.
And so they leave me to my own devices, allowing me to roam as I will over the surface of this artifact, making my offerings where I find my enemies. I am happy like this, with no clumsy warriors to disrupt the melody of my weapons and spoil the symmetry of my kills.
They may think that I am useless, but I have heard the rumours. Somewhere on this construct is one of the half-machine devils the humans were once foolish enough to create. The High Prelacy has already ordered that extra forces be dispatched to destroy it, but I know how these creatures function. The Prelacy can throw as much battle din at this thing as they wish, and it will simply reflect the noise back at them and lives will be lost. Skill, not weight of numbers, will be the defeat of this monster, and when I find it I will be the one to end its existence.
It will be my greatest offering, my finest work. When I return to Kholai and his shallow subordinates bearing the head of this machine being, the name Galkosh will no longer be spoken with contempt. * * * Dawn was breaking round the giant arc of Threshold's side, the dim light passing through shades of blue and green as the morning's rays clipped the edge of the gas giant's atmosphere. The Halo's surface played with strange colours until its orbit brought it fully out of the planet's shadow and into direct sunlight. In the shelter of a small cliff, its base overgrown with shrubs and bushes, sergeant Abraham Vicks sat and watched the dawn. He had been awake since first light, for sleep did not come easily to him.
As the light grew stronger and the shadows crawled back under the trees that cast them, he stopped watching and started to gather his equipment. He had been able to salvage precious few supplies from the pod: a few days of standard issue rations, a rifle and a few clips of ammunition, a pair of IR-enhanced binoculars, and a comm-unit with a faulty power cell. The comm-unit, minus its internal workings, was now serving as a second water canteen.
He had been walking for almost a week since the pod had landed. Although he had no idea which direction he should head in, he had turned so that the huge circle of Basis in the sky was to his right and carried on in that direction. He might not being going anywhere specific, but at least he was going somewhere. He had seen Covenant fliers in the sky every day since he had landed, but thankfully had encountered none of the enemy on the ground. He was conserving the rations as much as possible, eating only one pack a day and supplementing the diet with some of the more edible-looking plants. So far none had proved to be poisonous.
Having packed up his few possessions, he checked the sky for any more Covenant aircraft and set off again with the gas giant to his right. Coming out from under the overhang of the cliff, he started out again on his even-paced walk across the Halo. Sooner or later, he thought, I have to run into something. And anything would be better than just sitting here wondering if anyone I know is still alive. * * * As the first rays of the morning's sunlight edged around the moon's side, Galkosh gazed out of the open side of the dropship. In front and behind him sat rows of silent Covenant warriors, all deep in prayer. The light glinted on an object half-hidden in the trees, and he scanned the forest below, curious. The object appeared to be a discarded human vehicle, one of the small craft used to escape the destruction of their vessel.
He reached up and turned on the internal communicator, without looking away from the crashed vehicle. "Here." he said. The pilot of the dropship grunted an affirmative and brought the two-pronged aircraft down towards the top of a nearby hill, decelerating slowly so as not to dislodge the tank held in the forcefield between the prongs.
One of the warriors seated behind Galkosh snorted scornfully. "Everyone else remembered to excrete before we got on board, Galkosh. You should pay more attention to your bladder."
Galkosh flicked spittle in his direction with his lower mandibles. "You should stop thinking with yours." he replied, without emotion. The landing klaxon sounded once as the dropship swung to a stop a few metres above the ground, and Galkosh gathered up his weapons and jumped out neatly before the now growling warrior could say anything else. As soon as he was out of the vehicle, the pilot pulled up back into the air, and within a minute the aircraft was lost from sight in the valleys.
It was a short walk to the site of the crashed escape pod, and Galkosh used the time he spent getting to it to check the weapons he had brought. He was traveling light, as always: with only his long precision rifle and a hand-blade. It made no difference, as far as combat was concerned. It was less a question of what weapon you used as it was how you chose to use it, he had always said.
