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Oh Thirteen Part 1
Date: 24 March 2004, 11:54 AM
The shattered pieces of the structure the Covenant called Halo tumbled slowly through the blackness. What was once an alien construction of awe and mystery was now in need of a tube of crazy glue the size of a small moon. Chunks of wreckage and debris shrouded the ruins in clouds of glittering dust. One such speck of dust headed towards a fragment of Halo at some velocity. The speck was, in fact, a metal tube about ten feet long and four feet wide. Inside it, swathed in wisps of cryogenic gas, was the body of a cybernetically enhanced human. And at the edge of his consciousness, a thought struggled to surface from synapses in suspended animation. That thought was - 'Is it me? Or is it bloody cold in here?'
Onlo 'Utsoree was not used to such travelling conditions. An Elite of his exalted rank would normally command an entire deck of quarters on the flagship of a fleet of cruisers. So being squashed into a cockpit designed for a single Grunt came as the ultimate indignity. It forced him to bunch up with his knees tucked under his chin. Being possessed of four knees, 'Utsoree's discomfort was not inconsiderable. But this was the fastest ship in the whole of the Covenant. It was basically a tiny cabin tacked on to an enormous slipspace engine. And it was the only way to get 'Utsoree to the discovery in time. The ship was still at the experimental stage, hence the Grunt accommodating cockpit - one did not experiment with Elites. 'Utsoree believed the cramped conditions were worth suffering for the sake of speed. Time was against him. A stance 'Utsoree intended to make it regret.
Jonah's eyes opened before consciousness had fully returned. Looking down at him was a striking female face, framed by crimson hair and set against a background of twinkling, spinning stars. Hundreds of years of storytelling dictated that something along the lines of 'Are you an angel?' or 'Is this Heaven?' should be his first words. But they weren't for two reasons. One, angels didn't traditionally wear fishbowl helmets and UNSC issue EVA suits. And two, Jonah really wasn't that lucky.
"Hello," he said.
The woman waved a Scanalyzer over him and seemed satisfied with the readouts. She smiled at him. "Welcome back. What's the last thing you remember?"
Jonah pondered for a second. "We had a spot of bother on Reach. I was wounded early on, put in my cryo-tube and then I seem to recall being a bit chilly."
"Ah," said the woman. "Um, I'd help you up but I don't have a forklift."
Jonah became aware that his feet were above his head. He swung his right leg out of the open tube and attempted to haul himself out. The woman took a step backwards as half a metric ton of Spartan super soldier tumbled out onto metallic wreckage, from which he bounced with little grace onto the ground. The rather odd ground. It was black earth that looked as if it had been recently scorched, yet it sparkled with a covering of frost. Jonah staggered upright. At least, he guessed it was upright. He was somewhat confused by the way the night sky seemed to be spinning around him. It made Jonah dizzy to look at it.
"Er, I think I've got some catching up to do."
The woman introduced herself as Engineer First Class Emma Bean. She rattled through the main points of a bizarre tale involving the utter destruction of the planet Reach, the discovery of an alien world in the shape of a hula-hoop, the demise of the UNSC ship Pillar Of Autumn and the ultimate destruction of Halo.
"Stop me if I'm going too fast," said Bean.
"No, no, with you so far. So we're on one of the pieces of this Halo?" asked Jonah.
"Uh huh. Guess we both crash-landed on it. I couldn't get to a lifepod when the Autumn went down. So I stole a Covenant boarding craft. I was trying to find somewhere to hole up when Halo exploded. I took damage and had to put down for repairs. I took even more damage when I tried to land on a chunk of spinning alien artefact, but here I am." She smiled again. "Guess I'm just lucky."
"Not any more," sighed Jonah.
Doodu's punishment detail was cleaning the food nipples in the mess hall. He reflected that his new life as a convict wasn't actually all that different to his old life as a Silver. The work was the same. The food was the same; it would have been hard to concoct anything worse than what the Covenant already fed Grunts. If anything, his cell in the brig was actually roomier than his old bunk in the crew compartment had been. Of course, the energy leg irons burned a bit, and he had to watch his step in the sonic shower, but prisoners didn't get sent into battle or ordered down to Forerunner Halo worlds that blew to smithereens while you were trying to mind your own business on guard duty. Maybe spending the rest of his life being punished for his part in the loss of a cruiser had an upside. For starters, the lack of combat meant he might actually have the rest of a life to spend. It was all a matter of perspective. The door opened with an electronic whine and a Silver Grunt stomped in.
"I have good news. It has been decided that you will perform no further punishment duties," said the Silver.
Doodu hopped from foot to foot. He had been a model prisoner. Could this be time off for good behaviour? Or maybe even a pardon? Perhaps that cyborg hadn't brought him such bad luck after all.
The Silver produced a plasma pistol and pointed it at Doodu.
"You've volunteered for a suicide mission."
Jonah took in the view. He was standing in a valley that had been burned and frozen in rapid succession. What little atmosphere there was manifested itself as a whipping, howling wind. And then there was that eerie, twisting sky, dotted with cartwheeling sections of a broken artificial world.
Bean stared at Jonah. "You're him aren't you? The one they all talk about?"
"Er, no," said Jonah, "you're thinking of the Master Chief. We share some similarities, I suppose, around the visor. My guess is this is his handiwork. His answer to anything was always to blow it up. Whenever he got asked a problem in math class everybody ducked."
"No, you're Jonah. You took out a Covenant cruiser single-handed. They gave you the designation Oh Thirteen, because if any Covenant cross your path, their luck just ran out," said Bean.
Jonah snorted. His fellow Spartans had actually named him Oh Thirteen because he was the biggest jinx in the universe. He imagined Bean would find that out first hand soon enough.
"So then, let's fix up your boarding craft and get off this thing," he said.
Bean gave him a wry smile. "That might be a bit tricky now." She pointed behind Jonah.
He turned around. The pile of wreckage from which he had clambered was just recognisable as the remains of a Covenant boarding craft. It had been totalled by a severe impact. At the epicentre of the damage sat Jonah's cryo-tube.
"Of course," said Jonah.
"Tough little beauties those cryo-tubes," said Bean. "Scanned it inbound, got suited up and watched you come down from a safe distance."
"Plan B then," said Jonah. "Make camp, set up a transponder, sit it out and wait for rescue." He held up a hand. "No wait. Don't tell me. Your air supply is running out?"
"Oh no, we have plenty of air and my suit can extract more from the atmosphere this structure still retains," said Bean cheerfully. "No, air's not the problem."
