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Chapter 14: Installation 05
May 18th, 3239, 1341 hours
Substance System
Gas giant Substance
/Begin Entry/
For approximately five days we have been on a Slipspace jump spanning hundreds of lightyears. Five hundred years ago, this jump would have taken months; causing them to go into cryo. Thankfully, it was only a span of five days. We've been trying to keep ourselves busy on this ship, waiting to see if some sort of message would be arriving, but no message could be received when a ship is transitioning between FTL and Realspace. Our supplies are still doing relatively well. We have enough food and water to last us at least another month in space, so we might want to think of finding some fringe space station where little UNSC presence is, because my picture has been plastered all over every image-board, telephone pole and milk carton in the galaxy. I AM America's Most Wanted.
But why Installation 05? I have never seen a Halo before, only heard about them in the history textbooks. But what I heard is that hundreds of year ago, I-05, also known as Delta Halo was ravaged by the Flood, and the old Covenant Hegemony had to let them and not glass the place due to religious dogma on the matter. When the Battle of Installation 00 occurred in 2552, the Gravemind was killed, as it had been on High Charity, the old Covenant's holy city when it crashed on the Ark's surface.
We've re-terraformed it with the help of Forerunner technology and the ring's own self-repair system helped us, and we established several research outposts and settlements on the inner ring, although the environment is peaceful and the Sentinels don't harm us, I can't help but think that this is some form of cosmic trespassing.
/End Entry/
Chris ran his hand along his now-covered chin. He hadn't shaved for over a week and his beard had almost fully grown out. He barely looked like the man he once was when he first boarded this ship, which was only a couple weeks ago. His hair was still short enough that it wouldn't move when combing, but he no longer could feel very much of a breeze on his crown.
The truth was Chris was impressed by his own beard-growing speed. He never got the chance to test it due to the military's strict policy on facial hair. Now that he was a government fugitive, he could grow it out as long as he wanted. It started to actually annoy some of his crew-mates, especially at lunch. They were sitting down to enjoy some sandwiches, pasta, and salad in the small mess hall when they found Chris stroking his beard thoughtfully.
'For God's sake, give it a rest, man!" Roan said with a piece of cucumber halfway to his mouth. "It's just a beard!"
"I never had the chance to grow one! Shut up!" Chris said
"He's got a point, Captain." Hera said. "I've got more hair than you and you keep on showing that thing off as if it was your first born child."
"Hang on." Chris said. "No, you filthy rotten liar; you have fur. I don't! You have the option of not wearing clothes. I have to in order not to be arrested, so I think a beard is something that trumps fur."
"Oh God, he's developed a Beard Complex." Roan groaned.
"What is the MATTER with you? Listen, I can understand that if you can't grow one, that's fine; but don't rain on my parade!"
"Listen here, Commander Riker," Jackson said. "You've got to be suffering from one of the most potent cases of boredom I have ever had the misfortune of witnessing. Shut up about the beard, or I will sneak into your room at night, drug you with a heavy muscle paralytic, and pluck it out hair by hair."
Chris' first instinct was to cradle the beard, but that would be wrong and weird. Instead, he decided not to respond and look down at the food on his plate. "It's just a beard." He admitted.
"Good boy." Jackson smiled nodding. "Eat your food, sweetie."
Each of the crew had contributed to the meal. Chris made the pasta; as he was of European heritage, he really knew how to make a killer penne. Jackson worked the salad, Hera was an absolute goddess at making sandwiches, the ones in question being a BLT of sorts, and Allen had put together a soup that his parents made him while he was on Sigma Octanus IV, a cream of potato mix with some spices added. He was upset because since this was a Mobian ship, he didn't have the spices that were native to his homeworld. He just had to work with what they had.
It had been five days in the slipstream, and they were running out of things to do other than bitch and argue at one another, so they decided to have poker games every night. The first night, Hera explained that she had never played a game of poker before and asked everyone to take it easy on her, and then they realized that Chris had folded a full house over Abigail's high card.
That was the last time they played poker.
On the second night, they decided that a workout session was in order, but Jackson accidently smashed a scale that told her, in these exact words, 'Your body-mass index leaves much to be desired. I have the number of a highly respected liposuctionist if you are interested'. She later spent two hours in her room crying that she wasn't fat and that the machine was being mean to her.
The third day they had been monitoring the slipspace readings along with NICOLE, so no fun activities that night, and NICOLE had offered reprogram some of the holographic emitters for a VR movie, but the crew was too tired to accept. NICOLE then proceeded to watch a romance movie called 'AI: Artificial Lover'. Apparently the movie didn't get very much money, but it achieved a huge cult following of multiple AIs and Tech School graduates.
The fourth day, Chris 'perfected' the beard.
And now the fifth day was dawning upon them. Their ship had broken through normalspace to a gas giant that had a dark blue color. This was Substance. It was slightly larger than Jupiter and orbited its small white star at a distance of fifty Astronomical Units. It was cold, dark, and a little bit bleak, but Substance had a very low radiation level, which would encourage the establishment of any orbital facilities and mining stations. Somewhere, hidden somewhere in the blue of Substance's clouds, there was a ringworld.
"Search for any electronic signals coming towards us." Chris ordered.
NICOLE nodded. "Scanning… hang on…" She closed her eyes for a second and said, "I found it! Adjust coordinates to zero-three-zero by three-five-five.