The pod was intact, but empty. Nothing of use that was light enough to carry had been left behind, which was a sure sign that whoever had come down inside it was somewhere nearby. Galkosh stalked around the stricken vehicle, searching for a trail which had already gone cold. Then he noticed the remains of some electronic device's innards strewn across a clearing a little way spinwards of the pod, and noting the direction of the clearing from the pod, he began to imagine how his new-found prey was thinking. With nothing else to go on, the logical course of action would be to move in a straight line...
He began to head in the direction of the clearing at a light run. The ring-artifact's gravity was less than that of his homeworld, and movement was easy here. Even if the human had a good head start, it would not take him long to catch up. * * *
The Wanderers Chapter 2
Date: 24 January 2002, 4:25 pm
(click on image for a larger version)
ÝÝÝAt midday of the sixth day of walking Vicks had reached a ridge that ran across the edge of a swampy hollow, and had stopped to eat what was almost the last of his remaining food. He had been walking almost constantly for what seemed like weeks, and the blisters on his feet were beginning to slow him down. But he didn't really care about his feet, or his aching legs, or his hunger. What worried him more was that he had seen no trace of any intelligent beings since he had left the pod, apart from the occasional Covenant overflight. No buildings, no vehicles, and not even any sign of their passing.
ÝÝÝHe was beginning to think that his search was hopeless. Even if there were other survivors alive on the Halo, they could be far enough away to ensure that he never found them. He had briefly considered trying to attract the attention of one of the Covenant aircraft, with the intention of killing the pilot and stealing the vehicle, but he knew that it would probably only get him strafed to death. He sat down, dejected, on the top of the ridge, and only then did he notice the figure slowly making its way through the swamp.
ÝÝÝAt first he thought it was a Covenant scout, and he dived behind the nearest bush, unslinging his rifle and training it on the distant figure. But as it moved closer to the ridge and he looked more carefully, he could see that it was a human. A human half-dressed in a Solcore marine's uniform, limping slightly, and as far as Vicks could make out, unarmed.
ÝÝÝChecking around one last time for the enemy, Vicks climbed onto the highest point of the ridge and started to wave and shout. At first, the man in the swamp did not hear and continued to wander in the same direction as before. But after a few minutes of trying, he stopped and looked around, and then seemed to notice Vicks' silhouette against the sky. Vicks kept waving, sure that he had been spotted. The man stood for a long time, just looking, then started to limp towards the ridge. Vicks headed down to meet him, and they met at the edge of the swamp.
ÝÝÝAs he approached, Vicks noticed that the other marine was wearing some sort of greyish angular device over his legs. It was shiny and looked hard, but moved with each of the man's steps as if reforming in reaction to his movement. They stopped a few paces from each other and stood, each waiting for the other man to talk. The silence was uncomfortable, and the other man seemed unwilling to start.
ÝÝÝ"You lost out here too?" Vicks tried.
ÝÝÝThe other marine stared at him carefully. "Yeah." he said, before falling silent again.
ÝÝÝVicks tried a different tactic. "I came down in an escape pod about a week ago. I've been looking for other survivors since then." The man was still silent. "Did you come down with anyone else?" Still nothing. The other man looked like he was thinking hard. After a while, he looked up and spoke.
ÝÝÝ"I've just escaped from a Covenant camp about a day's walk that way." He pointed. "They're trying to hack into the Halo's control grid, but they didn't manage to get it out of me before I got away. I've lost my bearings: which way is it to the control tower from here?"
ÝÝÝVicks looked at him. He was tense, and there was something not quite believable about the way that he was talking. "You all right, son?" he asked. "And I don't know where this tower is, sorry." As soon as he registered Vicks' confusion, the other marine sighed in relief and promptly collapsed. Vicks rushed to his side, but the man seemed to be unharmed. His eyes opened again and he let out a long sigh of relief.
ÝÝÝ"I'm sorry, I just had to make sure you were real." Vicks looked on, puzzled. "They had me locked up for..." he paused. "How long ago did you land?"