Jonah knew a 'but' coming when he heard one.
"But..." said Bean. She detached her Scanalyzer from its hip holster, tapped a couple of keys and held it up.
Jonah looked at the display. Then he looked up at the sky. Every few minutes, the moon Basis and the gas giant Threshold zig zagged through the rotating heavens. Jonah pointed at Threshold.
"We're heading towards that?" he asked.
"Oh yes."
"How long 'til we hit?"
"Oh, months."
Jonah seemed surprised. "That doesn't sound too bad."
"Ah well, of course surface temperatures will be intolerable within a matter of hours. Maybe a day at the outside."
"That's more like it," said Jonah with a sigh.
"On the bright side, things couldn't get much worse," said Bean.
Jonah was about to suggest she wouldn't get particularly good odds on that when her Scanalyzer lit up and began beeping.
"Oh," she said. She looked up past the valley wall. Jonah followed her gaze. A few seconds later, Half a dozen Covenant dropships and a small ship of unfamiliar, yet definitely Covenant design, loomed up over them.
"This," said Jonah, "is why they call me Oh Thirteen."
Oh Thirteen Part 2
Date: 24 March 2004, 11:55 AM
"I don't suppose you have such a thing as a rocket launcher?" asked Jonah. "Or a MAC Cannon perhaps?"
"Afraid not," said Bean. "I was never any good with guns. I'm only really trained to fix stuff. If I want to fill something full of holes I use a drill."
The Covenant ships were almost directly above them.
"Maybe we could throw some stones then," muttered Jonah. "Or at least direct some particularly scathing insults in their general direction. Do you have anything we could make a white flag out of?"
"Not that I'm prepared to take off right now," said Bean.
Shadows fell over them, as one by one, the enemy ships passed overhead.
And kept passing.
"Er...?" said Jonah.
"Told you I was lucky," said Bean.
As soon as the news of a Halo being discovered had reached the Covenant homeworld, Onlo 'Utsoree had commandeered the fastest ship available, and sent orders ahead for all forces in the vicinity of the ringworld to be put at his full disposal. He could do that. He was a White Elite. The only authority higher than his was that of the Prophets. This situation that could well change if 'Utsoree was successful in his mission. In his mind, he had gone over and over the day he would overthrow the old order. And when he installed himself as supreme ruler of every member of every race within the Covenant, he would turn to the deposed mystics and cry, "If you're Prophets, how come you didn't see this coming?" That would be a moment to savour. The sort of moment he'd want to relive over and over again. And if, as his instruments suggested, what 'Utsoree was looking for was on this fragment of Halo, he would quite literally do just that.
"Where are we going?" asked Jonah as he clambered over blackened rocks trying to keep up with Bean.
"This way," she replied. Gravity was all over the place, light in some patches, practically non-existent in others. It made their progress quite awkward.
"Didn't the Covenant ships go this way?"
"Uh huh."
Jonah halted. "Well that seems like a phenomenally good reason to be going the other way."
Bean stopped and turned to face him. "Do you know about the old Chinese farmer and his horse?" she asked.
"I think you'd better check your Scanalyzer," said Jonah. "Sounds like the radiation levels are getting through your helmet."
Bean laughed. "Didn't they teach you any philosophy in Spartan 101?"
"No. They mostly taught us how to hit things in the head with a rifle butt," said Jonah. "From behind."
"There was an old Chinese farmer who lived with his son. They were very poor and their only possession was a horse," said Bean.
"Poor? Last I heard stabling fees were astronomical," said Jonah.
Bean ignored him. "One day the horse broke through the fence and ran away. 'What bad luck,' said the local villagers. 'We'll see,' said the farmer. The next day, the horse returned, but brought with it several wild horses. 'What good luck,' said the villagers. 'We'll see,' said the farmer."
Jonah began to wish he were marooned with a sweaty marine instead of the chirpy engineer. At least then he could have swapped stories about hitting things in the back of the head.
"Next day, whilst trying to ride the new horses, the farmer's son fell from one and broke his leg. 'What bad luck,' said the villagers. 'We'll see,' said the farmer. The day after, the army came through forcing the local young men to go off and fight in a battle from which few would return. But the farmer's son couldn't go because he had broken his leg." Bean looked at Jonah expectantly.
"Is that it?" he said.
"Yes. It's all a matter of perspective. Sometimes what seems like bad luck can be good luck," said Bean. She turned and once again began to make her way up the rocky slope.
Jonah reluctantly followed. The after a minute, he said, "But if you follow the logic of that story through, the son would probably have died of plague or something that he would have missed had he gone to war."
Bean shook her head inside the helmet.
"What I'm saying is, don't be so sure everything is doom and gloom. Try seeing things from a different angle."
Bean had reached the top of the slope. She crouched down and waited for Jonah to join her. He crept up beside her and peered into the next valley. The Covenant ships had landed in a circle around an alien edifice. It looked like an upturned tuning fork the size of a skyscraper. Other smaller structures were dotted around its base in a seemingly random pattern.
"For instance," said Bean, "instead of regarding the Covenant as an enemy out to kill us, think of them as providers of the only way off this thing."
Jonah looked at her. Then he looked back down into the valley at the dropships. Dropships surrounded by dozens of scurrying Covenant troops.
"We'll see," he grunted.
Doodu was unceremoniously frogmarched out of the dropship with several other energy shackled Covenant prisoners and herded towards the tuning fork structure. Behind him, the dropship lurched back into the sky. Doodu noticed it was the only one leaving.
"Where's it going?" he squeaked.
The Silver Grunt in charge of the prisoners bounced over and slammed his pistol into the side of Doodu's head.
"Silence." The Silver leant in close to Doodu. "It's not like you'll be making the return journey," he hissed.
Jonah assessed the situation. "Okay. There's loads of them. There's two of us. They've got guns. We haven't."
"Fortune favours the brave," said Bean, scrutinising her Scanalyzer.
"That explains a lot," said Jonah, "I've made a point of staying alive via the miracle of cowardice."
They watched as one of the dropships rose and departed.
"That leaves a gap in their perimeter," said Bean. "We could get to those outer structures and look for a way in there pretty much undetected."
"Yeah, that's...what?" Jonah stared at her. "We're supposed to be getting out of here, not sightseeing."
"There's something very important to the Covenant in there," said Bean. "Something important enough for them to send a large force to a piece of wreckage that's about to crash into a sun. Aren't you curious?"
"I am now. Curious whether you're Military Intelligence."
Bean snorted. "Those guys put the moron in oxymoron."