Their trajectory shifted and soon they were buzzing past a small moon, not more than a thousand kilometers in diameter. Hera pointed out that there were meteorites impacting on the surface, but Jackson was upset because her cast was not allowing her to move.
But then they saw it, gleaming in the sunlight, a massive ring, ten thousand kilometers in diameter spun in space. On the outer hull, metallic workings, but on the inside, multiple landforms were spread across the structure, and different biomes for each of them.
Installation 05. Delta Halo.
Thankfully, most of the population stuck together and decided not to strike it out in an alien wilderness such as a Halo. There were some towns, but they barely got larger than ten thousand people each, but they were prevalent throughout the ring's structure.
"It's beautiful!" Jackson said, totally at a loss for words.
"Yeah, isn't it? Hard to believe this thing was designed to kill us."
"Kill you?" Abigail said, shocked.
"Well, not just us." Allen quickly said. "Any complex lifeforms in the galaxy. The Halos were designed to destroy an alien life form of some sort."
"The Flood." Chris pointed out.
"Right, the Flood, but the kicker was we had to die for them to die."
NICOLE looked at the ring. "Well it obviously failed. You're here."
"I think it was activated a long time ago." Roan said, thinking hard.
"Then why are you still here?" Jackson asked.
Allen shook his head. "I don't know."
They decided to enter the ring's atmosphere. They picked an archipelago that seemed to have a volcanic-style landscape. There was a chain of Tropical Islands that wandered into the sea and a boreal forest nearby. It was a mish-mash of biomes, but the Forerunners were crazy that way.
The Emerald Fox hammered the atmosphere. The freighter burned brightly as the air around them was on fire, but soon they were in the air, and able to fly around. Because she was a small ship, the Fox probably wouldn't attract any attention from border patrols. The ship coasted through the clouds and buzzed by a floating factory.
"What was that?" Hera asked.
"Don't know. Looks like a factory or something like that." Chris said shrugging. "A bunch of machines are coming out. I think they're Sentinels."
Sentinels, the guardians of the rings. The Forerunners created these robots as a first line of defense if the Flood were ever to escape. Ever since their eradication hundreds of years ago though, they had nothing to do besides monitor the ring's repair process and assist in technical problems should they arise.
A couple of them tried to keep up with the ship. One of the robots glided near the cockpit and looked inside. For some reason, Hera found it within herself to wave at it.
As expected, the Sentinel did not respond and broke off, returning to the swarm.
The Emerald Fox finally began to set down; the ground was rushing up to meet them. They found a spot near a large tower sending pulses into the sky and decided that it was safe to land there. The Captain had seen many Forerunner artefacts in his travels, and even something crafted by the Precursors, a civilization that predated the Forerunners by millions of years. Compared to them, the Halos were nothing more than glorified hula hoops that just happened to have the capacity to exterminate all life within 25,000 light-years apiece.
"Five seconds to touchdown." Hera announced.
The pads absorbed the impact as their ship touched down on alien metal.
"Welcome to Halo." Chris said.
The air was warm despite the distance from Substance's primary. The ring must have had some sort of artificial environmental control to make sure the environment didn't kill the scientists or test subjects that were once here, and NICOLE even stated that the ring's rotation couldn't keep all the atmosphere in, suggesting a form of atmospheric generation.
The hatch descended and they walked onto the structure.
"Wow, what a view." Jackson said looking over a valley which stretched for dozens of miles in the distance. She had a crutch from the ship that helped her walk. "Can't believe this place was supposed to kill people."
"Can't believe they came to that decision." Chris said. "You know, for all they were said to stand for, the Forerunners had as much capacity to kill as they did to protect life. Their rings are testament to this." Chris followed the ring's curve until it went over his head. Substance stood proud in the background. "The Forerunners appointed Humanity to be the guardians of the galaxy. Something called 'The Mantle'."
"So, who runs this place?"
NICOLE's voice said, "A monitor. This is a Forerunner AI that has complete control over an installation or facility. There is one for each Halo, and there are also multiple minor monitors in scattered Forerunner facilities. The current monitor of Installation 05 is 2401 Penitent Tangent."
"He must have had his hands full when this place got glassed."
Chris nodded. "I agree. Looks like we fixed the place up alright though."
"So we need to find the monitor." Hera reasoned.
"Correct. Problem is finding him." Chris said. "He could be anywhere on the ring."
Jackson leaned on the ship. "But if he could be anywhere…?"
Roan and Vennettilli said it at the same time. "The Library."
"The 'Library'?" Jackson said, confused.
"A structure where activation index for firing was stored. As of 2552, there was no reason to keep the Libraries active on the Halo rings, but 2401's always had a 'habit' or being slow to respond to orders."
"Meaning?" Samantha asked.
"Meaning, he's probably floating around, humming to himself acting as if nothing's changed."
"Do you think that he's aware that the Flood's been eradicated?" Chris asked.
"Possibly. I'll have to try and interface with him to see if I can communicate."
"Well, only thing we need to determine is where the hell the Library is." Chris said, hands on his hips.
"To do that, we'll need to find a Cartographer."
"What's that?" Hera asked.
"A Cartographer is an automated map room that should show us the major locations on the ring that I cannot pick up. It just so happens that there is a Cartographer located roughly fifty two miles up-spin from our current location. We can reach it in twenty minutes at cruising speed in the Emerald Fox."
Vennettilli shrugged. "Sounds good. Let's go!"