ÝÝÝ"About six days ago. Been walking since I came down."
ÝÝÝ"Hmm. Must have been in there for two or three days then." He paused again, then remembered himself and extended a hand. "Young, Beta platoon. You?"
ÝÝÝVicks took his hand and pulled him back upright. "Vicks, Delta." Now that the man was talking, he couldn't resist asking. "Where's the rest of Beta? And have you heard anything about what happened to Delta platoon?"
ÝÝÝYoung shook his head. "Last I knew, Beta was spread out somewhere planetwards of here, but that was days ago. I was heading back in that direction myself. Cortana had us holding up the blues to give her time to work out where everything was."
ÝÝÝVicks blinked, surprised. "Cortana's still functioning? But the Pillar was destroyed..."
ÝÝÝ"Yeah, but she escaped with the rest of us. There was a cyborg on board, and she must have downloaded into its brain or something."
ÝÝÝ"A cyborg? But I thought they were all decommissioned after the revolution..."
ÝÝÝYoung shrugged. "So did I. Solcore must have kept a couple, shut down or frozen or something, in case they ever needed them. Or maybe that's the only one. Either way, I'm glad to know that it's around."
ÝÝÝ"Sure you haven't heard anything about Delta platoon? Not even rumours or anything?" Vicks knew that his questioning must have sounded desperate, but he could not help himself.
ÝÝÝ"Nothing, I'm sorry." Young said. "But there were a lot of escape pods, and only a few came down close enough for anyone to establish contact afterwards. They're probably just somewhere else on Halo." In his eyes, Vicks could see that he didn't really believe it. There was a long silence.
ÝÝÝ"We ought to move on, before something spots us. You know where you're heading?" said Vicks, finally, eyeing the sky.
ÝÝÝ"Yeah, roughly." replied Young. "I'm hoping that my platoon hasn't moved too far since I left. Or at least that it still exists." Vicks looked away. Loss was the only constant in the war. Everyone had lost someone they knew. Some had lost everyone. "It's been slow going because of this." Young continued, tapping the shiny covering over his legs. Vicks frowned, and he explained. "I was pretty badly shot up when the blues captured me. When one of them decided let me go, it put this thing on me. It stops the pain and bleeding, but it doesn't fit well and it slows me down no end."
ÝÝÝVicks was still confused at how the injured marine had been captured by the Covenant, let alone released, but he was becoming uneasy at staying in the same place for so long. "Come on," he said. "you can explain the rest on the way. Which direction were you headed in?" Young pointed towards the far corner of the swamp, and the two marines set off again, Vicks in front and Young behind, trying to keep pace with his uninjured companion. * * * ÝÝÝAfter half a day of uninterrupted running, Galkosh was beginning to tire, and he slowed to a brisk walk as he passed by a small cliff. There had been a few, small signs of the human's passing on his straight path across the construct, and he was confident now that his prey was alone. Where there was ground soft enough to bear footprints only one set of impressions, although the length of the stride suggested that the creature was healthy. Galkosh was happy with this: an injured target always died too quickly for his liking.
ÝÝÝThe one thing that Galkosh was unable to tell was how far behind his quarry he was. The days had been hot, by the look of things, and footprints dried out too quickly to give any indication of time. However, he was confident that he could sustain a pace of two or three times that of the human, and he had marched for days on end when he had been practising back on his homeworld, where the gravity made movement that much harder. It was simply a matter of time.
ÝÝÝHe had spent some of the time adjusting his armour's camouflage to match his surroundings. Most of the warriors eschewed the chromomorphic fibres that could be incorporated into their armour, proclaiming that their faith was the only protection they needed. Galkosh had laughed at them, for he did not see the camouflage as protection. The camouflage allowed him to move unseen and start his battles where and when he wished. As in any other form of performance, the difference between a great battle and a merely passable one was timing.