Jonah managed a chuckle. He'd know why he was chuckling just as soon as he got the chance to check a dictionary.
"You said yourself we can't fight our way to a ship," said Bean. "But we could sneak in there and see what's going on."
"You know what curiosity did?" grumbled Jonah.
"You're not a cat, you're a half ton cyborg. Come on."
Before he could argue, Bean was up over the ridge and taking advantage of the patchy gravity to bound down into the valley. Jonah had no choice but to scramble after her. He mused darkly that the Well Known Phrases And Sayings Committee would probably amend it to 'curiosity killed the Spartan' after this.
There was no alien cry of alarm. No plasma bolts crackled overhead. There wasn't even a big, dry twig to go crack at an improbably high volume. As he loped down the incline, Jonah wondered if Bean really was as lucky as she claimed and if her good fortune was counteracting his own relationship with Lady Luck (who, as far as Jonah was concerned, was no Lady). Maybe Bean was the answer to his curse.
Jonah reached one of the outbuildings and ducked into it. Inside was a small antechamber from which a tunnel sloped down into darkness. Bean was already halfway along it.
"Wait up," said Jonah. "Let me go first. You're bound to bump into something intent on blasting you to goo. Might as well bump into it from behind my Type Five Armour and rechargeable shielding."
Bean stopped and allowed Jonah to go ahead of her. At the end of the tunnel he signalled for Bean to halt behind him and gingerly poked his head out into the gloom. "Has it occurred to you that you might just be paranoid?" said Bean.
Jonah lit up like a cartoon electrocution as a beam of intense energy lanced out of the darkness and sliced through his shields, flinging him back into the tunnel.
"Not... for one... second," he gasped.
Oh Thirteen Part 3
Date: 24 March 2004, 11:55 AM
"Are you okay? What was that?" Bean knelt beside the prone Spartan.
"Some kind of hovering robot sentries," said Jonah.
Bean tapped away on her Scanalyzer. Jonah held up a hand and began to haul himself up.
"I'll be fine," he said.
"I wasn't scanning you. Hmm, they show up like the pipes and energy conduits around them, as if they're actually part of this structure. There are four of them and... they seem to be able to generate a powerful energy beam."
"Really?" said Jonah, smoke still rising from a scorch mark on his armour. "Tell me, other than confirming the completely obvious, can that thing devise a way past them?"
Bean tapped a few more keys, nodded as if doing some calculations in her head, chewed her lip then raised her eyebrows as she read the screen.
"Um, no," she said.
'Utsoree gazed up at the domed ceiling of the chamber. The Forerunner architecture stretched sixty feet above him, and curved down into a circular area an equal distance in diameter. Four smooth pillars defined a wide, square area in the centre, and a network of galleries and walkways connected and crisscrossed the chamber from floor to ceiling. This was what had brought the White Elite to Halo. This was what could give him power over the entire Covenant. And maybe even more. All he had to do was figure out how it worked and exactly what it could do before it all became molten slag in the outer corona of Threshold. Well, he didn't actually have to work those things out himself. Groups of Covenant Engineers floated and fluttered from gallery to gallery, control panel to control panel, shaking and chirruping excitedly as their tentacles probed and prodded. They would work on the how. As for the what...
'Utsoree growled a command in the gruff, garbled speech of his kind. A Silver Grunt bobbled forwards, head bowed as he led in a chain gang of Covenant misfits.
"The prisoners, your Eminence."
'Utsoree made a small gesture. The Silver released the first prisoner from the energy stream that bound the line together. Then with a wave of his pistol, he indicated the centre of the chamber. The prisoner shuffled forwards.
'Utsoree looked up to one of the walkways and nodded. An Engineer's tentacles blurred over the holographic controls in front of it.
The four pillars began to glow.
"Can your Scanalyzer show me their positions?" asked Jonah.
Bean wordlessly punched in a command and held up the display. Jonah studied it for a few seconds, the four pulsing dots reflecting in his gold visor.
"Okay," he said, "I have a plan."
Bean looked at him attentively, waiting for his tactical assessment. The Spartan turned on his heel and bolted out of the tunnel mouth into the darkness. Bean gawped after him. She heard the crackle of discharged energy, followed by several small explosions and then the sound of four metal objects crashing to the ground. She managed to gather herself enough to edge down to the opening and peep out around the corner.
Jonah stood at the other end of a small antechamber similar to the one they'd first entered. His energy shield fizzed and sparked and there were several new smoking burn marks underneath it. But in the centre of the room were four piles of sputtering metal debris that once were flying robots. One of them still discharged energy beams into the floor.
"That was your plan?" said Bean. "Run straight at them?"
"Worked, didn't it? They were so closely bunched they blasted each other to pieces." Jonah walked purposefully over to the unit that was still firing. "Besides, things have a habit of self destructing around me." He raised his boot up ready to stamp down on the sentry.
"No, wait," said Bean. She took out her Scanalyzer and a small multitool. "I want to try something."
Doodu let out a quiet whine as the pillars stopped glowing. He had just witnessed a fellow captive Grunt transform into a pile of dust. 'Utsoree seemed displeased with the outcome. He berated the Engineer at the controls then gestured to the Silver Warder in charge of the penal unit. A sorry looking Jackal was next to be ushered into the central space. An Engineer chirped. Power built. The pillars glowed. An egg the size of a football occupied the space where seconds earlier the Jackal had cowered. 'Utsoree sighed. The Silver released another Grunt and propelled it between the pillars. Doodu began to shake uncontrollably. Next up after the Grunt was a battered Hunter. And next up after him was Doodu.
Bean hefted her creation, struggling slightly under its weight. She passed it to Jonah who took it as if it were made of balsa wood.
"I removed what remained of the wing sections, took out the on board computer and engine unit, then rigged up a crude trigger mechanism," explained Bean.
Jonah held the stripped down Sentinel like a rifle.
"If you touch the 'trigger' to the chassis, the contact should cause it to..."
Jonah fired an energy beam into the wall. He regarded the resulting charred pockmark, and then turned to face his companion.
"I love it," he said.
Somewhere in the walls, Something stirred. The Something could not be described as intelligent as such. It was highly unlikely to come top in a general knowledge quiz for instance. But it was bright enough to realise that the metal things that shot the burning light weren't there any more. Which meant the Something was no longer kept at bay. The Something - or rather all the little Somethings that constituted it - began to skitter onwards...