The ship coasted over the land, running along a beach with beautiful white sand. NICOLE took the helm which allowed the others to look at the sights of the Halo. Beaches turned into grassland with antelope-like creatures hopping over the hills.
"Why put animals on the ring?" Jackson asked. "This is a weapon, not a game reserve."
Vennettilli said, "I guess the Forerunners had a thing for animals."
"Wonder if they'd have Mobians on the rings."
At that, Chris said, "Aren't there universes where Mobians evolved from dinosaurs?"
"Mobosaurs." Jackson corrected. "They did exist on our Mobius, but they died some time ago. Think of it like another ice age with mutated lizards."
"Fascinating." Roan said.
"There's more alternate universes than you can count, Captain." Hera said. "Remember the Stargate Project? ONI used it to investigate new universes. A couple of covert agents were sent on excursions in some universes. There are some where Robotnik died and was replaced by a robotic double, some where the Xorda came back to finish the job, some where the Forerunners succeeded twice and the galaxy was cleansed, there are some where Sonic the Hedgehog became king, the Dark Egg Legion destroyed the UNSC, and there are even some where Humans evolved side by side with Mobians."
"How do you know this?" Chris asked.
"I worked for the Royals. I had information that people would only dream of."
"So you were just sent to help me."
"Well I requested. I think that defending the man who led his team to victory in Robotropolis was a big deal. I mean, it's not easy to do what you did."
"Yeah. No kidding."
The Cartographer was a wedge shaped building that was nestled in a high mountain with a waterfall close-by. It was polished silver that retained its sheen well after 100,000 years of abandonment. The Emerald Fox circled around the building trying to scope out just how big the place was and just where they needed to go. They found a landing pad on the side of the cliff which was probably put there by the builders.
Allen exited the ship and looked over the edge. "You know, I would have thought the Forerunners would have some form of safety compliance."
Chris looked over the edge and recoiled. "Oof. What is that, a thousand foot drop?"
Roan shook his head. "Nah, two thousand at the least."
"We could toss a grenade over, count how many seconds it takes to explode." The Captain offered.
"Gentlemen!" Hera said. "I see you two are much immersed in your little sightseeing adventure, but a pair of Reclaimers needs to open the doors for us."
The boy wheeled around and saw Hera and Jackson waiting patiently. Samantha was tapping her hurt foot. "Don't keep me waiting here, Allen."
Chris and Allen walked along the side of the building looking for a door, but it appeared that the entire perimeter was uninterrupted.
"Looks like they didn't put in a door." Chris said.
"Awfully unlike the Forerunners. I think it would look great with one." Allen noted.
"But the Forerunners were artistic." Chris reasoned. "They liked to sheathe even their doorways with elegance, mystery, and above all, presentation."
Allen tapped his foot. "Yeah, but where do we get some presentation nearby…" Then, he snapped his fingers. "The waterfall."
"Brilliant deduction, Mister Roan. I was just about to suggest that!" the Captain smiled
They ran past their Mobians who were jabbering about running in circles. They didn't say anything and looked along the cliff for a walkway. To their great pleasure, there was. It was narrow though. One slip on the moist surface would send them two thousand feet to either a rocky or a watery impact. They honestly couldn't tell at this height.
"No safety compliances." Chris muttered.
"You think the Forerunners evolved with superior inner ear conditions?"
"They must've evolved without a fear of heights." Chris said a little shakily.
"Are you acrophobic?"
"No, I'm just a little bit uncomfortable on a slick surface over an abyss. Let me explain it a different way." He stopped and placed his hand against a rocky wall. "Imagine an ant, and he's walking along a wall, exploring if you will."
"OK, go on." Roan said, nodding.
"Then, all of a sudden, he comes to the edge of a well. Now, to you or me, the well doesn't seem very deep, but to the ant, it's infinite, and I guarantee he wouldn't want to get close to the precipice."
"So, you're the ant?"
"No, I just know how the ant feels now."
The waterfall roared as hundreds of gallons went over the cliff edge ever second. The walkway wrapped around the stream, allowing the water to go undisturbed on its earth-bound journey. It looked awfully inconspicuous enough to place an entrance.
"Now, where's the doorbell?" Roan asked. Then, "Hey, I found it."
A holographic display rose up to meet them. A bunch of alien symbols rolled all over it.
"NICOLE, can you translate?" Chris asked, holding the computer up to the console.
"Give me a second. This device is unlike many I have encountered. I actually have never interfaced with a Forerunner computer before! This might take some time."
She was silent for a second, but then she said, "I think I have it. Chris, tap the symbol that resembles a circle with three legs twice."
Chris did as he was told and suddenly, a cyan line formed in the center of the waterfall. It started to split apart and angle, forming a delta in the water. The stream was diverted by nothing more than light and an entrance behind the water was revealed. It was a tunnel, leading off into the distance. Finally, a light bridge linked their platform with the entrance to the tunnel.
Presentation.
"Brilliant!" Vennettilli said. "Thanks a lot, NICOLE."
"I aim to please. Just get me into the Cartographer."
They ran back up to tell Sam and Hera about the map room. Roan went to put her arm around Jackson, supporting her as they walked down the catwalk. Hera brought up the rear with her rifle out.
"Forerunners know how to make an entrance." She said, regarding the entrance to the Cartographer. She was hesitant to step on the light bridge, but did so when she came to the conclusion that there was no harm here. She was the last one to enter the tunnel when the bridge retracted, and the water resumed its falling undisturbed.