ÝÝÝBut of course, one could not consider starting one's performance while one's prey was still miles away. A little refreshed by the period of slower movement, Galkosh started to run again, continuing to head in the same direction as the sun began to set behind Threshold's enormous curve. * * * ÝÝÝAnother day passed. Vicks and Young covered the distance to the place where Young last remembered being with his platoon, and arrived in the series of shallow, wooded valleys to find nothing.
ÝÝÝThe two marines hiked over the crest of the last of the hills that they had been crossing that day, and looked down on a silent forest. The terrain was just as Young had described it, but was simply empty. There were no marines, no vehicles, no Covenant and no sign that any of the above had been in the area at all.
ÝÝÝ"Shit. I was afraid this would have happened." said Young, scanning the horizon.
ÝÝÝ"Doesn't matter. There must be some sign left to where they went." answered Vicks, starting off down into the nearest valley. "Come on, let's check it out." * * * ÝÝÝThe two men began picking their way down the steeper side of the hill, towards the edge of the trees. As they did, a slight shimmer in the outline of a boulder perched on the side of a nearby hill betrayed the presence of Galkosh, waiting and watching hidden from their view. He was crouched in the shade of the rock, his chromomorphic armour activated to conceal himself, with his precision rifle aimed steadily across the distance between him and them.
ÝÝÝThey were in the open. There was no cover for them to hide behind, no other humans they could call upon for help. He had been surprised that there had been two of them: the second, injured one must have joined the first after he started the pursuit; but it did not bother him. If he so desired, he could pick both humans off from his position on the hillside, without a chance of them escaping. But he did not, because there were better ways of accomplishing the same result. He would let them get into the cover of the trees, follow them in and engage them at close quarters, hand-to-hand if possible. Taking the easy route would have been meaningless.
ÝÝÝWhen the humans had nearly reached the trees, he remembered something else. There was still something missing from the piece, an element that would set the scene for his performance perfectly. Sighting along the rifle very carefully, he took aim and sent an energy bolt flying inches above the first human's head and into the trunk of one of the trees. The creatures dropped to the ground and shuffled hurriedly into the cover of the forest. Satisfied, he lowered his weapon and loped off down the sheltered side of the hill.
ÝÝÝHe had the prey, the predator, and the arena, and now there was also fear. * * *
The Wanderers Chapter 3
Date: 25 January 2002, 4:25 pm
(click on image for a larger version)
ÝÝÝThe shot came out of nowhere, narrowly missing Vicks' head and blowing foot-long splinters of wood out of one of the small trees at the edge of the forest. Both he and Young dropped to the ground, and Vicks urgently motioned for his injured companion to get under cover. As Young shuffled along on his belly to get behind the bushes at the periphery of the woods, Vicks searched the hills in the direction that the shot had come from, rifle following his gaze. But there was nothing there, and no obvious places for anything to hide. Unnerved, he got up and scrambled into the foliage as well.
ÝÝÝ"Did you see it?" asked Young, who was making his way deeper into the trees.
ÝÝÝ"Nothing. I don't get it, there was nowhere for it to hide," replied Vicks. He was trying to work out what to do. Had he had his squad to hand, he would have deployed round the edge of the forest and taken the thing out next time it fired, but with only two people there was no way of stopping any other Covenant in the area from creeping up through the wood and taking them by surprise. In any case, they only had one gun between the two of them. "We'd better keep moving before any more of them show up." He got up onto his knees and headed after Young.
ÝÝÝAfter they had cleared the fringe of the forest and were no longer visible from outside, they stood up again and started to move faster, away from the edge. The trees were sparse and the leaves not dense enough to provide much cover, and with every step Vicks half-expected another shot to come from behind and fell him. Every so often a twig would crack or some small creature would move behind them in the forest and they would both drop to the ground, scanning the foliage for the enemy. * * * ÝÝÝThe enemy had just caught sight of them again.
ÝÝÝChromomorph armour still active, Galkosh slowed his pursuit to reduce the amount of sound he was making. The humans were tense and glanced back every so often, and he did not wish to be discovered before the proper time. He had planned his attack meticulously: he would work his way around the humans and appear suddenly in front of them, then dispatch both of them at close quarters with his blade. From what he could see, only one of his prey was armed, which would make such a bold plan easier to pull off.