Even the Silver recoiled at the twisted creature that collapsed in between the pillars. In a matter of seconds, the Grunt convict had aged at least a hundred years. His skeleton had twisted, his eyes had milked over and his skin had become so thin and stretched as to be almost transparent. 'Utsoree seemed to be happier with this result. Then, for no reason, the Silver Grunt squeaked out "Yes my lord."
'Utsoree swung round to look at him, but the Grunt seemed to be oblivious to its own outburst. 'Utsoree signalled for the Hunter to be brought forward.
"Yes my lord," squeaked out the Silver Grunt, much like...no, exactly like he had seconds earlier. 'Utsoree made a gasping sound. Up in the gallery, an Engineer trilled something and gave a very expressive six-tentacle shrug.
The Hunter lumbered forward. Doodu screwed his eyes shut. It was his turn next. Maybe if he'd kept his eyes open, he'd have noticed movement in an upper gallery as two newcomers entered the chamber.
From the Sentinel room, Jonah and Bean had followed ramps and tunnels that led ever downwards. Jonah was now setting a tidy pace. Bean guessed he actively sought to blunder into Covenant troops or more sentry robots just so he could try out his new toy on something slightly more challenging than a wall. Eventually, an access way had taken them into a gallery halfway up the side of an enormous domed vault. They had been forced to duck down suddenly when they noticed that just about all the Covenant forces they had seen land were stationed above and below them within the chamber.
Jonah stared down at the ancient Grunt corpse twenty feet below him. Bean scowled at her Scanalyzer.
"There's a White Elite down there," hissed Jonah.
"White?" said Bean, without taking her eyes from the device in her hands. "What does that denote?"
Jonah crossed his big armoured fingers. "Propensity to surrender?" He sneaked another look over the gallery rim. "Hmm. Hunters are far less threatening without their armour," he said.
The pillars that dominated the vault began to glow.
"Whoa," said Bean, "I'm getting tachyon readings off the scale."
"Right," said Jonah. He had no idea what tachyons were but they were bound to be bad news. They were certainly bad news for the Hunter. Or puddle, as it would now more accurately be described.
Bean was pale. "If I'm right, and I can't be because it's not possible, we just saw a shift in time. Except we couldn't have on account of that impossibility factor I mentioned." She looked at Jonah wide eyed.
"Oh no," he groaned. "This is where I end up being my own grandfather right? Or I change the course of history and wink out of existence?"
Bean ignored him. "Not possible," she mumbled, "it's not possible."
Another test subject was being shoved into position. Its voice echoed up around the walls of the chamber.
"Why me?" it wailed.
Jonah started and peered down at the quivering shape between the pillars. "Hold on," he said. "I know that Grunt!"
Oh Thirteen Part 4
Date: 24 March 2004, 11:56 AM
Doodu cringed. Any second now, the White Elite would give the signal, the pillars would energise and Doodu would shuffle off to the Great Methane Cloud In The Sky in some unspeakable manner.
'Utsoree raised his hand. The Engineer at the pillar controls flexed a tentacle. The Silver Warder cackled. The pillars began to glow.
"I have to do something," said Jonah, looking down at Doodu.
Bean frowned at him. "Huh?"
"I destroyed the ship he was on. It's my fault he's in trouble. "
"Isn't destroying Covenant ships your job?"
"Yes, but... look, he saved my life. Don't worry, I've got a plan."
Bean raised an eyebrow. "Let me guess. You're going to charge in and smack them all in the back of the head?"
"No," said Jonah indignantly, "I intend to employ stealth tactics, a flanking manoeuvre, then, uh, some stealth, er, tactics... yes, all right. I'm going to charge in and smack them all in the back of the head. Stay here."
"You don't stand a chance," said Bean. "That's one probability I don't need the aid of a Scanalyzer to calculate."
"We'll see," said Jonah. He hopped up over the walkway rim and dropped to the gantry below.
The last thing to go through the Engineer's mind was the back end of a Forerunner Sentinel, which had found a new calling in life as a makeshift rifle butt. Having bashed the operator senseless, Jonah discharged a blast of energy into the control panel. The pillars instantly began to power down. A pair of Jackals was first to react. Stationed at either end of the control gantry, they stalked towards Jonah, shields and plasma pistols raised. The Spartan cut one down with a sizzling beam, then pivoted to make short work of the other. Alerted to his presence, Blue Elites leading squads of hobbling Grunts scrambled towards Jonah's position. From the chamber floor, Jackals took pot-shots with homing plasma blasts. Jonah snapped off beam after beam in all directions, but the numbers were overwhelmingly against him. An overcharged pistol shot dropped Jonah to one knee, blowing his shields and setting his suit alarms screeching. Elites rushed him from either side. With his shields down, a plasma rifle would finish Jonah off with a couple of shots. His new guerrilla tactic of hit and run without the run was unlikely to make its way into the texts and of great military strategic comportments any time soon. The first Blue Elite to reach him shoved its plasma rifle point blank into Jonah's faceplate.
"No." The word echoed around the chamber.
Every single covenant soldier froze. Jonah squinted past the rifle muzzle and down at the issuer of the command. It was the White Elite. And it had spoken in the human tongue.
Doodu had closed his eyes expecting to die. When he heard all the commotion, he thought he was dying. When he opened his eyes a little while later, he couldn't believe he wasn't dead. Then, when he saw the captive being brought before 'Utsoree, he wished he was.
Bean rolled onto her back, stared at the domed ceiling and cursed under her breath. There was nothing she could do to help. She didn't have a gun and even if she did, she wouldn't know how to use it. Then again, for the moment the Covenant's attention was focused solely on Jonah...
"Why. Are. You here?"
It was odd to hear an Elite speaking English. The delivery was halting, and accented by a deep, growling slur. Jonah had to admit it was better than his Elite-ish. The only word he knew was 'wort' and he wasn't a hundred percent on its meaning.
"I crashed here," said Jonah.
"Quite a. Co. Incidence." The White Elite circled the Spartan slowly. He gave Jonah's improvised Sentinel gun a cursory inspection then handed it to a Blue Elite. "That. You should crash. On this par. Ticular. Section. Of what. Remains."
"The particular section that's crawling with Covenant? Just my luck."
'Utsoree stopped circling and regarded Jonah silently for a moment. Jonah got the distinct impression that the alien was sniffing him.
"I detect. No falsehood. Interesting."
He turned and walked away. For a split second, Jonah thought to see the Elite blur as if he had moved a few feet without actually taking a step. Some of the Covenant guards who had also witnessed it exchanged uneasy glances.