They followed this one tunnel, took a right, and found themselves in a very large subterranean chamber covered in alien technology. Holographic displays shot out, demanding attention, and a duo of sentinels flew through the air. But they were drawn towards a pedestal that seemed to beckon them forwards.
"That's the map?"
"No. If I'm reading this correctly, that's just the security switch."
Chris nodded. "What can you tell me about the security system?"
"Hook me up and I'll be able to tell you more once we de-activate it."
Chris took the Mobian AI and placed it on the pedestal and looked over the holographic display. "Hang on… I think I have this." He stretched his fingers and picked a symbol that looked like a cross-thatch. The display pulsed, and a model of the facility, waterfall included. It was clear that the building they were in extended far below them, nearly to the bottom of the cliff. There were levels of security, doors dozens of meters thick, and energy shields that zapped on contact. The Forerunners knew how to keep their secrets safe, but they knew the Reclaimers would be coming back one day.
"Security system disengaged. We have full access." Roan inspected. "We should look for a way into the lower superstructure."
They found a door that was previously locked. It brought them to a form of elevator, but used gravitational forces to shoot them either up or down. To the group, it looked like they were peering into an abyss.
"Does this thing really work?" Jackson asked.
"Perfectly. In theory."
"In theory?" Hera asked.
"Well, I'm not quite sure whether we have to speak a command or make a gesture, or something like that…"
Chris peered into the shaft. "That is a long way down." He looked to his friends and said, "Next car going down! Ground floor: Fishing Supplies, Sporting Goods, Access to Alien Map Rooms."
He stepped into the shaft and immediately felt his weight supported. He was floating in mid-air. He laughed in excitement.
"Look at this! This is awesome!"
"It's scaring me, really." Abigail said. "Can you activate it?"
Chris shrugged. "Um… activate? Fly? Up-up-and-away? Nicole, what's the Forerunner symbol for activation?"
"Here it is. It's the symbol that looks like a downward pointing arrow."
"Handy!" He tapped the arrow and he was gone in a second, dropped down the hole to the bottom floor.
"Captain!" The major said.
"I'm OK. I've reached the bottom. I see a bunch of hallways. Better get down here, guys."
They were a little apprehensive, but then Allen said, "I'm going down. See you girls at the bottom. He jumped into the beam and shot to the bottom. Hera shoved Jackson into the shaft where she floated for a second, shouting insults and curses before she disappeared. Finally, Hera jumped into the beam, pressed the button and was shot down the elevator shaft.
She felt the familiar feeling of her stomach shooting up her throat, Lights flew past her, and soon, she felt as if a giant hand gently lowered her to the ground. She was shaky for a moment, but she found her feet.
"Wow. What a ride!" She said.
Their guns were up, in case some sort of resistance came up, but it was clear that there was nothing to be afraid of. Even Jackson, with her foot in a cast-boot was on her toes with a gun in her hand.
"We're clear." The Captain said. "Let's take a look around."
The area was deserted, as it had been for hundreds of years since the Covenant last landed on the ring in 2552 and located the control room. However, that was not their goal. NICOLE directed them down the correct passage of corridors. Several times they were led near sheer drops into tall shafts, but eventually, they made it to an open room that had a model of the ring floating and rotating with Substance holding position in the background.
"Is… this it?"
"This is it. Welcome to the Map Room."
The ring twirled, signalling it was ready to use. "Roan, you can turn it on if you want."
The human nodded and pressed his palm on the holo-panel, not quite expecting what would happen. The ring started to expand, signalling their position.
"Activate my holographic form, Captain." NICOLE requested.
Chris tapped a few buttons on the computer and clipped it on his belt.
NICOLE materialized; looking refreshed to walk on alien metal, even though she was as incoherent here as anywhere.
"Look at this…" She said. "The ring's systems have correctly located us. We are on this plateau… here." She said pointing to a patch of land.
"Can we find any structure on the ring?" Vennettilli asked.
"That's what I'm gathering, Captain." NICOLE said. "The Forerunners once used this place as a directory. Odd how this is the only one in the entire installation. People would have to come to this specific spot to gain knowledge of the Installation."
"That, or if they happened to find the monitor." Hera said.
"NICOLE, can you interface?"
She nodded. "I'm in… I…" She froze, her eyes went wide, and then a huge smile spread across her face.
"What's wrong?" Jackson asked.
"Nothing's wrong. I… the knowledge! The pure knowledge within this! It's marvellous! Locations, technology, information! It's more than anything I could have ever imagined!" She paced around the Cartographer. "This is a goldmine of information! There's secrets buried within these rings that we have yet to know about the Forerunner! If I were a lesser AI, I wouldn't be able to take it all in! But… My Goodness! I think I'm getting a headache!"
An AI with a headache. Wow, that Forerunner stuff sounded pretty potent.
"Are you still able to function?" Vennettilli asked.
She cleared her throat, but her eyes still sparkled as she took in the information. "Yes. I can find the Library for us." She manipulated the search parameters into the Cartographer. The ring rotated, and then a single point was highlighted. "Zoom in." she commanded. The ring's picture zoomed in on a snowy area where the Library was shown; a structure with a beam of light shooting into the sky.
"There it is; the Installation's Library." The Captain said. "That's where we need to go."
"What about the monitor?" Roan asked.
"I have a funny feeling he'll be there. 700 years after getting his hopes up, he'll be trying to drown his sorrows in data."
