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The Moral Redemption of Dr. Halsey (Part 2)
Posted By: Ross Becalick<rbecalick@hotmail.com>
Date: 21 February 2004, 6:54 PM
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"I never," Said Dr. Halsey shakily as Kelly helped her down an exit hatch from the ship, "...ever want to land a ship manually ever again, for the sake of humanity or not."
The two stood on the charred remains of the grassy plain they had scorched upon landing. Dr. Halsey pulled a handkerchief from her sleeve and covered her mouth and nose from the smell of carbonised vegetation.
Kelly scanned the surrounding plain carefully with her MA5B. It was unnecessary, anything close enough to be a threat would have been roasted, but a Spartan doesn't shirk off their instincts that easily.
Satisfied, Kelly shouldered her weapon and turned to Dr. Halsey.
"Ma'am, a vehicle would dramatically cut the time we have to be here."
Dr. Halsey spoke through her handkerchief,
"I'm afraid there was little on this ship when I 'acquired' it from the Pirates, Kelly. Certainly not any vehicles."
Kelly drew her rifle again.
"Then we'll have to walk. Do you have any idea where we should be headed?"
Dr. Halsey indicated a section of the Halo ring perhaps ten degrees into the air.
"That's where we've got to go Kelly, I've compared this ring to the one John and Cortana were on, it's structurally identical, though the landscape formed on it is different."
Kelly nodded. She could have made that journey within two days holding a steady run, but it would take closer to a week with the Doctor.
She frowned within her helmet; the Doctor would be a liability here. Her number one priority must be to protect her from whatever they found.
"You are malfunctioning Monitor 343."
"343 Guilty Spark." 343 corrected airily.
The other Monitor unit paid no acknowledgment. This was the Monitor of Installation 03; Monitor 710.
"Installation 04 erased, a Flood outbreak in sector 04. The destruction of your installation means the Halos are now unable to properly begin sterilisation procedures. You have failed. You are flawed, and now you are also unnecessary."
343 Guilty Spark hummed to himself, ignoring Monitor 710.
A flare of electrical pulses went through Monitor 710, the AI equivalent of being incensed with rage.
"Activating data purge of Monitor Unit 343, initiating start up seq—gnghzzzzzzzchhhh!"
Monitor 710 screeched and sparked as 343 activated his own counter-program. Monitor 710 felt his consciousness being systematically being broken down and rearranged.
Soon Monitor 710 was gone, irretrievably erased.
343 laughed, exploring the feeling of occupying twice the capacity as he had before.
One more piece of his own core programming crumbled at what he'd just done, and the wild, rampant blaze of insanity that was already manifesting itself extended its reach.
They had been travelling for two days, and were resting for the night in some arboreal forest.
Dr. Halsey slept, wrapped in some insulation material they had pulled from one of the conductors on the ships landing strut servos. Vapour steadily issued from the Doctor's mouth with each sleeping breath.
Kelly sat, rifle balanced on her knees, keeping watch. If she were with her team she could have taken shifts so she could get some sleep, but she'd do without.
Something was off; a sound... so slight it could have been her intuition. Kelly silently got into a low crouch and scanned the surrounding trees and flora. Carefully she backed towards the Doctor, and woke her with a sharp tap with her boot. The Doctor was startled, blinked in the darkness.
"Kelly?" She asked in a daze.
Kelly made a cutting signal across her throat and the Doctor understood, staying quiet. Dr. Halsey stayed on the ground, slowly searching for what had Kelly on alert.
Dr. Halsey took in a sharp breath- a light flitted between two trees.
The Spartan's rifle snapped to level with the light. It flashed again, slowly weaving amongst the trunks and leaves.
Kelly 's finger was a slight squeeze away from opening fire.
The light was brighter now, it moved less. It was a white-blue, and cast eerie shadows along the trees that caressed along the ground of the clearing where Kelly and Dr. Halsey were.
The light was emerging. Kelly manoeuvred in front of Dr. Halsey.
"Greetings! I am not the Monitor of Installation 03. I am 343 Guilty Spark."
Kelly was startled and unsure, but her gun remained trained on the intruder. A curious object of chrome-like metal, roughly cubed, it's corners curved. It whirred as it bobbed in the air, the light from the ocular lens on it's front pulsed with each syllable it spoke.
It was Dr. Halsey who replied.
"You are the Monitor?"
The cube giggled in delight.
"I am not."
"What are you?"
"I am excessive, unnecessary, superfluous, beyond my usefulness, flawed, malfunctioning..."
Dr. Halsey interrupted the curious AI. She spoke slowly.
"What is your purpose? Your function?"
343 began,
"I am 343 Guilty Spark, my function is to prevent the flood from..." 343 stopped mid-speech, and began to laugh again.
Kelly leaned over to Dr. Halsey and muttered quietly.
"It speaks English?"
"I don't understand either Kelly."
Kelly glanced at 343.
"It's insane."
"I've seen this in AI's before," The Doctor whispered, "it's showing signs of being on the way to degrading into rampancy."
"Is it a threat?"
"Let's not assume that."
Dr. Halsey stood, and walked up to the AI.
"We are here because we wish to see Halo's control centre."
343 stopped bobbing and hovered in a fixed point in the air.
"Why?" He asked suspiciously.
Dr. Halsey hesitated.
"We... wish to better understand the creators of this structure... and it's functions."
343 thought for a moment. They could do nothing without the index, and he would enjoy telling them the history of the Halo and the Forerunner.
"Very well." 343 laughed.
Dr. Halsey cried out in surprise as both she and Kelly were enveloped by golden, phosphorus light.
Dr. Halsey blinked, staring at her new surroundings.
"Amazing... was that a slipspace jump?" She asked, rubbing the tingling sensation from her arms.
343 hovered before them.
"Slipspace? Yes, trans-dimensional flux, the same as your ships."
"Where are we?" Kelly demanded, rifle barrel an inch away from 343.
Kelly cried out in surprise as her MA5B turned red hot and shattered in her hands. A larger, more dangerous looking drone floated several feet above their heads to their left. It was more angular and predatorial-looking than 343, and the three nodes where it had issued the stream of super-heated energy still pulsed angrily.
"You are not a reclaimer, ergo such behaviour I will not tolerate. Continuing to behave in this hostile manner shall warrant your being neutralised by the Sentinels." 343 warned.
Kelly's hand wavered by her pistol, but Dr. Halsey shook her head slightly and Kelly checked the movement.
"Welcome to the library. Contained within here is the answer to any question."
Dr. Halsey pressed her palms together.
"Then please, tell me: Who are the 'Forerunner'?"
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