"You will help. Me. Understand how this." 'Utsoree made a sweeping gesture indicating their surroundings, "Works."
"I do not know how this works," said Jonah.
The White Elite softly uttered the only word of Covenant language that Jonah recognised three times.
"You. Misunder. Stand me."
'Utsoree gave a curt nod. Two Blue Elites strode forward and each took one of the Spartan's arms. They marched him towards the centre of the room, as the Silver Grunt dragged Doodu back to the side. Jonah raised a hand as their paths crossed.
"Hey, how's it going?"
Doodu's replied with a mournful whimper.
"Yeah, me too," muttered Jonah.
According to the Scanalyzer, the panel a cluster of Engineers worked feverishly to fix controlled the activation of the chamber. But a different section, located in a gallery set higher up in the wall, controlled the actual power flow. The Engineer that had been overseeing the power controls had been drafted in to help with repairs, and every last soldier alien had swarmed to the chamber floor to form a ring around Jonah. Whispering words of encouragement to herself, Bean crawled on her hands and knees towards the interconnecting ramp that would take her to the upper gallery. She was going to pull the holographic plug.
Something in the walls of the chamber emitted a gurgling, burbling sound not dissimilar to that of a rumbling stomach. This was hardly surprising as, the other side of the wall, the Something detected a generous serving of Covenant on the half shell. With a pickled Spartan on the side.
"Does your kind honour last requests?" asked Jonah.
"No," replied the White Elite.
Jonah sighed. That put paid to a rendition of nine million, nine hundred and ninety nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine beers on the wall.
'Utsoree raised his eyes to the Engineers above. One of them floated forward and prodded a control.
Jonah braced himself.
Nothing happened.
'Utsoree growled at the Engineers who squeaked miserably. After a few seconds of jostling each other and much flailing of tentacles, they turned to 'Utsoree and whistled forlornly.
A roar began to build in the White Elite's gorge. The Engineers quivered and sank closer to the floor. Then a second Elite howl rang out from above. Jonah and the Covenant craned upwards to see a Blue dangling Engineer First Class Emma Bean over the side of an upper gallery. Bean had her eyes screwed shut. Her face was ashen.
"Brave girl," Jonah said quietly. "It was a nice try."
One of the Engineers sped off towards the upper gallery like a balloon with a puncture.
"Bring her. To Me." 'Utsoree turned to look at Jonah. His lips parted to reveal four rows of teeth. "She. Can. Go next."
The Blue pulled Bean back up over the ledge, and began to drag her along the walkway. The Engineer behind them trilled excitedly. His fellow creatures at the controls below whirled back to their holographic panels. A flick of a rubbery tentacle later, the pillars began to glow.
"Can't wait to see how I get out of this one," said Jonah. The energy level grew and he was engulfed by brilliant light. Jonah had the sensation of being pulled forwards, like some peculiar type of vertigo. All sound diminished to silence. His vision gave way to nothingness. Everything went white.
Then, as suddenly as it had whited out, everything returned to normal. The pillars powered down. Jonah stared at the Covenant. The Covenant stared back. At Jonah. And at the figure that had winked into existence next to him.
It was partially covered in what seemed to be Spartan armour. But where the left arm should be, a twisting, fleshy tendril curled out from the shoulder. Hideous growths sprouted through the plates all over the suit, and the visor had cracked away to reveal a mangled, rotting parody of a human visage beneath. Just visible on the chest plate between protruding fleshy palps was the designation Jonah 013.
"I bloody said something like this would happen," said Jonah. The apparition let out a sickening gurgle and lashed out at him.
Oh Thirteen Part 5
Date: 24 March 2004, 11:57 AM
'Utsoree watched everything fall apart. He had expected a few minor temporal anomalies whilst attempting to fathom the Forerunner technology. He had certainly expected a few casualties during the course of the experiments. He hadn't expected two humans, and what appeared to be a Flood Spartan injecting an element of utter chaos into the proceedings. He could do without any more setbacks. So there was a note of bitter disbelief in the howl he issued as a multitude of Somethings issued from a vent in the chamber wall. Flood Infection forms. 'Utsoree ignited his power sword. What had caused his luck to go so bad?
Jonah saw flashing lights fizzling in front of his eyes. At first, he thought it was his shields. But they had shorted out completely and the pain wracking his head served as the true explanation. Jonah tried to assess the situation. Ah yes. There was the nightmare zombie version of him, currently lashing its way through a phalanx of Covenant troops. Somewhere, in an upper gallery, was Bean and her Blue Elite captor. There, slashing away with a power sword was that White Elite. And over there was a horde of little horrible...thingies. They looked like evil, slimy balloons covered with stringy tentacles, and each possessed of a vicious looking stinger. The Covenant seemed terrified by these new arrivals, and the chamber was rapidly filling with a wild and deadly crossfire. As he attempted to get to his feet, Jonah wondered if even a Chinese Horse farmer could put a positive spin on this one.
Doodu had been spared one fate, only to be faced with another of even more horrific proportions. Flood! Doodu cowered behind the Silver Warder, who rattled off plasma pistol shots at the swarming Infection forms. Near the centre of the chamber, the whirling Flood Spartan was smashing groups of Elites and Jackals into the air. A third fate presented itself to Doodu. Utter heart failure. The Silver squeaked and moaned in distress, even though he had a weapon. Then, a bizarre vision revealed itself to the two Grunts. A second Silver appeared in front of them. He was covered in quivering Infection forms. And he was on fire. The vision uttered a pitiful "why me?" then slumped to the ground, twitching. As suddenly as it had appeared, the Silver vanished. Doodu looked at the Warder. Both Grunts shrieked in abject terror.
Bean felt the Elite loosen its grip on her. It leapt over the gallery rail and dropped into the centre of the chamber below howling and firing its plasma rifle. "That's twice this has happened to me today," muttered Bean. "I've got to change my perfume." Around her, Engineers flitted aimlessly in all directions, scourging themselves with their tentacles. Bean looked down at the carnage below. Covenant bodies sprawled out from the pillars. A squall of plasma bolts and energy needles crisscrossed the chamber hitting both Flood and Covenant alike. The twisted version of Jonah seemed unstoppable. Plasma had no effect on it, and judging by how easily it swatted Elites away, its strength was phenomenal. Bean saw the real Jonah staggering towards the melee. How could she help him? Think, think. Bean nodded to herself. She ran along the gallery towards an interconnecting ramp.