May 18th, 3239, 1341 hours
Substance System
Gas giant Substance
/Begin Entry/
For approximately five days we have been on a Slipspace jump spanning hundreds of lightyears. Five hundred years ago, this jump would have taken months; causing them to go into cryo. Thankfully, it was only a span of five days. We've been trying to keep ourselves busy on this ship, waiting to see if some sort of message would be arriving, but no message could be received when a ship is transitioning between FTL and Realspace. Our supplies are still doing relatively well. We have enough food and water to last us at least another month in space, so we might want to think of finding some fringe space station where little UNSC presence is, because my picture has been plastered all over every image-board, telephone pole and milk carton in the galaxy. I AM America's Most Wanted.
But why Installation 05? I have never seen a Halo before, only heard about them in the history textbooks. But what I heard is that hundreds of year ago, I-05, also known as Delta Halo was ravaged by the Flood, and the old Covenant Hegemony had to let them and not glass the place due to religious dogma on the matter. When the Battle of Installation 00 occurred in 2552, the Gravemind was killed, as it had been on High Charity, the old Covenant's holy city when it crashed on the Ark's surface.
We've re-terraformed it with the help of Forerunner technology and the ring's own self-repair system helped us, and we established several research outposts and settlements on the inner ring, although the environment is peaceful and the Sentinels don't harm us, I can't help but think that this is some form of cosmic trespassing.
/End Entry/
Chris ran his hand along his now-covered chin. He hadn't shaved for over a week and his beard had almost fully grown out. He barely looked like the man he once was when he first boarded this ship, which was only a couple weeks ago. His hair was still short enough that it wouldn't move when combing, but he no longer could feel very much of a breeze on his crown.
The truth was Chris was impressed by his own beard-growing speed. He never got the chance to test it due to the military's strict policy on facial hair. Now that he was a government fugitive, he could grow it out as long as he wanted. It started to actually annoy some of his crew-mates, especially at lunch. They were sitting down to enjoy some sandwiches, pasta, and salad in the small mess hall when they found Chris stroking his beard thoughtfully.
'For God's sake, give it a rest, man!" Roan said with a piece of cucumber halfway to his mouth. "It's just a beard!"
"I never had the chance to grow one! Shut up!" Chris said
"He's got a point, Captain." Hera said. "I've got more hair than you and you keep on showing that thing off as if it was your first born child."
"Hang on." Chris said. "No, you filthy rotten liar; you have fur. I don't! You have the option of not wearing clothes. I have to in order not to be arrested, so I think a beard is something that trumps fur."
"Oh God, he's developed a Beard Complex." Roan groaned.
"What is the MATTER with you? Listen, I can understand that if you can't grow one, that's fine; but don't rain on my parade!"
"Listen here, Commander Riker," Jackson said. "You've got to be suffering from one of the most potent cases of boredom I have ever had the misfortune of witnessing. Shut up about the beard, or I will sneak into your room at night, drug you with a heavy muscle paralytic, and pluck it out hair by hair."
Chris' first instinct was to cradle the beard, but that would be wrong and weird. Instead, he decided not to respond and look down at the food on his plate. "It's just a beard." He admitted.
"Good boy." Jackson smiled nodding. "Eat your food, sweetie."
Each of the crew had contributed to the meal. Chris made the pasta; as he was of European heritage, he really knew how to make a killer penne. Jackson worked the salad, Hera was an absolute goddess at making sandwiches, the ones in question being a BLT of sorts, and Allen had put together a soup that his parents made him while he was on Sigma Octanus IV, a cream of potato mix with some spices added. He was upset because since this was a Mobian ship, he didn't have the spices that were native to his homeworld. He just had to work with what they had.
It had been five days in the slipstream, and they were running out of things to do other than bitch and argue at one another, so they decided to have poker games every night. The first night, Hera explained that she had never played a game of poker before and asked everyone to take it easy on her, and then they realized that Chris had folded a full house over Abigail's high card.
That was the last time they played poker.
On the second night, they decided that a workout session was in order, but Jackson accidently smashed a scale that told her, in these exact words, 'Your body-mass index leaves much to be desired. I have the number of a highly respected liposuctionist if you are interested'. She later spent two hours in her room crying that she wasn't fat and that the machine was being mean to her.
The third day they had been monitoring the slipspace readings along with NICOLE, so no fun activities that night, and NICOLE had offered reprogram some of the holographic emitters for a VR movie, but the crew was too tired to accept. NICOLE then proceeded to watch a romance movie called 'AI: Artificial Lover'. Apparently the movie didn't get very much money, but it achieved a huge cult following of multiple AIs and Tech School graduates.
The fourth day, Chris 'perfected' the beard.
And now the fifth day was dawning upon them. Their ship had broken through normalspace to a gas giant that had a dark blue color. This was Substance. It was slightly larger than Jupiter and orbited its small white star at a distance of fifty Astronomical Units. It was cold, dark, and a little bit bleak, but Substance had a very low radiation level, which would encourage the establishment of any orbital facilities and mining stations. Somewhere, hidden somewhere in the blue of Substance's clouds, there was a ringworld.
"Search for any electronic signals coming towards us." Chris ordered.
NICOLE nodded. "Scanning… hang on…" She closed her eyes for a second and said, "I found it! Adjust coordinates to zero-three-zero by three-five-five.
