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Oh Thirteen Part 3
Posted By: Stuntmutt<stuntmutt@yahoo.com>
Date: 24 March 2004, 11:55 AM
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"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!"
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