Jonah waded into chaos. Wild misfires ricocheted from him, nasty thingies exploded with a juicy pop as they made contact with his energy shields, and he was forced to duck as the occasional broken Elite flew past at head height. The zombie Jonah flailed and howled ahead of him.
"Right then, you ugly son of a..."
Jonah once again found himself in a crumpled heap by the wall, with lights fizzing and crackling around his head that weren't his shields.
'Utsoree slashed and scythed, cutting a swathe through the relentless waves of Flood Infections. Suddenly, another sword wielding White Elite appeared next to him and for a second, 'Utsoree fought side by side with himself. Then it disappeared without a trace. A handful of Blue Elites were trying to fight their way to defend their White master. Two dropped, writhing in agony as Infection forms smothered their corpses. 'Utsoree roared at his troops in his own language.
"Not me, you fools. The Engineers. Protect the Engineers." Without them, his prize would be lost. The Blues hesitated, and then began to make a fighting retreat. Suddenly, a section of the chamber wall exploded. Flames and smoke issued into the chamber - along with countless more Infection forms, grotesquely deformed Flood Warriors and hideous, bloated Flood Carriers.
"Forget the Engineers. Me, you fools, protect me," howled 'Utsoree.
The exploding wall knocked the Silver Warder off his feet and sent his pistol spinning from his grasp. Doodu watched in horror as the Silver attempted to stand. He was covered in quivering infection forms. And he was on fire. The Silver uttered a pitiful "why me?" then slumped to the ground twitching.
Doodu made a dive for the pistol. He scooped it up and turned to face the nightmares spewing into the chamber from the hole. He pulled the trigger. A disappointing gout of plasma sputtered from the gun. The depleted battery indicator winked at him. Doodu sagged. A huge, twisted creature that had possibly once been an Elite lumbered towards him. It raised a fleshy limb, ready to swipe the Grunt into oblivion. Then its limb dropped off, followed by its head, which lolled on the floor at Doodu's feet.
Doodu spun around.
"Now we're even," said Jonah, a heat haze blurring at the nozzle of his Sentinel gun.
Bean grabbed the Engineer's whipping tentacles. It tried to pull away, but Bean discovered the creature was no more physically substantial than a huge bladder of gas. She had no problem hauling the Engineer where she wanted it to go. Bean shouted and pointed a lot. Engineers seemed to be highly intelligent, and she got the impression that the alien understood what she wanted it to do. But the second part of her plan involved dealing with a far less developed mind.
She leaned over the rail and yelled, "Jonaaaaaaaaaah..."
Jonah looked up, but continued firing. Bean gesticulated wildly from a gantry above. Jonah gave her a thumbs up, then turned towards his objective. His progress was hampered not just by the monsters and crossfire this time, but also by the Grunt clinging to his right calf. The Flood Spartan - 'Evil Jonah', as Jonah had come to think of him, was running riot along the outer wall of the chamber. Jonah snapped off a couple of beams at it, which were absorbed by a crackling force field. Damn. It still had its shields. Evil Jonah turned towards the source of the beams and charged at him.
Jonah turned on his heel and blundered towards a shambling knot of zombies. A wail issued from the region of his right boot.
"Hang on," he said.
Ignoring Evil Jonah for the moment, Jonah cut down three warrior forms. A swollen Carrier tottered towards him. Right. This was it. He had to get his position and timing exactly right. Jonah returned his attention to Evil Jonah, who bore down on him at an alarming rate. This was going to be a bit like shooting pool, only the cue was half a Forerunner sentry robot, the ball was a monstrous walking sack full of horrors, the eight ball was a nightmare zombie in shielded armour and the pocket was a scientifically improbable temporal engine. Okay, so maybe it was nothing like shooting pool.
Evil Jonah drew back its grotesque limb. Jonah tucked, rolled and discharged his gun into the quivering Carrier to his right. The Carrier exploded, swamping Jonah in slime and blowing Evil Jonah through the air and into a pillar in the centre of the chamber, where he crumpled to the floor.
"Now," yelled Jonah.
"Now," yelled Bean, pointing urgently at the control panel.
The Engineer poked and prodded. The pillars began to glow.
The area between the pillars swam. Tall, blurry figures began to form. Around the chamber, the Covenant stopped fighting. Some dropped to their knees. 'Utsoree bowed his head and issued a low moan.
"F...F...Forerunners..." squeaked a voice from the region of Jonah's kneecap.
Jonah watched as Evil Jonah clambered upright. It seemed confused, turning between the figures forming around it and the enemy it had previously engaged in the chamber. Evil Jonah threw back its head and gurgled. A swarm of Infections and Warriors flocked towards him and the shifting, ghostly figures in the centre of the pillars.
And then, they all vanished.
"Woo hoo," shouted Jonah.
"Jonah," called Bean from above, "we can't shut it down."
Nightmare creatures loped towards Jonah. Covenant troops alternated between shooting at the Flood and taking shots at him. The White Elite was cutting a path towards him. The Pillars were burning so brightly now they hurt to look at.
"Woo," said Jonah shouldering his rifle, "and, indeed, hoo."
Oh Thirteen Part 6
Date: 24 March 2004, 11:57 AM
Jonah battled his way towards an exit arch.
"So what is this place?" he grunted between shots.
"My Lord 'Utsoree believes the Halo has engines that can move it," trilled a voice from somewhere below Jonah's waist." Not just through space, but through time."
Jonah neatly bisected a Flood warrior."'Utsoree? That'd be the white fella over there?"
"He is a Most High White Elite, yes."
"So he'd be wanting this time engine to use against humans?" Flood infections burst on Jonah's shields. He meleed a Jackal on the crest of its head.
"If he can unlock the secrets of the Forerunner technology," continued the Grunt. "Their civilisation has long been lost in the mists of time."
Jonah briefly imagined a Forerunner asking if anyone had seen its civilisation, only it was sure it had left it somewhere safe just the other day...
"On your left," cried Doodu. The Spartan swung his rifle and burned a hole through a leaping monstrosity.
"Thanks."
"Lord 'Utsoree hopes to shift this entire fragment through space and time to safety before it is claimed by the star."
"Guess these nasties are a bit of a setback for him." Viscous ichor splashed across Jonah's visor as he cut down another zombie dervish.
"You can say that again," squeaked Doodu.
The Spartan cast a glance at the blazing pillars. "With the anomalies this thing is causing," said Jonah, "I probably will."