Their trajectory shifted and soon they were buzzing past a small moon, not more than a thousand kilometers in diameter. Hera pointed out that there were meteorites impacting on the surface, but Jackson was upset because her cast was not allowing her to move.
But then they saw it, gleaming in the sunlight, a massive ring, ten thousand kilometers in diameter spun in space. On the outer hull, metallic workings, but on the inside, multiple landforms were spread across the structure, and different biomes for each of them.
Installation 05. Delta Halo.
Thankfully, most of the population stuck together and decided not to strike it out in an alien wilderness such as a Halo. There were some towns, but they barely got larger than ten thousand people each, but they were prevalent throughout the ring's structure.
"It's beautiful!" Jackson said, totally at a loss for words.
"Yeah, isn't it? Hard to believe this thing was designed to kill us."
"Kill you?" Abigail said, shocked.
"Well, not just us." Allen quickly said. "Any complex lifeforms in the galaxy. The Halos were designed to destroy an alien life form of some sort."
"The Flood." Chris pointed out.
"Right, the Flood, but the kicker was we had to die for them to die."
NICOLE looked at the ring. "Well it obviously failed. You're here."
"I think it was activated a long time ago." Roan said, thinking hard.
"Then why are you still here?" Jackson asked.
Allen shook his head. "I don't know."
They decided to enter the ring's atmosphere. They picked an archipelago that seemed to have a volcanic-style landscape. There was a chain of Tropical Islands that wandered into the sea and a boreal forest nearby. It was a mish-mash of biomes, but the Forerunners were crazy that way.
The Emerald Fox hammered the atmosphere. The freighter burned brightly as the air around them was on fire, but soon they were in the air, and able to fly around. Because she was a small ship, the Fox probably wouldn't attract any attention from border patrols. The ship coasted through the clouds and buzzed by a floating factory.
"What was that?" Hera asked.
"Don't know. Looks like a factory or something like that." Chris said shrugging. "A bunch of machines are coming out. I think they're Sentinels."
Sentinels, the guardians of the rings. The Forerunners created these robots as a first line of defense if the Flood were ever to escape. Ever since their eradication hundreds of years ago though, they had nothing to do besides monitor the ring's repair process and assist in technical problems should they arise.
A couple of them tried to keep up with the ship. One of the robots glided near the cockpit and looked inside. For some reason, Hera found it within herself to wave at it.
As expected, the Sentinel did not respond and broke off, returning to the swarm.
The Emerald Fox finally began to set down; the ground was rushing up to meet them. They found a spot near a large tower sending pulses into the sky and decided that it was safe to land there. The Captain had seen many Forerunner artefacts in his travels, and even something crafted by the Precursors, a civilization that predated the Forerunners by millions of years. Compared to them, the Halos were nothing more than glorified hula hoops that just happened to have the capacity to exterminate all life within 25,000 light-years apiece.
"Five seconds to touchdown." Hera announced.
The pads absorbed the impact as their ship touched down on alien metal.
"Welcome to Halo." Chris said.
The air was warm despite the distance from Substance's primary. The ring must have had some sort of artificial environmental control to make sure the environment didn't kill the scientists or test subjects that were once here, and NICOLE even stated that the ring's rotation couldn't keep all the atmosphere in, suggesting a form of atmospheric generation.
The hatch descended and they walked onto the structure.
"Wow, what a view." Jackson said looking over a valley which stretched for dozens of miles in the distance. She had a crutch from the ship that helped her walk. "Can't believe this place was supposed to kill people."
"Can't believe they came to that decision." Chris said. "You know, for all they were said to stand for, the Forerunners had as much capacity to kill as they did to protect life. Their rings are testament to this." Chris followed the ring's curve until it went over his head. Substance stood proud in the background. "The Forerunners appointed Humanity to be the guardians of the galaxy. Something called 'The Mantle'."
"So, who runs this place?"
NICOLE's voice said, "A monitor. This is a Forerunner AI that has complete control over an installation or facility. There is one for each Halo, and there are also multiple minor monitors in scattered Forerunner facilities. The current monitor of Installation 05 is 2401 Penitent Tangent."
"He must have had his hands full when this place got glassed."
Chris nodded. "I agree. Looks like we fixed the place up alright though."
"So we need to find the monitor." Hera reasoned.
"Correct. Problem is finding him." Chris said. "He could be anywhere on the ring."
Jackson leaned on the ship. "But if he could be anywhere…?"
Roan and Vennettilli said it at the same time. "The Library."
"The 'Library'?" Jackson said, confused.
"A structure where activation index for firing was stored. As of 2552, there was no reason to keep the Libraries active on the Halo rings, but 2401's always had a 'habit' or being slow to respond to orders."
"Meaning?" Samantha asked.
"Meaning, he's probably floating around, humming to himself acting as if nothing's changed."
"Do you think that he's aware that the Flood's been eradicated?" Chris asked.
"Possibly. I'll have to try and interface with him to see if I can communicate."
"Well, only thing we need to determine is where the hell the Library is." Chris said, hands on his hips.
"To do that, we'll need to find a Cartographer."
"What's that?" Hera asked.
"A Cartographer is an automated map room that should show us the major locations on the ring that I cannot pick up. It just so happens that there is a Cartographer located roughly fifty two miles up-spin from our current location. We can reach it in twenty minutes at cruising speed in the Emerald Fox."
Vennettilli shrugged. "Sounds good. Let's go!"