ÝÝÝCarefully, stopping every so often to avoid patches of particularly noisy twigs and debris, Galkosh crept round the two fleeing marines. He moved like a shadow, with stealth learned from innumerable hours of practice on his homeworld. As he moved round in front of them, still invisible to their limited senses, he slung his rifle behind him and drew the hand-blade, leaving its heating field deactivated to preserve his concealment. The thin forest faded out into a wide, tree-scattered meadow, and the Covenant warrior crouched low in the long grass and waited.
ÝÝÝThe marines stopped briefly at the edge of the trees. The armed one pointed to the other side of the field where the forest resumed, and they began to walk cautiously across the grass towards it.
ÝÝÝGalkosh prepared himself, ready to spring his trap.
ÝÝÝThen the first marine stopped, staring past Galkosh across the meadow. There was a humming noise, familiar to the alien, and as he turned to look a Covenant close-support vehicle bobbed up over a ridge at one end of the field and started to skim towards them. Galkosh's first reaction was fury: all his careful preparation was going to be ruined by a few inconsiderate warriors on patrol.
ÝÝÝDeciding quickly what he must do, he deactivated his armour's active camouflage and turned on the blade-field. He would make his kills now, before the unknowing vandals in the vehicle got within range and spoilt everything. He flickered into existence in front of the two marines, and the armed one immediately brought his weapon to bear on the Covenant warrior. Galkosh's reactions were faster than his, however, and he lunged forwards, batting the rifle out of the way with the flat of his blade and knocking the human to the ground with a well-placed kick. * * * ÝÝÝVicks landed badly, the alien's blow knocking the breath from his lungs and leaving his gun bouncing away into the grass beside him. Still recovering from the shock of its sudden appearance, he only just managed to roll out of the way as it brought its glowing blade down on where he had been lying. He kicked at it as it turned to face him again, but it caught his foot deftly in one hand and wrenched him back to within blade-range.
ÝÝÝBefore it could strike the killing blow, Vicks heard a scream from behind the creature and Young struck it full in the back. Howling incoherently, the injured marine charged straight into the alien, letting his momentum knock it to the ground. As it toppled, struggling to bring its blade to bear, Young pounded it in the head with his fists. "Not again!" He screamed into its helmeted face. "I'm not playing your games anymore!" The Covenant warrior shielded its head with one arm, trying to block out his furious assault, and for a moment Young paused as if surprised that it was defending itself. The short break in the blows was all it needed, and a swift kick to the shins sent Young sprawling.
ÝÝÝVicks noticed that the alien's blade had been dropped during the fight, and rolling to his feet he kicked it away across the grass. The leather of his boot scorched and steamed as the blade's energy field scraped across its surface. Shaking the disorientation from his head, he turned to face the creature again as it sprang to its feet and bore down upon him, fists clenched at the ready. To his surprise it parried his punch and shouldered him out of the way to run for the blade on the floor behind him. As it bent to pick up the blade, he looked down and saw his rifle lying in the grass a few feet away. As it whirled round, blade back in its hand, it saw him sighting down the rifle at its head.
ÝÝÝ"You lose," said Vicks without expression, and started to pull the trigger. In the fraction of a second before he fired, the Covenant vehicle that had been approaching from the far end of the field burst into his field of vision, engine droning like a million angry hornets. He saw its turret, a strange hemispherical construction hovering slightly above the rest of the vehicle, swing round to bear on him. He looked defiantly down its three-pronged barrel, waiting for the shot. But the turret continued to turn.
ÝÝÝThe alien glanced round briefly, just soon enough to see the human in the vehicle's turret. As the gun discharged, it flung itself to the side and into the long grass. The energy bolt crashed into the ground and sent pieces of smouldering foliage and soil spraying across the two marines.