Bean raced along the gallery. She could see Jonah and was trying to find a way down to the archway he was making for. A decaying Flood creature landed squarely on the catwalk in front of her. Bean screamed. It must have jumped from the chamber floor below. The physical strength of these nightmares was beyond belief. Bean turned to run back the other way. Behind her was a shivering Engineer, the one she'd press-ganged into operating the time engine. Stumbling towards him, a bloated Flood Carrier cut off any escape in the opposite direction. Bean ran towards the Engineer.
"Sorry about this."
She grabbed hold of its tentacles, and threw herself from the gallery.
'Utsoree swung his sword, shredding flesh and bone within its arc. Blue Elites tried to blaze a path towards their master to protect him, but their plasma weapons seemed to be woefully inadequate against the Flood. One by one, the Blues were overcome by misshapen monsters until 'Utsoree stood alone. He reassessed and reprioritised. Instead of fighting his way to the Spartan, he decided to settle for fighting for his life. Somewhere, millions of light years away, a Prophet allowed itself the merest hint of amusement. Didn't see it coming, indeed.
Bean fluttered to the ground in front of the bemused Spartan.
"Nice parachute," said Jonah, laying down a barrage of fire to cover her descent.
Bean released the Engineer, which zoomed off in a bewildered zigzag, shrieking to itself.
"I think," said Bean, "we should get the Hell out of here."
"What happened to 'we'll see?' and Zen and the art of horse husbandry?" Jonah flashed off three controlled beams. Three abominations fell in six different places.
"We'll see," she replied. "But I think we'd be better off seeing from orbit."
"Sounds good to me," squeaked Jonah's kneecap.
Bean looked down." You've got something on your leg," she said.
"I stepped in some Doodu," said Jonah. He turned around and backed the last few feet to the exit, strafing as wide an area as possible to give them a chance to get away. Across the other side of the chamber, Jonah caught the eye of the White Elite, baying at the onslaught of Flood mutations as he hacked his way through them.
Jonah gave 'Utsoree an airy wave, then darted through the open archway.
Despite the fact that his power sword weighed no more than its handle, 'Utsoree could barely lift it any more. He stood knee deep in severed body parts, yet still innumerable horrors clambered and sprang towards him. His troops were dead. His mission had failed. His strength was all but gone. He had hoped to master time. Instead, very little remained to him before the nightmares made him one with them. Bellowing a final, defiant roar, 'Utsoree snatched a plasma grenade from his belt. With his free hand, he flicked the primer and held it above his head.
The pillars flared.
Jonah, Bean and Doodu ran from tunnel to tunnel, following any path that lead vaguely upwards. Flood Infections swarmed out from overhead pipes and pounced from hiding places in the architecture. Jonah's energy beam flashed constantly, clearing the path ahead.
"Over there," squealed Doodu, indicating a wall with bizarre rectangular holes cut into it. Jonah could just make out a figure lurking in the shadows on the other side. He sighted along his weapon and discharged a steady stream of charged particles. Whatever it was let out a howl and lurched out of sight.
Jonah indicated for the others to hold position and double-timed it over to the wall. There was a gap just big enough for him to squeeze through. Jonah trained the muzzle of his rifle on the darkness beyond, bent low and shuffled through.
Doodu scampered behind Bean's legs and wailed. For a few unbearable seconds, there was complete silence.
"It's gone," called Jonah.
Bean released the breath she'd been holding. Then she and Doodu hurried over and passed through the gap in the wall to rejoin the Spartan.
"Did you wing it?" asked Bean.
"I think so," said Jonah. "I was never a particularly good shot." Jonah took another step into the shadows of the tunnel ahead. From somewhere behind him, a beam of energy fizzled past the wall and sliced through shield and armour straight into his shoulder. Jonah let out a howl and lurched into cover.
"Are you okay?" asked Bean, crouching low to the floor.
"I'll live," he said through gritted teeth. He gripped his Sentinel gun tightly and started to crawl back towards the wall and the unseen assailant.
"No," cried Doodu. "Don't you understand?"
Jonah slowly turned to face the Grunt. His shields made a weak attempt to recharge then sputtered out entirely.
"Understand what?" he said through gritted teeth.
"I'll give you a clue," said Bean. "It's a good job you're a rubbish shot."
'Utsoree turned around. Some of the Covenant guards surrounding the captive Spartan exchanged uneasy glances.
"I do not know how this works," said the Spartan.
'Utsoree staggered backwards. He should have been a patchy yet fetching purple undercoat on everything within a ten-metre radius. Instead, he was... this was...then.
A ripple of disquiet swept over the Covenant as they watched the Most High White Elite bolt from the chamber.
"Was it something I said?" Jonah asked his guards, back in chapter four.
"Blah, blah, paradoxes, blah, blah?" said Jonah clutching his agonising shoulder.
Bean sighed. "I'll put it another way. Time is all over the place. We're interacting with different eventualities."
"How is that possible?"
"It isn't. Now can we please get out of here? And can you try not to shoot anything that was, is, or will be us?"
Jonah wasn't sure when his head hurt the most. Now, or after the Evil Jonah had slugged him sideways. He wasn't versed in temporal theory or technicalities of causality. He'd probably had extra hitting things in the head lessons on the days those subjects were being taught.
With a disgruntled "Get behind me," Jonah trudged onwards, weapon lowered and shield less.
"Let's hope ours is the eventuality that lives through this," said Doodu.
Bean patted the Grunt's shoulder. "Jonah's got a lucky streak," she said. "He seems to have a knack for scraping through anything."
"He does, yes." Doodu placed extra emphasis on the 'he'. "It's my luck I'm worried about."
"Do you have horse farmers where you come from?" asked Bean.
A strangled cry stopped Doodu asking what a horse was.
Jonah tottered backwards. He stumbled and fell, twisting to face his two companions.
Squatting on his chest, its stinger forced between the armour plates and deep into Jonah's thorax, was a Flood Infection. It pulsated up and down, as if grotesquely attempting to mate with him.
"Somebody...throw a bucket of cold...water over..."
Jonah convulsed violently. And then lay still.
Oh Thirteen Part 7
Date: 24 March 2004, 11:58 AM
Bean interlocked her fingers and tried to smash the parasite from Jonah with a two-handed blow. Her strike passed through thin air. Jonah's corpse vanished.
"Get behind me," said a disgruntled voice. She turned to see a Spartan trudging forwards, weapon lowered.
"Oh thank..." Bean began. "No, wait."
Jonah stepped past her. "What...?"
Bean sprang forward to where Jonah had been standing when the Flood creature attacked.
Something hideous shot out of the darkness. Bean shut her eyes.
Doodu hopped from foot to foot and howled.