The ship coasted over the land, running along a beach with beautiful white sand. NICOLE took the helm which allowed the others to look at the sights of the Halo. Beaches turned into grassland with antelope-like creatures hopping over the hills.
"Why put animals on the ring?" Jackson asked. "This is a weapon, not a game reserve."
Vennettilli said, "I guess the Forerunners had a thing for animals."
"Wonder if they'd have Mobians on the rings."
At that, Chris said, "Aren't there universes where Mobians evolved from dinosaurs?"
"Mobosaurs." Jackson corrected. "They did exist on our Mobius, but they died some time ago. Think of it like another ice age with mutated lizards."
"Fascinating." Roan said.
"There's more alternate universes than you can count, Captain." Hera said. "Remember the Stargate Project? ONI used it to investigate new universes. A couple of covert agents were sent on excursions in some universes. There are some where Robotnik died and was replaced by a robotic double, some where the Xorda came back to finish the job, some where the Forerunners succeeded twice and the galaxy was cleansed, there are some where Sonic the Hedgehog became king, the Dark Egg Legion destroyed the UNSC, and there are even some where Humans evolved side by side with Mobians."
"How do you know this?" Chris asked.
"I worked for the Royals. I had information that people would only dream of."
"So you were just sent to help me."
"Well I requested. I think that defending the man who led his team to victory in Robotropolis was a big deal. I mean, it's not easy to do what you did."
"Yeah. No kidding."
The Cartographer was a wedge shaped building that was nestled in a high mountain with a waterfall close-by. It was polished silver that retained its sheen well after 100,000 years of abandonment. The Emerald Fox circled around the building trying to scope out just how big the place was and just where they needed to go. They found a landing pad on the side of the cliff which was probably put there by the builders.
Allen exited the ship and looked over the edge. "You know, I would have thought the Forerunners would have some form of safety compliance."
Chris looked over the edge and recoiled. "Oof. What is that, a thousand foot drop?"
Roan shook his head. "Nah, two thousand at the least."
"We could toss a grenade over, count how many seconds it takes to explode." The Captain offered.
"Gentlemen!" Hera said. "I see you two are much immersed in your little sightseeing adventure, but a pair of Reclaimers needs to open the doors for us."
The boy wheeled around and saw Hera and Jackson waiting patiently. Samantha was tapping her hurt foot. "Don't keep me waiting here, Allen."
Chris and Allen walked along the side of the building looking for a door, but it appeared that the entire perimeter was uninterrupted.
"Looks like they didn't put in a door." Chris said.
"Awfully unlike the Forerunners. I think it would look great with one." Allen noted.
"But the Forerunners were artistic." Chris reasoned. "They liked to sheathe even their doorways with elegance, mystery, and above all, presentation."
Allen tapped his foot. "Yeah, but where do we get some presentation nearby…" Then, he snapped his fingers. "The waterfall."
"Brilliant deduction, Mister Roan. I was just about to suggest that!" the Captain smiled
They ran past their Mobians who were jabbering about running in circles. They didn't say anything and looked along the cliff for a walkway. To their great pleasure, there was. It was narrow though. One slip on the moist surface would send them two thousand feet to either a rocky or a watery impact. They honestly couldn't tell at this height.
"No safety compliances." Chris muttered.
"You think the Forerunners evolved with superior inner ear conditions?"
"They must've evolved without a fear of heights." Chris said a little shakily.
"Are you acrophobic?"
"No, I'm just a little bit uncomfortable on a slick surface over an abyss. Let me explain it a different way." He stopped and placed his hand against a rocky wall. "Imagine an ant, and he's walking along a wall, exploring if you will."
"OK, go on." Roan said, nodding.
"Then, all of a sudden, he comes to the edge of a well. Now, to you or me, the well doesn't seem very deep, but to the ant, it's infinite, and I guarantee he wouldn't want to get close to the precipice."
"So, you're the ant?"
"No, I just know how the ant feels now."
The waterfall roared as hundreds of gallons went over the cliff edge ever second. The walkway wrapped around the stream, allowing the water to go undisturbed on its earth-bound journey. It looked awfully inconspicuous enough to place an entrance.
"Now, where's the doorbell?" Roan asked. Then, "Hey, I found it."
A holographic display rose up to meet them. A bunch of alien symbols rolled all over it.
"NICOLE, can you translate?" Chris asked, holding the computer up to the console.
"Give me a second. This device is unlike many I have encountered. I actually have never interfaced with a Forerunner computer before! This might take some time."
She was silent for a second, but then she said, "I think I have it. Chris, tap the symbol that resembles a circle with three legs twice."
Chris did as he was told and suddenly, a cyan line formed in the center of the waterfall. It started to split apart and angle, forming a delta in the water. The stream was diverted by nothing more than light and an entrance behind the water was revealed. It was a tunnel, leading off into the distance. Finally, a light bridge linked their platform with the entrance to the tunnel.
Presentation.
"Brilliant!" Vennettilli said. "Thanks a lot, NICOLE."
"I aim to please. Just get me into the Cartographer."
They ran back up to tell Sam and Hera about the map room. Roan went to put her arm around Jackson, supporting her as they walked down the catwalk. Hera brought up the rear with her rifle out.
"Forerunners know how to make an entrance." She said, regarding the entrance to the Cartographer. She was hesitant to step on the light bridge, but did so when she came to the conclusion that there was no harm here. She was the last one to enter the tunnel when the bridge retracted, and the water resumed its falling undisturbed.