ÝÝÝVicks flinched from the flying debris, but rushed forwards immediately after as the vehicle sped on past. He sprinted to the patch of grass into which the Covenant had dived, rifle trained on the alien's hiding place. But as he got closer, he saw only a few square feet of crushed stems. Their assailant was gone. The vehicle swung round and made another pass over the area, but it had vanished without a trace. * * * ÝÝÝTrying hard to regain his composure, Galkosh watched the humans from the cover of the forest. There were now four: the two he had been pursuing before and the two who had arrived in the vehicle. The theft of one of the Covenant's own machines was an insult as well as an inconvenience to Galkosh. Such an offence could not go unpunished.
ÝÝÝHowever, there were now twice as many targets and the formidable firepower of the close-support skimmer to deal with. Attacking from close range, although much more pleasing in the combat aesthetics it produced, was no longer such a safe option. He would have to whittle his prey down before he attempted such a bold assault again, make a prelude to his final offering. He waited until his heart rate had returned to normal, wiped the blood from the scratch the unarmed human had made while pummelling his head, and set off towards higher ground at a light run. * * * Cruising along in the Covenant skimmer, spared from the rigours of walking, the four marines scoured the surrounding terrain for signs of their comrades. Vicks was lost in thought, because although their two new-found companions had saved their lives, they had as little idea where the rest of the survivors from the Pillar of Autumn were as he did.
ÝÝÝ"Sons of bitches ran off without us!" called Rowland from the driving seat. He was a young man, a native of Reach who had arrived back at his homeworld on the Pillar only a few days before the colony was obliterated. "We left the platoon on a patrol down by the lakes two days ago, and when we got back they'd just gone. No radio, no signs left behind, nothing. Found a few tyre tracks leading spinwards, but they faded out before we found anything."
ÝÝÝ"Yeah. Then the Covies spotted us and shot the crap out of our 'hog," said Nakamura. She had said very little since they had joined the two marines, although admittedly it was difficult to hear her from the turret on the top of the vehicle.
ÝÝÝVicks nodded. "How'd you get this thing?" he asked, patting the purple armour on the side of the Covenant machine.
ÝÝÝ"Dumb blue bastards tried to follow us into the swamps by the side of the lake. We snuck into a tangle of plants too thick for them to get the skimmer in, so they all got out and followed us in. We worked our way round the back of 'em and then took off with this thing." Rowland grinned proudly. "I think we pissed 'em off."
ÝÝÝYoung stared out over the hills around them. "So what do we do now?"
ÝÝÝRowland shrugged. "We've just been sweeping the area for signs of the others. It's no good though, there's nothing here. Either Cortana's taken them somewhere else, or..." He looked grimly at Young.
ÝÝÝ"No," said Vicks flatly. "They've got to be somewhere near here. There can't be enough dropships to lift the whole platoon out. And if the Covenant got them, we'd know about it."
ÝÝÝNakamura pointed to a blocky structure barely visible on the antispinward horizon. "We should make for that."
ÝÝÝ"Why?" asked Young. "It could be full of Covenant for all we know."
ÝÝÝThe marine raised one eyebrow. "Hunch?" she offered.
ÝÝÝYoung shrugged. "Unless anyone's got a better idea?"
ÝÝÝ"Fine by me. Hell, I'm bored of wandering around this dump," said Rowland, turning the skimmer in the direction of the structure.
ÝÝÝVicks was only half-listening to them. Looking over the empty hills and forests, he wondered whether his squad had even made it to the Halo, let alone survived the fighting on the ring. As the skimmer hummed away past the trees, he searched the foliage as his guilt gnawed away at him from inside. * * * ÝÝÝHaving lost the humans in the forest, Galkosh cursed his luck and briefly searched for new prey, only to stumble across a discarded Ghost light skimmer half-buried in some dense undergrowth. He had no idea where its pilot had gone, but the machine was mostly intact and still well-charged. Pulling the plants away from the foot pedals, he mounted the vehicle and rode it down the hill after the marines, the throttle at maximum to try to make up the lost distance. * * *
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