Jonah crashed to his knees by Bean's stricken form. He grasped the quivering Infection that had punctured her chest and burst it with a sickening pop.
"Bean?" A disgusting, gelatinous tube projected from Bean's ribcage, the guts end of a stinger buried deep inside her body. She stared straight up at Jonah.
"This Jonah has to live to..." Bean swallowed. "...to defeat the Flood Jonah. You have to live..."
She smiled at him and raised a trembling hand to his visor.
"I would've liked to see..."
Her eyes widened. She started to twitch.
"Oh, Jonah. Don't...let me turn into..."
Jonah yanked back the trigger on the gun she had made for him and jerked the muzzle sharply across her midriff.
Engineer First Class Emma Bean gave a soft sigh.
Doodu looked down at the curl of smoke issuing from the black line in the floor that began one side of Bean's body and terminated the other. He gave a low keening sound.
Time stood still. But this was no side effect of overloading temporal engines. Eventually, Jonah stood up.
"It's okay," he said quietly. He cleared his throat. "It's okay. Eventualities. Anomalies. Paradoxes. She'll walk round the corner any second."
Jonah stood to attention over her body.
"Any second," he repeated.
There was a buzzing sound from the tunnel ahead. The searing lines of an igniting power sword cut through the shadows.
"I'm afraid. That's. Not the. Case."
The white alien loomed out of the darkness like a spectre.
"All her. Eventualities. End here."
"I don't believe you," said Jonah.
"I do not. Lie." 'Utsoree raised his sword. "She ends. Here. And now. So. Do you."
The Spartan turned his gun on the Elite.
"I am Jonah Oh Thirteen," he said. "And believe me - your luck has just run out."
The sword flashed through the air. A beam of energy lanced out. Human and alien dodged and lunged, colliding head on with a thunderous clash. Weapons were torn aside. Savage blows rained, as the two bodies rolled and writhed. Alien roar was indistinguishable from human bellow. Jonah slammed his metal fist into the Elite's skull. Then again. And again. Its head snapped back viciously and purple blood gouted from beneath the white armour. The Elite screamed.
"Engineer. First. Class. Emma. Bean." Jonah punctuated each word with a brutal, hammering blow. He drew back his fist one final time to crush the alien's head to pulp.
A metallic hoof slammed into Jonah's belly, smashing the breath from his body. 'Utsoree kicked hard and the Spartan was tossed into the air. Jonah crashed to the ground, flat on his back.
By the time Jonah managed his next painful gulp of air, the White Elite stood over him, one hoof pinning the Spartan to the floor. 'Utsoree once again held his sword. He brought it up over Jonah's head.
"Good," gurgled 'Utsoree, purple gore oozing from his maw, "Bye."
The sword fell.
As did the hand that held it. Followed, in short order, by the arm to which it was once attached, and then the arm on the other side of the alien's body.
'Utsoree's head was still turning round as it, and the shoulders beneath, slid away from his torso. What remained of the Most High White Elite crumpled in a heap a few seconds later.
Doodu struggled under the weight of the Sentinel gun.
"Meant...for me?" gasped Jonah.
"Not this time," replied the Grunt.
Jonah was silent for the whole of their climb to the surface. He had tersely thanked Doodu for his intervention, then set off without a backwards glance. The Grunt was bewildered. Perhaps humans had very different customs regarding their dead. But Doodu would never have left a close companion's body just lying there. Jonah set a furious pace through the tunnels and Doodu was forced to run as fast as he could just to keep the Spartan in sight. They encountered no more Flood, but every once in a while, Doodu thought to see another Grunt just like him either slightly up ahead, or just behind where he had been seconds earlier. But each time when he turned to look, the other Grunt was gone. When Doodu finally emerged from the structure onto the surface of the shattered segment of Halo, his methane breather rasped and wheezed with alarming frequency. The starry blackness was spinning much faster than it had been when they'd seen it last. There was no sign of any guards and most of the Covenant ships had gone. The barren landscape was deserted, and when Threshold swung through the heavens, it loomed much closer than it had previously.
"What is that?" asked Jonah, indicating the prototype Covenant spaceship.
"Th...that's a Liche. It's one of a kind, the fastest ship in the fleet."
"Perfect," said Jonah.
Doodu shook his head. "No good. It only holds one. We'll take a dropship..."
"No," said Jonah, "we won't." He raised his gun. He didn't actually point it at the Grunt, but there was a definite suggestion of menace in his stance.
"Get in," he said.
"What about you?"
"I'm not going."
Doodu blinked rapidly. "You'll die if you stay."
Jonah grunted. "No more jinx. No more bringer of bad luck. No more Jonah."
The Grunt looked up at the Spartan.
"She died so you could live," said Doodu quietly. "She gave her life so yours could continue. If you throw it away, her life was lost in vain."
"Go," said Jonah.
Doodu stood there silently for a moment. Then he hobbled towards the Liche. As he neared the boarding ramp, he turned.
"One of our myths tells of the Forerunner's first encounter with the Flood. It's said that the fall of the ancients began when, one day, out of nowhere, a swarm of hideous creatures appeared on a Forerunner world. Those first horrors were led by an evil knight, a fallen armoured warrior. A Flood King. The story goes that he brought death to hundreds of worlds from that first encounter."
"It runs in the family," said Jonah
"She said you had to live to defeat it."
Jonah's gun lowered slightly. "She... she only meant..."
"Every Flood victim stems back to that first encounter. Every life that falls to them, human or Covenant, is because of that Flood King." Doodu climbed aboard the ship. As he disappeared into the cockpit he called back, "You owe it to your friend and to all those lost to the Flood to live and fight back."
Long after the Liche had scarred the darkness with a streak of brilliant glare, Jonah stood and stared after it. Despite the environment controls and shielding of his suit, the temperature was beyond uncomfortable. Jonah finally turned to gaze at the huge fiery ball that was Threshold
"We'll see," he said aloud. We'll see."
Jonah Oh Thirteen hefted his Sentinel gun and strode back into the Forerunner construction.
Doodu laid in a course for the Covenant worlds. He would have the duration of his journey to concoct a decent story of how he came to be in command of the Liche. Pity it was so fast. That would give him less chance to iron out all the details. He switched a monitor to rear view and watched the spinning fragment of Halo dwindle in size to a tiny dot. Then, just before his slipstream engines engaged, he thought to see the dot flicker and disappear completely.
The Liche's engines kicked in. Normal space blurred in its wake.
"Good luck human," said Doodu. "If there can be such a thing for you."
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