They followed this one tunnel, took a right, and found themselves in a very large subterranean chamber covered in alien technology. Holographic displays shot out, demanding attention, and a duo of sentinels flew through the air. But they were drawn towards a pedestal that seemed to beckon them forwards.
"That's the map?"
"No. If I'm reading this correctly, that's just the security switch."
Chris nodded. "What can you tell me about the security system?"
"Hook me up and I'll be able to tell you more once we de-activate it."
Chris took the Mobian AI and placed it on the pedestal and looked over the holographic display. "Hang on… I think I have this." He stretched his fingers and picked a symbol that looked like a cross-thatch. The display pulsed, and a model of the facility, waterfall included. It was clear that the building they were in extended far below them, nearly to the bottom of the cliff. There were levels of security, doors dozens of meters thick, and energy shields that zapped on contact. The Forerunners knew how to keep their secrets safe, but they knew the Reclaimers would be coming back one day.
"Security system disengaged. We have full access." Roan inspected. "We should look for a way into the lower superstructure."
They found a door that was previously locked. It brought them to a form of elevator, but used gravitational forces to shoot them either up or down. To the group, it looked like they were peering into an abyss.
"Does this thing really work?" Jackson asked.
"Perfectly. In theory."
"In theory?" Hera asked.
"Well, I'm not quite sure whether we have to speak a command or make a gesture, or something like that…"
Chris peered into the shaft. "That is a long way down." He looked to his friends and said, "Next car going down! Ground floor: Fishing Supplies, Sporting Goods, Access to Alien Map Rooms."
He stepped into the shaft and immediately felt his weight supported. He was floating in mid-air. He laughed in excitement.
"Look at this! This is awesome!"
"It's scaring me, really." Abigail said. "Can you activate it?"
Chris shrugged. "Um… activate? Fly? Up-up-and-away? Nicole, what's the Forerunner symbol for activation?"
"Here it is. It's the symbol that looks like a downward pointing arrow."
"Handy!" He tapped the arrow and he was gone in a second, dropped down the hole to the bottom floor.
"Captain!" The major said.
"I'm OK. I've reached the bottom. I see a bunch of hallways. Better get down here, guys."
They were a little apprehensive, but then Allen said, "I'm going down. See you girls at the bottom. He jumped into the beam and shot to the bottom. Hera shoved Jackson into the shaft where she floated for a second, shouting insults and curses before she disappeared. Finally, Hera jumped into the beam, pressed the button and was shot down the elevator shaft.
She felt the familiar feeling of her stomach shooting up her throat, Lights flew past her, and soon, she felt as if a giant hand gently lowered her to the ground. She was shaky for a moment, but she found her feet.
"Wow. What a ride!" She said.
Their guns were up, in case some sort of resistance came up, but it was clear that there was nothing to be afraid of. Even Jackson, with her foot in a cast-boot was on her toes with a gun in her hand.
"We're clear." The Captain said. "Let's take a look around."
The area was deserted, as it had been for hundreds of years since the Covenant last landed on the ring in 2552 and located the control room. However, that was not their goal. NICOLE directed them down the correct passage of corridors. Several times they were led near sheer drops into tall shafts, but eventually, they made it to an open room that had a model of the ring floating and rotating with Substance holding position in the background.
"Is… this it?"
"This is it. Welcome to the Map Room."
The ring twirled, signalling it was ready to use. "Roan, you can turn it on if you want."
The human nodded and pressed his palm on the holo-panel, not quite expecting what would happen. The ring started to expand, signalling their position.
"Activate my holographic form, Captain." NICOLE requested.
Chris tapped a few buttons on the computer and clipped it on his belt.
NICOLE materialized; looking refreshed to walk on alien metal, even though she was as incoherent here as anywhere.
"Look at this…" She said. "The ring's systems have correctly located us. We are on this plateau… here." She said pointing to a patch of land.
"Can we find any structure on the ring?" Vennettilli asked.
"That's what I'm gathering, Captain." NICOLE said. "The Forerunners once used this place as a directory. Odd how this is the only one in the entire installation. People would have to come to this specific spot to gain knowledge of the Installation."
"That, or if they happened to find the monitor." Hera said.
"NICOLE, can you interface?"
She nodded. "I'm in… I…" She froze, her eyes went wide, and then a huge smile spread across her face.
"What's wrong?" Jackson asked.
"Nothing's wrong. I… the knowledge! The pure knowledge within this! It's marvellous! Locations, technology, information! It's more than anything I could have ever imagined!" She paced around the Cartographer. "This is a goldmine of information! There's secrets buried within these rings that we have yet to know about the Forerunner! If I were a lesser AI, I wouldn't be able to take it all in! But… My Goodness! I think I'm getting a headache!"
An AI with a headache. Wow, that Forerunner stuff sounded pretty potent.
"Are you still able to function?" Vennettilli asked.
She cleared her throat, but her eyes still sparkled as she took in the information. "Yes. I can find the Library for us." She manipulated the search parameters into the Cartographer. The ring rotated, and then a single point was highlighted. "Zoom in." she commanded. The ring's picture zoomed in on a snowy area where the Library was shown; a structure with a beam of light shooting into the sky.
"There it is; the Installation's Library." The Captain said. "That's where we need to go."
"What about the monitor?" Roan asked.
"I have a funny feeling he'll be there. 700 years after getting his hopes up, he'll be trying to drown his sorrows in data."
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